initial commit of ebook 27950HEADmain

269 files changed, 62488 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/27950-0.txt b/27950-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9e2c408
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27950-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10225 @@
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RHODESIAN ***
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+   Inconsistent spelling, particularly names of characters in
+   the original text, has been retained, as has variable
+   punctuation.
+
+   The table of contents has been added for the convenience of
+   readers.
+
+   In the advertisements at the end, text enclosed by equal signs
+   was in bold face in the original (=bold=) and text enclosed by
+   plus signs was underscored (+underscored+).
+
+
+
+
+THE RHODESIAN
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GERTRUDE PAGE'S NOVELS.
+
+  _In cloth gilt, 6s._
+
+SOME THERE ARE----.
+
+FOLLOW AFTER.
+
+WHERE THE STRANGE ROADS GO DOWN.
+
+WINDING PATHS.
+
+  _In cloth gilt, 3s. 6d._
+
+TWO LOVERS AND A LIGHTHOUSE.
+
+  _Also in cloth gilt, 2s. 6d. net._
+
+JILL'S RHODESIAN PHILOSOPHY.
+
+  _In cloth, uniform with this volume, 1s. net_.
+
+PADDY THE NEXT BEST THING.
+
+LOVE IN THE WILDERNESS.
+
+THE GREAT SPLENDOUR.
+
+THE EDGE O' BEYOND.
+
+THE SILENT RANCHER.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE RHODESIAN
+
+by
+
+GERTRUDE PAGE
+
+Author of "The Edge o' Beyond," "The Silent Rancher," etc.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+London: Hurst & Blackett, Ltd. Paternoster House, E.C.
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+
+        I  THE POLICE STATION
+       II  THE MISSION STATION
+      III  TWO HEIRESSES
+       IV  THE RHODESIAN PROJECT
+        V  WILLIAM VAN HERT
+       VI  THE JOURNEY
+      VII  CAREW IS DISTURBED
+     VIII   TWO UNEXPECTED MEETINGS
+       IX   THE BEAR
+        X  A MINING CAMP
+       XI  AN EVENING RIDE
+      XII  THE MISSION STATION
+     XIII  A DECISION THAT FAILED
+      XIV  THE ANCIENT RUINS
+       XV  CAREW RIDES AWAY
+      XVI  "THE SHIP OF FOOLS"
+     XVII  AN EVENING CONVERSATION
+    XVIII  THE CHARTER FLATS
+      XIX  THE CONVENTIONALITIES ONCE MORE
+       XX  FAREWELL
+      XXI  A "HOARDING HUSTLING"
+     XXII  MERYL'S DECISION
+    XXIII  CAREW'S STORY
+     XXIV  A RAIN-WASHED MORNING AND A DISCUSSION
+      XXV  AILSA LEARNS CAREW'S SECRET
+     XXVI  "HOW CAN I GO TO HER!..."
+    XXVII  DIANA BEGINS TO GROW PERPLEXED
+   XXVIII  DIANA'S PERPLEXITIES INCREASE
+     XXIX  A USEFUL BLUNDER
+      XXX  DIANA IS RESTLESS
+     XXXI  THE SOLUTION IS SEALED
+    XXXII  A CHAPTER OF SURPRISES
+           FINIS
+
+
+
+
+TO THE PATHFINDERS
+
+
+    "Fate lies hid,
+  But not the deeds that true men dared and did."
+
+
+
+
+THE RHODESIAN.
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+THE POLICE CAMP
+
+
+The velvety darkness of a southern night, with its sense of rich,
+luscious, breathing intensity, lay over that romantic spot in Southern
+Rhodesia where the grey walls of the Zimbabwe ruins, with a sublime,
+imperturbable indifference, continue to baffle the ingenuity and
+ravish the curiosity of all who would read their story. Scientists,
+archæologists, tourists come and go, but the stern old walls, guarded
+by the sentinel hills, give back no answer to eager questioning, eager
+delving, eager surmise.
+
+But in the meantime the Valley of Ruins no longer lies alone and
+unheeded in the sunlight; and no longer do the hills look down upon
+rich plains left solely to the idle pleasure of a careless black
+people. The forerunners of to-day's great civilising army have marched
+into the valley, and beside the ancient walls there is now a police
+camp of the British South Africa Police, presided over by two robust
+young troopers.
+
+In the velvety darkness on the night in question there is a single
+bright light pouring through the open doorway of a dwelling-hut.
+Through the enfolding silence breaks the bizarre music of an
+indifferent gramophone, recklessly mocking the sublime grandeur of
+the age-old antiquities. Laughter and gay music and devil-may-care
+colonists awaking echoes that have been more or less silent to
+civilisation for how many thousand years?
+
+But on this particular evening it is as though some shadow had fallen
+upon the little camp. Nothing tangible--nothing that changed the
+general habits or surroundings--but a vague regret and introspective
+sadness upon the faces of two young men, usually full of careless
+content. Cecil Stanley, the more refined, a gentleman by birth and
+education, lounged low in his chair, with his hands behind his head
+and his feet on the table, and ever and anon his eyes looked with
+pained regret into the surrounding depths of night. Patrick Moore,
+with a grave face, cleaned his gun in a deeper silence than usual,
+proceeding with an occupation that was his joy on many evenings,
+whether the gun needed cleaning or not, rather as if it eased his mind
+to have his hands busy.
+
+"I wonder if the Major will come through to-night?" he remarked, as if
+the silence were growing over-oppressive.
+
+"Sure to," laconically. "The moon will be up directly, and he can't be
+very far away."
+
+"I suppose he won't have heard?"
+
+"Not likely to have done. Gad! I feel as if I'd give anything to have
+had a chance to stand three hours in that queue. It will hit him hard.
+If it's bad for us, who have at least known all along, it will be
+worse for him, hearing it suddenly at this late hour. Those newspapers
+to-day have made me feel like a kid on his first day at
+boarding-school. I'd like to cry if I weren't ashamed to."
+
+"I liked that professor," said Moore, changing the subject. "Decent
+old Johnny, wasn't he? Jolly nice of him to bring all those papers in
+case he came across anyone glad of them."
+
+"Quite a good old bird. That's a rum theory of his about the corpses
+in the temple being buried deeper than anyone has yet dug, and hung
+with valuable ornaments. Wouldn't it be a jolly lark to dig down for
+one and have a look at it!..."
+
+He gave a low, half-hearted chuckle over his gruesome suggestion, and
+lazily getting to his feet, selected another tune for his gramophone.
+
+Moore, busy still with his gun, gave a corresponding chuckle, and
+remarked:
+
+"Begorra, lad!... if we could get a few out one at a time on moonlight
+nights, and fill up the blooming holes again, we shouldn't want any
+blasted machinery for our gold mine, except a pickaxe and a shovel."
+
+"We'd want a bit of pluck, though. The ghosts of the corpses might
+come dancing round to have their say in the matter."
+
+"We'd chance the ghosties. Shure! if they've been hanging round for
+three or four thousand years, they'd maybe like a new sensation by
+this time."
+
+Stanley put on "The Stars and Stripes," wound up the gramophone, and
+slid into his lounge chair again.
+
+Moore glanced up as the music started.
+
+"What!... that thing again!... I'm beginning to feel like those old
+ghosts about it. The same moth-eaten tune for three or four thousand
+years. I'd like a new sensation."
+
+"It can't be much staler than cleaning that old gun."
+
+"Shure, she's a daisy." The Irishman looked tenderly at his treasure.
+"An' she just loves me to be fondlin' her like."
+
+"If it weren't for the Major I don't know what is to prevent us
+proving the old man's theory," said Stanley, evidently harping again
+on his corpses.
+
+"Him, and the bloomin' Company! The old gentlemen sittin' on the Board
+in London suddenly find that the Yankees have been snaffling a lot of
+valuable trinkets and things from the ruins while they took forty
+winks, and then they up and says no one's to look for anything more at
+all; not even a _boney fidey_ Rhodesian, sweating in the police camp
+outside the walls."
+
+"Still, it would be a rare lark to find a corpse with gold ornaments
+on it, and say nothing at all."
+
+"And what should you be doing with the old corpse when you've taken
+the gold?"
+
+"Oh! put him in the soup!" And Stanley slid lower in his chair, with
+another chuckle.
+
+The gramophone ran down with a horrible grind, but its owner only
+looked at it dully and took no notice.
+
+"Shall I wind up again?" Moore asked.
+
+"No, let it rip. It sounds all wrong to-night. Everything is all
+wrong. The whole world gone awry. It's like being on another planet to
+be out here in this wilderness at such a time. I don't believe I've
+ever felt exiled before, but, begad! I do to-night. Let's turn in.
+Probably he won't come now."
+
+Moore carried his gun into one of the huts and stood it carefully
+beside his little stretcher-bed. Stanley took the gramophone into
+another hut, and planked it down somewhat roughly on a table,
+evidently made by an amateur. Without going outside again, he shouted
+"Good night," and after that no sound broke the silence, except sundry
+mutterings from the Irishman, who had discovered an enormous frog
+under his bed, and his beloved pointer pup inside the blankets
+serenely sleeping.
+
+All the next morning Stanley hung about the camp as one who waited,
+but it was not until three o'clock that Major Carew rode slowly up to
+the huts. As he dismounted, briefly acknowledging Stanley's salute,
+there was a characteristic absence of all superfluous words. The
+latter waited until the soldier-servant had led away the mule and
+another boy relieved the officer of his water-bottle, which he always
+carried himself, and then he looked hard at the thin, brown, resolute
+face, with an expression in his eyes that made Carew ask shortly:
+
+"Any news?"
+
+"Bad news from England. I suppose you haven't heard?"
+
+"I haven't heard anything."
+
+For one pulsing second the two men stood and looked at each other; and
+to a looker-on it might have appeared that, however laconic and
+indifferent their attitude, their relationship was not solely that of
+officer and subordinate. The elder man, in his gruff way, was the
+friend of the man under him. The younger had acquired a respect that
+held something deeper than casual liking, and his face showed it now
+as he hesitated before breaking his news. Then he said, very simply:
+
+"The King is dead."
+
+A quick, incredulous expression filled Carew's eyes.
+
+"The King?..." he repeated. "Not ... surely not ..." He paused,
+leaving his sentence unfinished.
+
+"Yes. King Edward. After a few days' illness."
+
+The man's mouth grew rigid. He stood like a figure of bronze, staring
+with unseeing eyes to the far horizon. Stanley drew in his breath a
+little sharply. Yes, he had been right, the news had hit Carew very
+hard.
+
+"When?..." came at last, abruptly.
+
+"A fortnight ago. Just after you left. The funeral took place
+yesterday."
+
+Carew made no comment. Evidently it was true. Little else mattered.
+Nearly all through this trek of his round those distant kraals his
+King had been lying dead, and he had not known it. Such a man as he is
+not stunned by tidings; but he recedes still further into his shell,
+if possible. There is no comment, no discussion, just a grim silence
+sealing a deep pain that cannot express itself.
+
+He stayed a moment longer, while Stanley told him a few details, and
+then he went away into his hut and shut his door to the sunlight--one
+of those exiles for whom the news had, as it were, an added sorrow,
+because during the first shock he had remained in ignorance, and had
+thus been prevented joining in the loyal homage of grief that had been
+offered by his countrymen from the four corners of the earth.
+
+It was thus with many of the far-off Empire-builders. They heard so
+late, so unpreparedly, so suddenly; and in the first shock, an exile
+which had been a calmly accepted condition, became almost a menace,
+seemed swiftly to develop a force. The men in the far places _felt_
+their aloofness; knew that their souls were beating vainly against
+prison bars, for the longing to annihilate space and stand beside the
+beloved dead. That quiet band of men whom we sometimes call "The
+Pathfinders," and who go away across the world to bring the wilderness
+into line; to smooth the rough, link the severed, subdue the untamed,
+and carry prosperity to the waste places. The men who cope with
+strange, deadly diseases; who fight fever swamps, and compel them to
+carry a railroad across their reluctant bosoms, though the swamps in
+turn exact a heavy toll of human life; who make the paths that the
+women and children will presently pass over, though no such
+soul-stirring cry urges their exhausting efforts.
+
+But it is not usual to laud these men, who win their colours at the
+dull, prosaic work of path-finding, as it is to laud those who
+encounter shot and shell in the lurid atmosphere of battle, and one
+feels they do not ask it. Yet now and then they must surely be glad to
+know that thoughtful women and thoughtful men follow their work and
+bless them in silence, sending across the world to them a homage of
+praise that is, perhaps, richer than the plaudits of the crowd. And
+not to them only, but also to the mothers who bid them go, accepting
+their hard part of lonely, anxious waiting without complaint.
+
+And if they fall by the wayside, unrecognised, unknown, but having
+carried the path forward, maybe a mile, maybe a yard, maybe an inch,
+how great a thing is that compared to the small happenings that of
+necessity make up most men's lives!
+
+In the sultry midday heat Carew sat alone in his hut, and certain
+memories, that for fifteen years he had tried to crush out of his
+mind, crowded back upon him with overwhelming force in the grip of his
+sudden sorrow. For that sad event which had plunged a great nation
+into grief had been to him a personal loss. In the silence and shadow
+he mourned deeply, not only the idol of his youth and dear object of
+his heart's best loyalty, but the memory of a friend.
+
+For long ago, or so it seemed, there had been a moment when a royal
+hand had clasped his, and a royal voice--the royalty all lost in the
+friend--had said, "Perhaps you are right. It is best to begin again.
+But do not imagine your life is over and its aims purposeless. Out
+there you will find renewing. Some day come back and tell me about
+it."
+
+That was fifteen years ago, but he had never gone back. Never sought
+the second hand-clasp that would have been his. Never unfolded to
+those interested ears his personal experiences with the pioneer column
+that led the way to do the path-finding in Rhodesia. In the hush of
+the afternoon, with his head bowed on his arms, the years between
+seemed to pass out of mind, and that which once had been to stand
+alone, awaking within him an infinite regret.
+
+He saw again certain lovely park-lands--the woods and hills and
+dales--of a rich inheritance that should have been his. He saw
+himself, the gay guardsman. He saw the dear face of the woman for whom
+he had chosen to cross that arbitrary will which would brook no
+disobedience, and sought to intimidate him with disinheritance.
+Through his mind passed in slurred detail the sordid story which had
+given him a brother's hate in return for a quixotic championing of the
+weak--a hate which proved to have power enough behind it to draw a
+devastating hand across the promise of his future.
+
+Lastly--and here in the silence it was as though his head sank deeper
+in its pain--he saw that woman's dear face, as he had last seen it,
+lying white upon the heather--_dead_.
+
+Ah, the memories were terribly alive to-day; not even fifteen years in
+a new life, with new interests, had done anything but draw a thin
+curtain of silence over the unforgettable pain. Would anything ever
+ease it in reality? Had he for a moment believed that it would? Or had
+he always known, that just as surely as his hand had held the gun
+which killed her, so to his last breath the tragedy would cast a
+shadow over the whole of his life?
+
+He might look out upon the world with quiet eyes and firm lips and
+fearless mien, but the gnawing ache would surely go with him to his
+grave.
+
+And because of it he knew that he had grown somewhat churlish; that
+men who did not understand his unsociable ways and extreme reticence
+looked at him askance. But what of it? How little such things
+mattered! The tragedy was his and the silence was his, and he had
+never asked anyone to share either.
+
+Only to-day, for just this one afternoon, fifteen years was as
+yesterday, and he seemed to realise thoroughly for the first time all
+that royal hand-clasp had meant, before he went to his voluntary exile
+in a far wilderness.
+
+But after a time, when it grew cool enough to walk, he came out into
+the sunshine and started off towards the steep rock pathway that leads
+to the summit of the Acropolis Hill, following an impulse to seek
+comfort in the fresh hopefulness of a height, and to lessen the pain
+in his heart by looking out across a world still living and loving and
+striving. So he climbed on up the winding pathway, enfolded with
+mystery and romance concerning the feet that trod it in the far-off
+centuries, and made his way between the mighty natural boulders out on
+to the high platform, where eyes, all those long centuries ago, must
+have looked out even as his, across the lovely land.
+
+Was it as lovely then?... Could it have been less so?...
+
+How the quiet beauty soothed and caressed him! Surely there were
+moments when the wilderness, tamed at last, like a lovely, wayward
+mistress become entrancingly docile, fondles the hand, and ravishes
+the senses of the strong man who conquered it.
+
+Is this one of the rich rewards Life holds in the palm of her hand for
+the path-finders?... This glorious sense of ownership. This winsome
+soothing of shy gratitude when the fierce first resistance to conquest
+is overpast. A man may call England his country because he was born
+there, and his father before him; but, perhaps, after all, that is a
+small thing compared to standing upon a high eminence, and looking
+across a quiet world which is your country because of all you yourself
+have given to it of hope and faith and steadfast purpose.
+
+In some such spirit soothing came to the quiet man on the top of the
+Acropolis Hill, whispering to him that, after all, this was _his_
+country, and if the beloved dead did indeed seem so far away in fact,
+in spirit he was perhaps nearer to his Empire-builders than he had
+ever been before.
+
+He turned his head at last, and his eyes rested upon the circular
+wall, four hundred feet below, that enclosed the temple ruins. Then
+for a moment a wave of depression swept over him, blotting out the
+landscape loveliness. Was it all, then, vanity, this building and
+striving?... The making of walls and fortifications for another race,
+centuries afterwards, to look upon with cold wonder and curiosity?
+Three thousand years ago perhaps another man had stood even there and
+mourned his king that was dead. And so soon ... so soon ... he also
+died, and the massive walls became ruins, and the dynasty, or empire,
+or era, passed away into oblivion. How soon might a similar fate
+overtake his own great Empire!... and the beloved King, Edward the
+Peacemaker, be perhaps but a legend to some strange new race.
+
+And then it was as though the land to which he had given so much rose
+up to give in her turn the might of hope and renewing. His eyes
+wandered again to the distant mountains and over the fertile plain
+lying between, and all the outspread richness called to him that at
+least there was no ruin here, no hopelessness, no decay.
+
+Progress spoke to him from the rolling plains and from the mysterious
+kopjes, and his blood warmed to that glad sense of possession--if not
+in fact, at least in the fancy born of what he had given. For it is
+when we give, and not when we take, we become the truest possessors,
+rich owners of so much that neither wealth, nor birth, nor striving
+can buy.
+
+In the quiet evening hour the stars were just beginning to light their
+brilliant lamps, and a glow like a rose-flush in the west marked the
+passage of the departed sun. Carew prepared to make the steep descent.
+And as he looked out across this country, that seemed so intensely his
+country, he felt himself heir of all the ages, the strong product of
+long eons of careful development, too rich in those vague splendours
+of the human and the divine not to realise the weak futility of musing
+sadly upon dead dynasties and bygone races.
+
+On the northernmost point, ere the path drops suddenly on its way to
+the valley, he stood still once more and gazed steadily to the north
+where England lay.
+
+Then, thinking deep thoughts of love and loyalty of the King who had
+been his friend, and the friend who had been his King, he gravely gave
+the salute.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE MISSION STATION
+
+
+Although only stationed for a short time at the Zimbabwe camp, Carew
+had chosen always to conduct his own _ménage_, and take his meals in
+solitary state apart from Stanley and Moore. This was in every case
+typical of the man, who rarely sought company, and was often quiet to
+taciturnity when he had it. He had not come to the wilderness for
+adventure, or for the companionship of the men he might find there; he
+had come because he wanted to forget. Not even to seek renewing and
+fresh hopes, but only to crowd out of his life the memory of that
+upheaval and tragedy that, it seemed, had placed a stern hand upon
+mere joy for evermore. And he believed he would achieve this best with
+the vigorous, interesting occupation of helping a young country
+struggle through to fulfilment.
+
+It was not until after the dinner-hour that he again showed himself,
+and then he came outside his hut, filling his pipe, and stood for a
+moment beside Stanley and Moore without saying anything.
+
+"Did you have a successful trip, sir?" Stanley asked.
+
+"Quite," dryly.
+
+The young trooper watched him a moment, and then added:
+
+"Did you have trouble with M'Basch?"
+
+"He tried to make trouble. He is a dangerous native."
+
+"And you gave him a lesson?"
+
+"I burnt his kraal."
+
+"Whew!..." and Stanley gave a low whistle. The man was courageous
+indeed who dare resort to such a step, now that it was necessary to
+pamper the natives if one wanted no trouble at headquarters.
+
+Carew took no notice of the significant rejoinder, but his firm mouth,
+if anything, grew a little firmer.
+
+"I gave him due warning, but he thought I dare not carry out my
+threat. He was mistaken. Never make a threat that you can't carry out.
+It matters more than anything with natives. He will not give trouble
+again at present."
+
+"But they may say a good deal at headquarters if he carries his story
+there!"
+
+"I had to risk that. But he is so entirely in the wrong, and so
+clearly aware of it, I don't think he will venture to say anything. I
+have three cases of diabolical cruelty against him, besides stealing
+and law-breaking generally."
+
+Stanley watched him with eyes of admiration. To him the man's strength
+was ever a source of delight, now that his unsociable ways were no
+longer a puzzle.
+
+"We had a scientific man here yesterday to view the ruins," he
+continued, as Carew still lingered while he lit his pipe. "He has a
+remarkable theory for divining corpses by the gold ornaments buried on
+them. He thinks there are probably several in the temple, deeper than
+anyone has yet dug."
+
+Carew did not look very interested. His eyes had still the
+retrospective, pained expression that had come into them instantly,
+when he grasped the import of Stanley's sad tidings.
+
+"Where did he come from?" he asked, half turning away.
+
+"I don't know. He was only here for a few hours. We gave him some tea,
+and he left us some interesting papers, if you would care to have
+them. He seemed rather interested in you!..." and Stanley looked
+keenly into his face.
+
+"In what way?" Carew pulled hard at his beloved pipe and spoke with
+studied carelessness.
+
+"Your name cropped up about something, and he wanted to know if you
+were a Fourtenay-Carew."
+
+The officer started very slightly, but made no comment, and Stanley
+added, "He particularly wanted to know if you were a Devonshire man. I
+said you were."
+
+"I _was_ a Devonshire man," Carew corrected; "I _am_ a Rhodesian."
+
+Then he turned and with a short good night went back into his hut.
+
+The next morning, directly his official work was finished, he started
+to ride over to the mission station, where some far-off connections of
+his, William and Ailsa Grenville, found by chance in the wilderness,
+lived the simple life with a contentment that surprised all who beheld
+them.
+
+It was the first visit he had been able to pay for some weeks, and
+almost before he dismounted a woman stepped out from the large rustic
+building, with its thatched roof, and came towards him with eagerness
+and sorrow strangely blended in her eyes.
+
+"Ah, how long you have been coming! I have watched for you ever since
+we heard the sad news. Billy and I so wanted someone from _home_ to
+talk to."
+
+"I could not help it. I have been right away into the Ingigi district.
+How are you?"
+
+He did not give her his hand because the formalities had long been
+dropped between them, but as he walked beside her to the building his
+face seemed a shade softer.
+
+"We are both well. We are splendid. But we have felt very cut off
+these two weeks. England seemed so terribly far away. The evening we
+heard, Billy and I just sat hand in hand under the stars, dabbing the
+tears away. Don't smile, it was the only thing to do, and we longed so
+to be in London." As she talked she passed into the cool shade of the
+hut and busied herself preparing a lemon squash for him, not needing
+to ask if it were his choice. "We were miserable for days. I'm sure
+all of you were too."
+
+"I did not hear until I came back yesterday."
+
+"Ah ... I was afraid so. Of course, that made it worse."
+
+She brought him the lemon squash and stood leaning against the table
+beside him while he drank it, with the gladness of seeing him still in
+her eyes, though they were grave now with sympathy. It was evident
+their friendship had in it a wide understanding.
+
+She was silent a few moments, and then added simply, "I suppose you
+knew him personally?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+He did not tell her more, and she did not ask him. There was one
+subject that no deepening of friendship had ever made it possible to
+approach, and that was the story of his past. She knew only, from her
+husband, who was extremely vague on the subject, that he had once held
+a commission in the Blues, and been, not only a well-known society
+man, but the heir of a rich old uncle. And then suddenly something had
+happened, and his brother became the heir, and England had known him
+no more. Even William Grenville himself was in the dark as to the
+cause of the lost inheritance, as he had been abroad at the time, and
+had never had much intercourse with Carew's branch of the family. He
+was supposed to be in disgrace himself, because his soul was too
+honest to allow him to continue in a comfortable country living, after
+his convictions lost faith in the tenets of the English Church; but if
+it were so it never troubled him, and he loved his wilderness home
+dearly. Ailsa had her story also, but she too, it was evident, had
+found a solution that held satisfaction.
+
+After giving Carew his drink she moved away and picked up some
+needlework, seating herself near the open door, with sympathy in her
+face and in her silence.
+
+"We had a splendid service," she told him. "We did all we possibly
+could to show our loyalty. But how little it seemed! The far countries
+hurt at a time like this."
+
+He assented in silence, looking out over the lovely landscape as if it
+were a sight his soul loved, and she bent lower over her needlework.
+
+"Tell me about your Ingigi trip, unless you would rather wait for
+Billy. He will be in directly, and he will want to hear everything."
+
+He glanced towards her a moment, noting half indifferently that she
+looked unusually pretty to-day; but he only said a few generalities
+about his work, with his eyes again on the landscape. Ailsa sewed on,
+not in the least dismayed. It was good enough to have him there,
+whether he were communicative or not, and she was glad she chanced to
+have put on her new, pretty dress from home. For, of course, all women
+liked to look fair in the eyes of Peter Carew, quite indifferent to
+the fact that in all probability he scarcely saw them.
+
+But Ailsa Grenville could not have looked other than fair to any man,
+though to some she looked so much more besides. Her frank grey eyes,
+full of expression, her low, broad forehead and chestnut hair, were so
+full of beauty that they seemed to counteract entirely a nose that was
+a little too small and a mouth a little too large. One felt that
+nature had intended to make her a beautiful woman, and then changed
+her mind and allowed a flaw in her beauty, possibly to give her more
+character and an attraction of a different order. To the lonely men
+within reach of the mission station she was goddess and angel
+combined, and knowing it was one of the joys of her uneventful life.
+
+Thus they sat on together in the doorway, speaking quietly of the loss
+they had chosen to make their own, in an intimate sense perhaps only
+possible to far-off Empire-builders. And while they talked the
+missionary himself appeared, and all his face lit up when he saw
+Carew.
+
+"By Jove! I'm glad to see you," he exclaimed, tossing his khaki helmet
+carelessly aside. "We hoped you would come soon. Ailsa was sure you
+would."
+
+He sat on the edge of the table, swinging one putteed leg, a fine,
+athletic, big fellow, with a khaki shirt open at the throat, and
+sleeves rolled up above his elbows, and a brown attractive face with
+honest eyes. "How are the others?... Going strong?... We had them all
+here for our funeral service: the Macaulays, White, Richards, Henley,
+the three prospectors out Chini way, everyone within reach. And
+afterwards we gave them a feed. A homely one, with cakes and jam, as
+Englishy as possible. By gad, Carew! how a loss like this makes you
+think of home and country; and how we Britishers in the colonies ought
+to hang together through thick and thin! If we all felt it more, it
+would be a great thing for the dear old Mother Country. She'll want
+her boys in the colonies to stand by her stoutly, if she is to go on
+holding her own, I'm thinking."
+
+He got up and strode about the hut, his hands in his pockets and his
+pipe in his mouth. "Hang it all!... since I came out here to try and
+do a little useful development among the blacks, I've grown more and
+more to feel that helping the settlers to live clean lives and pull
+together and care about the Old Country, is every bit as important, in
+fact far more so, than teaching Christianity to the heathen."
+
+He stood in the doorway, blocking the view with his immense bulk, a
+rarely attractive man, with boyish enthusiasm in his eyes, and
+fearless honesty in his whole aspect, and just that touch of the
+fanatic which helped him to soar above disappointments and keep his
+charming wife devoted and content with him out there in the
+wilderness.
+
+From his post in the doorway he swung round suddenly, and was about to
+launch upon one of his enthusiastic tirades on the natives or settlers
+or both, when Ailsa stayed him lightly, declaring that lunch was
+ready, and they all proceeded to the dining-room hut.
+
+Afterwards they lazed in a wide verandah, commanding one of the
+loveliest views in Rhodesia, and talked a little of the West Country,
+because the ache was still with each one to be at home at that sad
+time.
+
+When Carew, later, prepared to depart homewards, she gave a large plum
+cake carefully into the hands of his black soldier-servant, telling
+him, Carew, that it was for The Kid and Patrick, and not to let The
+Kid overeat himself, and tell him to come over and see her at once.
+
+"He is rather interested in the subject of corpses just now," Carew
+said, with something approaching a gleam in his eye, "but I don't
+encourage him, because, for two pins, I believe he would dig up the
+entire temple, if the spirit took him."
+
+"The scoundrel!..." with an affectionate laugh. "Tell him if he dares
+to touch one stone of my temple he shall never, never have a cake
+again."
+
+"Oh, I only surmise it from the expression in his eyes when he told
+me, rather wistfully, that some scientific visitor had described to
+him how the corpses, if found, would certainly be decked with valuable
+gold ornaments."
+
+Then he mounted and saluted her gravely as he rode away.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+TWO HEIRESSES
+
+
+In a Piccadilly mansion, about the same time that Major Carew returned
+from his long trek, two girls sat in a wide window-seat and looked
+somewhat disconsolately across the fresh spring green of the park.
+Both were the daughters of South African millionaires. Both were
+motherless, and one an orphan. They were also cousins, and the same
+roof usually was their home.
+
+Two months previously the father of the one and guardian of the other
+had brought them to England, that they might duly "come out" the
+ensuing season in London society. Their presentation at Court had
+taken place in April, followed by a splendid ball at the stately
+mansion taken for their stay, and both girls had looked eagerly
+forward to the festivities ahead.
+
+And now, a few weeks later, they found themselves suddenly dressed in
+black, with nearly all the expected gaieties cancelled, and this
+overshadowing loss weighing upon their spirits. Added to this the
+death of first one mother and then the other, followed by a period of
+ill-health to the guardian and father, had postponed that "coming out"
+long past the ordinary age for such functions; Diana, the orphan,
+being now twenty-two, and Meryl two years older.
+
+Meryl was the graver of the two; graver indeed than is at all usual at
+twenty-four, but with a quiet fund of humour and a romantic
+dreaminess, and withal a certain elusive quality that made her always
+interesting, and pleasantly something of a mystery. Diana was a
+sparkling, practical, outspoken young woman, much adored of young men
+whom she treated with scant courtesy, and with a great deal of common
+sense in her pretty head. The girls' influence upon each other, which
+was cemented by a very deep affection, was wholly beneficial; for
+whereas Diana awakened Meryl from too much dreaminess, Meryl's quiet
+dignity had a softening effect upon Diana's too great exuberance of
+spirits and occasional boyish lack of refinement, which was more the
+result of a boisterous capacity for enjoyment than inbred.
+
+Meryl, as became the dreamer, had been profoundly touched by the event
+which had called forth that swift grief; and whereas Diana could not
+refrain from bemoaning all she must necessarily lose through the
+season of mourning, Meryl thought chiefly of how they could get away
+quickly into the country and replace the lost gaieties with quiet
+delight.
+
+She had already spoken to her father about her wish to leave town, but
+he had been much occupied of late, and not yet had time thoroughly to
+discuss the question. And meanwhile she and Diana waited a little
+disconsolately to see what the days brought forth. Diana was disposed
+for a trip to Switzerland, or Norway, or even Iceland, but she wanted
+to go in a party, and not just they two and a chaperon. Meryl was not
+enthusiastic and it nettled her a little, so that, on the wide
+window-seat, there was a cloud on her face as she drummed idly with
+her fingers and watched the traffic go by.
+
+"If you would only say what you _do_ want," she asserted impatiently,
+"instead of just mooning about and making no plans whatever."
+
+But the fact was, Meryl could not quite make up her mind what she did
+want. In some vague way a kind of upheaval had been taking place in
+her heart, and left her high and dry upon the rocks of uncertainty and
+dim dissatisfaction. New thoughts, new questions, new desires had
+risen in her during that sad month of May, and she felt as one seeking
+vainly she knew not what. She looked beyond the trees of the Green
+Park to the far skies with wistful eyes, and asked herself deep
+questions concerning many things, born of the thoughts that arose in
+her mind when she stood amid a people mourning tenderly a dearly loved
+sovereign, and beheld how in hearts all over the world he had won love
+and admiration, in that, to the best of his endeavour, he had
+splendidly fulfilled his high trust.
+
+And a high trust was hers. How could she not know it, when she was
+sole heiress to her father's millions; and yet, what was she doing,
+or preparing to do, in fulfilment of that trust? That it was no less
+so with Diana did not weigh with her. Diana was different. When she
+was allowed a free hand with her fortune she would buy yachts and
+houses and diamonds, and scatter it right and left, which was good in
+its way; but it would never satisfy her, Meryl, the visionary and
+dreamer, who looked with grave eyes to the far skies, and asked vague
+questions.
+
+Presently, with an impatient little kick at a footstool, Diana broke
+the silence. "_Do_ you know what you want? Have you any ideas at all,
+or are you just a blank?"
+
+Meryl smiled charmingly. "I'm not exactly a blank, but something of a
+confusion. I confess crowded Swiss hotels do not sound alluring. I
+like Iceland better, but it seems rather ... well ... purposeless."
+
+"And what in the world do you want it to be? Do you want to go a
+journey to convert heathen, or preach Christian Science, or explore
+untrodden country? If so, you had better take Aunt Emily and go alone.
+I'm hoping for a little life and amusement."
+
+"We always have that. I want something bigger for a change."
+
+"O, now you're getting to high altitudes. Meryl, do come down and be
+rational. I just feel as if I could shake you." She got up and roamed
+round the room, then returned to the window-seat and leaned out of the
+window watching some workmen who were painting the balcony below them.
+Meryl sat on silently, still seeking some sort of a solution to
+something she could not name.
+
+"There's such a good-looking workman," Diana remarked presently, "I'm
+sure he's an artist. I wish he would look up, but he is too shy."
+
+"Too wise, perhaps. Why are you sure he is an artist?"
+
+"O, well, because he looks like it. He has a Grecian head, and his
+hair curls adorably, and I'm certain his eyes are blue. He'll be just
+underneath the window soon, and if he doesn't look up then I shall
+drop something to make him."
+
+"Come away to lunch and don't be a goose. The gong sounded quite five
+minutes ago."
+
+Diana withdrew her head reluctantly.
+
+"Who wants to eat cutlets when they can watch a Grecian profile!"
+
+"Perhaps you would sooner drop one on his head to make him look up?"
+
+"I would; much sooner. Do you think they've brought their lunch with
+them, or shall we send them some?"
+
+"I expect they've got their dinners in red pocket-handkerchiefs,
+hidden away somewhere at the back."
+
+"Except my Greek"--with a little smile--"and I'm sure his is in a
+Liberty silk square."
+
+They sat down to lunch in the big, oppressive dining-room alone, as
+their chaperon, Aunt Emily, was laid up with a headache, and Mr. Henry
+Pym, Meryl's father, was usually in the City at midday. And after
+lunch, for the sake of something to do, they ordered the motor and
+drove out to Ranelagh to see the polo.
+
+Then came dinner, and with it in quiet, unsuspected guise the news
+that would presently change their lives. Henry Pym, a small, dark man,
+with the keen eyes and quiet manner that so often go with success,
+told them that because there would be practically no London season at
+all that year he had decided to go back to Africa, and he would take a
+country house for them anywhere they liked and leave them there for
+the summer with Aunt Emily.
+
+Aunt Emily nodded her head with an approving air. A quiet country
+house instead of a season's racketing was quite to her taste, and she
+felt dear Henry, as ever, was showing the marked common sense for
+which she humbly worshipped him afar off. Meryl looked at her father
+inquiringly and with a thoughtful air. Diana remarked, rather
+disgustedly, "O, uncle, what rot! Why should we be condemned to some
+dull little hole of an English village, just because there is to be no
+London season?"
+
+"My dear Diana," remonstrated the lady who was supposed to fill the
+post of mother and chaperon to both girls, and was therefore in duty
+bound to express disapproval of Diana's English, "you surely do not
+imagine your uncle admires that unladylike mode of speech!"
+
+"But he understands it," said the incorrigible, "and that is far more
+important."
+
+There was a decided gleam in the millionaire's eyes as he inquired,
+"And what do you want to do instead, Di?"
+
+"Oh, yacht, or travel, or go in an aeroplane, or anything. I simply
+can't sit down in an English village until further notice."
+
+Then Meryl spoke:
+
+"Why can't we go back with you to South Africa, father?"
+
+"Because I'm going to take a trip north. I'm going up to Rhodesia
+about some mining claims."
+
+"And couldn't we go there with you?"
+
+"Not very well. I'm not going to the towns, except for a day or two. I
+shall have to do a lot of trekking in the wild, outlying parts. You
+couldn't manage that."
+
+"Of course not," murmured Aunt Emily. "How dreadful that you should
+have to go, Henry! Why, there are lions and elephants and things, and
+the natives are savages; surely no mines are worth running such
+risks?"
+
+"Not quite as bad as all that, Emily, but hardly the place for you and
+the girls. Would you all like to go to Norway?"
+
+"And fish?..." from Diana, with a sudden light in her eyes.
+
+"You could have a yacht and take a party," he continued, "and come
+back when you are all tired of it. I'll ask Sir Robert to let me have
+the 'Skylark,' because his captain is so reliable. What do you say,
+Meryl?... Shall you like that?..."
+
+"I wish you could come," was her rather evasive answer, and she gazed
+at the table decorations as if pondering something in her mind.
+
+"Well, you can think it over," said the millionaire quietly, "and if
+there is something you would like better tell me." He was peeling a
+pear in a slow, methodical fashion, and his face quickly seemed to
+assume the expression of one whose thoughts were already elsewhere;
+but not before, with a quick, characteristic movement, he had glanced
+keenly and surreptitiously into Meryl's face and read her indecision.
+Something was on her mind. He knew it quite well; and his busy brain,
+under its mask of complacent thoughtfulness, probed into the question.
+
+Ever since the day of the King's funeral she had worn that thoughtful
+air and baffled him a little with her wistful indecision. And though
+he said nothing, he thought about it in his leisured moments; for
+dearer than all his wealth and his power and his success was his only
+child.
+
+That night, trying still to probe the unrest in her heart, Meryl
+stepped out on to their balcony and looked at the stars. Straight
+before her, outlined in a misty moonlight that was almost overpowered
+by the glare of the city's lights, were the tall towers of
+Westminster. Down below the traffic passed ceaselessly to and fro.
+From all sides came the mysterious hum of a great city's life. And as
+she leaned listening, and gazing at the far-off stars that seemed such
+mere pin-pricks above the glare, there came to her a thought of the
+majestic stars that hung over Africa and the majesty of silence upon
+the African veldt. And then gradually there stirred in her a warm
+remembrance of Africa, and of how she had always loved it, and a
+swift, unaccountable feeling of kinship with all the Britishers
+scattered far and wide who called some colony "home."
+
+True, she was English born and English educated; but so also was she
+South African, for quite half her life had been passed in
+Johannesburg, and it was there that her actual home existed. And so,
+by slow imperceptible degrees, out of nowhere and without explanation,
+crept into her mind the sudden realisation of Africa's claim upon her.
+She remembered that it was there her father had amassed his wealth.
+There had been won for her all the smooth, luxurious ways of her life;
+and, but a step further, as it were, stood out the answer to her
+questioning doubts. Whatever trust is yours in the future, whatever
+life asks of you in return for all she has given, it must be for
+Africa. Her heart warmed and swelled swiftly, and her eyes glowed in
+the misty darkness. She felt in her blood that Africa was calling.
+Africa, so sunny, so gay, so breezy, so lovable, and withal with so
+great a need of strong women as well as strong men, to help her to win
+through to the great future that should be hers.
+
+She leaned lower, and it was as though her gaze looked beyond the
+darkness to some unseen horizon. She saw the veldt with its far blue
+mountains, that called to men again and again with such resolute
+calling. Overhead, in her fancy, she saw the luminous Southern Cross.
+All around were the wide, boundless horizons, the swift, scented
+winds. In her spirit she was back again in the sun-soaked land,
+breathing the sun-soaked atmosphere, looking far to the "never, never"
+country that called from the clear distance.
+
+And it was her Africa,--hers, hers, hers.
+
+What did she want with an English village? What to her was a yachting
+cruise in Norway? These might be won some day as restful leisure hours
+in a strenuous life; but without the just winning, what had they to do
+with her?
+
+Africa needed strong women as well as strong men; and, strong or weak,
+Africa was calling--calling.
+
+She had come to London for the season because it was what all the
+other rich men's daughters did; but was she honestly grieved that
+their plans had all to be changed? Surely, now she was free, she could
+find something to do that would fill her hours afterward with gladder
+remembrance than just a season's triumphs.
+
+But what?...
+
+She leaned on in the starlight, chin sunk in hands, thinking,
+dreaming.
+
+And so presently, still by those imperceptible degrees, through which
+works the hand of Fate, her thoughts came at last to the dinner-table
+conversation.
+
+As in a flash, she remembered Rhodesia; and, remembering, it was as
+though the romance of the land reached out strong arms to enfold her.
+
+Here in very truth was a young country, offering a wide field to all
+who sought work, adventure, achievement. Her thoughts ran on
+exultantly. She was rich, she was free, she was young, she was strong;
+why dawdle and dream among the fiords of Norway? Why scale Swiss
+mountains? Let that come later, when she had earned a playtime. In the
+first vigorous years of her youth, let her go out to the sunny land
+that was her home and give it of her best. Let her go north and see a
+young country struggling towards fruition, and perhaps win the joy
+and privilege, generally reserved for men, of helping it forward. All
+in a moment her decision was made. If she could anyhow win her
+father's consent, she would go with him on his trip to Rhodesia.
+
+She stood up, tall and slim, and the subdued light glowed more deeply
+in her eyes. The eyes of the visionary, who sees great things and
+dreams great dreams, and, alas! how often, breaks a heart that of its
+very fineness could only do or die.
+
+Yet better, how much better, to hope and dare and die upon the
+heights, than linger content in the warm, snug valley of little joys
+and little sorrows!
+
+And then across her dreams broke the sound of a sleepy voice from the
+room behind her.
+
+"If you stay out there any longer, Meryl, you will grow wings and fly
+away. Do be rational enough to come in and go to bed."
+
+"I thought you were asleep, Di. I'm sure I haven't been keeping you
+awake."
+
+"No, but you are doing so now; and, besides, it's so imbecile to stand
+out there and stare at the stars."
+
+"I've been thinking hard, Di." She came in and sat on the little gilt
+bedstead, with its dainty hangings, and looked lovingly at the pretty
+head on the lace-decked pillow.
+
+"That's nothing new. If you _hadn't_ been thinking hard it would be
+worth while mentioning it," and there was half a pout and half a smile
+on the winsome mouth.
+
+"But there was more object than usual to-night. Listen. If I persuade
+father to take me up to Rhodesia with him, will you come too?..."
+
+"O, golly!... to be eaten by lions, and tigers, and savages, and
+elephants, and things!..."
+
+"Well, there wouldn't be much apiece if they all had a bite."
+
+Diana sat up and shook the hair out of her eyes, looking very much
+like a small imp of ten, instead of a finished young lady of
+twenty-two. "There's just a chance they would eat Aunt Emily first,"
+said she, "and as that is a consummation devoutly to be wished, I
+think we'll go...."
+
+They both laughed, but Meryl soon grew serious again. "I'm awfully in
+earnest, Di. Who cares about Norway when they might go to Rhodesia!
+You'll perhaps fall overboard and be eaten by commonplace fishes if
+you go there."
+
+"What has given you the notion, Meryl? I thought only miners and
+farmers went to Rhodesia, except a few tourists to the Victoria Falls.
+Do you think there is anything to eat there except locusts and wild
+honey?"
+
+"Let's go and see. I ... I ... want to do some Empire work or
+something. I can't explain. But we've just got into such a maze of
+petty happenings and petty pleasures, and since the King died ..."
+
+"Of course!... you've been miles away ever since, dreaming and
+romancing and imperialising. But it won't last, and when you've landed
+us all high and dry in some Rhodesian wilderness we shall just hate
+each other and everything else, and be ready to murder you."
+
+"Nonsense. We shall explore all round, and study the natives and the
+animals, and make friends with the settlers; and it will all be just
+new and big and teeming with interest."
+
+"Not if you are chewing the mule harness, because you've had nothing
+to eat for days."
+
+"O yes, even that; why not?... We should love it all when we came
+safely back."
+
+"Well, I'll have the bridle, then. It won't, perhaps, be quite so
+greasy."
+
+"Now you're disgusting. Just put your head back on the pillow, and
+register a vow to see me through this craze, if you like to call it
+so, and I'll love you for ever. I like to think of it as Empire work.
+Come and do a little Empire work too."
+
+"But I don't want to. I'm bored to tears with the Empire. We hear a
+great deal too much of it nowadays; that and Standard Bread. I don't
+know which is the worst"--making a wry face--"and, besides, if you
+really want to do Empire work, your plain duty is to marry Dutch
+Willie and cement the races."
+
+A cloud flitted for a moment across Meryl's fair face, which Diana was
+quick to see, and she snoozled down into her cosy bed with a little
+chuckle.
+
+"Got you there, my fair Imperialist! Dutch Willie, or let us call him
+William van Hert, will drop this wild anti-British policy of his like
+a hot brick, if you will only make up your mind to be Madam van Hert,
+and bless his hearth with a Dutch doll or two, having good English
+blood in their veins as well as eighteen-carat Dutch," and the
+chuckles grew more and more audible.
+
+But Meryl only got up slowly and moved away to her own little bed.
+
+"Well, I shall ask father to-morrow, and if you won't come I shall try
+to make him take me without you. I think he will."
+
+"O, no he won't. If you are really quite obdurate, I shall do a little
+Imperial work also. I shall come along to keep watch and ward, and see
+that you don't fail the Empire by losing your heart to some
+fascinating young Rhodesian settler and forget your own South Africa
+altogether. Dutch Willie is a lot the nicest Dutchman who ever
+belonged to that obtuse people, and I foresee it will be my lot to
+guide you to your high destiny on behalf of the two races."
+
+Meryl only smiled dreamily, as if she scarcely heard. Swiftly,
+mysteriously, unaccountably, as is her way, Rhodesia had caught her
+senses and filled all her horizon for the time being. She nestled down
+into her own pretty bed, with the unrest already fading from her eyes,
+and a new gladness in her heart, as of one renewed with a great
+purpose and comforted with a wide hope.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+THE RHODESIAN PROJECT
+
+
+Aunt Emily represented what Diana was pleased to call "the family
+skeleton in the flesh." She was Henry Pym's only sister, and there had
+been a time when she shared a pound a week with him in a tiny cottage
+in Cornwall, while he worked as a miner in order to teach himself all
+he could about mining. After that she had taken a situation as
+housekeeper, while he went out to South Africa to make his fortune.
+Later she had spent a year or two with him, sharing his struggles in
+the new country, and then he had married, and she was once more left
+to take care of herself; for at that stage Henry's finances would
+barely keep himself and his wife. Three years afterwards, when his
+genius for finance was bearing fruit, his wife died, and at
+twenty-seven he found himself a childless widower just becoming
+prosperous. He again offered his sister a home, but her recollections
+of Africa were none to draw her back thither, and she chose to
+continue life in the comfortable situation she had procured as
+companion to an invalid lady. So Henry devoted himself entirely to the
+science of money-making, and at thirty-five he was a rich man. He
+married a second time, choosing for his wife among the gentlest-born
+Johannesburg could offer, and winning the sweet woman who was Meryl's
+mother. About the same time his brother came out from England and
+joined him, and in fifteen years they were two of Johannesburg's
+wealthiest millionaires. A few years later both were widowers, and
+very shortly afterwards John Pym died, leaving his only daughter and
+all the wealth that would be hers to his brother's care. Thus the
+household became as we have seen it, for Henry, remembering gratefully
+how his sister had stood by him in his days of struggle, now insisted
+upon her sharing his luxurious homes and acting as chaperon to the
+two girls. That she was a little trying he knew perfectly, but his
+sense of fair play and kinship resolutely turned a deaf ear to the
+half-spoken pleas of the girls, that he would give her instead a cosy
+home of her own, and procure a younger and brighter chaperon for them;
+and she had now become a fixture.
+
+But what irritated Diana so was the fact that had the good lady
+consulted her own taste, she would infinitely have preferred the cosy,
+independent home; but just as Henry's sense of fair play offered her a
+place in his, so her sense of duty to the two motherless girls made
+her accept it in spite of her inclination.
+
+"If people would but consult their comfort instead of their duty,"
+quoth poor Diana, "how much nicer it would be all round! Uncle doesn't
+really want her here, and she doesn't really want to come, and we'd
+give our heads to be rid of her; but just because Old Man Duty loves
+to make people supremely uncomfortable, here we all are!" and her
+expressive gesture made further comment unnecessary.
+
+But, as a matter of fact, she made a very easy and good-natured
+chaperon, and it was only some of her irritating little ways that
+troubled them. Without being really deaf, she usually failed to hear
+any opening speech, and this Diana coped with very summarily. "Aunt
+Emily," she would begin. "Eh ... eh ... eh ... eh ... ah," and when
+Aunt Emily had duly enquired, "What did you say, my dear?" she would
+speak her sentence for the first time. Or, again, with reference to
+her propensity to get exceedingly worked up upon a subject of very
+little general interest, she would say, "The great point is, not to
+start her off, and not to give her a chance to start herself off. A
+little perspicacity will soon tell you what subject to nip in the bud,
+or when to talk as hard and fast as you can about something else."
+
+"And as for her mournfulness," declared the matter-of-fact young
+heiress, "well, that's genuinely funny. If I've got a bit of a hump
+myself, and I hear Aunt Emily, with a face of heroic resignation, say,
+'I can bear it,' I begin to feel quite chirpy at once."
+
+But when the Rhodesian project came seriously under discussion, they
+were all a good deal surprised to hear Aunt Emily take part in it as
+one who must inevitably be of the party. Henry Pym was a reserved,
+undemonstrative man, and when Meryl begged him to let them accompany
+him on his travels, though he said very little, he was secretly a good
+deal gratified and pleased. His own early hardships had taught him the
+inestimable value of learning self-dependence and plucky endurance,
+and it was not without some regret he viewed a future for the girls
+entirely of rose leaves. Yet how could it very well be otherwise?
+When, however, Meryl pleadingly asked him to take them to Rhodesia
+with him, he perceived that the trip might be beneficial in more ways
+than one.
+
+"You probably don't understand," he told her quietly, "that I am going
+on a business, prospecting trip. I am going right away from hotels and
+railways to see mines, and I don't intend to be bothered with anything
+elaborate in the way of an outfit. I suppose I shall take a tent, and
+travel in a travelling ambulance, but certainly nothing out of the way
+in food or equipment. You would have to do the same, and as you know
+absolutely nothing in the world about 'roughing it,' you probably
+wouldn't like it at all."
+
+"But that is just what we should like," Meryl urged. "That is one
+reason why we want to come."
+
+They were sitting in the smoke-room with him, as was often their habit
+in the evening, preferring it, as he did, to the stately drawing-room.
+
+Meryl sat on a footstool near him, watching his face anxiously, while
+Diana, with an open book on her knee, listened from the depths of an
+enormous arm-chair in which she had curled herself.
+
+"Shouldn't we ever need to wash?" she asked suddenly, in a sprightly
+voice that set them all laughing.
+
+"Well, it's a hot country, you know," said her uncle, "but it might be
+more or less optional."
+
+"Scrumptious!" and Diana snoozled lower into her chair.
+
+"Uncouth," remarked Aunt Emily, disapprovingly.
+
+"Or do you mean unclean?" enquired the sinner.
+
+"It is quite the maddest idea I ever heard of." Ignoring her, and
+growing more and more mournful, the poor lady heaved a deep sigh.
+
+"But need you be bothered with us?" enquired Meryl, diplomatically.
+"Wouldn't you rather have a nice quiet summer in England?"
+
+"And let you go alone?... How could I?... Your father will be much
+engaged with his business, and it would be most unseemly for two girls
+of your age to be left so much alone. I believe it is a dreadful
+country, but if you can face it, I think I can find the courage to
+come with you."
+
+"Think you can bear it, aunty?..." chirped the voice from the
+arm-chair, and Meryl frowned in a little aside at the snoozler.
+
+"If they decide to come at all, they would be all right with me out on
+the veldt," put in Mr. Pym. "If they are prepared to eat 'bully beef'
+and probably do their own washing-up."
+
+"How horrible!..." from the arm-chair. "It sounds worse than chewing
+mule harness."
+
+"What do you mean, Diana?" her aunt asked, nervously.
+
+"Oh, didn't you know there was nourishment in mule harness?... It's
+simply splendid stuff when you've had nothing else for days."
+
+The poor lady shuddered, and her brother chuckled, but Meryl
+interposed with, "Don't listen to her, Aunt Emily. It isn't likely we
+shall ever have had nothing for days."
+
+"I once heard of a man ..." began the spinster, putting down her work,
+and raising her head with the air they all knew so well, denoting a
+long rigmarole about some exceedingly uninteresting person, and Diana
+immediately chimed in with, "Shall you wear a knickerbocker suit,
+aunty, or just a commonplace divided skirt?"
+
+"Neither will be in the least necessary," was the decided answer. "I
+have met people from Rhodesia, and they dress quite ordinarily."
+
+"Oh, that's when they're in another country," insisted the
+incorrigible. "Up there you simply must wear knickers, or a divided
+skirt; it's ... it's ... such a high altitude ... and so ...
+windy!..."
+
+"Diana, be quiet," interrupted Meryl, now sitting on the arm of her
+father's chair. "If you don't mind we shall leave you behind."
+
+"Well, I don't know that I particularly want to go. It doesn't sound
+very inviting except about the washing."
+
+"I think you had all better take a week to decide in," said Henry Pym,
+finally. "I won't say anything about the yacht at present, and you can
+change your minds and have it if you like. And if your aunt chooses to
+stay quietly in England, I'll take a house for her anywhere she likes,
+and I'll look after you both myself. You can take care of each other
+when I have to be absent for a day."
+
+"Would you like us to go?" asked Diana, screwing her head round
+impishly. "Or are we going to be a ... a ... frightful nuisance?"
+
+"I'd like you to come, if you can make up your minds thoroughly to
+take the rough and the smooth together, and make the best of it. I
+think it will be an experience for you, and a wholesome change from
+too much luxury. But mind"--and his strong, dark face looked very
+determined--"I want no grumbling and no fretfulness. If you think
+you've any real, genuine pioneer spirit in you, _come_. If you're in
+doubt about it, stay behind, and go to Norway and have your gaiety."
+
+"I don't think I've very much," said Diana, "but Meryl has enough for
+two, I'm sure; and for the rest, I never grumble, and I'm only peevish
+with very young men. That, of course, I might work off on the
+niggers."
+
+"Has Meryl a lot of pioneer spirit?" asked her father, watching her
+with quiet, affectionate eyes.
+
+"Stacks of it. She wants to become an Empire-builder. I don't. I'm
+bored with the Empire. But I don't mind sampling just one dive into
+the wilderness, to see how I like primitive conditions. I don't know
+what Aunt Emily wants with the wilderness though, unless she has a
+secret fancy for niggers!..."
+
+"I think that is a little coarse of you, Diana. I have no fancy either
+for a wilderness or niggers; but if either you or Meryl were ill, or
+anything happened to you, I should never forgive myself had I
+remained comfortably at home."
+
+"Nothing will happen to us, aunty. I think you are rather unwise to
+think of coming," said Meryl.
+
+"If you go, I shall come as far as Bulawayo anyhow. Then I shall at
+least be within reach."
+
+"Well, think it over for a week," said Henry Pym again, getting up and
+moving towards his writing-table. "I don't like hurried decisions at
+any time. If you like to come and take pot-luck with me I shall be
+glad to have your company, but do not let that influence you. Come for
+your own sakes, and prepared for anything, or remain behind."
+
+They understood that he wished to be left to do some reading or
+writing, and after kissing him good night, went upstairs to their
+room.
+
+But Meryl's eyes had already a new glow of hopeful anticipation, and
+it was easy to see she did not intend to waste much time in making up
+a mind already entirely decided.
+
+Diana found her a little irritating.
+
+"Really, Meryl!" she said, "you look as ridiculously pleased as a cat
+with kittens. You are quite the most unaccountable creature in the
+world. What, in the name of fortune, _is_ the good of going to
+Rhodesia? Frankly, I'd rather stay in England."
+
+But Meryl only smiled happily, and made no comment.
+
+"Oh, put the light out," snapped Diana. "I really can't stand that
+superior, complacent air of yours any longer."
+
+For answer the elder girl crossed the room and gave her a hug.
+
+"Don't be cross, Di. You know you'll love the atmosphere of adventure
+when you are fairly started. Anyone can go to Norway."
+
+"Adventure! Stuff! Heat and flies and sand, that's all we're in for;
+and uncle in a prosaic, 'I told you so' mood."
+
+"We may see lions when we are trekking."
+
+Diana put her head on one side, like a small, bright-eyed bird. "We
+can see those in the Zoo, beloved."
+
+"Well, and you can see Norway on a cinematograph."
+
+Diana turned away with a low laugh.
+
+"Clean bowled. Good for you, O wise Hypatia! Well, we'll go to this
+heathen land and be horribly uncomfortable for a time, and then we'll
+come back and make things hum in London as they never hummed before.
+Where is Jeanne, I wonder? If I've got to do my own hair for two solid
+months I'll never touch a wisp of it until we go," and she rang the
+bell peremptorily.
+
+Later, for a few moments, Meryl again stood out on the balcony,
+enjoying the June night, and as she looked at the stars she smiled
+softly. She was going back to Africa, after all--her Africa, and
+perhaps Life would give her something big to do yet.
+
+And half unconsciously, though with a sense of pleasurable possession,
+she stood with her eyes to the south.
+
+And away in a distant land, on a high hill, strewn with ruins of an
+ancient, mysterious race, a man stood with his eyes to the north.
+
+A taciturn, difficult, unaccountable man, who baffled the people that
+would fain be friendly with him, and chilled any who showed him
+warmth, and yet was invariably liked and trusted by all who had the
+perspicacity to see beyond the rigid exterior.
+
+Even to-day, though he was mourning his sovereign, he had shown no
+softening of grief to those who beheld him. Rather, if anything, he
+had been more silent, more taciturn, more aloof than ever.
+
+Yet the enfolding night and the quiet stars saw what none others saw.
+They saw the ache in the steady eyes, the compression as of pain on
+the resolute lips, the swift, unusual hunger, sternly suppressed, for
+something that had once been in some old life and was now for ever
+ended.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+WILLIAM VAN HERT
+
+
+They, that is, the Pyms, stayed in Johannesburg before they started on
+their travels. Mr. Pym had built for himself a charming house in the
+Sachsenwald neighbourhood, architectured, of course, by Mr. Herbert
+Baker, and having a lovely view to far blue hills.
+
+Few people who have never seen Johannesburg have the smallest
+conception of the charm of its best suburbs, with their wonderful far
+vistas to a dream country of blue mountains on the horizon. To most it
+suggests little beyond dump-heaps of white powdered quartz, tall
+machinery, tall chimneys, with a town of tramways and offices and
+wealthy people all struggling together for more wealth.
+
+Yet in a few minutes one may leave all this behind, and drive along
+tree-lined roads and avenues to where, probably amidst swaying firs, a
+"stately home" of South Africa is picturesquely standing.
+
+Mr. Pym's house was not of the largest, for he had never been
+ostentatious of his wealth, and much of it was represented by large
+tracts of land, where he generously experimented for the benefit of
+the country. As with several rich South Africans, he had his stud farm
+and his agricultural farm; and both were kept up to a very high
+standard, without any particular consideration for profit and loss.
+But his house in the Sachsenwald neighbourhood had more of charm and
+comfort in it than display. The rooms were very high and airy and well
+ventilated, with artistic colour effects which the girls had achieved,
+and something of an Italian air about it.
+
+Along one side, widening into an embrasure at the middle, where doors
+from the drawing-room and dining-room stood open to it, ran a broad
+tessellated terrace; and from the terrace one looked out over a
+lovely garden, gorgeous with the flaming flowers of South Africa, yet
+softened by velvety turf such as is seldom seen "over there," and can
+only be attained by much consistent care and attention.
+
+It was here the girls loved best to sit: Diana because the prospect
+was fresh and breezy and wide, and, true to her namesake, she loved
+the smell of the firs and the earth; Meryl because of those far blue
+hills which made so fitting a background to the dreamland thoughts
+that filled her mind; and, moreover, Aunt Emily did not particularly
+love light and air, so she usually remained in her own sanctum, and
+Diana was able to enjoy, not one cigarette, but two or three, after
+each meal without the tiresome accompaniment of a disapproving eye.
+
+They reached Johannesburg in the latter half of July, and those people
+who had not already fled from the high winds and driving dust were
+hurriedly preparing to do so. In consequence, few friends were there
+to welcome them on their return, and their plans proceeded apace.
+Diana had a smart khaki knickerbocker suit made, and a wonderful
+broad-brimmed hat with a long feather to go with it. When they
+laughingly told her she was not journeying to an uncivilised country,
+and could not possibly wear such a garb in modern Rhodesia, she merely
+asserted she was going into the wilderness to please them, and in
+return they must put up with her in any sort of garb she chose. In the
+end Meryl was persuaded to have a knickerbocker garb also, though she
+insisted that she would never wear it. Aunt Emily bought yards and
+yards of green and blue muslin, in which she proposed to tie up her
+head. "You must have a particularly ugly helmet, and a pair of smoked
+spectacles, and a butterfly-net as well," said Diana, "and then you
+will look as if you belonged to the British Association."
+
+Her uncle, sitting back silently in his big arm-chair, with the quiet
+twinkle in his keen eyes, remarked, "And you will look like the
+principal boy at a pantomime."
+
+"How heavenly!..." said outspoken Diana, and Aunt Emily raised her
+hands in horror.
+
+It was on one of the last evenings before their final departure that
+William van Hert came from a quiet sea-side place above Durban to see
+them. He was taking a long rest there, after a strenuous parliamentary
+campaign, and only discovered through a belated newspaper that they
+had returned from England, and were contemplating a journey north. He
+immediately took a day's road journey to the nearest railway and
+departed for Johannesburg.
+
+Diana saw him arrive, and executed a remarkable spring into the air,
+finished off with a little kick. "Oh, golly!..." she breathed. "Here's
+Dutch Willy come flying to the arms of his ladylove!"
+
+Meryl looked up with swift, questioning eyes.
+
+"Impossible!... He is down at M'genda."
+
+"A little bird whispered, 'She, the fair one of many millions, has
+returned,' and straightway the thousand white arms of M'genda failed
+to hold him."
+
+"Don't be spiteful, Di. Mr. van Hert cares nothing for anyone's
+millions. You know it well."
+
+"I do; and for that reason he should be kept in a glass case. Still,
+he cares for a fair Englishwoman who has been--well, kind to him."
+
+"He is interesting. Was there any special kindness in letting him know
+that I had the perspicacity to see it?" And they went downstairs
+together to receive him.
+
+William van Hert was at that time one of the most disliked, one of the
+most attractive, and one of the most disturbing men in South Africa.
+Gifted with brains and polish, he was yet, at present, marred by
+bigotry, narrowness of vision, and an unreasonable antipathy to the
+advance of English ways and customs. Furthermore, having obtained for
+himself a considerable following, he was, unfortunately, powerful.
+When genuine efforts were being made to bury the hatchet over the
+racial question, this man had more than once dug it up again; but it
+was not entirely clear at present whether he was actuated by motives
+of misguided patriotism, or whether, like far greater men, he only
+wanted to make himself thoroughly heard in the world first, and when
+that object was satisfactorily attained, he would modify his tendency
+to rabid policies and prove himself a reliable statesman. In the
+meantime he was dangerous.
+
+In England there were many who quite seriously believed the racial
+feud was over. There were others who knew that it was still
+exceedingly bitter. There were others again who said very little, and
+perhaps professed to know very little, but in the quietness of their
+own thoughts pondered deeply and patriotically how a real and sincere
+union, and not a merely public newspaper one, was to be wrought
+between two fine races, so that in true harmony they might bring a
+country of great promise to its day of fulfilment. The men who saw any
+solution in making both languages compulsory were not men of true
+insight; neither were those who retrenched Englishmen in one
+direction, and created new posts for Dutchmen in others. One could but
+suppose these men were content to be patriots, not in a big sense to
+the whole country, but in a limited one to their own countrymen. To be
+patriots of South Africa herself, in her widest sense, seemed too much
+to ask of them. Yet, because of the fine qualities many of these men
+possessed, one could but hope that ere long what was good for South
+Africa would be good for each individual, whether in private life he
+called himself English or Dutch.
+
+That William van Hert was ever a welcome guest in the Pyms' household
+showed that he had many excellent qualities besides his undisputed
+personal attractiveness to counterbalance his obstinate bigotry.
+Otherwise Mr. Pym would not have shown him the friendliness he did;
+for in his quiet way Henry Pym possessed greatness, and everyone
+throughout the land knew that he was of those resolute, reliable few
+who would let all their wealth go before they would pander to any
+government or any party to save it. Meryl talked to him because she
+perceived there was a rough sincerity in the man underneath his
+bigotry, and hoped because he was powerful he would presently expand.
+
+Diana alone crossed swords with him, and though perhaps he did not
+know it, it was no small thing that she thought it worth while.
+
+He stayed to dine with them in a simple, homely manner, and his
+conversation at the table was sparkling and vivacious. He told them
+some excellent stories, concluding with one in very broad Dutch that
+they had great difficulty in following. And then Diana opened fire.
+
+"Such a monstrous, face-distorting language," she remarked coolly. "I
+wonder you don't forbid its use instead of urging it."
+
+The gleam came quickly to her uncle's eye, though he appeared to take
+no heed. It was left to Meryl to frown cautiously, and shake a wise
+head.
+
+"Don't frown at me, Meryl," said the incorrigible. "It's a hideous
+tongue, and he knows it, and what's the good of pretending anything
+else? I don't hold with pretence in anything."
+
+"It is the tongue of my country," van Hert told her, more amused than
+annoyed. "Every true patriot loves his mother tongue."
+
+"O, nonsense!" with a charming insolence. "Meryl and I both have Norse
+blood in us. If you go far enough back we probably are Norse. But
+where would be the sense in our professing to love our country by
+talking her tongue, when it served every reasonable purpose in the
+world better to talk English? You're so one idea'd, you Dutch folk, at
+least some of you," pointedly. "The language and the Bible and your
+early-morning coffee!"
+
+They could not help laughing at her, but van Hert indignantly
+repudiated her charge.
+
+"O well!..." she continued, airily. "You know perfectly well you do
+make a fetish of the Language Question; and that your back-veldt
+followers believe the Bible was written in Dutch for the Dutch race
+alone; and that you start having coffee at daybreak, with relays up to
+breakfast-time. And you don't expect your natives or your women to
+possess such a thing as an individual will. That is a luxury for the
+strong sex only!... It all means just one thing. Out in the back veldt
+you are years and years and years, positive, æons, behind the times;
+and you'd sooner represent a big dam to the progress of the world than
+yield one little silly, rotten cotton prejudice to help it forward. So
+there!..." And having delivered herself of this piece of oration Diana
+got up, pushed her chair back with a jerk, and finished, "I'm going
+out on the terrace. When I think of your back-veldters, and your
+back-veldt policy of suppressing all individualism and all advance, I
+need the company of a few worlds and solar systems to regain my
+equilibrium. No, don't expostulate," as he rose in his eagerness to
+confront her. "I seldom argue. It is not worth while. I merely
+'express an opinion,' having the good fortune to belong to a race in
+which women are permitted such an indulgence," and she threw a
+laughing glance back at him from the window before she stepped out.
+
+Meryl watched her with a swift look of deep affection in her eyes, and
+then glanced at her father. Henry Pym's face was expressionless, but
+his eyes seemed to reply to her unspoken question, and tell her that
+he, too, recognised a little more thoroughly that under the surface
+flippancy and light raillery there was depth. In the meantime, feeling
+she had not been quite fair to her opponent, to go off without
+allowing him to defend himself, he purposely discussed the language
+question a little more openly than was at all his wont with such
+prickly subjects, speaking a few quiet truths in a way that even a
+firebrand like van Hert could not possibly resent. When they joined
+Diana she was sitting on a table, swinging her feet, and singing a new
+music-hall ditty.
+
+"Touching that slander of yours," van Hert began, good-humouredly, for
+few could ever be seriously annoyed with Diana, "I should like to say
+..."
+
+"No, I forbid it," she interrupted. "Arguments bore me. Have you heard
+that little song before that I was singing? It's a ripping little
+ditty. Chain Aunt Emily to the drawing-room sofa and I'll sing it all
+through to you; but if she were to hear it she might faint, and that
+is so tiresome."
+
+He laughed, and sat on the table beside her, and the rabid sectarian
+politician, so given to raising storms and creating scenes in that
+most remarkable of parliaments, the South African Union Assembly,
+forgot his pet injustices and prejudices, and was quickly the
+versatile, virile, engaging social man. Meryl sat a little apart, with
+some dainty crochet-work in her delicate fingers, and though the
+visitor chatted with Diana, his eyes were almost always upon her.
+
+They had purposely put out the electric light after their coffee was
+served, preferring only the lights in the rooms behind them and the
+splendour of the night before. And in the dimness Meryl's fair skin
+gleamed unusually white beside her dusky hair, and the velvety,
+blue-grey eyes, when she looked up, had caught the dreaming darkness
+of the heavens. Only now and then she glanced round. Mostly she sat
+with her eyes on the shadowy darkness and her work in her lap. And the
+Dutchman, gazing, felt with a sort of fierce reluctance that there
+were no women in the world for calmness and strength quite like the
+Englishwomen, nor more delicately, entrancingly fair.
+
+Then, suddenly, Meryl heard her name and looked up.
+
+"Why in the world do you want to go to Rhodesia?" he had said; and
+Diana answered, "I don't know that we do want to go; but Meryl has
+suddenly developed into a violent Imperialist, and we go at her
+desire."
+
+"What to do?" and he asked the question a little sharply of the dark
+eyes now turned to theirs. Quite suddenly and unaccountably he
+resented their going; resented, at any rate, that she, Meryl, should
+go. There had been so much "Rhodesia" of late. Everyone seemed bitten
+with a kind of silly craze for the place. Now it was gold; now it was
+land; now it was union or no union; now it was annexation and "twenty
+pieces of silver"; such a lot of fuss about some square miles of
+wilderness, containing odd outcrops of gold-bearing reef.
+
+"There is nothing worth seeing in Rhodesia, except the Victoria
+Falls," he asserted; "and you can run up there and see all you want to
+and get back in a week!" And still he looked enquiringly at Meryl.
+
+"We want to see the people," she said, half turning. "The pioneers,
+who went first to investigate, the settlers who followed, the women
+who went forward with their husbands into the wilderness."
+
+He got off the table and came and leaned against a verandah-post
+beside her with folded arms, looking down. "But that is what you won't
+see; how should you? You will only see dusty, upstart towns, with
+horrible corrugated-iron hotels, where you will swelter in heat and
+flies and eat abominable tinned stuffs. It is a barren, comfortless
+land at present, with a possibility of being useful some day. They
+want money, energy, brains to develop it thoroughly; and they won't
+accept them when they are offered, because a few stiff-necked
+Englishmen happen to be in power. It is absurd to go there at present.
+You will only get typhoid and malaria, and be excruciatingly
+uncomfortable."
+
+"It sounds a pretty rotten sort of place! What do you and your
+colleagues want it for so badly, anyway?..." asked Diana, throwing her
+head back and narrowing her eyes as she looked at him with a shrewd
+questioning air.
+
+He coloured slightly under the sunburn on his cheeks. "We want a
+United South Africa. Why should one country stand aloof!"
+
+"Meinheer van Hert," said she, coming down from her table and taking a
+step forward to confront him, "for any man with your political views
+to talk about including Rhodesia in the Union solely for the sake of a
+United South Africa and for her own good, is the veriest cant. There's
+gold up there, and perhaps tin; and there's land for farming, and land
+for ranching, and hunting grounds, and a big river. In your United
+South Africa you want your people to be 'top dog' always, and as long
+as Rhodesia stands out there's a menace in the north. That's one
+reason why you want her! Rumour tells us there's a fine race of men up
+there, who don't mean to have any tongue but Cecil Rhodes's tongue
+taught in Cecil Rhodes's country, so it certainly is no place for you!
+You've got to learn more thoroughly what an Englishman means by
+'cricket' before your overtures will be considered; and we're all
+hoping you'll learn it quickly, because we want to be friends, good
+friends, just as soon as ever we can."
+
+He bit his lip and looked angry, but she was already laughing the
+moment's tension aside. "You didn't know I was a politician, did
+you?... As a matter of fact, I'm not!... I'm sick of the whole bag of
+tricks, and the Empire that fills Meryl with heaves and swells isn't
+half so much to me as winning a tennis tournament or a golf
+championship. But when you Hollanders are bursting with pride of place
+and achievement, and offering energy and brains to help Britishers
+along, I just feel as if you'd got to be told a few home-truths for
+your good. Now I'm going to liven the meeting with a little operatic
+music," and she tripped indoors to the piano. Van Hert shrugged his
+shoulders expressively, and then stood silently beside Meryl for some
+moments looking into the night. And as he stood he became conscious of
+a vague sort of dissatisfaction with himself. It was a sensation he
+knew only at rare moments, and those moments were chiefly at the Pyms'
+house. He admired the two cousins more than any women he knew; he
+admired Henry Pym; he loved the homyness of their household; and he
+had to remember that they were English. There must, of course, be many
+others like them. Were there many like them among his own countrymen?
+When Diana told him his people had yet to learn more thoroughly what
+was meant by "cricket" she had hit him hard. He would never have
+admitted it for one moment, but, nevertheless, when he was at the
+Pyms' house he _wondered_.... Densely, stubbornly patriotic to his own
+people and his own tongue he might be, but he had travelled enough to
+recognise certain traits in the English "old public-school boy" which
+it was good for a country there should be in her young men, and which
+were not noticeably present in his countrymen of the back veldt.
+
+Then his eyes rested on Meryl, and all his pulses throbbed with her
+nearness. He had known for many months now that he loved her, yet he
+had never actually told his love. At first there had been a
+disinclination to marry an Englishwoman because of the unbending,
+resolute policy he had identified himself with in the Union
+Parliament. No one spoke of anti-British and anti-Dutch nowadays. It
+was impolitic. But whereas certain men genuinely tried to ease the
+forced situation and meet with fairness and justice upon common
+ground, others still kept the flag of discord in their hands, though
+they hid it under the table, so to speak, and only produced it when,
+as they chose to assert, some pet foible of their countrymen was
+overruled or some indignity threatened.
+
+And of this section in Parliament van Hert was the leader. If he then
+married an Englishwoman, not even South African born, would he not be
+held up to ridicule by his colleagues? And then he would see Meryl
+again, and all his feelings would merge into one great longing for
+her; not for her money--she had been right when she said such a charge
+was unjust, indeed, he almost wished she had been poor--but her quiet
+dignity and calm strength and the exquisite fairness that held all his
+senses.
+
+And as he stood beside her now he hated more and more, without knowing
+why, that she should go to Rhodesia. Whatever he had said to the
+contrary, he knew that there was a romance about that far land that
+might fascinate her. He knew that up there there were some of the
+cream of England's men. "The second son's country," he had heard it
+called, and that meant very often the well-born, high-bred gentleman
+who was not afraid to work, who had never been pampered, and was full
+of the best sportsman's spirit. The man of all others to attract such
+a woman as Meryl Pym. The mere thought of it seemed to fill him with a
+growing alarm, and presently, almost before he knew it, he found
+himself pouring into her ears the story of his love.
+
+Meryl was startled and taken aback. She had known perhaps that he had
+a special liking for her; seen it often in his eyes when he gazed at
+her. But that he should speak now was a little sudden, and she wished
+Diana had not left them alone. She tried to meet his eyes, but
+something a little too ardent in them abashed her, and she looked out
+into the darkness, nervously twisting and untwisting the thread of her
+work.
+
+He saw that she was taken aback, and tried somewhat to curb the eager
+intensity that he felt was unnerving her.
+
+"You are going away up there, and I shall be very anxious about you,"
+he pleaded. "If you would only give me your promise before you go, and
+let me have the right to follow at once if you are ill or anything, it
+would make it so much easier."
+
+She stood up, agitated, still gazing wistfully into the night.
+
+"It is very sudden.... I did not know.... I hardly thought.... Have
+you ... have you ... remembered everything?..."
+
+"That you are English and I am Dutch?... What of it, Meryl?... I may
+call you Meryl, mayn't I?... Are we not both South Africans?..."
+
+He tried to take her hand and draw her to him, but she shrank away and
+he did not urge it.
+
+"Have you remembered it long enough?... Thought it out thoroughly?...
+It all seems somehow so sudden."
+
+"I have known long that I loved you. Does anything else really matter
+if you can love me in return?"
+
+"Ah!..." she breathed and stopped short.
+
+She had liked him long. She had always liked him. Away from his
+politics he was liked by most people. Huguenot blood was in his veins,
+and it showed itself in a French charm of manner that came to him
+naturally when he could get away from that bigoted, narrow obstinacy
+that marred him. She felt he was a man who might be led to many
+things, though driven to none. Because he attracted her she felt she
+half loved the Huguenot side of him already. If only the other side
+did not so insistently repel! Could it perhaps be overruled? Could she
+love him truly enough to hold his love for ever, and through it lead
+him to heights he might never even sight without her? Yet her eyes
+were wistful, gazing out there at the dreaming stars, and her face
+gleamed whiter and whiter.
+
+This was not the love that whispered to her when she looked to the far
+blue hills. This was not the consummation the high stars in far
+infinities told her vaguely might some day bless her life.
+
+And then he pleaded again in low-voiced eagerness, and in distress she
+turned to him. "I'm so sorry. I can't bear to think of perhaps making
+you unhappy. But ... but ... I'm afraid I don't love you in the way
+you want. I hadn't thought about it."
+
+"I have been too sudden." He drew himself up, and his eyes followed
+hers out to the darkness. And a touch of latent nobility seemed to
+come out in him; a quiet dignity like her own that appealed to her
+strongly. "I won't take your answer to-night. I shall come to you
+again when you come back. Perhaps then ... when you have thought
+about it ..." He broke off abruptly. "May I write to you?... Will you
+sometimes write to me?... Perhaps I could follow ..."
+
+They heard steps and voices coming towards them from the drawing-room
+where Diana had wearied of her operas, and in sudden haste he caught
+her hand and raised it to his lips.
+
+"I think I have to thank you for a good deal," he told her a trifle
+huskily. "Men of all nations are better for being admitted to the
+friendship of women like you. If there were anything I could do to
+serve you?..." and he waited for her to speak.
+
+"Serve South Africa," she breathed tensely. "I could ask no more of
+any man."
+
+His hand tightened upon hers.
+
+"Serve her with me. Together we could do so much."
+
+He saw her waver.
+
+"Let me tell you when I come back. Yes ... together we might do so
+much...."
+
+"When you come back ..." he said, and pressed her hand in
+understanding.
+
+Then Diana stepped out of the brightness of the drawing-room.
+
+"How can you two stay sleepily there, looking at the stars like two
+cats, when I am trying to lure you indoors with the latest comic-opera
+music! Meinheer van Hert, Mister Pym says, will you drink with
+him?..."
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE JOURNEY
+
+
+As he had three ladies with him Mr. Pym decided to take a private
+saloon-car, but no saloon in the world could prevent them being nearly
+smothered with the dust through Bechuanaland and Matabeleland in
+August, and while Aunt Emily rent the air with her complainings and
+sufferings, Diana chose to pass disparaging remarks upon the
+long-suffering British Empire, which she considered responsible for
+her journey north. Meryl said nothing, but there was often a wistful
+expression in her eyes as they sighted a lonely farmstead, or stood in
+a little wayside station with perhaps one corrugated-iron building,
+where some white-faced woman looked listlessly at the train. When she
+tried to voice her sympathy with their loneliness, however, Diana
+snapped her up a little impatiently.
+
+"My dear Meryl, you will look at things always in the sentimental
+light. A woman with a husband and child in this freshness and sunshine
+is at least better off than if she were in a city slum, and her man
+probably out of work, and her child dying for want of fresh air."
+
+"But that is not the only alternative!... And in any case to suffer in
+company is almost always easier than to suffer alone."
+
+"But they don't suffer, or, at any rate, they needn't necessarily.
+That is where you are so short-sighted. The average woman wants a
+husband and a child, and I don't see that it matters much whether she
+has them in the wilderness or in a city; the main thing is to have
+them."
+
+"Well, for my part," put in Aunt Emily in an aggrieved voice, "if I
+could only have a man in a cloud of dust I'd sooner never see the
+species again," which tickled Diana hugely and caused her to horrify
+her aunt by adding, "But what an advantage for him never to be able to
+see what you were doing! One could have such high jinks!..." Then,
+changing her voice subtly, she enquired, "Is it too much for you,
+aunty?... I mean the dust and the journey? because there must be such
+very much worse things ahead, and ..."
+
+"That will do, my dear. I can bear it," and her expression of mournful
+resignation tickled Diana more than ever. On the day before they
+reached Bulawayo, however, when hour after hour brought very little
+but scrub and sand, she and her aunt were very nervy and irritable,
+and only Meryl, with her dreams and ideals, continued quietly
+interested. When they reached Bulawayo matters did not improve much,
+because a sand-storm was blowing and it was almost impossible to go
+out. Mr. Pym packed them off to the Victoria Falls as soon as
+possible, and remained behind himself to complete the arrangements for
+his trip. On the further railway journey the dust was worse than ever,
+and utterly out of heart with everything Rhodesian, Aunt Emily retired
+to a suite of rooms at the hotel on their arrival and said she should
+stay there until the cool of the evening.
+
+So Diana and Meryl stood on Danger Point alone, when they took their
+first long look at the amazing cataract of waters. Neither spoke for
+many seconds, and then Diana breathed, "I'm glad Aunt Emily didn't
+come. She would have called it 'lovely' or 'sweet.'"
+
+Meryl laid a sympathetic hand on her arm and murmured, "And you?..."
+
+"One couldn't call it anything. It just _is_." And Meryl with her
+understanding heart pressed her arm in silence.
+
+They walked together through the rain forest, getting drenched with
+spray and hardly noticing it, until they came to the opening near the
+Devil's Cataract at the south end, and sat down to gaze at the
+splendour and wonder outspread.
+
+Then Diana spoke a little in something of an undertone, half to Meryl,
+half to the air:
+
+"A god did it. I don't know which--Jupiter or Pan, or Apollo or
+Hercules--and when they grew tired of the earth and went off to other
+planets, they just left it behind as a child might a castle he has
+built in the sand; and by and by some crabs crawled along and found
+the castle, and sat down and looked at it because it seemed to them
+so wonderful; and by and by some humans found the gods' waterfall,
+crawled up to it, and sat down and wondered. That's all there is to
+do. O, Meryl, I wish I were a goddess and not a worm. The waters are
+mocking us. Don't you hear them?... I just feel as if there were
+something about it all I can't bear."
+
+Meryl smiled a little tender smile. To her Diana in all her moods was
+adorable. In her shy, fierce, tense ones, as now, she was best of all.
+
+"What does it say to you, Meryl?..." the girl went on. "Do you feel as
+if you hated it and worshipped it both together? Hated its remote
+magnificence and devilish cruelty, and worshipped it because you
+couldn't help yourself, either from fear or wonder? I don't know
+which, only I feel ... I feel ... as if I ought to throw over
+something I loved as a sacrifice of propitiation. And it goes on just
+the same--think of it--year after year, century after century, just
+calmly spilling magnificence on the desert air! I believe I'm
+frightened, Meryl. Tell me what it all says to you."
+
+Meryl looked dreamily along the glistening mighty cascades, and then
+spoke softly:
+
+"I feel I'm in the presence of one of the world's biggest things, and
+it is inspiring. You know that sentence of James Lane Allen's, 'When
+one has heard the big things calling, how they call and call, day and
+night, day and night!...' Here they call louder, that is my chief
+feeling. I look at this great natural wonder, and whatever there is in
+me most akin to it swells upward. I feel I must do great things or die
+... be great or not at all. And while I feel like this there is a
+sense of kinship, as if some spirit of the waters understands."
+
+"Perhaps that is why I am afraid," breathed Diana. "I don't care about
+greatness. I don't want to be great. It all seems so unreal. I like
+the sunshine, and flowers, and trees, and birds, and four-footed
+things. I don't want to be bothered with my fellow-creatures; they are
+a nuisance. If they are in difficulties, and can't find a way out for
+themselves, they might just as well go under."
+
+"You heartless little heathen!" affectionately.
+
+The girl brightened suddenly. "Why! it understands, Meryl!... The
+Spirit of the Waters heard me, and now it is laughing. It is great
+enough to understand and appreciate the feelings of both of us. Don't
+you hear the note of revelling now?... Why!... it's all revelling. The
+waters are shrieking with joy. They've come tearing down the Zambesi
+valley for the rapture of plunging over the precipice, and now they
+are just beside themselves with the excitement and delight of it.
+O!... they heard me say I don't care about my fellow-creatures, that
+they are just a nuisance, and they're shouting to me, 'Neither do we
+... neither do we!... Silly, wide-eyed, open-mouthed humans come and
+stare at us, and try to describe us, saying we are lovely and
+wonderful and pretty and such-like, and we just roar at them and their
+puniness and take our glorious plunge.' That is what the waters are
+saying to me now, Meryl. I feel as if I simply must plunge with them.
+Take me away. I can't bear any more to-day." And they went silently
+back through the lovely plantations to the hotel.
+
+But in the evening, in the moonlight, her mood changed again.
+
+"I feel a little like you to-night, Meryl. The big things do matter,
+of course. If I'm such a silly little goat I can't do anything big
+myself, I guess I'll help you whenever it's possible. And, of course,
+even humans matter a little, though I do like dogs and horses so much
+better; but there's something so calm and big and strong about the
+waters to-night, they are telling me all the time that the big things
+matter. O, Meryl, it's so lovely--so lovely--it hurts dreadfully...."
+
+And after a pause: "If it hadn't been for you I should never have
+taken the trouble to come and see it. I won't grouse at the dust any
+more."
+
+And later: "I'm glad there's no sign of a human habitation at hand,
+and that the wilderness is all round. They had to be splendidly
+isolated--magnificently alone--the god who did it understood that. One
+can think of the wide reaches of Africa afterwards, and the gem, like
+a priceless jewel, set in them. Deep silence, wide horizons, untrodden
+country on every hand, and this in the midst like a treasure tenderly
+enfolded."
+
+After three days they returned to Bulawayo, and found their pilot
+impatient to be off. He unfolded his plans, and the two girls listened
+eagerly when he said:
+
+"I am told there is every indication of gold in the Victoria district,
+and my engineer is anxious I should journey down there and see one or
+two properties. The railway does not extend beyond Selukwe, so if we
+go we must take a travelling ambulance and tents and sleep out in them
+for three or four weeks. I think there is a pretty good hotel in
+Edwardstown, where you could remain if you like while I travel round,
+and then we might all journey to Salisbury up the old pioneer route."
+
+The girls were delighted, but Aunt Emily's mournful resignation had
+reached its limit. She informed them, in a voice which implied, no
+matter how they pleaded with her, she should remain firm, that nothing
+would induce her to accompany them upon such a journey.
+
+Her brother said quietly, "Just as you like, Emily. I think I can take
+care of the girls. Will you stay in Bulawayo, or go back to
+Johannesburg?"
+
+Aunt Emily's face wore rather a reproachful expression as she replied,
+"I suppose I had better return to Johannesburg, and then if any of you
+get ill with malaria or typhoid, you must wire for me and I will come
+back."
+
+"You were very good to come so far," said Meryl gently, seeing the
+veiled disappointment that they could dispense with her so easily.
+
+"If it is any consolation," volunteered Diana, "you may be quite sure
+we are all going to be most horribly uncomfortable for the next month
+or two. The only illness I anticipate is an utter and complete
+weariness of life. I don't know which sounds the most dreadful: being
+bumped along dusty roads in an ambulance, and sleeping with snakes and
+toads under a tent; or being stifled in an odious little
+corrugated-iron hotel, living on poisonous tinned stuffs in a
+perpetual odour of stale roast nigger. If I am going to endure it for
+my country, I hope my country will give me the only fitting
+reward--the Victoria Cross."
+
+"Perhaps we needn't stay in the hotel," said Meryl hopefully. "We can
+probably camp out. Surely the wonderful old ruins are somewhere near
+Edwardstown, father? How splendid if we could camp beside them!..."
+
+"Quite near. We will certainly go and see them. They tell me there is
+a police camp there, and at this time of the year it is quite
+healthy."
+
+"But how glorious!..." cried Meryl. "I had no idea you were going in
+their direction."
+
+"I meant to if possible," her father said; and so the trip was decided
+upon.
+
+Three days later the cavalcade started off from Gwelo with great
+_éclat_. Two ambulances: one containing the two girls, a driver, a
+fore-looper, and a small black boy named Gelungwa, who was everything
+from ladies' maid to general adviser; and the other containing Mr.
+Pym, his engineer, driver, fore-looper, and the engineer's black
+cook-boy, who proved himself an invaluable asset.
+
+Each ambulance was drawn by eight mules, and carried its share of the
+paraphernalia necessary to a long sojourn in the wilderness, and being
+thoroughly well equipped, they had decided to dispense with any
+further railway service until they reached Salisbury.
+
+They started from Gwelo, with its wide, tree-lined roads, in the
+freshness of the morning, and leaving the surrounding bare,
+uninteresting common quickly behind, dived straightway into a track of
+Rhodesia that is like a vast, undulating park. The red road wound
+across a wide, breezy stretch of veldt to wooded hills and valleys,
+and beyond this was an enchanting vista of dreaming blue kopjes on a
+far horizon. Even Diana found nothing to grumble at. Like Meryl, her
+eyes rested often on that dreaming distance, and the unique charm of a
+journey into the unknown, independent of railways and hotels, held her
+senses. When two graceful buck sprang up in the grass near them, stood
+a moment to investigate, and then fled away, leaping and bounding to
+safety, she drew a deep breath of delight.
+
+"Di, it's going to be a glorious trip!" Meryl exclaimed in low-voiced
+ecstasy.
+
+Diana paused before she remarked in answer:
+
+"It seems so natural somehow, to be journeying out to an unknown
+bourne in this primitive fashion. I wonder if, in another existence, I
+was one of the wives or handmaidens in Abraham's caravanserai? Perhaps
+I was his favourite concubine!... How interesting!... I'm sure I've
+journeyed like this into a far land before."
+
+And again:
+
+"How jolly to have two drivers who don't understand a word we say,
+instead of a chauffeur who is all ears and an Aunt Emily who is all
+prejudices!"
+
+"Still," said Meryl, "you couldn't very well have a coachman in
+England wearing a sky-blue felt hat that was obviously meant for a
+lady, and with a large blue patch upon brown trousers."
+
+"He's just a dear," was Diana's laughing comment. "I love his awful
+solemnity. He's like a Hindoo idol. And what luck to have a side wind
+instead of a forward one!"
+
+At twelve they stayed in a welcome piece of shade for their first
+veldt meal. Lounge-chairs were untied for them to rest in, and an
+excellent little repast prepared by the cook-boy, while the small
+black imp waited upon them like a trained butler. Then they dozed
+through the hot midday hours, continuing their journey to those
+alluring blue distances after all were rested, until they reached the
+first night's camping place and pitched their tents near a rippling
+river--as Diana described it, "all mixed up with stars, and dreams,
+and niggers, and kopjes, and mules."
+
+For a week they journeyed on, each day seeming lovelier than the last,
+and the dreaming repose of a great content hovered over all of them.
+There was no need for haste and none was made. There was no pitiless
+urging of tired mules as in the post-cart; no shouting natives, no
+hurried pauses for a snatched rest. The mules jogged contentedly
+along, realising they were in good hands, and always through the
+midday hours everyone lazed. An early spring had brought many young
+leaves out, although it was still August, and these were often
+beautiful shades of red, bronze, orange, scarlet, gold, and
+emerald-green, beyond or through which blue kopjes took on a yet more
+dream-like, ethereal air. Sometimes the red road wound along through
+woods of loveliest colouring, carpeted already with spring flowers.
+Sometimes it ran out into open spaces where the trees stood back in
+line, revealing wonderful glimpses of the fascinating land to their
+eager gaze.
+
+Strange, fantastical, granite kopjes like mighty mausoleums adorned
+with ilex trees barred their path, and Diana was convinced some of
+the bones of her ancestors lay buried there, because she felt so
+weirdly at home with them.
+
+"This is my natural environment," she informed her uncle and the
+engineer. "I ought to be dwelling here in state, as the favourite wife
+of the greatest chief in the land."
+
+Meryl grew dreamier with every day, though sometimes her eyes were sad
+as she looked out over the country, as if she already loved it with a
+love that was akin to pain.
+
+Had he, that great Imperialist, looked at it with those calm eyes of
+his, and known just that sense of aching love?... When he journeyed
+out into its enchanting untrodden spaces, accompanied only by some
+kindred spirit, had the land risen up and enslaved and enfolded him,
+like some enchantress who bound men's souls for ever?... Had Rhodesia,
+in her sunny loveliness, been wife and child to the great man who went
+lonely to his grave?...
+
+As they drove along and the fascination increased, far outweighing any
+discomfort of glare and dust and jolting roads, Meryl felt herself
+engraving the sight and the sound and the freshness of it upon her
+soul, that she might have hidden pictures to gaze upon with closed
+eyes when the exigencies of life called her back into the throng.
+
+Her father was mostly silent as was his wont, planning and scheming
+with a brain that knew little other rest than following its natural
+bent, yet with that in his silence, and in his watchful eyes that made
+one feel he too loved the land for itself, as well as for what he
+could get out of it; and that when occasion came, like Alfred Beit and
+Cecil Rhodes, he would pay his debt a hundredfold.
+
+So they came at last to the wide, open veldt where Edwardstown was
+situated, and knew themselves in the district teeming with pioneer
+memories.
+
+Meryl and Diana descended reluctantly at the hotel, and looked round
+disparagingly at their little hot bedroom, thinking regretfully of
+their tent in the wilderness.
+
+"How awful," said Diana, "if we find ourselves never able to exist in
+an ordinary house again! We shall have to pitch two tents in Hyde
+Park. Ugh!... it positively smells of walls and doors and windows;
+how I hate them!"
+
+"We'll go on to Zimbabwe to-morrow and camp beside the ruins,"
+answered Meryl. "How splendid to be going there so soon!"
+
+"Ruins are not much in my line," quoth the outspoken. "Let's hope
+there'll be a man there as well."
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+CAREW IS DISTURBED
+
+
+The news that the millionaire Henry Pym with his daughter and a niece
+were journeying to Great Zimbabwe reached the police camp first
+through a letter from the Administration to Major Carew, requesting
+him to have the long, disfiguring dry grass burnt, and the
+surroundings of the temple tidied up a little, and to show every
+attention to the travellers. When he received the letter it was
+obvious at once that the information did not give him any pleasure. On
+the contrary, his expression as nearly approached a frown as he was
+likely to permit it on receiving orders from headquarters. He had
+opened the letter standing outside his hut, where it had been handed
+to him by the native runner, and Stanley was reading a newspaper near,
+while Moore affectionately handled an antediluvian gun he was thinking
+of buying from a prospector.
+
+Stanley glanced up, wondering what letters had come, and saw the
+hovering frown.
+
+"Any news, sir?" he asked frankly, for he was no longer in awe of his
+silent chief. As a matter of fact, he never had been to any degree.
+The Kid would have found it difficult to be in awe of anyone, but for
+a few days Carew had baffled him.
+
+"Henry Pym, you've probably heard of him, is likely to arrive here in
+a few days."
+
+Stanley opened his eyes a little. "What! the millionaire?... Good biz!
+We'll rook him at poker and bridge and shooting, and a few other
+things. It isn't right for him to have all that money. It would even
+things up a little if we could transfer some of it to poor, penniless
+policemen."
+
+"He is accompanied by his daughter and a niece," said Carew in even
+tones.
+
+"Lord love a holy duck!..." exclaimed the young policeman, and was
+fairly astonished on to his feet. "Coming here, sir?... Coming here to
+Zimbabwe?"
+
+"So the letter says. It also adds that they may wish to camp near, and
+they are to be shown every attention."
+
+"_They shall be_ ..." quoth The Kid, so comically that even Carew's
+lips relaxed. "I suppose the letter doesn't specify the attention?...
+Christopher Columbus!... Great Scott!... Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!...
+To think of two millionaires' daughters all at once in this benighted,
+thirsty land!... It fairly catches me in the breath," and he sat down
+again suddenly as if the news was too much for him.
+
+"By gad, Moore!... do you hear that?... a bloated millionaire and two
+millionairesses are about to descend upon us from the skies. Talk of
+manna and blessings coming down from heaven!... Give me
+millionairesses!..."
+
+The Irishman looked up with a knowing smile. "Shure!" said he, "give
+me whisky...."
+
+"Begorra, Pat!" laughed The Kid. "If you got the heiress you could
+swim in whisky." Then he looked again at Major Carew and observed the
+suggestion of a frown still on his face while he stood with the letter
+in his hand.
+
+"Heiresses are seemingly not much in your line, sir?" he suggested
+humorously. "You ... well, you don't quite look overjoyed!..."
+
+Carew in his quiet way had grown fond of the gay young trooper, and he
+showed no offence at the attitude of familiarity.
+
+"We shall have to consider a good camping-place for them, and probably
+give up two huts to the ladies. I gather they may be here in two or
+three days. Is the grass dry enough to burn to-night?"
+
+The Kid glanced round doubtfully. "Hardly; and the place won't look
+well all black."
+
+"That's why I thought we had better begin at once. If they are some
+days the ash will have had time to blow away. Arrange for a gang of
+boys to be ready at six o'clock, and we will light up and see what we
+can do."
+
+In the hut he tossed the letter down on to his table. "Confound
+it!..." he said under his breath. "Fancy women down here, staring and
+chattering, and prying! I suppose they will expect the entire police
+force in the neighbourhood to be at their disposal, and nothing else
+will matter at all." His face grew more and more gloomy. "If I had
+only started to M'rekwas yesterday, I could have been absent a
+fortnight, and by then they would have departed again." He stood a
+moment considering if he could start at once, and decided, as the
+letter was sent specially to him, he could hardly leave before
+carrying out his instructions.
+
+Stanley and the other trooper meanwhile made hurried preparations for
+a great fire. They lit up in the evening, having stationed boys at
+intervals to keep the flames within bounds, and themselves stood
+posted with their guns, hoping for a shot at wild pig or cheetah, or
+possibly a lion or leopard. Carew kept guard at the huts, with a few
+boys to beat off the flames that encroached to any danger points and
+watch for flying sparks that might ignite the thatch. It was a
+wonderful sight, and his eyes were full of appreciation as he watched
+it. The gathering darkness, the lurid flames lighting up with swift
+brightness the ancient ruins; the high Acropolis Hill on one side, the
+low granite-strewn kopjes on the other, and running between the Valley
+of Ruins, now a vale of fire.
+
+It crossed his mind that it was almost a pity they had not left the
+burning of the grass until the travellers arrived, that they might see
+the strange, fantastic sight. But he cogitated that the millionaires
+he had known hitherto had little appreciation for much beyond
+money-making, and no doubt they were merely taking a passing glimpse
+at the ruins; the man on some money-making quest, and the girls just
+to be able to say they had seen them. His eyes rested on the temple
+wall, and he felt suddenly absurdly resentful that these rich
+pleasure-seekers should come even there to gape and stare. He had
+grown to love the ruins dearly, until that moment he had scarcely
+known how dearly, and to him it seemed for the moment like showing
+some treasured personal relics to barbarians.
+
+There were so many other things for the pleasure-seekers. Let them go
+to the Falls, and Lake Nyassa, and the Himalayas, and those tourist
+treasures; but why come and chatter inane banalities about his ruins:
+his treasured, mysterious relic of perhaps the oldest civilisation
+the world has known?
+
+Of course, he knew perfectly that much controversy had raged round the
+question, and that one or two learned scientists had definitely stated
+their belief that the ruins were of comparatively recent date, and
+deduced more or less convincing proofs in support of their theory; but
+controversies and carefully worded reports were small things to the
+man who had dwelt beside the mysterious temples and fortifications,
+and learnt to love and treasure them. He had his proofs too and his
+deductions, and such as they were they satisfied him, in the face of
+all opposition, that the curious remains were indeed of great
+antiquity, quite probably the ancient Havilah of the Scriptures. To
+him every nook and every corner had its meaning and its history. In
+the play of his fancy he had seen the white-robed priests and acolytes
+in stately procession, amid the old, old walls; heard strains of
+far-off music when an ancient worship offered its votary of prayer and
+praise to that mysterious deity whom they believed in; heard perhaps a
+single lovely voice, or seen a single lovely convert kneel before the
+Sacred Enclosure. He had seen their strong men and their brave men and
+their great men marshalling a host of women and children and infirm
+citizens safely into the fastnesses of the Acropolis Hill, where, with
+a sufficient supply of food and water, three thousand people might be
+safely shielded for any length of time. He had seen them stand on the
+high battlements, and look out across the plain or into the rock-hewn
+kopjes for the hosts of the enemy. He had seen them, even when
+besieged upon that mighty hill, assembling together to worship in the
+temples they had laboriously raised upon the giant granite ledges.
+Were they fair, those women of that old, old day? Were they brave,
+were they mighty in stature, those men who evolved and achieved those
+wonderful defence works? Did they love the fair land that fed them
+with the love of home and country, or were they but sojourners for a
+while amid unfriendly, cruel tribes, that needed watchful eyes day and
+night? Led perhaps by a spirit of adventure, or by persecution
+elsewhere, or by the lust of gold, yet faithful always to the worship
+of their race, and building at infinite, incomprehensible pains those
+temples in the alien land. How they held him; how they fascinated; how
+they soothed with infinite soothing the bitter sorrow, the gaping,
+stinging wound that had driven him furiously away, all those years
+before, from the flesh-pots of a modern Babylon! Had he cared for it
+all very much then?... He wondered, looking full and deep into his
+hidden memories. Had the lights and the music, the song and dance, the
+laughing women and reckless men, the midnight orgies and morning
+headaches, really given him so much pleasure that he must needs fling
+it all aside with such bitter anger and harsh regret when the
+thunderbolt fell and the searching dart stabbed him awake? Outraged,
+hurt-maddened, he had flung away, as he believed, to outer darkness,
+and to a joyless, purposeless, colourless life. And he had found?...
+
+Ah!... when he looked at the ancient, mysterious ruins he had grown to
+love, and around upon a country that was life-hope and life-interest
+to him, he knew that it was the other life which had been purposeless,
+and all of one colour, and the self-chosen exile that had given him
+the things it is good to live and breathe and die for.
+
+And thinking of it all, with that shy softness which sometimes stole,
+as it were, stealthily into his strong face in moments of dreaming
+thought, he remembered with growing regret the advent of the party for
+which he was bidden to make preparations, and resented it yet more
+forcibly. Why need they come?... these women ... these spoiled,
+flattered, perhaps vulgar, heiresses. What did they want with ancient
+rites and wonderful relics of antiquities? What were they doing in
+Rhodesia at all, flaunting their finery and their possessions before
+the eyes of the hardy settlers and the plucky women who shared their
+difficulties and disappointments? In a young, struggling country what
+place was there for the idly, gracefully rich?
+
+In his goaded fancy he saw their elegant, costly garments, and he
+heard strident voices exclaiming shrilly at his treasure, perhaps
+calling it an interesting heap of stones. Was there still time to get
+away, he wondered? Could a sudden call be arranged?... a sudden need
+for hasty departure?...
+
+Let The Kid laugh the hours away with them, and take his fill of gay
+companionship; and let him return when the siege was over, and the
+soothing and the restfulness and the splendour had come back.
+
+Wondering still, and with the sore regretfulness growing, he looked
+round to make sure all was safe, and that no further danger need be
+feared from blowing sparks or creeping flames; and then went gravely
+into his hut to read.
+
+The next morning he told Stanley that he might be obliged to go east
+the following day on important business, and leave him to receive the
+travellers, and remained imperturbably grave and non-seeing when
+Stanley raised his eyebrows and regarded him with a little amused
+twinkle of understanding.
+
+But in the afternoon the party quite unexpectedly turned up, and
+somewhere away in the blue, dreaming kopjes the voice of a following
+fate laughed softly.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+TWO UNEXPECTED MEETINGS
+
+
+Early in the afternoon Carew rode to the mission station to tell Ailsa
+Grenville and her husband of the expected visitors, and of how he was
+likely to depart in the morning for M'rekwas and be away about a
+fortnight.
+
+Ailsa Grenville smiled at him archly when he told her. "Why do you run
+away when, for once in a way, you have the chance of a little
+companionship? It would do you more good to stay."
+
+"I think not; and besides," he added, hastily, "I am going on
+business."
+
+"A convenient sort of business, I fancy. Why not wait and see them
+first?"
+
+"Well, I could hardly go away immediately after their arrival, when
+Mr. Pym probably knows of the letter despatched to me from
+headquarters. It is far simpler to send a runner back with excuses."
+
+"But why go at all?" in a persuasive voice.
+
+Carew walked to the door and knocked the ashes out of his pipe against
+the heel of his boot; and Ailsa knew by his face that, though he did
+not resent her questioning, he would take no notice of it. And it made
+her a little sad, for of all the men she knew, next to Billy, her
+husband, she admired Carew, and she regretted deeply his insistent
+determination to stand aloof from mankind generally behind the
+barriers he had built up.
+
+Then Billy himself came in: khaki-clad, vigorous, and gay as ever; and
+when he heard the news he was less reticent, and exclaimed outright,
+"But what do you want to go away for? Why, it will be quite a treat
+for you to have ladies there; and who knows, one of the heiresses may
+be very charming--charming enough even for your fastidious taste!"
+
+"I prefer the company of the veldt," was all he said, without relaxing
+the fixity of his face; "ladies are more in Stanley's line."
+
+"The Kid must be awfully pleased," Ailsa said, smiling. "I'm sure he
+isn't going away."
+
+Carew, lying back in a big chair, was leisurely lighting his pipe, and
+he did not reply. All his attitude showed only cold indifference, and
+it would have been difficult to believe that, even in his heart, he
+had taken the trouble to be resentful. Ailsa, watching, felt a little
+impatient with him. She wanted to break through the shell in which he
+chose to hide that self which her instinct told her was so different
+to his outward seeming. What had become of the gay Londoner, who drove
+the smartest four-in-hand in the park, and rode the fastest horse to
+hounds? She longed to write home and ask her people of his story, but
+bitter things had been said when she elected to go into exile with her
+husband, and there had been almost no correspondence since. And Billy
+had been away in South Africa at the time of the crash and heard
+nothing about it. All he could tell her was that Carew of the Blues
+had been known as one of the gayest of the gay fifteen years or so
+ago, and that suddenly he had seemed to vanish off the face of the
+earth; and that Carew of the B.S.A.P. was the same man, only
+different, and he must be over forty years of age. So she had to
+content herself as well as she could, and be glad that, at any rate,
+while he remained in the Victoria district, they could have his
+companionship, though he chose to keep his own counsel as to why he
+was there.
+
+At first she had been rather afraid of him, and felt shy and awkward
+when he came to see them; but Billy's attitude of jovial good
+fellowship, in no way repulsed by the other's cold reserve, had helped
+to reassure her, and now they both appeared unconscious of any lack of
+warmth in their visitor. If he liked to be silent he could, and if he
+seemed in a taciturn mood they took no notice.
+
+When he called for his horse to return he said good-bye to her before
+mounting, and spoke of not coming again for a fortnight, and she
+watched him ride away regretfully. Evidently he did not mean to be
+sociable, even to the lady travellers, and it was no use hoping
+anything for him.
+
+In the meantime, the first ambulance, containing Meryl and Diana,
+arrived at the ruins. Mr. Pym was detained in Edwardstown with his
+engineer, and might not join them until the next day, but the girls
+begged him to let them go on, longing to be out in the open again,
+away from hotels and bungalows.
+
+So a police-boy from the town camp was sent on to escort them, and the
+Zimbabwe camp notified by runner of their approach. Stanley opened the
+letter in the absence of his chief, and much to his own delectation,
+was waiting alone to receive them upon the chosen camping-ground on
+their arrival. Diana saw him first, and remarked joyfully that he was
+white.
+
+"Hooroosh!..." said she, "there's a man as well as ruins." And a
+little later, "I'm afraid he's only a boy, but he looks a nice boy,
+and there are occasions when the 'half a loaf' proverb applies to
+'half a man.'"
+
+Then he helped her out of the ambulance after receiving them with a
+grave salute, and regretted that, in the absence of Major Carew, there
+was no one but himself to receive them. He was evidently a trifle shy
+and embarrassed, stammering a little as he offered his services to
+superintend the pitching of their camp, with eyes that would wander
+from the elder cousin to Diana's small, impish, alluring face.
+
+"Have some tea with us first," said she. "We've already acquired a few
+Rhodesian vices, such as an unlimited capacity for tea-drinking, and
+Gelungwa can make quite a decent apology for the beverage which cheers
+but not inebriates."
+
+They sat down, and laughed and chatted together until the kettle
+boiled, and before the tea was finished The Kid had fallen in love
+with both, and was congratulating himself that Carew had taken that
+afternoon ride. Then the girls said they would ramble while their tent
+was pitched, but disagreed as to which direction they would take
+first. Meryl had left her little guide-book with her father, and
+wanted to postpone the temple until she had it. Diana said it was too
+hot to attempt the Acropolis Hill. In the end they separated. Meryl
+strolled towards the Acropolis and Diana sought the cool shadiness of
+the temple.
+
+About the same time Carew started his homeward ride, and when he
+reached the base of the Acropolis Hill he gave his horse to the runner
+who had gone with him to carry some books for Ailsa Grenville, and
+climbed a little way into the hill to remark a point of investigation
+he had been discussing with Grenville; and, quite suddenly, round a
+sharp piece of masonry, he came upon Meryl Pym. She wore a large,
+shady hat, and she was standing quite still, gazing across the
+country. For a moment Carew stood quite still also. It was odd that
+she had not heard his steps upon the rough footpath, but apparently
+she was too absorbed to hear anything at all. He was exceedingly
+relieved and drew aside stealthily, prepared to return quickly the way
+he had come. But before he started he glanced once more, for something
+in her quiet pose struck oddly upon his heart. She looked very slim
+and graceful and girlish in a simple washing frock of some soft grey
+material, with little Quakerish cuffs and collar, and the big, shady
+hat tied on with a ribbon. And all in a moment he was transported
+years before, and there was a Devonshire wood, and a slim lassie, and
+little Quakerish cuffs and collar, and eyes that watched and
+waited--watched and waited for him.
+
+And then....
+
+No, not even in thought would he dwell again upon what followed. It
+was a weakness he had fought down. A weakness that even now, given
+rein, could unman him. The quick light vanished from his eyes, the
+mouth grew stern again, and he turned to descend.
+
+At the same moment Meryl turned also and came towards his
+hiding-place. He had just time to step further back and take shelter
+behind a low, bushy tree, which would hardly reveal his khaki, before
+she passed. And just in front of him she raised her head and glanced
+upwards, so that he saw her eyes, and for a moment his pulses seemed
+to stop beating. If her pose had reminded him of someone it was as
+nothing compared to her face with that upward glance. The delicate
+contour, the fine features, the wistful, dreamy, quiet eyes. Were they
+blue, or were they grey?... How came they with long, dark, curling
+lashes when her hair was a dusky, light shade, with soft waves and
+gleams of sunlight? In his hiding-place he stood very still and very
+rigid. For a moment he might have been part of the rock behind him.
+Then she passed on up the steep ascent, and he came out and retraced
+his steps, feeling a little dazed.
+
+Who could she be?... But, of course, the party must have arrived
+unexpectedly: had not remained in Edwardstown as they intended. And she
+was one of the heiresses--one of the flaunting, gaping, vulgar,
+dressed-up young women he had been secretly so resentful over. And, of
+course, she was none of these. Then suddenly he almost laughed; almost
+laughed aloud. For she was worse--far, far worse. The gushing,
+loud-voiced heiress he might have coped with. His frigidity froze most
+people if he chose; and avoidance was not difficult. But what could he do
+with Joan--his love, his dead love Joan--looking at him out of this
+girl's beautiful eyes, touching him with this girl's slender hands,
+speaking to him from this stranger's lips? It was impossible--impossible;
+all the careful training of that fifteen years in exile would be undone.
+His very life would be undermined again. For the moment it seemed
+incredible, preposterous. He felt stunned by it.
+
+Then his rigid self-control came to his aid, and his face grew stern
+and hard.
+
+The preposterous thing was that he should let a chance resemblance hit
+him so; should even admit the possibility of being undone after all
+his careful self-training. No, a thousand times no; he was not such a
+weak fool as that. The strength he had won was his still. He had only
+to go on being resolute and cold and the past would lie down again,
+and once more go quietly to sleep.
+
+He defied it to overcome him now. By every agonised pang, by every
+hour of unfathomable bitterness, by every solitary year of self-chosen
+exile, he insisted that he must prevail. He strode on, scarcely seeing
+anything about him, and his face grew sterner and sterner. Then he
+came within sight of the camping-place, and saw the white tent, and
+Stanley giving directions, while Moore and some black boys unpacked
+things from the ambulance.
+
+And he thought he would get more complete control of himself before he
+joined them; take this thing fairly by the throat and throttle it,
+that he might regain his peace of mind absolutely before the second
+encounter with the owner of the face and form that seemed for a moment
+to have made an upheaval in his life. So he turned aside and made for
+the temple, feeling glad and relieved at the consciousness that the
+mood was passing, and reassured that, being no more taken by surprise,
+he would successfully master it. Probably he could still go away on
+the morrow, and once away, Rhodesia would take him to her heart again.
+He knew it full well. Every day now the country was giving back to him
+of what he had given to her; lulling him, soothing him, revivifying
+him with her freshness and her charm.
+
+But his mind was very occupied still and his vision clouded as he
+passed into the cool shade of the temple, and he did not see a small,
+dainty person with an impish face perched high on a broken wall, with
+her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands, and a queer,
+fitful, half-serious, half-bored expression in her dark eyes. Instead,
+seeing no one and thinking himself alone, he sat down on a low wall
+quite near to her and stared gloomily at the ground. Diana, not a
+little amused, surveyed him at her leisure. "What in the world," she
+wondered, "was this smart, soldierly looking man, correctly booted and
+spurred, sitting down there for in the ruins?..."
+
+The great temple at Zimbabwe has never been roofed. The ruins consist
+of a wonderful outer wall, from twenty-two to thirty-two feet high and
+in some places fifteen feet thick, of an elongated shape, and within
+this wall are remnants of other walls which formed separate small
+enclosures. There is also the sacred enclosure with the conical tower,
+and leading into it from the north entrance the wonderfully contrived
+passage, between two high walls, scarcely more than a shoulder's
+breadth apart in one place. Amid the ruins trees have grown up, many
+of them higher than the outer wall, and these shade the glare of the
+sun, casting cool shadows and networks of sunlight upon the broken
+walls. And on the afternoon in question here and there were splashes
+of brilliant scarlet, where a Kaffir Boom tree flowered with a
+flaunting indifference to the passing of centuries and races.
+
+Diana, with her whimsical, artistic temperament, was fully alive to
+the fascination and uniqueness of her surroundings, but being a little
+tired with the drive, she felt for the moment somewhat impatient with
+ruins generally, and just a shade depressed with a certain air of dead
+forlornness that hovered all around. Then into the midst of this dream
+of antiquity strode a stern, fierce-looking, very up-to-date
+sportsman, who sat, for no conceivable reason, on a broken wall and
+stared at the ground. For one moment her sense of the ludicrous made
+her almost laugh aloud. Then, with sudden, upleaping interest, she sat
+still as a mouse and watched him. Once she half smiled to herself.
+There was a man, then, as well as a boy! She was not going to be
+entirely stifled in ruins, after all! She went on with her
+cogitations, staring hard, her head a little to one side. A real man,
+too, with a lean, brown face, and a square, determined chin, and a
+nose quite Roman enough to suit any novelist, and dark hair a little
+thin on the top and a little grey at the temples. She could not be
+sure if he were a soldier or not, but evidently he had been riding,
+for he still carried a hunting-crop; and also, judging by his face and
+attitude, something was considerably on his mind.
+
+Without the slightest movement she sat on and waited; and that was
+exceedingly characteristic of Diana. Where another girl would have
+felt embarrassed and made some sound to relieve the tension, she
+almost held her breath to retain it. The situation was unique. In a
+life that offered deplorably little of novelty and adventure she would
+not for worlds have thrown away such a chance. Meryl, on the other
+hand, would probably not have felt the tension; she would have quietly
+walked past him out at the entrance. Diana felt the atmosphere of the
+footlights and calmly waited.
+
+And, of course, in the end, vaguely conscious of some disturbing, not
+quite accountable element, Carew looked up straight into her eyes.
+
+Diana looked straight back and tried hard to keep her lips from
+twitching. She noticed pleasurably that he did not start; that he
+scarcely even showed surprise. Such a man, she felt, would not. Yet
+the very fact that for several seconds he remained perfectly still,
+staring at her, showed that he was quite satisfactorily astounded.
+Then he stood up, and waited a moment as if he expected her to speak.
+She thought he might have smiled. The hero on the stage, of course,
+would smile--divinely--and a blush like a tender dawn would overspread
+the heroine's rose-leaf cheeks.
+
+But he did not smile; to be honest, he looked excessively annoyed, and
+no tender blush of any sort could possibly have shown upon her
+sunburnt face.
+
+Still, she did not intend to flinch, and if the mischievous smile
+lurking at the corners of her mouth died away, she still regarded him
+with a calmness equal to his own, and with the impishness quite
+emphatically still in her eyes. Then suddenly she felt as if there had
+been some invisible sword-play between them. Her instinct told her he
+resented her silent watching, and that his cool, collected front now
+and his silence were the expression of his resentment. It was not in
+the least like a fairy story, of course; here was the prince, surly,
+stony, and bearish, and the princess, red and brown with sunburn, on
+the point of being caught at a disadvantage. But there Diana's native
+wits came to her aid, and she did a clever thing.
+
+"Would you mind helping me down?" she asked, sweetly. "I climbed up
+here to get a good view of the interior, and when I try to descend the
+stones slip so, I am nervous. I did not like to disturb you before,"
+she finished, unabashed and unblushing, but carefully lowering her
+eyes a moment.
+
+He stepped forward at once and reached his hand up to her, and she saw
+that his keen eyes were of that intense clear blue seen in so many
+strong, notable men, but that they looked at her in a cold, aloof
+manner which made her feel rather small and childish. "Surely," she
+thought, "he is not genuinely angry just because I did not tell him I
+was there?" Aloud she said:
+
+"Thank you," and placed her hand quite calmly in the strong, inviting
+brown one upheld to her.
+
+Then, taken with a fit of devilry out of growing exasperation, she
+added, "I'm not the daughter, I'm the niece."
+
+"Miss Pym, I presume," he said, coldly, and bowed to her.
+
+"Miss Diana Pym," she replied, and slightly inclined her head.
+
+"My name is Carew," he told her, with bluntness.
+
+"And are you ... er ... a scientist, evolving a theory about the
+ruins?"
+
+"I am a policeman." He said it brusquely, almost rudely, and Diana was
+taken with a sudden desperate inclination to laugh. All in a moment he
+reminded her forcibly of the uniformed autocrat holding up one lordly
+hand to stop the traffic. She moved towards the entrance, keeping her
+face averted. "The same sort of policeman as Mr. Stanley, I suppose?"
+she suggested, affably, but he seemed not to hear her, and a covert
+glance at his face was not reassuring. But the mere fact only spurred
+her on. If she was silent he might think he had overawed her.
+Goodness! how appalling! She quickened her step, and tossed her small
+head a little with a kind of challenging jerk.
+
+"I rather like your ruin," she said. "It's quite a nice old heap of
+stones."
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+THE BEAR
+
+
+Once more Carew vouchsafed no reply, but Diana knew perfectly well
+that his lips tightened slightly, which signified that in some way she
+had hit him.
+
+So pretending to be perfectly unaware of his non-responsive attitude,
+she ran airily on:
+
+"Such a mad idea to travel hundreds of miles to see a few old remains
+of a doubtful edifice, built by Bantus! or is the plural Bantams?...
+I'm sure when you heard we were coming you wondered if you had better
+prepare a dwelling for us with padded walls. Now, didn't you?..." and
+she looked up archly into his face.
+
+"I understood Mr. Pym had come to this neighbourhood about some gold
+claims," in cold, even tones.
+
+"Yes, so he has. But we haven't; at least Meryl hasn't. She came to
+see Rhodesia. I don't quite know what I've come for," naïvely. "I was
+just wondering about it sitting on that wall." And still he refused to
+be drawn. "You were looking very grave. Were you wondering what you
+are here for too?"
+
+At that moment they reached a spot where the path divided into two:
+one fork leading to their tent and the other to the police camp. He
+stood still. "I believe I was considering the best solution to a
+native problem that has lately arisen." He glanced towards their tent.
+"I see Mr. Stanley is helping to arrange your camp. Please let him
+know of anything you want. You will find him an excellent guide."
+Then, scarcely looking at her, he saluted and walked away.
+
+Diana returned to their tent feeling baffled and interested,
+half-inclined to be cross and half-inclined to laugh. And almost at
+the same time from the other direction came Meryl.
+
+"O, it's wonderful!" Meryl cried softly, with all her face aglow. "I
+never imagined anything half so fascinating; and I haven't even seen
+the temple yet. Mr. Stanley, do stay and dine with us. Our cook-boy is
+quite good."
+
+"All except his soup," put in Diana, "and he is only good at that in
+the sense of making it out of nothing. Sometimes I think he just boils
+a bit of the harness, or a corner of the tent-flap, or probably he
+makes it of rats if he can catch enough."
+
+Stanley looked at her with all his eyes and accepted the invitation
+eagerly, saying that he must first go back to the camp to change. Half
+an hour later he reappeared, looking quite smart in a white duck
+dress-jacket and a starched collar.
+
+As they sat down to their alfresco meal, taken under the stars, with
+two lanterns suspended on sticks for lights, Diana suddenly said to
+him:
+
+"Who is the bear?..."
+
+"The bear?..." doubtfully.
+
+"Yes. The bear who lives down there in the police camp, and rejoices
+in the name of Carew."
+
+Stanley, looking much amused, replied, "You must mean the Major; but
+you haven't met him, have you?"
+
+"I had the pleasure of being snarled at for about fifteen minutes this
+afternoon."
+
+Stanley laughed outright. "But where? He never said that he had seen
+you."
+
+"I don't think he did see me. We merely met. Most of the time he
+either looked away or looked through me at something beyond. Still, he
+might have mentioned the meeting. I don't feel flattered."
+
+"O, but that is nothing with Carew. He is an awfully silent chap."
+
+"Silent!... do you call it?... I never felt so ... so ... suppressed
+... in my life. I thought he seemed rather inclined to bite me."
+
+"But where did you meet him, Di?..." asked Meryl, with interest.
+
+"I was sitting on a wall in the temple, and he strode in and sat on
+another wall and stared at the ground ... and I stared at him ... and
+then he looked up and saw me ... and afterwards ..." she paused.
+
+"Do you mean to say you sat perfectly still in front of him, and let
+him sit on, thinking himself alone, and then suddenly discover
+you?..."
+
+"Yes. Why not?"
+
+"Well, it wasn't very fair on him."
+
+"Such nonsense, Meryl! That's just what he seemed to think. Why
+shouldn't I have a little romance if I want to? Such a dull, prosaic,
+commonplace old world as it is, generally speaking! I was having a
+lovely one. He was a great hunter who had lost his way, and dragged
+himself into the temple to die...."
+
+"I thought you said he strode in?..."
+
+"Don't be silly; he wasn't in the romance then. And I was a lovely,
+mysterious veiled lady who lived in the wilderness; but my veil
+happened to be thrown back, and when the dying hunter raised his
+eyes...." she stopped short.
+
+"Well?..."
+
+"That's where the romance stopped, where he brutally spoilt it,
+because when he raised his eyes and saw me there he just scowled
+horribly."
+
+Stanley and Meryl laughed whole-heartedly, but Meryl told her it
+served her right because she was unfairly taking him at a
+disadvantage.
+
+"But I did nothing of the kind. No one was at a disadvantage except
+myself."
+
+"I'm sure you weren't," Meryl remarked. "You never have been yet."
+
+"That's where you are mistaken, my dear. When you are sitting in a
+lovely romance, gazing at a dreadfully handsome, distinguished-looking
+man who is the hero prince, and will presently discover you and smile
+divinely with all his soul in his eyes, and when instead an
+iron-visaged person looks up at you, and scowls and grows as black as
+thunder, I defy any woman not to find herself at a disadvantage."
+
+"Well, how did you get out of it?... What did you do?..."
+
+The alluring twinkle shone suddenly in Diana's eyes, and her lips
+twitched mischievously, as she replied:
+
+"Well, I smiled divinely instead, and asked him to help me down from
+my high wall."
+
+"O, you are quite incorrigible," laughed Meryl. "If I had been him I
+would have left you there to get down the same way you went up. But
+who is he?..." turning to Stanley. "He sounds rather interesting."
+
+"He's a splendid fellow," The Kid asserted, warmly. "We couldn't stick
+him at first, Moore and I, but we soon found he only wants knowing.
+There's some history attached to his being out here that no one quite
+knows; but he is a Fountenay-Carew and used to be in the Blues."
+
+"But how nice!" quoth Diana. "This is much more interesting than the
+old ruins. Is he rich and haughty, with lovely estates left to
+dishonest stewards, and all that?..."
+
+"No very poor, I should imagine; nothing but his pay, anyhow. I
+believe when he was in the Blues an old uncle gave him a big
+allowance, but something happened, and he threw the money in the old
+chap's face, and the old chap chucked him out."
+
+"And what happened to cause the quarrel?" asked Diana, all ears. "Why,
+he is more romantic than my prince!"
+
+"That is what I fancy no one knows. Anyhow, in a country like this, no
+one asks. It isn't quite the game, you see; and, anyhow, no one is
+interested now. He has done a tremendous lot for Rhodesia in one way
+and another, especially for the police force and natives; and we're
+quite proud of him in our way for that, independent of his history."
+
+"How nice!" and Meryl's eyes grew very soft. "It is a much finer
+reward than he would probably ever have gained in the Blues. I hope he
+thinks so?"
+
+"I don't suppose he cares either way. Certainly, he doesn't appear to.
+He just loves the country, and seems only to want to stay here; but he
+never speaks even of that. Since he came here a few months ago he has
+done a lot of investigation work among the ruins privately. He is most
+awfully attached to them."
+
+Suddenly Diana asked, "I suppose he is pretty sick about two modern
+young women presuming to journey here to gaze at his treasure?"
+
+Stanley coloured up, and Diana laughed. "O, don't bother to deny it. I
+could feel it in my very bones when we met this afternoon."
+
+They finished their meal, and the boys moved the table away, so that
+they could sit round the glowing embers of a small fire, not so much
+for warmth as for the idea, and they lazed low in their chairs,
+talking idly and enjoying the cool, fragrant night.
+
+And presently, not à propos of anything in particular, Diana said,
+quite aloud, "I guess The Bear is growling and scowling away nicely
+to-night down there in his den. I expect the first time we meet I
+shall forget and call him Bear Carew instead of Major Carew, and then
+he'll shrivel me up with a glance."
+
+A sound beside them in the shadow made all look up suddenly, and the
+lamplight fell full upon Carew's face as he stood near Diana's chair.
+
+Meryl rose hurriedly, blushing to the roots of her hair, while
+Stanley, secretly much amused, stood up likewise. Only the culprit
+remained unperturbed to outward seeming, glancing archly round.
+
+"I'm afraid you overheard what I said ... _Major_ Carew.... I'm quite
+ready to apologise, only ..."
+
+"Please, don't...." For one instant the coldly even voice had a tiny
+inflection in it, as of humour, though he stifled it immediately, as
+he turned to Meryl and said, gravely, with a bow, "Miss Pym, I
+think?... A letter has come for you from Edwardstown by runner. I
+brought it on in case you might wish to send a reply, and to enquire
+if you are quite comfortable here for the night."
+
+Meryl took it from him, thanking him in her low, sweet voice, and with
+a rather shy, upward glance. And Diana, in the shadow, saw the soldier
+suddenly flinch and suddenly grow sterner, standing in an attitude of
+almost unnatural rigidity.
+
+"There is no heed to reply," Meryl said, after reading her note. "It
+is only a message from father to say he may be detained until
+afternoon. Thank you so much for bringing it. Won't you sit down? Can
+I offer you anything? I'm afraid there is not much choice. Father does
+not like luxuries in the wilderness, and we only carry whisky."
+
+"No, thank you." The tones were even again now, and he made no
+movement towards a chair. "Have you everything you need for the
+night? I hope Mr. Stanley has made himself very useful?"
+
+"He has been splendid. I am only afraid we have tired him out. Won't
+you sit down?" and she shyly motioned to a chair.
+
+"Thank you. I'm afraid I must get back. I have some despatches to
+write. Would you like a police-boy to keep guard here all night? There
+is nothing whatever to fear, but if it would add to your comfort?..."
+
+"O no, thank you," warmly. "We are not in the least nervous. I think
+there are no lions very near," with a little laugh.
+
+Diana, lying back in her chair, had scarcely taken her eyes off the
+tall soldier, though she watched him covertly, and without seeming to;
+and her quick brain perceived dimly that his aloof attitude was partly
+a mask which had become a habit, and that, however much he suppressed
+her, there was nothing whatever repellant about his chilly reserve.
+And then, suddenly, the little mischievous devil possessed her again,
+and she longed to try her arts upon him, just to see what happened,
+and to show him she was not seriously in the least afraid of him.
+
+And no sooner had Meryl remarked that there were no lions near them,
+than she could not for the life of her help murmuring, "No lions, only
+bears."
+
+Again there was an instant's answering gleam in Carew's eyes, but he
+only smiled very slightly, and said, "Perhaps a bear's growl, like a
+dog's bark, is worse than his bite."
+
+It was as though something altogether too much for him was struggling
+with an inclination to relax just the least bit on Diana's behalf and
+insistently conquering. With scarcely a second look at her he drew
+himself up tautly and said he must be going. Then he saluted gravely,
+said good night in a voice that included them all, and strode away
+through the darkness towards the police camp.
+
+For a moment there was silence round the glowing embers.
+
+"It was kind of him to say good night," said Diana, sarcastically.
+
+"What a fine-looking man!" commented Meryl.
+
+"He is gruffer than usual to-night. Perhaps something has happened to
+upset him. I think I must be going also," and Stanley reluctantly rose
+to follow his chief.
+
+"Of course he is gruffer," said Diana. "Two tiresome women have dared
+to journey to Zimbabwe to look at his ruins."
+
+In the darkness Carew strode on to where a light shone through the
+doorway of a hut, but his eyes were looking straight before him into
+the night, and had the expression of one whose thoughts were very far
+away. It had cost him an effort to go up there with the note, but he
+had made it purposely, determined to take in hand quickly that vein of
+weakness which threatened him at sight of Meryl. He would go up and
+speak to her and break the spell as quickly as possible, regaining his
+old fortitude. More particularly as he felt he could not now leave on
+the morrow, just as Mr. Pym was arriving expecting to find him there.
+Not that there appeared any reason why, just because he happened to be
+a millionaire, a police officer should be expected to wait on him, but
+no doubt the Administration had its own reason for showing special
+attention to a very rich man, and hoped for some benefit to the
+country thereby.
+
+So he had taken the bull by the horns and strode up to the lamplit
+camp, where the travellers sat over the glowing embers; and, of
+course, he had heard Diana's remark, and smiled grimly to himself, in
+no way displeased, for it suited him perfectly to be shunned as a
+bear. And then, keeping an iron control over himself, he had addressed
+Meryl, and looked straight into her face without flinching. The upward
+look, for one second, had shaken him, but the iron control held good,
+and before he left them he had spoken to her and looked at her with
+perfect calmness. The visit had been quite as he wished it, and for a
+few seconds, striding into the dark, he congratulated himself upon
+having so satisfactorily coped with a situation that had threatened to
+be a little difficult and had disturbed him so in the afternoon. Of
+course, she wasn't really like Joan, except in a very general way.
+Just her height and figure and graceful movements and colouring; and,
+of course, the upward glance from confiding, thoughtful, blue-grey
+eyes that had humour lurking in them, and power and possibilities, and
+were so curiously framed in dark lashes in spite of light hair. In the
+midst of his self-congratulation he remembered the upward look again,
+and all in a moment once more it shook him. His gaze went blindly to
+the stars, and his mind flew back. Ah! how sweet Joan had been; how
+strong, how true! How she had stood by him through the beginning of
+the storm, turning the clouds to sunshine, making everything worth
+while! And then, the swift tragedy, the climax; the awful, awful days
+and nights that followed. How he had trodden the lonely Devon moors,
+blindly, passionately seeking a dead weariness of body that would dull
+his mind! How he had cursed the two men who drove in the final barb,
+and vowed never to see their faces again!
+
+And then the little note-book he had found, in which Joan had
+inscribed some of her thoughts from time to time, and copied a few
+favourite passages from favourite authors! It had come to him like a
+voice from the dead--Joan's voice, calling to him to rise above his
+despair and prove himself still worthy of her. And out there on the
+moors at sunrise he had vowed that he would. Calmly, coldly, as an
+austere monk, he had laid down for ever the things that had made his
+life gay and joyous before, and prepared to turn his back on England
+and all that it held pertaining to him.
+
+And now there is a distant wilderness and great southern stars, and
+mysterious, antique ruins, and a man who has grown strong and silent
+in aloofness, and won a sort of soothing content out of what he has
+given, seeking no reward.
+
+Not, perhaps, that "renewing" a royal friend had spoken of fifteen
+years ago, for the contentment was void of hope and fear and joy, but
+balm upon the passionate, frantic bitterness and despair. But the
+"renewing" might come even yet, however much he scorned the thought;
+for forty-two is at the prime of years, and Life has a tender way of
+her own of healing when she will.
+
+But to-night the memories are bitter, and the reopened wound throbs
+and burns. Carew strode up to his hut, with only a curt good night to
+the trooper, and when Stanley arrived back there was no light burning,
+only darkness and silence.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+A MINING CAMP
+
+
+The following day Carew avoided the camp, after telling Stanley he
+might devote his time to the ladies if he wished. In the afternoon,
+however, he saw Mr. Pym and his engineer arrive, and then, presently,
+the party all went down to the ruins together. About an hour later
+they re-emerged, and while the two girls went back to the tents, the
+millionaire strolled towards the police camp. Carew, seizing his
+opportunity, came out, and went to meet him. He considered himself
+fortunate in being able to offer the necessary courtesies when the
+ladies of the party were absent. Mr. Pym hid his surprise at seeing so
+distinguished-looking an officer at such an out-of-the-way camp, and
+received his somewhat curt greetings in his own quiet, business-like
+manner. He thanked him for the attentions he had already rendered, and
+hoped they were not causing any inconvenience in pitching their tents
+near the ruins. Carew assured him they were not, and mentioned that
+Mr. Stanley would be happy to place his time at their service and do
+anything he could to make their stay agreeable.
+
+Henry Pym, noting the obvious intention of the officer not to place
+much of his own time at their disposal, looked quietly into the
+resolute face, and felt his interest growing apace. At the same time,
+following his lead, he made no attempt to lengthen the interview,
+which he felt was more or less regarded as an official duty; and with
+courteous thanks said good night, hoped Major Carew would dine with
+them one evening, and returned to his tent.
+
+"Well, uncle," was Diana's greeting, "what do you make of The Bear?"
+
+"The Bear?..." questioningly.
+
+"The cast-iron soldierman, who condescends to breathe the same air as
+ordinary mortals down there in the police camp."
+
+"O, Major Carew!..." with a quick gleam in his eyes. "I thought him
+rather a fine fellow. Don't you?" and he smiled at her slyly.
+
+"A fine bear," quoth Diana, with a little pout. "I prefer a man with a
+little more flexibility. A little more commonplace flesh and blood, so
+to speak."
+
+"I asked him to dinner to-morrow," her uncle remarked.
+
+"And is he coming?" with ill-concealed interest.
+
+"No. He is going to see two young miners named Macaulay a few miles
+away, and was regretfully compelled to decline," and the humorous
+smile on his face widened, for he knew that Diana would be piqued.
+
+"As if he couldn't go there any day!" she grumbled. "O, of course, he
+is perfectly odious."
+
+Meryl's eyes met her father's, and they both laughed, while he
+remarked, "Never mind; perhaps we can lay a trap for him another time.
+Evidently he has no particular fancy for ladies' company."
+
+"Do you know the Macaulays?" Meryl asked.
+
+"No, but I am going to see them in two or three days on business."
+
+"And you will take us?..." she pleaded. "I do want so to see all we
+can of the settlers as well as the country."
+
+"We will see later," he said, and made a move to prepare for dinner.
+
+During the next two days he and his engineer made sundry small
+excursions on business. Their investigation of several outcrops in the
+Victoria district had convinced them the gold was by no means worked
+out by that ancient people who had left so many traces of mining
+operations, and Mr. Pym was prepared to buy up claims and properties.
+On the fourth day he went to see the Macaulays, and took the girls
+with him, having procured a mule each for them to ride. Stanley and
+Carew were also to be of the party; the latter not a little to
+everyone's surprise.
+
+All through the four days he had held consistently aloof, personating
+merely the courteous official upon whom Mr. Pym had a certain claim
+because of the letter from headquarters. As a matter of fact, he had
+undertaken a journey of some length on two of the days to outlying
+kraals; and Diana, hearing of it from Stanley, had laughed a little
+grimly, and said, "He need not have troubled. We have no wish to speak
+to him"; and Stanley, not quite clever enough to understand, remarked
+regretfully, "But you would like him so much if you knew him
+properly."
+
+The reason was not very apparent for his accompanying them to the
+Macaulays' mine, but Meryl shrewdly suspected her father, who had gone
+quietly to smoke a pipe in the police camp with him on one or two
+occasions, had asked him to come more or less as a personal favour.
+For though Stanley knew the road perfectly he knew very little about
+the surrounding country itself; and Mr. Pym, with his unerring
+instinct, had quickly discovered that Carew's mind was a well of
+knowledge on most things Rhodesian. So the taciturn soldier joined the
+cavalcade, though he succeeded in attaching himself to Mr. Pym and
+riding well on ahead.
+
+The two Macaulays were "small miners," working on tribute a mine
+belonging to a block owned by a company in which Henry Pym had large
+interests. Complaints had come through to his ears concerning the
+difficult conditions upon which the two young miners, and many others
+like them, struggled to make a fortune or a livelihood, and he had a
+fancy to go and see them for himself. The mine was in a hollow, banked
+round by tall, gloomy kopjes, which seemed to stand like a bodyguard,
+sternly shutting them off from all sight or sound of the outside
+world. At the same time, the road to it was delightful. Sometimes they
+climbed nearly to the top of a kopje, the mules going up stairways of
+granite as if born to it, and the lovely country lay outspread in a
+glorious panorama before them.
+
+The party said very little, but their eyes told that the fascination
+had crept into their hearts already, though they could only appreciate
+in silence, wondering, perhaps, why they felt this strong attraction
+for a land that was chiefly kopjes and veldt.
+
+Was it, perhaps, the marvellous, translucent atmosphere, or was it the
+blue intensity of the dreaming kopjes, ornamented ever and anon by
+gleaming white battlements of granite, where the sun blazed down on
+giant boulders, or was it the unfathomable, mysterious, syren-like
+allurement of the country, that, without effort, without thought,
+steeped the senses in an irresistible fascination? Why does Rhodesia
+fascinate? Why does she call men back again and again to her manifold
+discomforts and unnerving disappointments, to her pests and glare, to
+her bully beef and unwashed Kaffirs? Who shall say?... Who shall
+attempt to explain?...
+
+There is no explanation; only the foolish would seek it. The country
+just gets up and takes hold of one and smiles, and men become enslaved
+to her. Ever after "the hazy blue of her mountains, the waft of the
+veldt-born scent," is like a germ in the blood. The discomforts are
+forgotten, the disappointments dissolve into air, the noontide glare
+and choking dust are a mere nothing: libellous creations of some
+discontented grumbler. And in the midst of the crowd, or in England's
+green lanes, or on some far shore, the wanderer is caught in the old
+mesh suddenly, and all his pulses beat with swift longing at just that
+heaven-sweet impression: "The hazy blue of her mountains, the waft of
+the veldt-born scent...."
+
+And she, the syren, lies there in her sunshine and her loveliness;
+locked in the arms of the deep, luscious, dreaming nights, whispering
+and murmuring softly under embracing, star-lit heavens; making wild
+riot when the splendid storms fling after each other across her bosom,
+while the thunders roll deafeningly amidst her kopjes, and the
+lightning pierces brilliantly the riotous clouds and makes a glory of
+the mighty scene. Sulky and colourless when she is waiting impatiently
+for the delayed rains; resplendent, and with a colouring that is like
+a Te Deum, when the renewing has come, and all her soul sings aloud in
+the joy of spring, and all her flowers and trees lend her loveliness
+past telling, and her hills a yet deeper blueness under yet intenser,
+rain-washed skies. All this--all her moods and whims and
+waywardness--going serenely on--splendidly, superbly indifferent to
+the men who come to tame her and stay to love in silent enslavement;
+as also to the men who come solely for gain and gold, and go away
+shrieking their complainings to the four winds. Because, perhaps, the
+enchantress has not troubled to show them her allurements, and
+ruffled, discontented minds have discovered only the dust and heat and
+pests.
+
+But what of it to the syren?... There are others who stay, as many,
+perhaps, as she wants, and to whom she puts out a shy hand of
+friendship, and presently soothes and consoles as the strong, silent,
+storm-tossed man who rode with so soldierly a bearing beside Mr. Pym;
+suffering no stab of love and longing any more as he looked over her
+fair bosom, because the shy hand was in his, because there was that
+subtle sense of understanding in his heart which seemed to tell him
+that even as he loved Rhodesia, Rhodesia loved him.
+
+And so they came to the Saucy Susan Gold Mine, at least to the ridge
+of the surrounding kopjes, and looked down to where a cluster of huts
+like beehives told them humans dwelt down there in the hollow.
+
+"It can't be a mine," said Diana. "It's just a hollow in the hills;
+the sort of place giants hide in when they play hide-and-seek."
+
+"But it is," Stanley assured her. "We shall see a little more as we
+wind down."
+
+And presently they came within view of a shaft, and two honest-eyed
+young Englishmen, both old Charterhouse boys, came forward to greet
+them.
+
+Meryl shook hands with her face all aglow with interest; and to their
+humble apologies that they had only huts to invite them into, she
+said, "But it is so nice of you to invite us at all. You wouldn't
+believe how proud I am to come here to see you, and how tremendously
+interested."
+
+And Diana, with a droll expression, remarked, "You seem to live rather
+in the nethermost depths. You must feel as if you were going to heaven
+literally and figuratively every time you ascend to the outer world."
+
+The elder brother laughed pleasantly, but the younger, who had a white
+face and a delicate, refined air, looked at her a little wistfully.
+Meryl chatted on with the elder, but Diana, with her quick perception,
+scented a silent, wordless, plucky endurance of adverse conditions in
+the younger, and gave her attention to him.
+
+Then they went into the dining-room hut, and found a meal spread on a
+roughly made table, with only two chairs for seats and all the rest
+packing-cases.
+
+"Who has to sit on a chair?" asked Diana. "I needn't, need I?..."
+
+"Why, they are quite sound!... Are you afraid of a spill?..." asked
+Lionel Macaulay, looking amused.
+
+"No, only I can sit on a chair any day of my life. I simply insist
+upon having a packing-case when such a good opportunity offers."
+
+So Meryl and her father were duly ensconced in the only two chairs,
+and Diana mounted gaily on to a tall, thin packing-case, which would
+certainly have gone over backwards if Colin, the rather sad-eyed
+brother, had not caught her just as she was overbalancing.
+
+"How clever of you!..." she laughed. "What happens when you two
+overbalance and don't happen to be near enough to catch each other?...
+Does the dinner come in and find you both sprawling on the floor?"
+
+"Well, we've had a good deal of practice, you see," he told her,
+already cheering visibly. "The tables are turned for us, and we choose
+a chair when we can get it, for a treat."
+
+Afterwards she made him show her all his clever contrivances for
+packing-case furniture, and admired his sackcloth curtain, barrel
+washhand stand, and made him feel vigorous and hopeful.
+
+Stanley was talking to Meryl, and Lionel Macaulay was showing Mr. Pym,
+the engineer, and Carew over the mine, so she gossiped away to him all
+by herself. And she drew from him a little of the bitter
+disappointments they had encountered in the country. A story of first
+one mine and then another failing them; of capital slipping away and
+bills mounting; of the gradual cutting down of comforts and increased
+austerity of living: a story common enough in all colonies where Life
+puts men through the mill again and again to prove and harden them.
+Acting perhaps on the lines:
+
+     "It is easy enough to be pleasant
+       When life moves along like a song,
+     But the man worth while is the man who can smile
+       When everything goes dead wrong."
+
+Life wants a lot of men and women whom she knows are "worth while" in
+carrying out her great affairs, and that is perhaps why so often
+"everything goes dead wrong."
+
+Diana maintained her rôle of gay inconsequence because it pleased her
+best.
+
+"It all sounds very superior and all that rot, and I'm sure Meryl
+would call you a hero; but I should swear myself black and blue in
+your shoes, and that's about what you do pretty often, I expect."
+
+His smile grew fresher and more genuine.
+
+"It doesn't do much good though."
+
+"O yes it does. Don't tell me! When things get into a silly stupid
+mess with me I just shut the door and say every swear word I know
+until I feel better. That's one advantage of living in a hollow in the
+desert. You needn't even bother to shut the door!... You can shout
+your ruffled feelings to the kopjes, and I suppose they echo the words
+back to you. How perfectly splendid! That's a thing about Rhodesia I
+hadn't thought of before. Of course, the echoes are sometimes
+wonderful; so if you were to shout a few swear words the kopjes would
+shout them after you; and that's much better than 'dreaming stillness'
+in my opinion. But why aren't you and your brother making a fortune? I
+thought everyone in Rhodesia was making one who had a mine."
+
+"We don't get up enough gold. By the time we have paid our royalty and
+the expenses there is nothing left."
+
+"Then the royalty must be too big. Who do you pay it to?"
+
+He coloured, and she watched him humorously.
+
+"Has my uncle something to do with your company? O, don't look
+uncomfortable. I'll just talk to him about it. There ought to be
+occasions when no royalty is taken at all. I'll tell him so."
+
+Colin Macaulay laughed into her smiling eyes.
+
+"As it is, there is a charge for everything, even the grass the
+donkeys eat!..."
+
+"O, monstrous! I never heard of such a thing. I'll interview the board
+about it if you like. Tell your donkeys they may eat anything they
+choose in future, it is not going down in the bill any more!..." and
+they both laughed gaily.
+
+In a more serious mood, however, she asked him presently, "I suppose
+it has been rather a disappointment?... This coming out to Rhodesia to
+make a fortune!"
+
+"Why do you think so?"
+
+"O, well, lots of reasons. You haven't come within sight of the
+fortune, for one thing; and you've still got packing-case furniture
+and live in huts. And you eat a lot of bully beef, now don't you?"
+
+"We do."
+
+"But that isn't what you came for?"
+
+"Still"--meditatively--"it's not a small thing to be in a country
+where a fortune may be won any day. It is that, of course, which keeps
+us going. It is better anyhow than a stool and one hundred and fifty
+pounds a year in England."
+
+"Are you sure?" And she watched him with keen eyes.
+
+He coloured slightly, but answered with firmness:
+
+"Quite."
+
+"But not better than something else, perhaps?"
+
+He saw that her interest was kindly and genuine, and suddenly drawn to
+expand he told her simply:
+
+"It's the isolation that hurts. Day after day, day after day, just
+this hollow and these kopjes, and never anyone to speak to except each
+other. We send for the mail once a week, but sometimes very little
+comes by it; and we get nothing fresh to read except a weekly
+Rhodesian paper. That is a gold mine to us for just one evening; but
+for all the rest there is nothing. Lionel is studying French, and I do
+a little also, but it palls after a time badly."
+
+"I should think so. It sounds as dry as dead bones."
+
+They were sitting upon a rocky knoll, and Diana had her hands clasped
+round her drawn-up knees, presenting a very attractive picture. "I'm
+not a true Imperialist at heart," she informed him. "I hate gush and
+talk and heroics, but between you and me I think an awful lot of you
+men making your solitary fight in the wilderness. It's always a lot
+easier to put up with discomforts when you know your next-door
+neighbour is jolly uncomfortable too. Of course, most people don't say
+so, but that's because they are conventional, and fondly try to
+persuade themselves, very unselfish also; but when they are honest
+they know quite well a misfortune is lightened when several others are
+in the same box. That's why, on a wet day, I console myself sitting at
+the window and watching folks struggling with drenched umbrellas and
+bedraggled skirts. It's so good to be safe inside."
+
+He waited with amused eyes.
+
+"And, of course, the trouble for you is just sitting down here among
+these monotonous kopjes and being uncomfortable all alone. No one to
+grumble to--ugh, how I should hate that!--no one to feel superior
+with; no one to envy you, even if there were anything to envy. It's a
+positive grave."
+
+"You've left out one of the worst contingencies. No one to discuss
+with; no friction of mind and opinions."
+
+"That comes under the heading of grumbling. When I discuss I almost
+always grumble about something. It is good for the progress of the
+world." And she laughed whimsically. Then, with one of her sudden
+changes, "How long do you expect to stay on trying to dig up a
+fortune, and pretending it is worth while when you know you hate it
+like Old Harry?"
+
+"We shall probably try another mine soon. That is what we want to do;
+but it cost so much to get our machinery down into this hollow we
+don't quite know where to find the money to get it out again. So we
+just go on hoping we shall strike a good reef soon."
+
+She remained thoughtful and silent some moments, and then, as if to
+change the subject, remarked, "Mr. Stanley seems happy enough in his
+solitary place. He says he used to be in Salisbury, but very much
+prefers Zimbabwe."
+
+"Most of the police prefer a quiet place with good shooting; and now
+that he has Major Carew there so much it must often be interesting."
+
+"Do you know Major Carew well?" and her quick voice failed to entirely
+hide her interest.
+
+"As well as perhaps anyone does. He comes to see us fairly often on
+Sundays."
+
+"But he is so silent, he can't be very interesting."
+
+"He is not always silent."
+
+"No, sometimes he snarls," with a little laugh.
+
+"Ah! you don't know him. Get him to talk to you about the natives;
+about their habits and legends and customs. There isn't a man in
+Rhodesia knows more, and there isn't one they trust more absolutely.
+He is down in this district now on their behalf, and before he set
+foot here they knew all about him. Natives a hundred miles apart
+communicate that sort of thing to each other. Every kraal here knew
+perfectly that he was stern and rigid, but absolutely just. If he once
+says a thing he stands by it, even if he gets into trouble at
+headquarters, which isn't so very unusual. Someone out of jealousy or
+pique or utter inability to understand stern justice, will
+misrepresent his actions and misreport him for doing his duty. It's a
+heart-breaking business for him sometimes; but he never gives in when
+it is keeping his word one way or the other with natives. He would
+sooner resign, and they know it; and fortunately they recognise his
+value and meet him somehow. Of course, he isn't in the Native
+Department, properly speaking, but he has done a lot of work with them
+for some time."
+
+"And what do you think he is down here for now?"
+
+"I don't know; but it is some abuse or other that has reached the ears
+of the administration. This sort of thing happens among the
+short-sighted, small-minded Native Commissioners. There was a man a
+short time back who charged his house boys five shillings for
+everything they broke. At the end of six months they had had no pay at
+all, and were pretty heavily in debt. He was magistrate as well as
+commissioner and had them brought before his court, and promptly
+sentenced them to work six months for nothing."
+
+"What a shame!" she burst out indignantly.
+
+"Or a Native Commissioner may terrorise a native into selling cattle
+to him for a mere song by nothing but a look. Of course, they are not
+allowed to buy cattle really, but if they are married their wives buy
+them instead sometimes, and then the Commissioner in an outlying
+district can fairly easily fix the price, if he has made himself a
+dread to all the kraals round. He can collect taxes, too, not strictly
+just, to make his accounts look well at headquarters."
+
+"But I thought Native Commissioners were always gentlemen?"
+
+"They are generally, but they don't all live up to the usually
+accepted standard. Some of them seem rather to glory in behaving like
+bounders and treating the native unjustly. It is bad for the country,
+but things are improving. Almost all new appointments now are made
+among public-school boys and Varsity men."
+
+"And do you think Major Carew is here about some such matters?"
+
+"Yes; but it isn't given out so, and no one knows just what. But the
+natives are fortunate to have him on their side. He is not in the
+least afraid, and he won't shelter any unjust steward. On the other
+hand, whatever complaints there are against the natives will be just
+as honestly examined, and woe betide the kraals that are in the wrong!
+He is no Exeter Hall sentimentalist, and they must know it pretty well
+by now."
+
+"Why do you think he is out here at all? Surely he might have been a
+general with his K.C.M.G. if he had stayed in the army?"
+
+"I rather fancy Carew would think that a small thing compared to what
+he has done in Rhodesia. After all, K.C.M.G.'s are pretty cheap
+nowadays, aren't they? But it isn't every man who can know a new
+country is grateful to him, and who has achieved all he has at a work
+he loves."
+
+"Why did he come?" Still Diana strove vainly to hide her interest. "Do
+you know?"
+
+"Adventure, probably. A good many men from crack regiments came in the
+early days."
+
+"There must have been something more."
+
+"Perhaps."
+
+"Don't you _know_?"
+
+"No." He looked at her with a little smile. "It isn't the game to ask
+questions out here."
+
+"That is just what Mr. Stanley said, and it is so dull of you both.
+The man's a perfect bear. I christened him 'The Bear' before I had
+known him an hour. But why is he? Why should he be? That's what I
+want to know."
+
+"I don't fancy you will. I doubt if anyone knows. He has never made
+friends, I think, out here, except with the Grenvilles, and they are
+some connection."
+
+"That's the missionary and his wife, isn't it? What in the world can a
+man like that see in a missionary? Of all the soppy, flabby
+individuals give me the usual specimen who goes out to preach
+Christianity to the heathen, and generally disgusts them and everyone
+else."
+
+"Not this missionary."
+
+"O, is he an original also?"
+
+"He's one of the finest men I've ever known."
+
+"Then what in the world is _he_ buried in the wilderness for? I never
+knew anything so absurd. A fine soldier and administrator, just a
+policeman; a splendid man, just a missionary. And you and your brother
+just grubbing about in a God-forsaken mine, apparently for nothing. It
+is enough to make anyone wild." And she faced him with that
+smouldering indignation she rarely allowed to come to the surface.
+
+"But they are both in Rhodesia"--ignoring her kindly inclusion of
+himself and his brother--"and Rhodesia wants good men."
+
+"And when she gets them just buries them at her outposts. I haven't
+much faith in your Rhodesia. She is a capricious jade. She absorbs a
+man's finest qualities and best years and gives him nothing in
+return."
+
+"Ask Carew if she gives him nothing. Probably she has given him more
+than anyone else could give."
+
+She got up impatiently. "All the more reason why he shouldn't be such
+a bear. People who have got what they want out of life ought to be
+amiable and friendly."
+
+She turned round, and found herself face to face with Carew himself,
+looking, if anything grimmer than ever.
+
+"I came to tell you that tea is ready, and the others have already
+commenced."
+
+Diana looked straight into his eyes, with a daring, challenging
+expression. "And you heard me discussing your amiable attributes? I'm
+sorry, but"--with a swift gleam--"I do discuss something else
+sometimes."
+
+"I heard nothing," he answered, returning her direct gaze, and stood
+aside for her to pass.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+AN EVENING RIDE
+
+
+As they rode home in the evening Diana, more nettled with Carew's
+impassivity than she would have cared to own, contrived to get a
+little apart from the others with her uncle, and in her frank,
+engaging way explained to him the rapaciousness of certain mining
+companies and her own promise on behalf of the donkeys. Mr. Pym
+regretted that he could not immediately grant her request without
+consulting his co-directors, but Diana knew perfectly, by the friendly
+gleam in his eye, that he meant to look into the question; and because
+he was impressed by the sturdy, plucky fight of the two brothers he
+would probably do a good deal more for them in the end.
+
+After which she prattled to him gaily, until Stanley was clever enough
+to distract her attention and remanipulate the party. He had been
+riding with Carew, and the engineer with Meryl; but on the party being
+disarranged the engineer joined Mr. Pym to discuss the mining
+properties they had been visiting, and Carew found himself unavoidably
+partnered with Meryl, while Stanley and Diana went gaily on ahead. It
+was the first time, what he was pleased to term "his luck" had
+deserted him. Heretofore there had been no single _tête-à-tête_
+between him and either of the cousins since Diana surprised him in the
+temple ruins. It was his fixed intention that there should be none. He
+argued in himself that he had no "small talk" in his vocabulary, and
+would only reciprocate the boredom he would himself suffer, and rather
+than either should be inflicted he steered a resolute course which
+partnered him with a man. In vain Diana, spurred by pique, had once or
+twice laid a trap for him; and Meryl, with growing interest, had
+sought to draw him into conversation. With masterly art he had steered
+clear of both, and continued his serene, impassive way.
+
+But on that homeward ride Fate, for once, got the better of him.
+Stanley and Diana were cantering gaily ahead along the narrow path,
+that meant smooth-going for one horse and a stumbling amid small rocks
+or long, dry grass for the other; while Mr. Pym and his engineer
+conversed with a solemnity no one could lightly disturb between the
+two front horsemen and the two back.
+
+At first Carew rode along with his eyes fixed rigidly on the horizon,
+and, except for its innate strength, an almost expressionless face.
+Meryl was a little amused. She realised thoroughly that the situation
+was none of his seeking, and she was in two minds whether to give him
+expressionless rigidity in return, or purposely tease him with
+questions. At first she chose silence, and looked around her with eyes
+of growing tenderness at the kopje-strewn country.
+
+And so, instead of being irritated with the "small talk" he dreaded,
+Carew found himself left entirely to his own cogitations; while,
+judging from her rapt expression, she scarcely realised his presence.
+And then, just because human nature is stronger, after all, than most
+things, memory, for the sake of a dream-face he would treasure while
+he had breath, made him look at her covertly with seeing eyes. He
+noted first that she was a perfect horsewoman--slim and upright and
+easy, almost like a part of her horse. Both girls rode astride,
+wearing long holland coats and specially made light top-boots, with
+large shady sun helmets; and because for a long time he had not seen
+anything much but slipshod garments among women riders, or exceedingly
+warm-looking correct home attire, he appreciated their cool smartness.
+
+Unconsciously it took him back to the old buried days, when the
+Devonshire moors and Devonshire lanes knew no hotter rider than Peter
+Carew. To the steeplechases, when he was so slim and wiry that, in
+spite of his height, he had ridden many a horse to victory. To the
+polo matches, when his matchless horsemanship had scored goal after
+goal for his regiment of picked riders. She recalled to his mind the
+stag-hunting in Devon and Somerset, where the first women had ridden
+astride to the meet, realising mercifully how the steep ascents and
+descents were eased for their horses, without the tightly girthed
+side-saddle, and for themselves without the side-seat strain. Almost
+as if it were a carefully permitted luxury, he saw the wide,
+wind-swept moors, heard the cheery shouts and the excited hounds, felt
+his thoroughbred sweeping gloriously along, as if its soul and his
+soul were both one in feeling the joy and exhilaration of the chase.
+What glories there were in those wind-swept, sun-bathed mornings in
+Devon! What joy of life! What lust of manhood! What splendid,
+whole-hearted young inconsequence! In his heart he smiled a little
+grimly. Peter Carew of the Blues had been no shunner of women in those
+days; no taciturn, silent, unappreciative onlooker. Rather he had
+loved too many, kissed too freely, ridden away too light-heartedly.
+
+Until the blue-grey eyes, so like Meryl's, looked shyly up, and then
+in their turn ran away from him. Of course, he had followed blindly
+like the hot-headed, hard-riding sportsman he was--followed blindly,
+wooed irresistibly, and won gloriously.
+
+And then ...
+
+Over the kopjes, over the vleis, over the veldt a black cloud came
+down, and suddenly all the picture was blotted out. An expression that
+was momentarily almost wistful left the fine mouth; the far-away
+softness left the keen blue eyes, and his face hardened strangely.
+Then he looked up at Meryl, riding beside him, and saw all the
+questioning interest in her face.
+
+"I'm afraid you have a very dull companion," he said; but it was in
+the voice that Diana usually called his snarl.
+
+Meryl smiled. "I did not for a moment suppose that you would talk."
+
+She could hardly say that his face relaxed, but at least there was
+that in it which suggested he liked her answer far better than any
+conventional politeness.
+
+Suddenly a wholly unlooked-for twinkle lurked somewhere in his eyes.
+
+"Bears don't usually," he said.
+
+Meryl laughed. "Diana is too fond of nicknaming her friends and
+acquaintances; but on the whole I think she has let you off lightly. A
+bear is a magnificent animal."
+
+"Not given to much amiability. No Prince Charming, for instance," and
+he smiled a little grimly.
+
+"But strong--and--well--dangerous, which is better."
+
+"You think so?" He looked at her rather curiously.
+
+"Decidedly."
+
+They rode on in silence, and, for a little way, the road being rough,
+he reined in his horse to the narrow path behind her. Then, when it
+grew smoother again, she waited for him to come alongside.
+
+"You haven't always been in this part of Rhodesia?"
+
+"No; only recently."
+
+"Long enough to get very attached to it."
+
+"More or less," and suddenly his voice hardened a little, as if
+scenting a discussion and wishful to ward it off.
+
+"I wonder why Rhodesia is so fascinating?" And her eyes roved with
+love in them from far horizon to far horizon. "I suppose you do not
+attempt to analyse it? You are content to care unquestioningly."
+
+"Yes"--with an effort--"after a time, one just cares."
+
+"And at first?..."
+
+"At first one has to find one's footing, so to speak. She is somewhat
+the bewildering, uncomfortable stranger to the new-comer."
+
+She marvelled that he should say so much, but hid her pleasure lest
+she should unwittingly change his mood.
+
+"She has never seemed that to me. Something has attracted me from the
+very first. I came, I saw, I loved."
+
+"You must remember that you came under exceptional circumstances."
+
+"And you?"
+
+"I was among the early pioneers."
+
+"How splendid! I wish I could say the same."
+
+"It was extremely uncomfortable."
+
+"But you didn't mind. I don't need to be told that. There was so much
+to make up for it. How good it must be to be a man!"
+
+"Yet the women are the true heroes out here."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"We get what we came for. Interest, excitement of a kind, freedom...."
+
+"And the women?"
+
+"There is not much for the women, but the plucky ones are often
+heroines."
+
+"Only no one tells them so?"
+
+"No one tells them so; therein lies the heroism."
+
+"I see. They put up a good fight, and no one says, 'Well done!' Isn't
+it the same with the men?"
+
+"The men get many compensations."
+
+"Compensations that make it worth while?"
+
+"Distinctly."
+
+They rode on in silence, both looking ahead to the blue mountain that
+guards the north of Zimbabwe. The peaceful loveliness soothed his
+spirit because he loved it, but in her it awakened a vague, swift
+ache. She felt somehow that he had a right to love the country,
+because he had made it his and given it of his best; that, for all his
+presumable poverty in many things, he was yet so rich in what he had
+achieved, and in what he had won for himself of interest and
+usefulness. While for her?... She was an alien, a mere tourist, a
+looker-on; the daughter of a millionaire who came to Rhodesia for
+wealth, and gave--how little in return!
+
+He might look at the tender outline of the lovely mountain with the
+glad, restful consciousness of work well done. She could only look at
+it with that ache of divine discontent: unplumbed, wordless longing.
+Even the heroism of the settler's wife was not for her. The women who
+were plucky enough to put up that good fight, although no one ever
+said "Well done!" Compared with them, in his eyes she was probably a
+mere cumberer of the earth; an ornament, intended only to be admired
+by the leisured classes. The young splendid country had no use for
+her, no place for her. She was an alien, an interloper; child of a man
+who came only for gain, and took his gain elsewhere, recognising no
+claim from a land that was no home to him, only an investment.
+
+Her soul cried out it was no wish of hers that it should be so; but
+only silent condemnation seemed to echo back to her from the far blue
+hills.
+
+She glanced at the strong, serene face of her companion, and because
+somehow he seemed a little less stern and uncompromising to-day she
+said to him simply, leaning a little to his side:
+
+"I envy you so, the sense that you have won the right to love her. I
+envy the plucky settlers' wives who are the mothers of her future. I
+feel myself so utterly an alien. Has Rhodesia any use for ... for such
+as I?"
+
+He looked at her strangely, and as he looked she saw an expression
+almost like hungry longing come into his eyes; then as suddenly vanish
+again, leaving him utterly amazingly stony. He turned his head
+sharply, and his gaze became fixed and rigid.
+
+"Millionaires' daughters can usually be pretty useful if they like,"
+he said almost brutally; and she felt as if he had struck her. In
+sudden anger and bewilderment she touched her horse with her whip and
+darted ahead. It was not the words, but the way in which he had said
+them. What did he mean?... What did he not mean?... She bit her lips
+to keep back the smarting tears that blinded her eyes. She felt as if
+she hated him. For a little space he had been so different to the
+cold, callous soldier, and in quiet response she had spoken from her
+heart; and in return he had said this cutting thing with cold intent,
+making her feel that he despised her. Did he see in her only a willing
+accomplice to her father's money-making schemes? The one perhaps who
+spent the gains heartlessly and carelessly elsewhere? Beside those
+settlers' wives he had said were heroines, was she but an idle,
+contemptible, useless heiress? She spurred her horse on, letting her
+thoughts run away with her, unwilling that he should overtake her
+until she had got herself well in hand; and Carew followed behind,
+feeling again that sense of a black, rayless abyss all about him. Why
+had he looked full and deep into her eyes like that?... Why had he not
+gazed only upon the mountains that soothed and refreshed him?... The
+mere discovery that the past he thought to have outlived slept so
+lightly was a shock to him. Had he not then outlived anything? Had he
+only put his memories lightly to sleep, and dreamt all the life he had
+lived since? He was scarcely conscious that he had said anything
+inconsiderate; he hardly knew what he had said. He only remembered he
+had looked full and deep into beautiful eyes, and suddenly it was as
+though his dead love Joan had come back to him.
+
+Presently she slowed down so that he came up to her, and it was
+noticeable that something in her whole attitude had changed. She was
+as upright as he now, and her eyes also looked rigidly ahead. He saw
+the change without understanding it and wondered a little, without
+troubling to probe.
+
+"Your friends, Mr. and Mrs. Grenville," she said coldly, "would they
+care to see us if we called, or would they think it perhaps just
+vulgar curiosity?"
+
+"They would be delighted; visitors are a very rare treat to them." He
+was puzzled a little at her manner, but let it pass. Meryl had it on
+the tip of her tongue to add, "They don't mind even millionaires'
+daughters?" but her own good taste saved her from a momentary
+satisfaction that a man of his breeding could only have considered
+bourgeoise.
+
+"Perhaps Mr. Stanley would take us," was all she suffered herself; and
+added, "From his account Mrs. Grenville is evidently one of Rhodesia's
+heroines."
+
+"She is," he answered so simply that Meryl felt a little nonplussed.
+
+When they reached the camp Diana had already dismounted and gone into
+their tent, whither Meryl followed her.
+
+"Well," she said, "how did you get on with The Bear? Did he chore you
+up over anything?"
+
+Meryl considered a moment before replying. "One moment I thought him
+the rudest man I have ever met, and the next ..." she seemed puzzled
+how to explain.
+
+"And the next I suppose he didn't seem a man at all, only a pillar of
+stone!..."
+
+For answer, she said thoughtfully, "I wonder if something hurt him
+very badly some time or other?"
+
+"If it did, it doesn't exempt him from the ordinary amenities of human
+intercourse. He isn't the only man who has been hurt." And Diana
+kicked off her boots impatiently.
+
+"No," said Meryl; "but it makes it a little easier to forgive him."
+
+"Don't do anything so foolish. You'll end by thinking him interesting
+and falling in love with him; which would be too utterly silly when
+you are as good as engaged to Dutch Willy, and when he, The Bear,
+would care about as much as my foot," with which dictum she put her
+head out through the tent flap, and called to Stanley and Carew,
+"Hey! Mr. Stanley! don't go away. Stay and keep us company in my
+uncle's absence. I believe he is venturing into The Bear's den
+to-night."
+
+Carew smiled quite frankly for him.
+
+"Can't I tempt you to come also? I daren't promise you a decent
+dinner, but I've some fresh Abdullah cigarettes out from home, if you
+care to come down afterwards."
+
+Diana was disarmed in spite of herself. "And will you promise to growl
+very prettily?" with an arch expression.
+
+"I'll try not to frighten you away too quickly."
+
+Diana withdrew into the tent.
+
+"O!" she said, "he's a bear with two faces; and that's the most
+difficult to cope with of all."
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+THE MISSION STATION
+
+
+They went to the Grenvilles' the next day, while Mr. Pym took another
+of his investigation trips. Stanley acted as escort, and Carew went to
+Edwardstown on business.
+
+Ailsa Grenville met them with her brightest smile, and ushered them
+proudly into her cool, picturesque drawing-room hut.
+
+"How charming!" they cried, with genuine delight; and Diana added, "O!
+why can't I have a hut in the wilderness?..."
+
+Then the khaki-clad, sportsmanlike missionary strode in, and after the
+preliminary greetings Diana asked with charming piquancy, "O! are you
+really and truly a missionary?"
+
+"Really and truly," he told her gaily, and came over to her side of
+the hut to sit beside her. "Why do you ask it like that?"
+
+She considered a moment, and then declared impishly, "Because it
+doesn't seem possible that a man like you should never say 'Damn.'"
+
+He laughed outright. "Well, I'm not going to tell tales out of school;
+but if you'd only got one pair of brown boots in the world and one
+pair of brown gaiters, and the boy tried to clean them with blacklead
+and paraffin oil!..."
+
+Diana moved nearer to him, with her prettiest and most ingratiating
+air. "O, tell me some more!... Tell me lots more."
+
+"I don't think that is half so bad as the boy washing the saucepans
+and the teacups all in the same water together," put in Mrs.
+Grenville.
+
+"How perfectly delicious of him!" cried Diana. "What else did he do?"
+
+"You ought to have been here this morning when our stores came out
+from Edwardstown," the missionary told her. "The boy carries them on
+his head, you know; and there was a tin of golden syrup ..."
+
+"Yes ... yes ... and it leaked!..." gleefully.
+
+"Trickled all down his head and neck; you never saw such a sticky
+mess! And as soon as the other boys discovered ..."
+
+"Did they duck his head in a bucket?..."
+
+"O, dear no!... _licked_ him!..."
+
+Diana fairly howled with delight; and then Stanley came in, after
+seeing that the horses were properly watered and fed, and was
+immediately accosted by Grenville with, "Hullo, Kid! you're quite a
+deserter! What have you been doing all the week?"
+
+"Do you call him Kid?" Diana asked. "What a capital name for him!"
+
+"He has been 'The Kid' almost ever since he came to this district."
+
+"It pays," remarked Stanley jocularly; "they give me sugar."
+
+"And he lives with The Bear; how comical! Instead of the lion lying
+down with the lamb, in Rhodesia you have The Kid feeding with The
+Bear."
+
+"Who is The Bear?" Ailsa Grenville asked, from the packing-case
+cupboard, where she was reaching down cups and saucers.
+
+"Need you ask?" queried Diana. "Doesn't Major Carew ever growl when he
+is here?"
+
+Ailsa looked much amused. "Not exactly," she said; "but I admit
+sometimes he rolls himself up into a ball, so to speak, and relapses
+into a sort of winter sleep."
+
+"I hope you prod him," said Diana.
+
+"Billy wouldn't let me," glancing affectionately at her husband.
+"There is only one Major Carew for him."
+
+"Still, it might do him good. We prodded him last night, didn't we?"
+addressing Stanley. "We went right into his den, and gave him a good
+baiting, while we smoked his new Abdullah cigarettes," and she smiled
+gleefully at the remembrance of the stern soldier, in an astonishingly
+sociable mood for him, humorously parrying her chaff. "You know," she
+ran on, "he simply hated our coming. I almost wonder he didn't dig
+impassable trenches across the road, or fortify himself in the
+Acropolis Hill. Anyone might have thought we were the bears, and he
+the woman."
+
+"I expect he was afraid of your charms," said Grenville smilingly. "We
+wilderness-dwellers have none of the townsmen's armour to withstand
+fair women."
+
+"Well, growling and scowling are very fair substitutes," quoth Diana;
+"and, besides, he didn't even trouble to observe if we had charms. As
+far as he decently could he looked the other way altogether."
+
+While she chatted on, delighting the missionary and his wife with her
+gaiety, Meryl sat in a low chair, and gazed through the doorway out
+over the smiling country, much as Carew usually did.
+
+"It must be very wonderful," she said at last, aroused by a
+sympathetic question from Ailsa Grenville, "to live day after day with
+such a scene as that in one's doorway."
+
+"Yes," Ailsa told her. "The wonder never grows less, nor the mystery,
+nor the beauty. Major Carew, when he is here, loves just to sit and
+look at it; and so do I."
+
+Diana, with the two men, had strolled outside; and Ailsa and Meryl sat
+alone in the cool interior.
+
+Meryl sat very still, with her hands lightly clasped on her knees, and
+her eyes always--always--to the lovely prospect that was like a mighty
+ocean in which the waves were blue, mystical kopjes; and over which
+the first clouds, that heralded the approach of the rainy season, shed
+entrancing lights and shadows. Ailsa sat a little behind, and her eyes
+roved back from the view that had grown into her being and become part
+of her life to the face of the young heiress. She noted at once its
+instinctive charm; the charm of a woman blessed with most of the
+traits that hold and bind men for ever. Strength was there without
+masterfulness; sweetness that would never cloy; a dreamy elusiveness
+that meant a closed book it would be a joy to study chapter by
+chapter; and some of the chapters would surprise with their lightness
+and mirth, while others would surprise with their depth of sympathetic
+understanding, and yet others would bewilder alluringly with their
+whimsical, irresistible uncertainty. She knew that society papers
+sometimes spoke of the well-known millionaire's daughter as beautiful,
+but to her it seemed the word was hardly the right one. Meryl's face
+had in it something too strong and too distinctive for actual beauty;
+and yet Ailsa thought of all the lovely women she had ever seen none
+were quite so attractive. And because she was a tender-hearted woman,
+the thought crossed her mind to wonder if perhaps, out of the dark
+shadow that she knew hung ever over Peter Carew's life, there might
+yet be a way of escape; a gracious healing, and a final joy. Could two
+such humans meet and not love? Could anything truly separate them if
+once the love were born?
+
+She mused a moment or two happily, sublimely ignorant of all the
+forces that warred between; of what caused the shadow; of the power of
+a dead face; of the pride of a resolute man; of that attractive
+Huguenot Dutchman biding his time down south.
+
+At last Meryl broke the silence. As she sat gazing through the open
+doorway her mind had lingered unconsciously over that last sentence.
+"Major Carew, when he is here, loves just to sit and look at it," and
+in her fancy she saw the silent, watching form of the grim
+soldier-policeman.
+
+"He is an interesting man," she said simply. "I think I understood he
+was some connection of yours?"
+
+"You mean Major Carew? Yes; he is a distant sort of cousin, but we are
+two entirely different branches of the family, and had drifted widely
+apart until we three met out here. Yet it was not surprising we should
+meet like this. The Carews were always wanderers and adventurers, like
+Drake and Frobisher and the other fine old pirates. A humdrum career
+in the Blues would hardly have continued to satisfy Major Carew, any
+more than the conventions and hide-bound prejudices of the Established
+Church could hold my husband."
+
+"Yet, if you will forgive my seeming rudeness, both of them apparently
+took a decided step downwards from the social point of view."
+
+"That would not trouble either of them for a moment. They sought
+Freedom, and found it."
+
+"Yet it meant, in a sense, what some people call being buried alive."
+
+"Ah, those people do not understand. That is how I took it at first.
+Shall I tell you a little, or will it bore you?"
+
+"Please tell me. I think it is kind of you to trust me so soon with
+your confidence."
+
+Ailsa smiled. "One always knows. Anyone with insight would trust you
+instinctively. But there isn't much to tell. Only that when I married
+my husband he held a living in Shropshire, with a sure promise of
+quick promotion; and then Doubt crept in which he could not overthrow,
+and after a long struggle he gave it up because his conscience would
+not let him be a hypocrite."
+
+"But he is still a Church missionary, is he not?"
+
+"In a sense; but he is not paid by any society, and works on his own
+lines entirely. He had a little money of his own, and I have also, and
+out here it is ample. But at first I was very bitter with him, and let
+myself be influenced by my people who were still more bitter, and I
+would not join him. I went back home and lived the old life of my
+girlhood. He never uttered one word of reproach, although he was just
+breaking his heart for me, and--for which I bless him every day of my
+life--he wrote every mail telling me about the country and his work.
+At first I scarcely read the letters, and often did not reply; but he
+wrote on patiently and waited. And at last my mood changed. The
+endless tea-parties began to pall, and the insipidity of my home life.
+Week after week, week after week, the same round of social gatherings;
+the same people, the same conversations, the same everlasting tea,
+buns, and gossip. In each parish around, so many, many unmarried
+women, so many empty, monotonous lives. I think the condition of
+England's country villages is becoming almost a tragedy; all the men
+seem to have gone away to a bigger and wider world, and all the women
+to have been left behind to feed on emptiness. There are the
+clergyman's daughters, the doctor's daughters, the solicitor's
+daughters, and perhaps a few retired veterans and their daughters; all
+struggling through the same old empty round; while the men go out to
+conquer the earth." She paused a moment, but seeing Meryl's rapt
+attention, went on uninterruptedly, "And one day I awoke to the fact
+that I had a special right to one of the finest men who had gone out
+to do his share, and a special place at his side. To cut a long story
+short, I won through the frantic opposition of my family, cut myself
+adrift, and came out here to see for myself what Billy was doing that
+gave him a satisfaction he had never found in his peaceful easy
+living; in spite of the hunger I had always known was wearing out his
+soul for me." She looked out across the country dreamily, before she
+finished. "I shall never forget when I first saw this," motioning to
+the sunny prospect. "We arrived here in the dusk, owing to a
+breakdown, and so I had a long night's rest before Billy first showed
+it to me. I must tell you I was already tremendously impressed, on the
+quiet, with my brown, stalwart, khaki-clad husband in place of the
+decorous, black-coated parson I had parted with; and although the
+journey had been very exhausting, for I had to travel in the
+post-cart, my interest in him and the country had never abated. Then
+he opened the door wide about sunrise, and said casually, 'Sit up and
+look at my view, Ailsa.' I sat up, and for a moment I could not speak
+at all. Do you know, Miss Pym, the country looked positively hung with
+diamonds that wonderful morning. I shall never forget it. Just outside
+the door, forming a sort of framework to the scene beyond, was some
+tall, dry grass, thin and straggly enough to let the light through.
+And where at the top it spread into graceful, hanging, feathery
+seed-ears, it was hung with large dewdrops, reflecting all the colours
+of the rainbow. Behind them was the bluest of early-morning skies.
+Beyond them, what you see here, a far dream-country of untold
+loveliness. I said, 'O, Billy! have you lived beside this all these
+months?' And then I began to cry, because I didn't know what else to
+do, and I was so glad that I had come."
+
+A fleeting shadow of sadness seemed to cross Meryl's face. "I envy
+you," she said in a low voice. "You can stay on with the man you love,
+and see it every day. I must go back to the tea-parties."
+
+"Most people pity me."
+
+"I dare say; and they envy me," with a little forlorn smile.
+
+"You have much power, and power is good," softly.
+
+"Have I?... How, why, where?... What shall I do with all this money my
+father makes? I wonder what I could do to take from my heart this
+feeling that I am an alien and an intruder in this lovely country,
+among you people who are quietly making history? If your husband
+wants money for his mission, I could get him a cheque for a thousand
+pounds from my father, I know; but what is that compared to giving
+one's life as you do, and growing right into the heart of the country,
+and feeling just that it is yours because of what you have given? I
+know that is how Major Carew feels also. One can see it in his rapt
+gaze. He does not care for very much else in the world. But we, my
+father and I, we just take riches out, and give nothing but cheques
+which we never even miss." She got up and moved to the doorway,
+controlling with an effort her sudden, unexpected show of emotion.
+"The others have been looking at your fowls and cattle," she said,
+"and now they are coming back. I hope Mr. Grenville will show us over
+the mission station."
+
+"He will be delighted," Ailsa answered, following her lead with quick
+understanding; "and another day you must come and sit in my doorway
+again."
+
+"I should love to;" and she stepped out into the sunlight to join the
+gay trio Diana was still the life of.
+
+Then Mr. Grenville took them into his workshops and his little mission
+hall, and showed them how he taught the boys carpentering and
+blacksmithing, and reading and writing and farming; making good,
+useful labourers of them with even greater zeal than that with which
+he made them Christians. Diana, the outspoken, could not resist a
+surprised comment.
+
+"I thought people who had been abroad always ran down missionaries,
+and scoffed at missionary work?"
+
+"They do very often," Grenville replied, with frankness, "and not
+without reason. A great many missionaries are naturally not very
+suitable men. It is almost impossible to pick and choose."
+
+"There are some," put in Stanley disgustedly, "who just confirm all
+the blacks they can, without bothering about how much they understand,
+and then make communicants of them so that they can send good figures
+home to their society for the missionary magazines. They don't teach
+them anything useful at all, and they do a roaring trade with the
+garments sent out by pious ladies' work guilds; as if the natives
+weren't better in their own natural state than they are ever likely
+to be dressed up in clothes and fuddled with doctrines."
+
+Mr. Grenville, standing very upright and looking every inch a man,
+said simply, "It isn't entirely their fault always. The home folk like
+the figures; they imagine they stand for progress, and they know
+nothing about the conditions. Many missionaries are very fine men, and
+they would do even better work if left a little more to their own
+initiative, and not cursed with this atmosphere of competition in
+figures. It isn't fair to damn the whole flock because a few of the
+sheep are black."
+
+"And don't you ever feel you are wasting your talents?" Meryl asked
+him a little shyly.
+
+He threw his head back and squared his shoulders with a characteristic
+movement. "It is better than the hypocrisy and feebleness of the
+condition of affairs at home; and I am very fond of the natives. They
+are most lovable, when one once gets their confidence and understands
+them. And the freedom is good, and the primitive conditions. The
+getting right down to the bedrock of nature, so to speak, without too
+much highly developed civilisation. Yes, it is a good life for a man.
+Sometime I should like to show you the mission farm. We've made
+tremendous strides lately."
+
+"And you?..." Diana turned with a winsome air to Ailsa Grenville. "Do
+you find the natives lovable, and the primitive conditions?... And are
+you proud of the mission farm?... Or doesn't it all sometimes make you
+just long to scream?... It would me!..."
+
+Ailsa smiled into her eyes. "One grows adaptable very quickly. I
+confess I am very happy here. Certainly there are times when one feels
+rather as if one had dropped off the world into space, but it doesn't
+take long to struggle through it. But then, of course, it is well to
+remember that Billy and I are rather an exceptional couple; quite
+absurdly, idiotically satisfied with each other's company. If it were
+not so our lives would be purgatory. The tragedies of these far
+countries are for the husbands and wives isolated from all other
+companionship, and having perhaps nothing in common with each other.
+There are few conditions worse than isolation under those
+circumstances. It breaks the woman's spirit and sours the man and
+brings shipwreck, where a little other congenial companionship might
+have brought them through in safety."
+
+They were interrupted by the sound of voices outside, and found that
+Mr. Pym and his engineer, having encountered Major Carew returning
+from Edwardstown, had persuaded him to show them the way to the
+mission. Mr. and Mrs. Grenville greeted them with eager warmth, and,
+the afternoon sun having sunk behind some trees, tea was spread
+outside the huts, so that they could drink it while admiring the view.
+Carew, though silent as ever, was less rigid, and Meryl saw how
+insistently his eyes strayed back to the blue vista of kopjes. She
+wondered what he thought of all day long, in his continuous silences,
+and behind the quiet, forceful eyes. It was noticeable that Diana
+seemed to have outgrown both her awe and chagrin towards him; and
+though at first he proved very unbending, she eventually won something
+like a repartee out of him. Ailsa watched them quietly from the
+background, and waited hopefully, but in vain, to see his eyes stray
+to Meryl. Indeed, he seemed almost to shun her, and she noted it with
+regret. Was it possible that already his preference was given to
+Diana, with her light raillery and ready laugh? Diana so pretty, so
+attractive, so original, and yet to Ailsa's thinking, so far less
+reliable and restful than Meryl. In the end, by a clever little
+manoeuvre, she brought Carew and Meryl together.
+
+"You are almost outvied, Major Carew," she told him lightly. "Miss Pym
+likes my view already, as much, if not more, than you. I told her you
+loved to sit and look at it, and that is exactly what she likes to
+do."
+
+Meryl smiled, but made no comment. Mere admiration seemed superfluous,
+and Carew was grateful that she spared him raptures. So they sat quite
+still, and instead of any constraint between them because of the
+silence, there was a vague sense of restfulness and understanding.
+Meryl spoke first, and then she made no allusion to his love of the
+spot.
+
+"I think you were right," she said simply. "Mrs. Grenville must be one
+of Rhodesia's heroines."
+
+"How do you specially mean it?"
+
+"I mean it, because one _knows_ there must be times when the isolation
+is almost unendurable, and when she must long for many of the things
+of her old life, however much she declares otherwise."
+
+"Yes, I think there are. She evidently had many friends, and she has
+almost lost them all. It is difficult to keep up friendships by post."
+
+Then Ailsa herself joined them.
+
+"Has Major Carew been with you into the temple, yet?" she asked Meryl.
+"He is better than any guide-book for information."
+
+Meryl coloured faintly, but looked a little amused. He had so
+persistently withstood every friendly hint or invitation to accompany
+them among the ruins.
+
+"He has been very much occupied ever since we came," she said,
+glancing towards him.
+
+Carew looked quite unconcerned, and merely assented, which made Ailsa
+rather want to shake him. "But it ought to be part of your business,"
+she told him, "to interest visitors in our wonderful old ruin."
+
+"I can hardly imagine anyone needing any incentive to that from me,"
+he said.
+
+Meryl glanced at him humorously. Some new phase she had detected in
+him, since Diana persisted in what she called "baiting" him, made her
+more ready to overlook his bearishness and less quick to feel
+repulsed.
+
+"Will you take me if I promise not to ask any silly questions?" she
+asked, with a smile.
+
+He looked up, and for a brief moment the past seemed to lie still as
+one that is dead. His keen, direct eyes looked straight into hers, and
+he said simply, "I should like to take you."
+
+Meryl felt her cheeks glow a little with sudden, swift, indefinable
+pleasure, and almost at the same moment Diana broke in upon them.
+
+"Do you know, Major Carew, your singularly appropriate nickname has
+been subjected to a little embroidery?... You are now called, after
+the Coeur de Lion, 'The Bear with two faces.'" All in a moment he
+stiffened and the shadow loomed; and while Meryl wondered Diana ran on
+unheedingly, "If I say to you when we meet, 'Which face is it to-day?'
+you will know that I mean, is it your day of lordly graciousness, or
+is it the cast-iron, beware-of-the-bull frown day?"
+
+"I think you are excessively rude, Diana," Meryl said, though she
+smiled with the rest.
+
+Carew smiled too, but he rose from his seat and moved away on some
+small pretence.
+
+And as he went, Meryl, watching with eyes that were daily gaining
+clearer sight, saw that the shadow was as of some deep, unfathomable
+pain.
+
+She too got up and moved a little away from the rest, gazing with
+grave, tender eyes across the kopjes, lying how bathed in a faint
+ethereal flush of rose and gold.
+
+"He had not always two faces," she said in her heart. "Something hurt
+him badly once, and ever since he has taken refuge behind the iron
+mask."
+
+"Rhodesia," her heart whispered, almost without her consciousness,
+"cannot you with your fairness reward him for his work by soothing
+away the memory so that the refuge is no longer needed?..."
+
+A little later, as they all prepared to ride home, she saw how
+resolutely he took his place with the engineer, and hastened on ahead,
+quenching even Diana by the stoniness of his mien.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+A DECISION THAT FAILED
+
+
+As Carew sat outside his hut that evening smoking a solitary pipe, two
+thoughts seemed to fill his mind. The one that he had told Meryl he
+would be pleased to visit the temple ruins with her; the other the
+warning unconsciously conveyed in Diana's raillery, reminding him that
+he was in danger of straying from the rigid pathway he had chosen of
+unsociable aloofness, and therefore in a measure, perchance, inviting
+trouble.
+
+But of course he need not go. A polite message by Stanley, or a call
+as he rode past perhaps, already starting on some convenient
+engagement. Yet as he sat on he knew it was not entirely his wish to
+resort to either subterfuge. Why, after all, should he not go with her
+just once, and no doubt Diana also, and tell them a little about the
+mysterious walls?
+
+He pulled hard at his pipe, staring into the darkness. Why not go and
+get it over, instead of troubling to send an excuse? Surely that were
+the simpler plan? One moment he thought he would, and the next he
+found himself shrinking unaccountably, warned again by Diana's chaff.
+He knew quite well she was right. He was a man, or a bear if she
+preferred it, with two faces; but the trouble was that she should so
+thoroughly have grasped the fact. He had only intended to show one
+face, the uninviting, frigid one; and yet unconsciously she had won
+from him more than one glimpse of the other.
+
+And if he unbent so far as to act as their escort to the ruins, he was
+yielding still further to an atmosphere of friendliness he had
+forsworn.
+
+He turned in at last, still in indecision, but the next morning he
+said he would not go.
+
+So Meryl waited a little forlornly through the morning hours. It was
+unusually cool for Zimbabwe, the hot sun being hidden by grey clouds,
+and she knew no question of heat could possibly be detaining him. She
+had hoped he would call for her about eleven and then come back to
+lunch; but the morning wore on, and no tall figure in khaki strode out
+from the clearing where the police camp stood.
+
+Neither did the afternoon bring any word or sign, until Stanley
+arrived for a cup of tea and to ask them to stroll up to the store
+with him at the head of the valley. Diana agreed readily, having found
+the hours somewhat tedious; but Meryl felt tired and headachy, and
+chose to remain behind. Once, as casually as she could, she asked if
+Carew had gone anywhere for the day.
+
+"No, he's grinding away at his report for the Native Commission, and
+as solemn as a judge. I don't think he has spoken two words all day."
+
+"Is there some special haste then?"
+
+"O no; it is just his mood. He gets a sort of black day sometimes,
+when he barely answers if you speak to him, and looks like a bronze
+figure. Then he grinds away at something or other as if his life
+depended on it, and Moore and I have to just shut up."
+
+When they had gone away up the valley Meryl sat on alone in the shade,
+thinking deeply. Evidently he had some reason of his own for not
+following up his promise, and she need not any longer expect him. He
+did not want to take her, and probably was vexed that he had said that
+he would. It did not seem very polite, but she hardly looked at it in
+that way. Somehow, with this stern-featured soldier-policeman, the
+ordinary amenities of conventional intercourse seemed to have little
+weight. If he regretted his words and did not want to go, she liked
+him better for calmly remaining away, than coming against his wish,
+because he felt he ought. Another man would have done that, any man,
+in fact; only Peter Carew, and a few like him, would calmly change his
+mind and remain aloof without saying anything.
+
+Yet how keenly she was disappointed. It was quite idle to pretend
+otherwise to herself, and with a strength like his she calmly faced
+the fact. When she went to bed the previous night she had lain awake
+thinking of the morrow, hugging to her consciousness with shy
+gladness that he was on the point of unbending at last and showing a
+little friendliness. In a few days now they would be journeying on,
+and she had begun to expect he would remain unbending to the last, and
+let them go away, perhaps never to meet again, with nothing beyond the
+official courtesy and the occasional sparring with Diana. And then had
+come this sudden hope, and she had been strangely glad. One might live
+a lifetime and not again meet a man quite like him. Even if their
+intercourse were to be of the merest afterwards, still it was better
+than nothing, better than a final end to all friendship when they
+journeyed on again, leaving him and the ruins behind.
+
+And now had come this swift disappointment. He must have regretted his
+move instantly, and made up his mind to be more rigid than ever.
+
+She hardly troubled to ask why. Doubtless he had his own reasons, and
+whatever they were, they were nothing petty or small. Her eyes strayed
+a little longingly to the police camp, and she watched the door of his
+hut from her chair securely hidden behind some low bushes.
+
+Was he still grinding at his report, she wondered, looking like a
+bronze figure? The simile pleased her, and she smiled. Yes, bronze was
+the right word to use, for his face and hands and arms were tanned
+almost to the colour of his khaki with exposure, so that he sometimes
+looked all of a piece, except for the close-clipped dark moustache and
+keen, intense blue eyes.
+
+Then as she looked she saw some movement in the camp. A boy appeared,
+apparently in answer to a call, and stood a moment receiving
+directions. Then the tall figure itself appeared, stood a moment to
+give an order, and strode down towards the little gate. She sat up,
+and her breath came a little unevenly. Was he really coming at last?
+Had he, after all, been seriously delayed?
+
+No; outside the gate, without one glance towards the tents on the
+hill-side, he turned to the left and disappeared in the direction of
+the Acropolis Hill.
+
+So there was nothing further to hope for. He would never come now. It
+was the end.
+
+She got up, feeling suddenly a new tiredness, and wishing vaguely that
+they were leaving on the morrow. Perhaps it would be possible to
+persuade her father to do so without exciting much comment. Diana was
+already a little bored with their camping-place and ready to be off,
+and she ... without daring to probe too deeply, Meryl felt, for the
+sake of her own peace of mind, it would be wiser to go quietly away
+from a presence so likely to disturb her peace.
+
+Yes, she would ask her father to plan a move as soon as he came in,
+and in the meantime she must do something herself to pass the next
+hour more helpfully than sitting alone in the shade.
+
+The greyness had rolled away now, and the evening grown exceptionally
+lovely, with clear skies overhead and great banks of pearly tinted
+clouds on the horizons. Where should she go? Only two ways lay open.
+Either she must follow Diana and Stanley up the valley, or she must
+stroll down to the temple alone. The third route lay to the Acropolis
+Hill, and that was formidably closed by the presence of the man who
+should have been her companion. Finally she decided on the temple, and
+tying on the large grey hat that blended so charmingly with her eyes
+and the soft tints of her skin, she walked along the little footpath
+skirting the police-camp vegetable-garden to the western entrance.
+
+Inside the temple walls all was very peaceful and still, while the
+sunshine made a network of gold through the leafy trees upon the
+antique masonry. Yet as she looked around upon the empty desolation
+her heart grew sad with a nameless sorrow; that old, old ache, and
+old, old tiredness, for the utter futility of work and of striving,
+that sometimes seems to fill the human heart, when in a depressed mood
+it looks upon the ruins of something that has once had strength and
+greatness. Meryl carried in her hand a little pocket edition of Omar,
+but she did not open the leaves nor read the lines. In a vague way it
+was enough to have it with her; it was like having in her hand the
+hand of a friend who understood. For of all poets the world has known,
+perhaps none have so perfectly voiced the cry of the human heart when
+it questions the why and the wherefore and the worthwhileness of its
+own mysterious existence. So she sat very still in the ancient temple,
+and pondered the old questions that live from age to age--unanswered.
+
+And because Sorrow seemed for the moment to have her in his keeping,
+all her thoughts were tinged with sadness. She looked around upon the
+broken walls, and it seemed to be brought home to her with sudden
+force, how little time was given to each one to play his part before
+he must make room for another.
+
+     The Bird of Time has but a little way
+     To fly, and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.
+
+And because there was that element of greatness in her, which was also
+in her father, she thought less of the "worthwhileness" of doing than
+of the poorness of _not_ doing. His talents were given to
+money-making, because it was the thing he had a genius for; but she
+knew that in a measure he fulfilled his trust, and besides subscribing
+generously to charities, helped many a "lame dog" over his stile in
+secret. But what had this to do with the trust that was hers? She who
+did not even bear the heat and burden of the day in making the
+money?... She who had but to spend it.
+
+In the ruined temple she sat on--thinking, thinking.
+
+How the spot fascinated her!
+
+In this far Rhodesia, how strange that she, the product of the most
+modern and presumably enlightened age, should linger there amidst
+these broken walls, and feel strange kinship and fascination about
+those old people in that remote age; should stretch a hand out to
+them, as it were, across the centuries, with this feeling that their
+thoughts had been even as her thoughts, and that the passing of the
+ages could never eradicate the essential likeness of one people to
+another in those old eternal questions of whence and why and
+wherefore.
+
+And they, the maidens of that day, had loved the man who was big and
+strong and true, even as the maidens of to-day; the man who achieved;
+who was ever fearless to do and dare; who gave his service to the
+world quietly, unostentatiously, indifferent to praise or reward. And
+what was the use of it all: the love, the heartache, the silent
+admiration.... The maidens were dust now, and all the strength and the
+heroism of the strong men could not give them one age longer to do and
+dare ere they too made room for others.
+
+Yet always--always--deep-rooted in the heart and mind of humanity, was
+this ineradicable belief in the simple act of _doing_; this
+half-contempt of the lives content to flutter their little way in
+aimless self-seeking. The spirit that took men through the terrible
+solitudes of untrodden places, that urged them across uncharted seas,
+that carried them fearlessly aloft to conquer the air--not for gain,
+not for notoriety, not for praise, but just that simple splendid need
+to be _doing_. How it appealed to her, how it enthralled her senses,
+how it made her ache with a great overwhelming desire to discover
+quickly what "doing" in a big sense there might be for her!
+
+Of course he, the stern soldier-policeman, was of the fearless band.
+In his quiet way he was "doing" with the foremost, though it might be
+a work that would never bring him anything in this world but enough
+pay just to live upon. But that was beside the point. The band to
+which he belonged did not linger in the shallows, counting the cost,
+counting the gain; they plunged straightway into the deep waters, and
+struggled to some mysterious, perhaps fugitive, goal ahead, finding
+their reward in the struggle itself and the difficult headway won.
+
+And afterwards!...
+
+O, what did it matter about afterwards, if one had put up a good fight
+and dared the deep waters? How much better to be overwhelmed there,
+than to fritter away a butterfly life in the shallows! How splendid to
+win through and stand on the far bank with the quiet band of strong
+workers, even though no one knew aught of the struggle, instead of
+being lauded to the skies by the playing butterflies!
+
+Only, what could she do; ah, what?
+
+A wave of hopelessness seemed to seize upon her, and back across her
+mind like a lash cut the dictum of the strong, rigid man, "A
+millionaire's daughter can generally be pretty useful if she likes."
+
+Of course, signing cheques, cheques, cheques--a mere machine--and
+never to get in touch with the deep need, the inarticulate sorrow of
+the world that her soul ached to comfort. It would seem that even to
+him, the figure of bronze, it was what she should seek as her
+_métier_. She almost wondered if somewhere in his heart he had a
+faint contempt for her, because she was a millionaire's daughter: a
+product of the new régime; someone who could not be permitted to stand
+in the same light as the women of his ancient, illustrious name; who
+had no part with the proud, patrician ladies of his great family.
+
+She rose to her feet suddenly, feeling unaccountably hurt by the
+thought, and her eyes roved half unconsciously, and fixed themselves
+upon the spot where the scarlet petals of the Kaffir boom showed
+blood-red against the ancient northern wall. The ache in her heart
+coloured all her mind for the moment, shutting out the glad sunshine
+with its golden evening glow resting tenderly upon the granite blocks,
+showing her only the splashes of scarlet like blood upon the ancient
+walls. Was it the altar of sacrifice? Did the Kaffir boom shed its
+great red flowers for ever, like drops of blood upon the altar of the
+world's pain?
+
+The sound of a step upon broken stones roused her suddenly; a man's
+firm tread close beside her. She looked round slowly as it stood
+still, and with the ache and the question lingering in her face, found
+herself looking into blue eyes of a disconcerting directness--the eyes
+of the soldier-policeman.
+
+"I saw you from the Acropolis Hill," he said, "and so I came."
+
+No word of why he had not come sooner; no explanation of his presence
+on the Acropolis Hill when she had a right to expect him with her; no
+preliminaries at all, no self-conscious excuses, no apparent
+realisation that he had behaved a little oddly; only the simple,
+direct announcement, "I saw you, so I came."
+
+Yet there was something more--a vague intangible something, that made
+the directness of his eyes disconcerting in a way it had not been
+before. Meryl felt a pink flush stealing over her face, and turned her
+head away to hide it.
+
+"I wonder what you were thinking about just then?" he said, with the
+slightest softening. "I awoke you from a very deep reverie."
+
+She raised her eyes, and they fell again upon the scarlet flowers.
+Something born of her own deep understanding told her, give this man
+straightness for straightness always if you would stand well with
+him; no begging the question, no subterfuge.
+
+"I was thinking," she answered simply, "that those scarlet petals of
+the Kaffir boom, falling on these ancient walls, suggest great blood
+drops offered, upon the altar of the world's pain throughout the
+ages."
+
+"Ah!..." The exclamation escaped him quickly, unheedingly--sharp,
+short, abrupt. It was as though she had struck him suddenly in a
+vulnerable place. It told her, as perhaps nothing else could have
+done, she had gauged rightly when she remarked to Diana that sometime
+something had hurt him very much.
+
+For a moment there was a tense, pulsing silence, and then he turned
+aside towards the sacred enclosure which stood behind them. Meryl
+turned also, and ventured as she did so to glance into his face. It
+was stern again now, but she knew for a brief moment as he made the
+exclamation it had not been so, and for a reason she did not seek to
+fathom her heart was strangely glad.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+THE ANCIENT RUINS
+
+
+When Carew had started up into the Acropolis Hill an hour previously,
+he had not had the faintest intention of fulfilling his engagement and
+going in search of Meryl. On the contrary, he had gone there to avoid
+her.
+
+All day long, as Stanley described, he had been grinding away at his
+native report in a gruff, determined silence: a silence even gruffer
+and more determined than usual. Because of his thoughts the previous
+evening and of his decision in the morning, he had finally made up his
+mind not to visit the temple with Meryl Pym, and not to run any
+further risk of slipping unconsciously into the friendly attitude he
+was so anxious to avoid. When Stanley set out towards the tents, he
+mentioned casually that he was going up the valley to the store, which
+is also a most attractive and comfortable hostel for Zimbabwe
+visitors, and should ask the two girls to go with him. A little later,
+glancing in the valley direction, Carew saw the khaki figure for a
+moment going up the pathway, and the flutter of a light dress, or
+possibly two, just ahead. He took it for granted that Meryl and Diana
+had both accompanied Stanley, and that his escort was no longer
+expected. He told himself he was glad, and decided to go into the
+Acropolis Hill, about that point of interest still unravelled between
+himself and Grenville, and so avoid any chance encounter.
+
+But when he found himself among the ruined fortifications, he became
+conscious of a flagging interest wholly unlooked for. Something seemed
+to have gone out of him, or out of the ancient stones, and he knew
+himself in some vague way not in tune. He gazed at the amazing walls,
+erected upon granite boulders two hundred to two hundred and fifty
+feet above the valley, and the marvel in him that never seemed to die
+was, at any rate, less arresting than it had ever been before.
+
+Here, on an isolated hill, rising to a height of three hundred and
+fifty feet, were fortifications which in their ingenuity, massive
+character, and persistent repetition at every point of vantage had
+astonished the highest experts of modern military engineering. Rampart
+walls, traverses, screen-walls, intricate entrances, narrow and
+labyrinthine passages, sunken thoroughfares, banquettes, parapets, and
+other devices of a people thoroughly conversant with military
+engineering and defence, and not one word, not one line, not one clue
+as to the identity of the builders nor the object of their colossal
+labours; labours which one felt could only have been achieved through
+the compulsory service of many slaves, for thousands of tons of
+granite blocks had been transported up the precipitous kopje to a
+height of no less than two hundred feet, which a careful examination
+of the rocks on the hill proves must mostly have been quarried from
+granite about twelve miles distant. And all this in spite of the fact
+that Nature alone had made the hill already impregnable, it being
+inaccessible on three sides and very difficult of ascent on the
+fourth. It is one of Rhodesia's mysteries, and one also of its
+fascinations; those mysteries and fascinations which so far have
+effectually baffled all efforts to find the clue and read the closed
+book. Who was it came for gold in those old, old days? Who was it
+built the line of forts to Solfala on the coast to guard the route
+along which the gold was undoubtedly carried, and of which remains may
+still be seen at regular intervals the whole distance? Where was the
+gold taken to from Solfala, and by whom?
+
+And no less strange perhaps is the absence of all clue to the
+burial-ground of this stalwart race; for only a stalwart people could
+have built those temple walls and those amazing fortifications. Where
+then are the bones of their dead? Strange and incomprehensible as it
+may seem, no excavations have yet unearthed human bones, or brought to
+light any spot that might be supposed to have been a burial-ground.
+
+To Peter Carew the mystery and the fascination had become such an
+ever-present companion in his thoughts, that it was not surprising a
+moment should come when he stood among the ramparts and found their
+interest for the time being crowded out. The surprising thing was the
+source of that crowding out. For it was not even the lengthy report
+for the Native Commission to which he was giving such infinite thought
+and pains that filled his mind; neither was it anything to do with the
+police force he had grown to care for as truly as his old regiment;
+nor any far-reaching, visionary dream for the welfare of the country.
+Chiefly it was a pair of grave blue-grey eyes, with a gleam in them as
+their owner said, "Will you take me if I promise not to ask any silly
+questions?" And he had said "Yes." Yet now he was here on the
+Acropolis Hill alone.
+
+He stared moodily at the broken walls and pondered within himself. Why
+had he not taken her? Or why, since he had chosen not to do so, could
+he not put the whole remembrance from his mind? Nay, why did he half
+begin to wish that he had not let himself be overruled by his own
+counsel of prudence? They would be going so soon now, and it might be
+long before he would again be given an opportunity to speak with any
+woman of Meryl's charm, or look into any face so full of attraction.
+And yet that was just what he wished; was actually the chief reason
+for his unsociable resolutions. His own inconsistency puzzled and
+worried him, and his eyes as he looked steadily to the horizon had a
+lurking cloud in them.
+
+Then quite suddenly and unexpectedly he had turned his gaze to the
+temple walls lying far below, and seen the figure seated idly on
+fallen masonry, lost in thought.
+
+Then she had not gone with Stanley and Diana? She had remained behind
+alone, nettled perhaps by his bearishness, and choosing to be
+independent, and still take her stroll to the temple without him.
+
+But it was not the thought of her possible censure that spurred him
+unexpectedly to a new decision. He had accustomed himself to be
+indifferent to that in most people. It was a perfectly simple and
+direct desire to join her. And because at heart he was a perfectly
+simple and direct man, he suddenly left off cogitating and started
+down the hill. Perhaps until that moment he had not truly known which
+way his desire lay. Perhaps in the first discovery he had purposely
+not chosen to give himself time to weigh and probe. Anyhow, he
+hesitated no more, until he stood at her side and looked into her
+eyes with that direct gaze that Meryl so unexpectedly found
+disconcerting. But the sensation passed rapidly, and in its place came
+a quiet content. Whether he had avoided her all day or not, at least
+he came now entirely of his own initiative, and for the time it was
+enough. She was too honest to pretend anything herself, and possessed
+too fine a nature to cover what might have held embarrassment by a
+coquettish taunt or feigned pique.
+
+"I had given you up," she said; "it seemed probable that you had
+spoken unthinkingly when you said you would come."
+
+"I have been working all day at my report," he replied simply.
+
+He seemed a little different somehow, and besides, he had come
+entirely of his own free will. She remembered it, and put away all
+sense of restraint, fought down and conquered the self-consciousness
+that sometimes seemed to grip her when he was taciturn and aloof.
+
+He had placed one foot on a low wall, and leaned back against a tree
+in a natural, unrestrained attitude, and quite naturally she seated
+herself on the wall before him.
+
+"You found it very engrossing?"
+
+"It is interesting work."
+
+"Has it any special object, or just a general one?"
+
+"A little of both. We want to benefit the natives as a whole and
+improve their conditions; and we want also to make some changes in the
+native administration of the country."
+
+"And you are fond of the natives? For you at least they are worth
+while?"
+
+"Emphatically so."
+
+"To any particular end?"
+
+His face grew grave and thoughtful, but the hardening stayed away
+still--the hardening that so often came when either she or Diana,
+sought to draw him. Only apparently to men would he speak of his work
+and his beliefs.
+
+"It is difficult to say. Probably nothing but time will show us the
+true solution of the problem of the black and the white race living
+together in one country. But meanwhile the black man is eminently
+worth while. With firm and just treatment he is capable of great
+development."
+
+He raised his eyes and looked out into the distance. "If only we could
+ensure it for him everywhere! Native commissioners and their clerks
+and the magistrates, all men of fine fibre, who honestly care about
+the natives under them and the welfare of the country. So much could
+be done if ... if ..." He smiled a little grimly. "We are so apt to
+expect the impossible," he finished. "How should numbers of men of
+fine fibre ever reach Rhodesia at all? In so many cases we must just
+take what we can get."
+
+"But the standard will improve as the country grows?"
+
+"O yes; it is improving steadily. All the signs are hopeful, if we can
+but light upon what is truly the best method of administering the
+native laws, and get good men to carry the work out."
+
+And still the heavenly sense of unrestrained mental kinship lingered.
+Happy, yet fearful, Meryl ventured a word of appreciation.
+
+"It must make you glad to feel you are doing such a useful work for a
+young country. It seems as if ... as if ... it is just what a man
+might ask to be doing."
+
+He drew himself up with a slightly taut movement, and she divined he
+did not wish for any personal praise; yet, because a tinge of red
+showed under the bronze, she was glad she had seized the opportunity
+to offer a tribute that might at some odd moment heal a passing sense
+of uselessness and appreciation.
+
+She stood up also, and they moved slowly round the ruins together,
+while he explained to her much that he had read and gathered and
+surmised in his leisure hours, not only about the temple itself, but
+about all the ancient remains and the mysterious people who had dwelt
+there long ago. Told as he told it, the listener could only find it
+enthralling, for the man's heart was in his subject; and where another
+might have rhapsodised or sentimentalised, he only stated certain
+remarkable facts, and gave her the simple reasons for and against
+certain deductions, that she might decide her own view for herself.
+
+"But you?..." she questioned at last. "In spite of the scientific men
+who have scoffed, and their followers who have thrown cold water upon
+all enthusiastic belief in the antiquity of the ruins, you are quite
+satisfied that they are really of a very great age, are you not?"
+
+"Absolutely."
+
+"Can you tell me why chiefly?" She smiled a little. "I believe it
+absolutely myself, but I am afraid it is partly a sentimental belief.
+Already I love them, and it makes me jealous for them. I feel I cannot
+bear anyone to throw doubt upon their antiquity."
+
+"It is not easy to explain in a few words, without a great many facts
+and a lot of detail, but I can tell you one or two salient points. For
+one thing, Zimbabwe was evidently connected with a gold industry on a
+very large scale. Mr. Telford Edwards, a well-known and able mining
+engineer in Rhodesia, measured up, about fourteen years ago, the
+length, breadth, and depth of most of the then known old workings in
+Rhodesia, and calculated the cubic contents of what had been taken
+out. And taking the assay value in each old working to be per ton the
+same as it is in the reef in each case now, he estimated that at the
+present value of gold more than one hundred million pounds' worth had
+been taken out. Even two hundred years ago gold was worth very much
+more than it is now; so that it is inconceivable that such an amount
+had been produced within the last two thousand years without any
+mention of it anywhere. Such a production of gold would have upset the
+markets of the world."
+
+"Yes," she said eagerly as he paused; "please go on."
+
+He did so, but without withdrawing his gaze from the distance.
+"Another point is that the workings are so widely dispersed and so
+numerous, requiring such an enormous amount of time and labour, that
+it seems only reasonable to believe that the gold-mining went on for
+many hundreds of years, probably before the age of writing at all. I
+am not prepared to agree offhand that Zimbabwe is probably the ancient
+Havilah of the Scriptures, but I see no very good reason why it should
+not be. On the other hand, the ancient workings and fortifications and
+temples may have been the work of Phoenicians or Mongols several
+thousand years ago. Certainly against Mr. McIver's theory, that the
+Temple was the work of Bantus a few hundred years ago, I think we may
+put the fact that an admirable drainage system has been
+unearthed;--drainage systems of any kind being more or less unknown to
+black races of a low order. In the meantime, we can but await fresh
+clues, which may put us upon the track of proofs, and hope that the
+day is not very far distant when much of the mystery will be cleared."
+
+"O, I hope so," she said; "and thank you so much for telling me all
+that you have. I shall think of it often when I am back in 'the cities
+of the plain,'" and she smiled a little wistfully.
+
+He did not answer, and she wondered what deep thoughts at the back of
+his brain made him always so grave. She felt instinctively he had not
+always worn this serious, preoccupied air, and her heart grew tender
+anew at the thought of that "something" which had hurt him long ago.
+
+Had he ever told anyone? she wondered. Would he ever tell anyone?...
+or would he go quietly on through his life, self-contained,
+self-dependent, aloof? Well, it was good to have met him and known
+him; a simple, strong soul going quietly about its appointed service
+is always good to have known. Perhaps the recollection of the meeting
+later would help her to do likewise, and in the maze of her life learn
+at least to do the simple, strong thing at the moment.
+
+They were moving towards the western entrance now, and she wondered if
+he would accompany her back to the tents, and perhaps stay a little,
+as Stanley did evening after evening. But just as they approached the
+opening voices were heard, and a moment later Diana and Stanley stood
+in the wide aperture. Diana's winsome face was lit with whimsical
+mischievousness, but it fell somewhat when she beheld Carew.
+
+"O goodness!" she remarked comically. "Who would have thought of
+finding you here?"
+
+Stanley and Meryl laughed at her apparent discomfiture, and even Carew
+relaxed as he replied, "You don't seem entirely pleased."
+
+"Well, no, I'm not; but if you are just leaving it doesn't matter."
+
+"I think I shall stay; I scent some vandalism."
+
+"O well," airily, "if you will have it, we were just coming to dig for
+corpses;" and she tossed her head with an independent air.
+
+"It is strictly forbidden to dig for anything on pain of various dire
+penalties," Carew told her.
+
+"I know it is, and that is just exactly why it interferes with my
+plans to find _you_ here."
+
+"I see. And what about Mr. Stanley, who is also a representative of
+the Government that made the laws?"
+
+"Mr. Stanley is only a trooper, and I am Diana Pym. It is not his
+place to interfere with my actions. It would only be mine to shield
+him if he was persuaded to help me and got into trouble."
+
+"And what in the world do you want with a corpse, Di?" asked Meryl.
+
+"Why gold, of course! Mr. Stanley has been telling me a perfectly
+thrilling theory about corpses with a lot of antique gold ornaments on
+them being buried in the ruins; and he knows where one or two are,
+because a gold-diviner showed him with his divining-rod, and he marked
+the places in case he wanted to remember later; and to-day is when he
+did want to remember later, and he's just strolled round with me to
+point out the spots; and if that isn't a long enough sentence for you,
+you must add some more yourself," drawing a long breath.
+
+The Kid, enjoying himself hugely, hastened to add for Carew's benefit,
+"It's only just a joke. Miss Pym wanted me to show her where our
+visitor of the other day said he had divined gold."
+
+"It's not a joke at all," declared Diana defiantly. "It's the key to
+the whole mystery. While all you scientific folks are arguing this,
+that, and the other, I want to look and see. Besides, if there are
+antique gold ornaments, perhaps a few thousand years old, I want some.
+I'm not specially in love with your old broken walls, but I'm ready to
+be in love with your jewellery, worn a few thousand years ago."
+
+"You Philistine!" exclaimed Meryl. "If you can't appreciate the ruins,
+you certainly ought not to be allowed to possess a single treasure
+taken from them."
+
+"O rot!... What's the use of decayed old walls anyway? You and Major
+Carew can have the heaps of stones. We don't want to rob you of so
+much as a pebble. But we do badly want to dig down and look for a
+corpse."
+
+"And when did you propose to begin?" asked Carew.
+
+"Well, I suppose a moonlight night would be best, when you're rolled
+up in your den or else when you've gone off to a distant kraal."
+
+"You would see a ghost in about half an hour," from Meryl, "and fly
+for your life."
+
+"O, are there ghosts?" looking suddenly dubious. "Did your diviner
+divine any ghosts while he was about it?..." turning to Stanley. "You
+never told me that. Of course, I shouldn't much like to be handling a
+corpse, and feel its ghost put a cold, clammy hand on my shoulder.
+What a horrible idea! Do you think there are any?"
+
+"There might be;" and The Kid's eyes twinkled. "Of course, I supposed
+you would imagine we ran risks of that sort."
+
+"Ugh!..." with a cold shudder. "I believe I can see one now. It must
+have overheard me saying I coveted those gold ornaments. Come away
+quickly. I want ... I want ... now don't look shocked, Meryl; I want a
+whisky and soda!..."
+
+They followed her out from the gathering gloom of the walls into the
+quick-coming darkness, and as she and Stanley pressed on ahead, Carew
+and Meryl could only follow. As they did so they spoke little. It was
+as though some bond of sympathy between them had slipped into being of
+itself outside their consciousness altogether, and with a blessed
+sense of quiet understanding neither attempted to make conversation;
+and neither questioned as yet whence came this unsought bond, this
+link forged as by a power outside themselves. The time for probing was
+near, but it lingered yet a little.
+
+As they approached the tents and joined the other two waiting to make
+their adieux, Diana's voice again broke in upon their quiet,
+dispelling its curious sense of unreality.
+
+"It wasn't you I was afraid of, Major Carew," she called lightly.
+"Baboons and owls and bears I dare tackle any day; but a ghost three
+thousand years old!... ugh!... I give it up!... You will not need to
+add to that precious native report another one, concerning the daring
+theft of a corpse from the ancient ruins of Zimbabwe by a well-known
+young lady from Johannesburg."
+
+He smiled into her laughing eyes in a manner that surprised her, and
+made his face extraordinarily attractive in a way she had not yet seen
+it.
+
+"And what would have happened to Stanley, do you suppose?... I'm
+afraid the police force might have considered it necessary to dispense
+with his services."
+
+"O, that wouldn't have mattered in Rhodesia in the least! He'd have
+opened a butcher's shop, or come on with us as our butler, or gone and
+dug a hole in a kopje and called it gold-mining. No one would have
+thought any the worse of him, and I'd have felt indebted to him for
+life. We'd both have had a run for our money, anyhow!..." and she
+laughed gaily as she turned away.
+
+But in their tent, alone together, she suddenly made the epigrammatic
+remark, "Dangerous, very dangerous indeed; like most bears. Mind you
+don't get badly clawed, Meryl!..." and then with her usual lightness
+ran off into another subject.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+CAREW RIDES AWAY
+
+
+With the coming of the dark, velvety southern night, resplendent with
+brilliant southern stars, it would seem the time for probing was at
+hand. By the tents on the hill-side Mr. Pym, the engineer, Meryl, and
+Diana sat outside in the starlight, rather a silent party, listening
+to the intermittent sound of tom-toms coming from some kraal near by.
+
+Then Mr. Pym alluded somewhat suddenly to their departure, and Meryl
+made the discovery that it was a topic she had been dreading all the
+evening. Diana, on the other hand, seemed relieved.
+
+"I have one more journey to make," he told them, "and then I propose
+to start at once for Enkeldorn and Salisbury. Unfortunately, I am
+afraid this journey will take two and possibly three days."
+
+"Then take us with you," said Diana at once.
+
+"It is an unhealthy district or I would. I do not think it would harm
+you, but I am afraid for Meryl." There was a slight pause, then he
+added, "As we returned to-day we stayed for a cup of tea at the
+mission station with Mr. and Mrs. Grenville. I happened to mention my
+journey, and Mrs. Grenville said she would be delighted if you would
+both go and spend the two or three days with her."
+
+"But I want to come with you," Diana cried; and leaning towards him
+added confidently, "Uncle, you will have to take me; don't make a
+fuss."
+
+"Why shall I have to take you?" with amusement in his small, keen
+eyes.
+
+"Because I have made up my mind to go," was the prompt rejoinder; and
+he gave an amused chuckle.
+
+"And what do you say, Meryl? Will you spend two or three days with
+Mrs. Grenville?"
+
+"I should like to, if Di really wants to go; otherwise we could quite
+well have remained on here, couldn't we?" There was a note of anxiety
+in her voice that she was unable to entirely hide. Only three more
+days, and they to be spent several miles away!
+
+"I do not particularly want to leave you here as long as that. I would
+rather you visited Mrs. Grenville, and I think it would be an
+interesting change. She invited you both."
+
+"It was very kind of her," said Diana, "but I am quite decided about
+wanting to go with you. I suppose we could both come?"
+
+"I think I would as soon go to Mrs. Grenville"; and Meryl sat very
+still, gazing at a distant star.
+
+"What do you think?" said Mr. Pym to his engineer. "Will it be all
+right for my niece to accompany us?"
+
+"Why, yes, certainly, if she takes quinine regularly. It is a
+beautiful neighbourhood. She can either ride her mule or be carried in
+a machila."
+
+Diana clapped her hands, feeling her point was won easily, and then
+added, "Couldn't we take Mr. Stanley with us? He would so love the
+shooting, and he is such good company."
+
+"As I came past to-night I called in and asked both him and Major
+Carew. Stanley accepted at once."
+
+There was a slight movement where Meryl sat, but she did not speak;
+and her father, almost as if with intent, kept his eyes turned away.
+
+"What did Major Carew say?" asked Diana.
+
+"He was uncertain. He thought he might be obliged to go to Edwardstown
+on business, and he left the question open."
+
+Diana laughed. "He wanted to make quite certain sure that there were
+to be no ladies in the party."
+
+"I don't know why he should suppose there were likely to be."
+
+"Possibly not, but he is a cautious man. Anyhow, when you tell him I
+am going he will make ready to start to Edwardstown on business."
+
+So they sat on under the stars, each busy with thoughts. Henry Pym's
+were a trifle anxious. So little ever escaped his clear eyes that it
+was not in the least surprising he had seen whither Meryl's mind was
+trending, almost before she knew of it herself. And much as he admired
+Major Carew, he feared, with the clear sight of a great love, that
+indefinable something that stood as a barrier between the man and his
+outlook upon certain phases of life. Whatever it was, his studied
+avoidance of social intercourse, and his turning his back so
+resolutely upon England and all his people there, suggested to the
+astute man of the world that he had taken out of his life's plan all
+thought of marriage, and was not very likely to turn from his purpose.
+Hence the shadow of anxiety in the father's eyes, for his deep
+knowledge of Meryl told him further that she would neither love
+lightly nor forget easily.
+
+And still the girl herself sat on and made no sign. The joy of the
+evening hour was still too new. Under the stars at present she asked
+nothing better than to live through it again and again in her memory.
+For whereas a woman is often fearful to anticipate a joy for dread of
+a disappointment, afterwards, when the realisation is sure and sweet
+and all her own, she will draw delight from it for many a silent hour
+in quiet contentment.
+
+And down at the police camp the two troopers and the officer sat
+likewise under the stars. Stanley was very full of his trip, for Carew
+had readily given him the two or three days' leave; and in the
+direction whither they journeyed were roan and sable and water-buck
+and probably lions to rejoice the heart of a game young British South
+African policeman with a bloodthirsty desire to kill. Moore, in his
+quaint, Irish way, chaffed him a good deal, as was his wont; for
+though one had received his education at the Bedford Grammar School
+and was a clergyman's son, and the other at a board-school and was the
+son of a small innkeeper, in the Rhodesia police force all troopers
+are equals, and there is a frank camaraderie which is very creditable
+to its members. Carew himself showed very little difference, and in
+the same spirit the homely Moore had received a cup of tea from
+Diana's dainty hands, poured out for him by Meryl.
+
+Only, as they twitted each other in slow, easy tones, neither of them
+attempted to include Carew, who sat a little apart in the darkness
+smoking his beloved pipe; and when they rose to turn in, he merely
+acknowledged their pleasant "Good night, sir," with a short "Good
+night" in reply, and made no movement himself. Even when the lights
+at the hill-side tents went out he still sat on, alone with the night
+and the stars. Later, because he knew he should not sleep, he started
+off up the valley towards the store, feeling a need for action.
+
+And all the time, under the covering darkness, his face seemed to grow
+graver and graver. He was too wise not to know when danger threatened,
+and too direct not to face it squarely at once. And the danger that
+seemed to threaten him now was the likelihood that if he saw much of
+Meryl Pym he would grow to love her, and perhaps she would reciprocate
+his love, and for them both there would be only a great pain. That it
+could by any possibility be anything else did not enter his
+cogitations. According to his own ideas he could not marry, and least
+of all could he marry the only child of a millionaire. And it seemed
+to him further that if he cut off all intercourse at once the danger
+would be averted. He was quite satisfied in his own mind that the
+evident attraction had not had time to sink very far down. In two or
+three days she would go away again and he would go on with his work,
+and it would all be the same as if they had never met. Manifestly the
+chief consideration now was to avoid any further friendliness
+whatever, except the merest courtesy which had obtained at the
+beginning. If possible, he decided it would be better not to meet any
+more at all. When a man is strong in one thing, he is usually strong
+in others; and the quiet strength that had enabled him to break away
+from an old life of leisure and ease and excitement, and build up
+another life for himself on entirely different lines in a new country,
+helped him now quietly to make his decision and try to take the
+simple, direct course, out of a threatening danger.
+
+And yet it was not entirely easy; the simple, direct way very seldom
+is. Byways are apt to have softer grass for the feet, deeper shade
+from the sun, smoother banks to rest upon. The direct, straightforward
+way often goes on mercilessly up the steep hill, having sharp flints
+in its pathway, cold winds, dry dust, untempered glare. But the man
+who dares it with steady eyes usually arrives first at the goal,
+tempered metal ringing true, while he who dallies in the pleasant
+byways may find his armour has grown rusty and his powers lax.
+
+As he walked quietly back to the police camp Peter Carew looked
+straight before him to the dim horizon, and in his eyes there was an
+expression that few, if any, had ever been permitted to behold. For
+the hidden sorrow that was his was his alone, and he had never sought
+nor asked the sympathy of a fellow-creature. In the starlight he
+looked back into the eyes of his dead love, and it was between him and
+her only the sorrow might be shared. As he had loved her memory all
+these years, he would love her still, though in the great loneliness
+of his heart he might be drawn to that one other woman who so
+strangely resembled her and so deeply attracted him.
+
+But Meryl was not for him, the penniless policeman, and he knew it.
+
+The hour spent together in the temple ruins had been too sweet, too
+dangerously sweet, and therefore he would run no further risk. He
+would not go with Mr. Pym, because that might forge a link of
+friendship it would be difficult to break; and he would not remain at
+the camp, because that might involve considerable intercourse if Meryl
+and Diana stayed behind at the hill-side home alone. He would instead
+retire to Segundi on the pretext of meeting the Resident Commissioner
+expected there, and stay until the millionaire's party had departed
+from Zimbabwe for good. It would be as well to start early, he could
+easily manage it; and if he saw no prospect of saying good-bye to Mr.
+Pym in person, he would write him a short note giving some sort of
+explanation.
+
+So it happened the next morning, before anyone at the hill-side camp
+was dressed, a Black Watch boy presented a note to Mr. Pym's boy, and
+a little distance off on the road Major Carew waited on his horse for
+a message.
+
+And in his tent, still in a sleeping-suit, Mr. Pym read the note, and
+looked hard for a moment at the sunshine beyond the open flap, as if
+seeking out there to read, not what was said in the little letter, but
+what was _not_ said.
+
+Then he stood up, slipped on some shoes, and went outside into the
+fragrant morning air. Directly he saw Carew on his horse, he took the
+little path through the scrub and rocks and went towards him. Carew
+alighted, and came a short distance along the path.
+
+Mr. Pym spoke first. The other had already done his speaking in the
+note.
+
+"This is very sudden. I hoped you would have accompanied us to Susi."
+He looked up hard into the soldier's bronzed face, though without
+seeming to do so. To any other man the steadiness of Carew's eyes
+might have been disconcerting.
+
+"I hardly expected to be able to. Mr. Jardine was almost certain to be
+at Segundi one day this week, and I knew I should have to meet him."
+
+"How long will you be away?"
+
+"Possibly a week."
+
+Henry Pym was a little taken aback, but he did not show it. The cool
+brain that had manufactured the income of a millionaire was fully
+alert now, not so much because he did not wish to be taken unawares,
+but because Carew interested him beyond most men, and he wanted to try
+and grasp the working of his mind.
+
+"Then we may not see you again before we start for Salisbury?"
+
+"Possibly not. Will you kindly say good-bye to the ladies for me,
+should I be prevented doing so in person?"
+
+"They will be disappointed not to see you."
+
+"I am sorry also." A little smile of grim humour played suddenly about
+his lips. "You must tell your niece The Bear sent her a farewell
+growl, and he hopes she will find more amiable Rhodesians at her
+future camping-places."
+
+"I think she is not one to care much about the average type of amiable
+cavalier. She will miss The Bear's growl a good deal. But we shall see
+you again shortly, I hope," he hastened to add. "Any time if you care
+to come to Johannesburg we shall be delighted if you will visit us at
+Hill Court."
+
+"Thank you. If I come that way, I shall remember."
+
+Then he held out his hand. Mr. Pym grasped it with unwonted warmth.
+
+"Good-bye, sir," said the soldier simply.
+
+"Good-bye, Carew; I have been glad to meet you," answered the
+millionaire. And then as the horseman rode away without one backward
+look, he walked slowly along the little path to the tents.
+
+At breakfast he broke the news quite simply, but once more he did not
+look at Meryl. He told them Major Carew had been called away to
+Segundi, and would not return before they had departed north.
+
+"Gone?..." echoed Diana blankly. "Do you mean he has gone already and
+without saying good-bye?"
+
+He felt Meryl's eyes upon him with a strained expression, and he
+turned lightly to Diana to give her time to grasp the news.
+
+"Yes; but he left you a message. He passed before you were up, and I
+went out to speak to him. He asked me to make his farewells to both of
+you, and particularly to tell you that The Bear sent you a growl, and
+he hopes you will find more amiable Rhodesians at your other
+camping-places."
+
+But Diana was in no mood for light messages; rather unaccountably, she
+received it with impatience.
+
+"O, he is simply odious!" she exclaimed. "I have no patience with him.
+Why can't he behave like an ordinary man just once in a way? Going off
+at sunrise, and never stopping to say good-bye! It is downright
+rudeness, and there is no reason why he should conclude he can be as
+rude as he likes with impunity. You don't seem to mind his
+bearishness, Meryl? but I hope you have spirit enough to resent his
+casual departure."
+
+Meryl was rather pale, but she managed to reply lightly, "I can't see
+why you seem so surprised. He is only acting as he has done all along.
+It is his affair, whether he keeps it up to the last, or suddenly
+changes altogether and becomes the polite, conventional society man.
+Personally, it would have surprised me far more to see the change."
+
+"O, you're just shielding him," with impatient disdain; "I suppose
+because he happens to be rather good to look at. But I call it rude;
+just plain, unvarnished rudeness to go off like that for some
+trumped-up reason and never say good-bye to you and me. I hope I
+_shall_ meet more amiable Rhodesians elsewhere, and I should like to
+have a chance to tell him so." Then she rattled off into another
+subject, leaving neither Meryl nor her uncle any necessity to help the
+conversation, for which, in their secret hearts, they were deeply
+grateful.
+
+And perhaps Diana's clever little head made an effort which had no
+appearance of an effort; for like the two brothers who had been
+respectively her father and her uncle, very little transpiring in her
+immediate circle ever escaped her notice.
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+"THE SHIP OF FOOLS"
+
+
+Meryl had not been long with the Grenvilles before Ailsa's sympathetic
+nature divined that some shadow seemed to be brooding upon the girl's
+spirit. She was so pensive and silent, with sad eyes turned often to
+some far horizon full of wistful thought. And then perhaps suddenly
+she would make an effort and be unusually gay, but the gaiety was not
+spontaneous nor the laughter frank.
+
+In truth, it had been a weary two days and nights for Meryl, since the
+early morning when her father and Diana, with the engineer and
+Stanley, rode away, after escorting her to the Mission Station and
+leaving her there to await their return. It was as though the very
+abruptness of Carew's departure had crystallised all her wavering,
+uncertain thoughts, and told her bluntly what he was to her. Before
+she had been half dreaming; now she knew.
+
+And it seemed to her that she knew also, beyond any questioning, that
+he had no feeling whatever for her beyond the merest friendliness; and
+since they would probably never meet again, she must, if possible,
+conquer her own foolish heart, and resolutely withdraw the love she
+had given unasked. It seemed to her, at any rate, the strongest thing
+to do, and while she made the effort she would turn a smiling face to
+the world and let no one suspect. If she failed--well, that would
+still be her own affair and no one need know. So she rallied herself
+often and talked gaily, encouraging an interest in all Mr. Grenville's
+plans and hopes that she did not always feel. What she liked best was
+to sit silently before the large sitting-room hut, with her hands on
+her knees, gazing at the wonderful prospect, while Ailsa sewed beside
+her and talked quietly. Ailsa who knew him so well, and loved him so
+well, and appeared to be the only woman friend he possessed. Ailsa
+also who loved this far country so well, the country he had adopted
+for his own land, and seemed quite content, as he, to give the best
+years of her life, in her small measure, to its welfare.
+
+Meryl thought much of the lives of these three quiet workers in the
+wilderness, and mused a little sadly upon what seemed but gilded
+pleasure-seeking emptiness to which she would presently go back.
+
+It was in one of these thoughtful moods she asked Ailsa with plain
+directness how she thought a millionaire might best benefit Rhodesia,
+supposing he were willing to make an effort in that direction. Having
+asked, she added with a light touch, "I imagine you are hardly ready
+yet for libraries and public parks and orphanages?"
+
+"No," Ailsa answered; "but we want settlers badly. Think what it would
+mean to the country if just one rich man or company, instead of
+acquiring large tracts of land and holding it until the price mounts
+to a high figure, were to make a genuine effort to get a white
+population upon it as quickly as possible, even though it meant small
+or no profits. It is too much to expect from any company naturally,
+but there are individuals holding up their land, and therefore holding
+back the country, who might show a more generous spirit. I could name
+a well-known man who owns immense tracts, one of them two hundred
+thousand acres not far from a town, and there it lies in idleness,
+awaiting a land boom. Not long ago it was given out through the
+newspapers that he had a great scheme in hand for getting settlers,
+but nothing has come of it yet, and no one has much hope that it ever
+will."
+
+"I wonder if my father owns land here? Do you happen to know?"
+
+"I think he does."
+
+"And it is lying idle?" divining that her companion knew more than she
+implied.
+
+"As far as any outsider knows, it is."
+
+"I see." Meryl got up and moved down the rustic verandah, standing a
+moment at the far end and looking across the country with grave eyes.
+Then she came back. "Has anyone ever thought of a Rhodes Scholarship,
+that might take the form of grants of land and be won by competition,
+I wonder? Would a scheme like that work, do you think?"
+
+"I have often thought that it would. Besides bringing the settler, it
+would more or less ensure a desirable one, if he had to prove himself
+a useful, hard-working youth of good sound education. But, of course,
+it would mean a big outlay. A man might inaugurate such a scheme to be
+carried out by his will, but he would hardly be likely to do it in his
+lifetime."
+
+"Still, I suppose something of the kind might prove workable if the
+owner of the land were content to forego a large profit, and let
+settlers have farms or plots on exceptional terms, if they could prove
+themselves capable, useful men?"
+
+"Yes, that is very much what we want. The owner of the land a patriot,
+keeping an eye on the scheme himself, and helping it forward for love
+of the country, not holding it back and keeping it idle for the sake
+of his own already well-filled pocket."
+
+"I will sound my father about his possessions," the girl said simply,
+looking to the far blue hills.
+
+Ailsa watched her a moment covertly, and then asked with a little
+wonder in her voice, "The country seems to have taken hold of you very
+quickly. You speak as one who already loves it."
+
+"I love all South Africa. I have always been happier out here than in
+England. In some way it seems more thoroughly my own land."
+
+"Why is that, do you think?"
+
+"I hardly know, unless it is the remembrance that all we have we owe
+to Africa. I believe my father was penniless when he came out here."
+
+"It has been the same with many, but they do not remember. It is more
+usual to come here for gain, and go away to spend it in more luxurious
+countries."
+
+"Perhaps, but it has never seemed to me to be fair. My father is not
+like that. He loves Africa as I do, but he is a very hard-working man,
+and perhaps some things do not occur to him. I think he is up here now
+to see the country, as well as acquire fresh mining properties, and
+all the time he seems so busy and preoccupied, he is probably thinking
+out development schemes of general benefit."
+
+"I hope so," and Ailsa spoke very earnestly. "Your father is a fine
+man; one has only to talk to him to perceive that quickly, and it
+would be a good day for Rhodesia if he began to take a genuinely
+practical interest in her welfare. I know he has talked much of it to
+Major Carew, and no one could tell him more of our hopes and needs."
+
+They were silent a few moments, and then Ailsa added with a touch of
+emotion, "You know, when one thinks of the service some men give so
+quietly and unquestioningly to the far-off lands, it seems, after all,
+but a small thing for rich men who have benefited by them to give of
+their riches. Yet how few ever do! There are more men ready to risk
+their lives than to put their hands in their pockets. But then that is
+just perhaps because they are fools, and fools never make any money to
+give; have nothing, in fact, except their lives to offer."
+
+She smiled with a little twist to her lips, playing fitfully with a
+thread in her fingers. Evidently it was a subject that moved her
+deeply. "Of course, you know the verse from 'The Ship of Fools':
+
+     'We are those fools who could not rest
+     In the dull earth we left behind,
+     And burned with passion for the West,
+     And drank strange frenzy from its wind.
+
+     The world where wise men live at ease
+     Fades from our unregretful eyes,
+     And blind, across uncharted seas,
+     We stagger on our enterprise.'
+
+"Those are the men who appeal to me; the men to whom gain is the
+secondary consideration; who come blindly out just as much to give as
+to take. My husband is one, Major Carew is another, Stanley under
+Carew's influence will become a third. Think of them all, all over the
+world; guarding the frontiers, making the paths, exploring the
+danger-zones!
+
+"Think of the little band now gone into the sleeping-sickness belt to
+investigate the disease, and try to learn how best to cope with it!
+How little reward will they get! how little acclaim! But that is just
+a side issue. They did not go for reward. Disaster shook a
+threatening hand at a splendid young country, and instantly some from
+The Ship of Fools were ready to risk their lives in going to the
+rescue. God bless them for it, and bring them safely back! But in any
+case one knows they will be content, if but the work is carried
+forward and the new pathways rendered safe.
+
+"Those types of men are the heroes of to-day, because the spread of
+the Empire, and the welfare and progress of the colonies, grows every
+year a more important factor to England; yet many a good football
+player, and many a popular actor, will win an honoured name, while the
+man who died at the outposts in some dangerous investigation work will
+pass away unknown and unheard of. But they do not mind, that is the
+splendid thing. They are just fools, fools, fools
+
+     'Who burned with passion for the West,
+     And drank strange frenzy from its wind.
+       *       *       *       *       *
+     And blind, across uncharted seas,
+     They stagger to their enterprise.'
+
+"How many threw up everything at home and came out in the time of the
+Boer War! Think of the men who carried the railways across Canada and
+America, fighting for the pathway, step by step! Think of them in the
+awful climate of West Africa, laughing and playing and singing one
+evening and dead the next! Think of them struggling up here in the
+early days, and undaunted by the horrors of the Matabele rebellions,
+going steadily on with their railways, making their homes! Think of
+them in India! Ah! what The Ship of Fools has achieved in India is
+beyond telling. Only one doesn't feel it in the same way at home. One
+has to come out oneself, and see the path-finders at their work, to
+realise all it means. It does one good just to hear them grumble. How
+shall I explain? It makes you understand that they are the sort of
+heroes who hate to be thought heroic; so they grouse and swear and
+grumble; and talk about a God-forsaken country and a God-forsaken
+existence, and wonder what in the name of all that is wonderful they
+are here for. And perhaps they go off home vowing never to return;
+until the 'strange frenzy' catches them again, and back comes the dear
+Ship of Fools, with every berth taken and the stoutest grumblers
+hurrying to be the first ashore. Fools or heroes, it is much the same.
+I think I have read somewhere that a man couldn't be a hero unless he
+were also a fool."
+
+Meryl got up, and moved behind her companion's chair that she might
+not see the glisten in her eyes, for the longing for that one
+Fool-Hero who had brought such sudden desolation in her heart. Placing
+her hands on the back of it, she leaned over her affectionately and
+said, "It doesn't carry men only, that ship of yours: some of the
+fools are women. O, I know, I know; you are one of the chief among
+them and I envy you." In a whisper, "God knows, I envy you."
+
+Ailsa reached a hand back and laid it over the girl's. "It is very
+sweet of you to say so, but I mayn't accept it. Seeing I have a
+husband like Billy, I should be a very real fool in the most literal
+sense if I stayed away. No, the women-heroes in this land are those
+who face it with a careless, selfish husband, or perhaps in a home
+having no love, and who win through their little day and make no
+plaint. God help them!"
+
+"And you mustn't envy me," she added after a moment, "for presently,
+you will be doing far more than I can ever hope to do. Because it is
+in your heart it will find a way, and then your money will give you a
+great power and influence. Be hopeful, you sweet child," with a little
+playful pat. "Your eyes are over-sad for twenty-four, and sometimes
+when you smile it goes no further than your lips."
+
+Meryl brushed her hand quickly across her eyes, and tried to laugh
+with an attempt at lightness.
+
+"O yes, I will. When I get back home I'll sign cheques, and more
+cheques, it is so easy for me. And I'll persuade father to plan out a
+scheme to bring settlers on the land; land scholarships for
+public-school boys, or something of that sort; and I'll try and
+comfort myself with the thought that in this way he is giving back for
+what he has received. I think I'll take a stroll now it is cooler. The
+others will no doubt come back to-morrow, and this may be my last
+evening in this part of the world. I know you want to worry your
+cook-boy and your head about the dinner, so I'll just go a little way
+alone."
+
+"Very well," Ailsa answered cheerily, guessing that she wished to take
+the stroll in solitude; but as she moved away towards her kitchen she
+said to herself, "Poor little girl! you will comfort yourself you are
+helping your father to fulfil his trusts, and at the back of it all
+quietly, silently, you will be breaking your heart for a man of iron
+who unbends to none."
+
+And along the rocky pathway, that was a short cut to Edwardstown and
+led along a low ledge of kopjes commanding a lovely view of the valley
+which lay between the Mission Station and Zimbabwe's lofty northern
+mountain, Meryl walked slowly, with a sense of desolation she could
+neither gauge nor dispel; and over and over through her mind as she
+looked to the far kopjes passed the lines of England's strong
+woman-poet, Emily Brontë:
+
+     "What have those lonely mountains worth revealing?
+     More glory and more grief than I can tell:
+     The earth that wakes _one_ human heart to feeling
+     Can centre both the worlds of Heaven and Hell."
+
+What have those lonely mountains worth revealing? was the dumb,
+inarticulate cry in her heart. Ah! what?... what?... And it seemed as
+if all the loneliness in the world were brooding over the blue kopje
+and over the spot where the ancient ruins lay, and creeping into her
+heart and her life for ever.
+
+Would he ever come again, that grim soldier-policeman, who just once
+or twice had shown her a glimpse of the strong man's heart behind the
+barrier, and the strong man's everlasting charm?... Or was it indeed
+all finished for ever? Just an episode that came and went and had no
+sequel, except in that brooding sense of a great loneliness upon the
+distant hills and upon the path of her life. She told herself again
+that it must be so; that evidently the momentary softness had been
+only passing moods; that she counted for nothing at all to him, not
+even a friend it was worth while saying "good-bye" to.
+
+With the deep sadness still in her face she turned, because a step was
+approaching round a tall boulder beside her. And a moment later she
+was looking full and deep into Peter Carew's eyes.
+
+"You?..." she said. "_You?_ ..." as if she could not believe her own
+eyes.
+
+He said nothing. Suddenly speech seemed to have gone from him, but an
+expression in his face that was new to her quickened her pulses with a
+strange glad quickening.
+
+After a moment he spoke, and it was as though his whole expression and
+figure stiffened.
+
+"I did not expect to find you here," he said. "I was told you had gone
+with your father."
+
+"Not I; Diana only." And her eyes fell, and a faint colour dyed her
+cheeks.
+
+There was a moment's awkward pause: she remembering his unceremonious
+departure, wondering at his unceremonious return; he nonplussed at the
+trick Fate had played him, bringing him again, in spite of his
+decision, into the sphere of her beauty and her quiet charm.
+
+"I was going to the Grenvilles'," he told her at last.
+
+And suddenly a tiny smile played about the corners of Meryl's mouth.
+"I thought you could not possibly return from Segundi for a week?"
+
+She looked away as she said it, so she could not see the swift
+contraction of his face and the swift gleam in his eyes. For one
+moment, of all things in heaven and earth, he felt suddenly that he
+wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her--roughly perhaps; yes,
+roughly and masterfully, for daring to aim her little shaft at him.
+Instead he replied gravely, "I had to come, because Mr. Jardine wanted
+Grenville's opinion on a particular native question, and it was a
+difficult matter to explain in a letter."
+
+"Then I mustn't hinder you." And she stood aside. "Of course you are
+thinking of starting back to-night and are in a great hurry?"
+
+And then for once the man's armour failed him. "No, I am not going
+back to-night, and I am not in any special hurry. If you were going on
+to the top of the kopje, may I come with you?"
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+AN EVENING CONVERSATION
+
+
+As they climbed slowly up the zigzag path, neither of them troubled to
+make conversation. All in a moment it had come back--mysteriously,
+unaccountably--the sense of understanding, the quiet kinship of
+minds--for her, the sudden utter content at his nearness. While he was
+there beside her, by his own seeking, what did the future matter?--the
+future might wait. It is generally so with women. In the "afterwards,"
+the deepest pain is usually theirs, because it is not given them to
+break away and drown the ache and the longing in action and change;
+but in the present, if he, the loved, is with her, she can forget so
+much in that blessed sense of nearness. The man's ache, perhaps,
+spreads more uniformly over both presence and absence, for in each,
+for him, there is the very human craving to possess.
+
+So they reached the summit, and stood a moment gazing at the prospect
+outspread. A sunset in a novel has become too banal for repetition; it
+seems, indeed, almost the last word in literary mediocrity; and yet at
+the evening hour in Rhodesia, in September, when the rains are nearly
+due, and great masses of cloud begin to gather on the horizon, there
+is again and again a pageant of wonder and colouring to steep man's
+senses afresh at every renewal, as if it was the first time of
+beholding. Nothing banal, nothing mediocre in the actual
+phenomenon--just a riot of colouring, a riot of splendour, a riot of
+revelation. It is not a glory in the west spreading a little way
+overhead. It is an all around, north, south, east, and west, colouring
+beyond all telling--something aloof, overpowering, incomprehensible,
+with the remote majestic splendour of the Rockies, or the Sahara, or
+the Victoria Falls.
+
+Neither Carew nor Meryl spoke. They were of those who know that the
+highest appreciation of all is in silence. But to herself Meryl
+whispered:
+
+     "Lord, Thy glory fills the heavens."
+
+At last he turned and glanced at the little book in her hand.
+
+"You read Omar?"
+
+"Yes. And you?"
+
+"I like Adam Lindsay Gordon better. Omar is apt to undermine a strong
+purpose. Gordon inspires one."
+
+"Doesn't Omar help one to see things as they _are_, and dare to be
+strong in spite of it, while Gordon avoids many essentials, and writes
+chiefly of how we would have things be?"
+
+"But surely the inspiration is the chief thing. The man who inspires
+is better than the man who reveals, and in revealing unnerves." She
+was silent, and he added, "I suppose it is the difference between the
+æsthetic and the practical, and so they appeal to the æsthetic or the
+practical side of man."
+
+She wondered if it were possible such as he should have an æsthetic
+side, and presently said:
+
+"You are all practical, I should imagine."
+
+He glanced at her half humorously. "I wonder why you say that?"
+
+"I don't know, except that one does not usually associate æstheticism
+and strength." Another man might have asked her if she was satisfied
+he _was_ strong, but Carew only looked to the horizon. He was asking
+it of himself instead.
+
+And he asked it, because he was leaning there beside her, alone on the
+kopje top. Suddenly yielding to an impulse he did not seek to analyse,
+he said quietly, "I have never been a great reader of poetry, but long
+ago I was engaged to be married, to some one who cared very much for
+it. Omar was one of her favourites, and sixteen years ago he was very
+little known compared with to-day."
+
+Meryl felt the colour ebbing from her face, and averted her eyes.
+Without any telling, she knew that this woman he had loved sixteen
+years ago was the cause of that mysterious shadow on his life to-day.
+When she felt she had complete control of her voice, she asked, "And
+you were never able to be married?"
+
+"She died." There was a pause, before he added, "You remind me of her
+more than anyone I have ever known." And for both their sakes he
+finished, "That is one reason why I have been glad to talk to you one
+day, and found it perhaps too painful the next."
+
+Meryl felt suddenly as if an icy hand had closed on her heart. His
+meaning to her was so obvious. But she managed to say naturally, "I am
+afraid it has been a great sorrow to you. Was she ill for long?"
+
+"She died suddenly. There was a tragedy. Afterwards I came out here."
+
+"And you have never been back?"
+
+"No, I have never been back."
+
+"But you will go?"
+
+"I think not. When I came away it was like closing a book and writing
+'Finis.' I do not want to reopen the book for many reasons."
+
+"But your people?" she ventured, longing to hear more, yet fearful of
+staying his unexpected confidence.
+
+"I have no people," and his voice was suddenly stern.
+
+"But your home?..." bravely; "your country?..."
+
+"My home is here. My country is here. I am a Rhodesian."
+
+Still with her face averted, she looked to the far kopjes lost in
+thought. She seemed to be realising slowly all that his words meant;
+feeling throughout her consciousness the utter exclusion of herself
+from any plan of life he might formulate. It was as she had seen
+before. His work, the country were everything to him--would continue
+to be everything. Any unusual softness he had shown to her, any
+unexpected pleasure in her company, was just for the sake of a certain
+memory he held very precious, for the sake of what the book contained,
+upon which he had written "Finis."
+
+Of course, she might have known. What should such a man as he be drawn
+to except in friendly intercourse in a girl as young and simple and
+undeveloped as herself? What a madness it had been, what a
+foolishness! and yet how it hurt, how it hurt!
+
+With a sudden blind sense of ineradicable pain, she breathed over to
+herself one verse of the "Immortal Persian" that is not contained in
+many editions:
+
+     "Better, oh better, cancel from the scroll
+     Of universe one luckless human soul,
+     Than drop by drop enlarge the flood that rolls
+     Hoarser with anguish as the ages roll."
+
+What pain there had evidently been for him! What pain for her now--and
+to what end....
+
+     "Tis all a chequer-board of nights and days
+     Where Destiny with men for pieces plays;
+     Hither and thither moves, and mates and slays,
+     And one by one back and closet lays."
+
+She stood up suddenly and brushed her hands across her eyes. This was
+a weakness, and she knew it. He must not know, he must not guess.
+
+But he saw enough to cause him to say suddenly, with quick concern,
+"You are not well. Something is troubling you."
+
+"O no," and she gave a little laugh that he could not but know was
+forced. "I've been rather bothered with a headache to-day. Shall we go
+back?" She had been carrying the large grey hat slung over her arm,
+but now she tied it on, pulling it down over her face, so that he
+could see nothing but the small, firm chin and sensitive mobile mouth.
+And neither could she see that, under or through the rigidity, his
+face wore now a troubled aspect, and his eyes looked to the horizon
+seeing nothing. Why had he come back? he was asking. Why was he
+hovering in the grip of it again, that strong need of the human,
+however resolute, for sympathy, for companionship, for understanding?
+For now, as they stood together alone on the kopje, all the ache of
+the last sixteen years seemed to be merged into one great longing for
+her. And then in his heart he laughed harshly. He, the British South
+African policeman, not even a regular soldier; and she, the only
+child, and sole heiress, of a millionaire father who adored her. He,
+with his tragedy in the background, that he could not speak of, in his
+forty-third year. She young, beautiful, fresh, with all the world at
+her feet. Ah, of course, he had been a fool to run any risk of another
+encounter; and he was sore with the fate that had led him thither in
+ignorance.
+
+And Meryl, walking a little stumblingly over the rough pathway, was
+glad of the big shady hat that hid her eyes and gave her time to pull
+herself together. Of course, that other woman he had loved sixteen
+years ago had been one of his own people--one of those whom the great
+Fourtenay family of Devon regarded as an equal. Whereas she was just
+Meryl Pym, and though many needy peers chose rich wives from across
+the sea, anyone might know Peter Carew was not of these, and would
+sooner shun such riches than seek them.
+
+So they walked back, mostly in silence, only no longer the silence of
+quiet, contented understanding, but rather a silence which she showed
+no inclination to break, and he felt baffled, and worried, and
+anxious. And at dinner, though Meryl made one of her spasmodic efforts
+and contrived to be gay, he remained somewhat preoccupied and
+taciturn. And Ailsa looked from one to the other secretly, and
+wondered what had been said before they reached the Mission Station;
+and felt again that womanlike desire to shake the man for the very
+resoluteness she most admired in him.
+
+When she said good night to Meryl she could not refrain, from just one
+little delve into the perplexing situation. "If you and Major Carew
+met at six o'clock and did not get back until seven, you must have had
+quite a long chat together. Such a new thing for him! I don't think
+even I, his trusted friend, can boast of such an incident."
+
+"We just stayed to watch the sunset," and Meryl turned away on some
+slight pretext. "He certainly was a little more communicative than
+usual. Did you know he was once engaged to someone who died?"
+
+"No," in slow surprise, "I had never heard of it. But then, he never
+speaks of himself, and I did not know his branch of the family at all.
+We lived near London about that time, and seldom went into Devonshire.
+Still, I wonder Billy did not know. Probably he heard it, and took no
+notice. That would be so like Billy. He was perhaps scheming some new
+move for his boys, as he used to call his parishioners."
+
+"Perhaps he would rather I had not mentioned it," Meryl said.
+
+"It will be safe with me, dear. I shall only speak of it to Billy. How
+terrible it must have been! It is impossible not to feel it has
+shadowed all his life. And for her!--he must have been a very
+striking, attractive man in those days. One hears rumours without
+attaching much interest to them at the time, but looking back now, I
+remember my father alluding once or twice to the two brothers as if
+they were very well-known men. But that would be when I was but a
+schoolgirl, and soon afterwards I went abroad for a year with an
+aunt." She lingered a moment longer. "I am glad he told you. It was
+nice of him. And he tells so little. It was a great compliment. Good
+night, dearie. Sleep well."
+
+Meryl sat on the little bed, in the round wattle and daub hut, and
+pressed her fingers against her eyes to still their throbbing. Then
+she looked round at her surroundings, and a little wry smile twisted
+her lips. A rough floor of ant-heap composition and cow-dung hardened
+to cement, with some native reed matting laid down; a small stretcher
+bed; a packing-case for a washhand-stand, and enamel ware. Another
+packing-case for a dressing-table, and a little cheap glass nailed to
+the wall. Walls of baked mud, which had fallen in places, laying bare
+the wattle stems, and a door made from packing-cases which fitted
+badly, and was fastened only by a string and a nail. For ceiling long,
+thin wattle stems converging upwards, and outside a thatch of dried
+grass. And against this in her mind she placed the Johannesburg
+bedroom, with its costly appointments, its beautiful windows opening
+to a wide, flower-decked verandah, which commanded a lovely view of
+distant hills; its lavish display of wealth and luxury. And she smiled
+that little wry smile, because for the sake of just one man, a mere
+soldier-policeman, this room might have been a paradise, and the other
+a grave. In truth she had learnt much from her sojourn in the
+wilderness--much beyond the life and aspect of a far country.
+
+Then she crept to bed feeling tired and disheartened, but finding a
+little comfort in the thought that she would see him in the morning.
+
+But at sunrise Carew aroused Grenville and said good-bye, and rode
+away before breakfast.
+
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+THE CHARTER FLATS
+
+
+Later in the day the party arrived back from Susi, and in the cool of
+the afternoon a last good-bye was said to the mission station, and
+they all returned to the Zimbabwe camp for their last night.
+
+It had been casually mentioned that Carew had paid a flying visit the
+previous evening and gone again early that morning, but very little was
+said about the circumstance. Stanley was already beginning to look and
+feel disconsolate over the approaching exodus, and Diana was very full of
+the fact that she had shot a duyker. "I didn't really aim at him, you
+know," she told Grenville naïvely; "I just held up the gun and pulled the
+trigger. I couldn't believe my own eyes when I saw the buck lying dead.
+All the same I did shoot him, and I've got his horns, and they will
+occupy the place of honour when I get back in my own private sanctum. I
+shall not tell the Jo'burg folk about not aiming; why should I? If I
+describe the buck going at full speed, and how I bowled him over with one
+shot, it won't be any more of a lie, if as much, as most of you colonists
+tell when you get home to civilisation."
+
+"Certainly not," agreed Grenville gravely; "but why not make it a lion
+while you are about it, or even a rhinoceros?"
+
+The Kid began to giggle. "And let it be just charging you," he
+suggested joyfully. "And first you must take a snapshot of it
+charging, and then you must fire into its mouth and blow its brains
+out."
+
+"And you might have its horns polished and mounted and its tail
+stuffed," added Grenville.
+
+"Silly idiots," scornfully. "You're both jealous. If you could have
+_seen_ the things The Kid _missed_!"
+
+"The Kid generally misses," chimed in Ailsa cheerfully. "He gets so
+excited, he quivers all over, and the wild beast, or whatever it is,
+just lollops away, throwing a grin over his shoulder at him."
+
+"If you don't mind," threatened Stanley, "I'll give away your hippo
+story."
+
+"It has increased," said Ailsa's big, schoolboy husband, chuckling to
+himself.
+
+"Impossible!..." ejaculated The Kid. "Surely it had already reached
+the limit of human ingenuity?"
+
+They both spluttered, and Ailsa threw a newspaper at them, but Diana
+demanded to be told the story.
+
+"O, it's only about a hippo in the Zambesi, above the Victoria Falls,"
+began Stanley; "a perfectly harmless hippo really, but it had the
+impudence to look at the canoe in which Mrs. Grenville was travelling
+back to the hotel in the dusk."
+
+"I thought it bumped the canoe up and down on its back," said the
+missionary, still chuckling.
+
+"That came later"; and Stanley addressed himself gravely to Diana.
+"But at one time the story really did stop at the hippo chasing them
+on to an island and off it again, and opening and shutting its mouth
+at them."
+
+"If you had been there you would have been terrified, and had
+hysterics or something," Ailsa flung at him.
+
+"I certainly should at the later period of the story," he assured her.
+
+"When it played catch-ball with them?" suggested the missionary.
+"Threw them all into the air and caught them again in the canoe."
+
+"That wasn't so bad, since it _did_ catch them," said Stanley. "My
+horror would have been when it climbed the tree after them!..."
+
+"That is the part that has increased," put in the schoolboy husband,
+beginning to shake again. "It now jumps after them from one tree to
+another," and then they both spluttered insanely, and Diana joined in
+because it was so infectious, and Ailsa called them all ridiculous
+children who ought to be given a sweetie and tucked up in bed.
+
+A little later the cavalcade got under way, and Grenville and his wife
+stood waving to them somewhat sorrowfully from their wilderness home.
+
+"They are dear people," Ailsa said; and added, "O, Billy, if Major
+Carew would but come out of his shell and love Meryl!... I am sure she
+cares for him ... and she is so sweet ... and he--O, he is just like a
+figure of stone."
+
+Grenville pinched her ear affectionately. "Little matchmaker! No one
+by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature; and no one by just
+wishing it, I am inclined to think, can influence the little god Cupid
+whither he will aim his arrow. Perhaps, perhaps not; that is all there
+is to say ever."
+
+The next morning after a very early breakfast, the travellers started
+on their way to Enkeldorn _en route_ for Salisbury. And at the top of
+the valley, whither they walked to save the mules, both girls stood
+and turned for a long last look at the grey walls of the ancient
+temple, lying in a soft haze of morning mists. It seemed to Meryl it
+had never held a deeper fascination, a stronger allurement. Just those
+old, old walls, and the soft enfolding mists which must have enfolded
+them even so for perhaps three thousand years. The red of sunrise was
+still in the sky, for Mr. Pym was an early starter, and it tinged the
+mist with a soft flush where the sun's rays had not yet lit a clearer
+light.
+
+"It was good to come," said Diana simply. "I have to thank you for
+it."
+
+But Meryl only smiled in response. She had nothing to say. She felt
+she was leaving behind with the ruins the best memory her life would
+ever hold. Then they climbed into the ambulance waiting for them, said
+"good-bye" charmingly to the lonely dwellers at the store and hotel,
+with whom they had had some pleasant chats, drinking tea and admiring
+the lovely view from their delightful huts, and went clattering away
+down the road, their faces turned to the north.
+
+And in the valley they left behind there was desolation.
+
+Carew arrived back at his quarters, grim and taciturn, in the evening,
+to find Stanley looking a veritable image of disconsolate hopelessness
+in spite of Moore's persistent droll badinage.
+
+"O, what did they want to come for," he groaned, "if they had to go
+away again?"
+
+"Faith!..." said the astute Irishman. "Did ye ask either of them to
+share your little wooden hut?..."
+
+But The Kid paid no attention. As Carew stood a moment beside him,
+filling a pipe, with a cold, expressionless face, the youngster
+glanced up with a momentary gleam, and remarked, "Eh, sir? But women
+are the devil, aren't they?"
+
+Carew said nothing; but with a low chuckle Moore ejaculated, "Come,
+give the divil a chance; we find him very accommodating sometimes in
+auld Erin."
+
+Stanley got up and stretched himself. "Days and weeks of desolation
+now," he moaned; "and we were so happy and content before. Moore, old
+chap"--giving that harmless individual a smack on the back that nearly
+knocked him over--"yours was the wise choice when we spoke of gifts
+from heaven. I said, 'Give me millionairesses,' and you, with the
+wisdom of the ages, said, 'Give me whisky.' I'll take a little now and
+hope for the best."
+
+And still Carew said nothing. The pipe was filled and he slowly lit
+it. Then unexpectedly he tapped it with light significance. "This is
+the best friend of all," he said, and went away into his hut.
+
+Stanley glanced after him a moment with a curious expression.
+"Gad!..." he murmured. "Was our bronze image a bit hit too? He looks
+fierce enough and stern enough to be resenting a dent."
+
+In the meantime the travellers reached the Charter Flats, and decided
+to camp there for the night. They had travelled for some time along
+the sandy tracts, enjoying the sense of space all around and the wide
+horizons, and both Mr. Pym and the girls were loth to hurry away. It
+is customary to dread these wide sandy tracts, and either hurry across
+them or avoid them; but to these city-dwellers their vast calm held a
+deep allurement; for though only scrub and sand stretched from horizon
+to horizon, with occasional little strips of stunted trees, the clear
+southern atmosphere lent a lovely effect of light and shade and
+colour. Many large patches here and there were blackened with veldt
+fires, but these in the distance formed delicate shadings that
+enhanced the charm of a strip of yellow sand or young green grass or
+purple-shadowed wilderness. It was like a world that contained only a
+colour scheme; no dwellings, no humans, no landmarks, no hills and
+valleys, no roads: just delicate shadings and haze as far as the eye
+could see, with no clear line between earth and heaven. They might
+have been looking over the edge of the world into a delicately tinted
+space, so boundless it seemed, so unfathomable, so remote. They
+pitched their camp on a little rising ground, near a slow meandering
+stream that crept lazily across the miniature desert. And when the
+dusk came down the effect was more unusual still, for the flats are on
+high ground, and the heavens seem to stoop down all round, hanging a
+dark curtain, decorated with brilliant stars, on every side. Across
+all the world no sign of human life, no sound; only vast emptiness
+everywhere--above, around, below; and for companions, worlds and suns
+and solar systems.
+
+It is a scene in which a man may seem to get very close to his God;
+not a remote, incomprehensible Deity, dwelling vaguely beyond the
+stars, but a Presence that is in the breathing silence and the velvety
+deeps at hand. And a man may meet himself there also; not the aping,
+grinning, chattering mask of a personality custom more or less compels
+him to wear in the crowd, but the hidden, mysterious being, conscious
+of a soul beyond his ken, that in such quiet hours desires eternally
+some goal, some good, afar off. The indestructible, incomprehensible,
+infinite hunger, that lies as a germ in every human heart and is man's
+best attribute, in that it raises him for ever incontestably above the
+beasts that perish, and stands serene and steadfast as the Rock of
+Ages, the one barrier past which the materialists and the scientists
+cannot go: the divine spark within the human, which no theory can
+account for and no learning of sage or cynic obliterate.
+
+The travellers sat round a glowing fire, for the night air was keen
+and cold; and much that is inevitably disturbing in the friction of
+daily being and daily doing seemed to fall away from them and cease to
+exist for that one wonderful night. And the next day, when the small
+black attendant brought their early tea and opened wide the tent-flap
+to a brilliant morning, yet another picture awaited them. This time it
+was a world decked with enormous diamonds. Tall, sparse grasses leant
+over and whispered to each other outside the tent, and every ear and
+every seed was hung with a lovely brilliant dewdrop. Out beyond was
+that same vague, remote, fathomless horizon, painted now with
+wonderful rose tints, where the rising sun caught the lingering mists
+and merged the dark streaks of blackened veldt into the general scheme
+with a softness of shading beyond all description. Meryl lay still,
+gazing with her soul in her eyes, but after a time Diana sat up.
+
+"It makes me ache almost like the Victoria Falls did. I wonder why God
+painted such lovely scenes where no one ever came, or scarcely ever,
+to see them?"
+
+She was silent a moment, then ran on again, "We fight and sweat and
+struggle for diamonds, and God hangs them on the dry grass, in the
+wilderness. Meryl, I wonder if we shall ever see anything quite like
+this again? And they told us to avoid the Charter Flats!... I suppose
+God feels about it something as we do. He knows most people like
+Brighton parades and Durban sea-fronts, so He lets them arrange their
+own sights; and for Himself, in far wonderful places, He paints scene
+pictures, and plants lovely gardens, and fills them with birds and
+flowers and sunshine, and splashes down upon the world, in some remote
+corner, a glorious colour scheme, just for his own delight."
+
+Meryl raised herself on her elbow, with a little tender smile. "And I
+suppose He said to Himself, 'I will let Diana and Meryl Pym see one of
+my secret, treasured places'?"
+
+"Yes, exactly. And though I don't hold with saying grace before meals,
+because, since God made us, it seems the least He can do to enable us
+to obtain food to keep us alive, I will say a grace this morning to
+Him for letting me see His colour scheme on the Charter Flats at
+sunset and sunrise."
+
+A little later they had a fragrant breakfast of liver from a buck the
+engineer had shot about daybreak; and that is a delicacy known only to
+those who fare forth across the veldt, and have a bright wood fire
+burning in readiness for the spoils of the hunt directly they are
+brought in.
+
+Then they started away again across the flats, once more moving in a
+vague world of soft shadings, with only the long sandy road
+stretching away into space behind them and before. And sometimes,
+before the sun mounted too high, they found themselves moving across a
+space of gold and bronze, where grass that had not been burnt shone
+like amber in the morning glory; and again presently a space of
+loveliest emerald-green, where the grass had been burnt early and the
+new blades were already sending up joyous blades into the sunlight.
+And sometimes a Kaffir-boom tree added a splash of brilliant scarlet,
+painted upon a canvas of soft, hazy shadings; and sometimes the veldt
+showed them a little piece of her flower-carpet--the carpet that was
+to spread broadcast presently--of delicate-tinted lovely flowers in
+reckless profusion upon a ground of rich terra-cotta soil.
+
+Neither girl talked. It was not a scene to talk in. It did not call
+for raptures and exclamations; only for dreaming and absorbing. It
+seemed as if it might have been the spot where God rested upon the
+seventh day, so utter and absolute and complete was the sense of
+detachment from all the exigencies of being and doing.
+
+Two verses of a poem by Arthur Symons repeated themselves in pleasant
+rhythm in Meryl's mind:--
+
+     "I leave the lonely city street,
+     The awful silence of the crowd;
+     The rhythm of the roads I beat,
+     My blood leaps up, I shout aloud,
+     My heart keeps measure with my feet.
+
+     "A bird sings something in my ear,
+     The wind sings in my blood a song
+     'Tis good at times for a man to hear;
+     The road winds onward white and long,
+     And the best of earth is here!"
+
+
+
+
+XIX
+
+THE CONVENTIONALITIES ONCE MORE
+
+
+Later in the day they reached Enkeldorn and once more pitched their
+tent beside the police camp; but the place is not inviting, and they
+were glad to leave early the following morning; for Enkeldorn is the
+centre round which many Dutch people congregate to farm small farms,
+in what it must be confessed is often the most slovenly and lazy
+fashion conceivable. And some of them speak quite openly of how they
+hate the English, and look forward to a day when they will be strong
+enough to turn them out of the country.
+
+But before that day can come, before union with a South Africa in
+which there is Dutch predominance, it is to be hoped England will send
+out more and yet more strong, vigorous young settlers, to put brains
+and heart and energy into the virgin soil, waiting only for the
+craftsman's hand; and so ensure for ever, in union or out of it, an
+unswerving predominance of Cecil Rhodes's countrymen: holding his high
+aims and hopes and splendid Imperialism in Cecil Rhodes's land.
+
+Two days later the party arrived in Salisbury, and not a little to
+their regret, the fashionable garments that had travelled thither by
+train to await their arrival had to be duly unpacked and worn. Diana
+glanced at herself disconsolately the first afternoon, dressed in an
+elegant summer frock, awaiting tea in a drawing-room, and one or two
+lady callers known to Mr. Pym who were likely shortly to arrive.
+Meryl, seeming lovelier than ever, though perhaps a trifle frailer, as
+if some sadness in her mind weighed upon her waking and sleeping
+hours, stood at the window, looking over the pretty, well-kept town.
+
+"Why are we here? This is not the wilderness," Diana said grumblingly;
+"this is suburban mediocrity. It was not fair to bring me all this way
+from home, to have to dress up and look pleasant, and talk banalities
+to people I have never seen before and probably shall never see
+again."
+
+"You are so inconsistent, Di," Meryl said, with a little affectionate
+laugh. "When we arrived at Zimbabwe you said you did not want only old
+ruins, you wanted a man. Judging by the number of cyclists in
+flannels, carrying tennis racquets or golf clubs, who have passed this
+window in the last half-hour, you will find more men, ready no doubt
+to hang upon your lightest smile, than you will know what to do with."
+
+"I don't want them," with an impish pettiness. "I hate young men in
+flannels. I hate houses. I hate afternoon frocks. I hate clean hands.
+I hate having to be polite. I want The Kid, giggling insanely at his
+own silly jokes. I want The Bear's den and The Bear inside it. I want
+to have grubby hands and old shoes and a red face, and eat things in
+my fingers, and forget I have heaps and heaps of money for the simple
+reason that it is no earthly use if I have."
+
+Meryl smiled softly and wistfully. "I wonder what they are doing?... I
+think they will miss us. It is extraordinary how Zimbabwe gets into
+one's heart. I have never seen anything anywhere that appealed to me
+quite like those old walls, with their untold story and their patience
+of the ages. The Sphinx in Egypt may be older, but we know how it came
+to be there and who built it. One of Zimbabwe's fascinations seems to
+be the absence of all knowledge about it, of all why and wherefore."
+She broke off as a Cape cart drove up to the door. "Here is someone
+coming to call. I think it is Mrs. Cluer, by father's description."
+
+"Then bother Mrs. Cluer!" snapped the peevish one. "In this country I
+wonder if people say they are 'out' or 'asleep' when they do not want
+to be found 'at home'?"
+
+But Mrs. Cluer knew both Major Carew and Stanley, so the conversation
+was not quite so uninteresting as Diana had anticipated. She was,
+moreover, a woman of exceptional charm, and at any other time they
+would both have lost their hearts to her.
+
+"You probably did not see much of Major Carew," she said. "He is the
+most unsociable man in the country. One can get him to a man's
+bridge-party, but not much else; and most of us have given up trying.
+I expect it is partly his own doing that he is down there. He always
+manages to get work that takes him out on the veldt, if possible."
+
+"He appears to like it," Meryl commented; "and Mr. Stanley and his
+companion are very fond of him, in spite of his unsociable ways."
+
+"O, all the men are fond of him," she told them, evidently glad of an
+opportunity to sing his praises. "He never gives himself any airs with
+them for one thing, and he's just a man all through, living a clean,
+sportsman's life; and whether they do the same themselves or not, they
+all look up to him and admire him for it, without being afraid he will
+come down like a sledgehammer upon their failings. One knows the tone
+of the whole police force is better for having an officer like Major
+Carew, and it is a thousand pities there are not more like him. And
+Cecil Stanley is just the dearest boy in the world. Every one in
+Salisbury was fond of him. He is so good at games and dancing, and
+always so jolly and boyish and natural. We miss him badly, but I
+believe he likes being down there better than in the town."
+
+"I think he does; he seemed perfectly happy."
+
+They went on to speak of the gaiety of Salisbury; its golf and tennis
+and polo and dancing; and their visitor urged them to stay for a
+fancy-dress ball, when four hundred guests all in costume were
+expected. But neither of them were in the mood for balls, and the only
+attraction they cared about was an early-morning gallop with the
+hounds after jackal. Nothing could solace them for the careless, happy
+days they had left, and as soon as Mr. Pym had transacted his
+business, they persuaded him to take them out to Lomagundi with him,
+rather than be left behind in the town.
+
+"They seem to be rather touchy ladies here, and so superior," Diana
+urged, when he demurred; "and you know I am never safe for two minutes
+with that type. I should be driven into saying appalling things, and
+our reputation might be ruined for ever."
+
+In the end, as usual, they won him round, and departed one morning
+gleefully in the little toy train that runs out across the Gwebi Flats
+to the Eldorado Gold Mine. And to Diana's joy, they had a luggage-van
+fitted up as an impromptu saloon for them, and were able to spin along
+with both doors wide open, enjoying the air and the country. The
+Eldorado is the show mine of Rhodesia, having a native compound equal
+to any in South Africa, and charming bungalows for the staff, and an
+airy, comfortable hospital. But mines were not likely to hold much
+interest to lady travellers from Johannesburg, and all their eagerness
+was to go out to Sinoia to see the limestone caves, where, like an
+exquisite jewel in a massive setting, an underground lake, of
+wonderful colouring, lies in lonely loveliness.
+
+Or perhaps it were better likened to a butterfly, with its wings
+closed, and only the more or less drab outside showing. The veldt,
+somewhat uniform and colourless, with its surrounding hills, is the
+butterfly with its wings closed. Enter the wide hole in the ground,
+beside the hidden lake, and descend the rough natural staircase of
+rocky boulders, to where the sun through an opening in the ground
+above shines down on to the translucent water, and there lies the
+butterfly with its wings open, and all their exquisite design and
+colouring and blending unfolded to the eye.
+
+"You have some rare treasures in this far Rhodesia," Meryl said to
+their guide and host as they reluctantly left the hidden jewel behind;
+"treasures that your children and your children's children will be
+very proud of some day."
+
+"If they have time," he answered a trifle cynically. "Not many
+Rhodesians to-day have time to care for any but the treasures that
+they can work for and grasp and carry away. The time for natural
+beauties to be appreciated is not yet. Why, we do not even pay a
+native half-a-crown a week to keep the caves free from the baboons and
+bats that defile them. I am afraid, at present, Rhodesia lives almost
+entirely for to-day," he continued. "The spirit ready to sacrifice
+itself for the good of future generations has yet to be developed." He
+was a clever-looking man, with quiet, thoughtful eyes, and he and
+Meryl had talked much together during her short stay. "The nobility of
+the bee is not found much among humans. In all the annals of the race,
+is there anything to compare with their service to the coming swarm?"
+
+"Only that we do not know it is the result of calm reasoning," she
+answered. "The bee perhaps comes into existence, permeated through and
+through with this one idea, and lives solely to fulfil it. The service
+humanity asks of humanity is something even higher, surely--a
+willing, conscious sacrifice of present ease to future good. The
+spirit of heroes and fools"; and she smiled a little sadly,
+remembering Ailsa Grenville's verse and her enthusiasm for the dear
+Ship of Fools. "But you have some fine men out here," she added. "I
+think your future looks exceedingly hopeful."
+
+A few days later they started on their return to Bulawayo, and the
+tour was practically ended. There was nothing more now but dusty
+railway journeys and elegant garments and conventionalities.
+
+"No more grubby hands and red faces and 'anyhow' clothes that did not
+matter," was Diana's constant lament. Meryl said nothing. What was
+there to say? But the pain that dwelt in her eyes sometimes, when she
+thought no one was looking, sent deep stabs to her father's heart.
+With all his money, and all his power and influence, what could he do
+in this one thing that seemed to matter beyond all other things?
+Nothing except to look quietly on, and hope the wound was not too deep
+for healing. That, and to humour her in anything she asked. Which was
+partly why some of the long hours of the hot, dusty journey were spent
+in discussing plans for the settlement of young men upon his land, on
+exceptionally easy terms. He was not quite sure that the country was
+ripe for such a scheme yet; but Meryl's great wish for it, and obvious
+pleasure in the discussions, took him to lengths he might otherwise
+have avoided.
+
+So they came to Bulawayo, and as they stepped out on to the platform,
+Meryl saw suddenly among the other passengers a tall form in khaki
+that caused her to draw in her breath with a little catch, while her
+eyes grew strained and anxious. Diana was still in the saloon, only
+half dressed, and her father was talking aside to someone who had come
+to the station to meet him. She was quite alone, rooted momentarily to
+the spot, waiting for the tall man to turn in her direction, if he
+chanced to look that way at all before hurrying off.
+
+Then someone accosted him, and she saw the strong, self-contained
+face, as he turned to the speaker. A moment's suspense followed; then
+the man who had accosted him went towards the station entrance, and
+Carew came slowly in her direction, with his helmet low over his eyes.
+Thus he did not see her until they were face to face, and in the
+first moment of recognition she saw him start, as one taken in swift
+surprise. Then a slow colour crept up under the sunburn on his cheeks,
+and something came into his eyes that she had never seen there before.
+
+But he only came forward with a formal air and saluted her solemnly.
+"I joined the train in the night," he said. "I had no idea you would
+be coming to Bulawayo so soon."
+
+It was all very ordinary, very sedate, and a little wooden, but Meryl
+paid no heed to that, paid no heed to the obvious conclusion he had
+taken no chance journey hoping to see her again. For what his lips
+could not say, and his manner would not, his eyes had revealed to her
+in that first swift moment of surprise. She knew that whatever came
+between them in the future, whatever was between them now, Peter Carew
+was not indifferent to her.
+
+
+
+
+XX
+
+FAREWELL
+
+
+"Did I hear the growl of a bear?" sang out a voice from behind a drawn
+blind of the saloon coach beside which they were standing.
+
+"I'm afraid you did," said Carew, addressing the blind.
+
+"O, joy! joy! Growl again, growl again--like the Christmas bells. How
+would it go?... 'Growl out, wild bear'--I forget the rest, but it's a
+silly song I learnt to sing when I was young. Don't go away; I shall
+be dressed directly. If these God-forsaken railways had not such a
+mania for landing you at your destination when all respectable people
+are snug in bed!..." and sundry sounds suggested the impatient speaker
+was flinging things about. Then a face with bright eyes appeared over
+the blind, which was a wooden shutter, and could be lowered to a
+discreet distance. "Hullo!... I simply had to take a look at you. I've
+been pining for a glimpse of The Kid's smile and your scowl. It's been
+deadly since we left Zimbabwe. Ugh!... how I hate civilisation!"
+
+Carew looked at her with his rare, slow smile. "Is that why you keep
+the whole train waiting in the station, and the station-master,
+conductor, and guard in a state of ferment, because they cannot clear
+the line until you are dressed?"
+
+"Rude man!" came back the quick retort. "You haven't yet said, How do
+you do?"
+
+"How do you do, Miss Diana Pym?" gravely. "I hope I see you well! And
+how did you leave Salisbury?"
+
+"I do very nicely, thank you, Major Carew. You cannot see me very well
+through a wooden shutter, I imagine. And how is your old heap of
+stones?" ... with which she vanished again to the interior. "Tell the
+conductor I've come to the last curl and the last hook and eye," she
+called, and a few minutes later stepped out on to the platform, a
+vision of fresh daintiness. "I'm rather glad," she remarked to Carew,
+with a twinkle, "that you will have an opportunity of seeing us in our
+best clothes"; then running on, "I see you look as fierce and
+awe-inspiring as ever; but having learnt, in Rhodesia, to keep quite
+calm with cockchafers and beetles running about in my bed, I am not
+likely to be afraid of a bear."
+
+"Are you going to the Grand Hotel?" Mr. Pym asked him, having joined
+them while Diana was finishing her toilet, "because there is plenty of
+room in our motor."
+
+Carew thanked him, and they all moved away together. At the hotel,
+however, he vanished, and it was only after a little adroit persuasion
+later that Mr. Pym got him to accept an invitation to dine with them
+in their private room in the evening.
+
+And after accepting, Carew went about the work that had brought him to
+Bulawayo with an uneasy mind. The fortnight that had elapsed since the
+evening he found Meryl unexpectedly at the Grenvilles' had been a
+somewhat disturbed one for him. For many years now his life had flown
+so evenly in all big essentials. Little worries, little disturbances,
+disappointments, were inevitable for a man whose heart was so
+thoroughly in his work, and for whom the conditions of work were often
+so trying. But these had only ruffled the surface; underneath the
+smooth river flowed along strong and self-contained. After the
+upheaval that had been as a volcanic eruption upon smiling
+sunshine-flooded fields in his life, and the black desolation that
+followed, there had succeeded a long quiet period of calm action that,
+if it held nothing which could be termed joy, held nothing either that
+was sorrow except his buried memories. And he had been well content
+that it should be so; well content to contemplate just that and
+nothing else to the journey's end.
+
+And now, suddenly, had come this vague unrest. He sought for its
+source and its reason, and could not find a satisfactory answer. For
+though it dated from the coming of the millionaire and his party, he
+would not admit himself capable of the folly of falling in love with
+Meryl. To him it was such inexcusable foolishness, in view of many
+things. Rather he chose to believe it was a voice from the old life,
+reawakened in his heart, and calling to him across the years. When he
+smoked his pipe outside the huts, and pondered deeply some knotty
+point in his report and in the work of the Native Commission, he found
+himself suddenly remembering that it was September. And away in his
+beloved Devon they would be out after the partridges--striding
+through the heather and across the stubble-fields, ranging over the
+purple moors with purple horizons all round, and in the distance a
+strip of turquoise, which was the sea. He could almost hear the whir
+... rr of wings and the shots on some far hill-side. And he knew that,
+though the shooting in a wild, vast country like Rhodesia is a far
+finer and more sportsmanlike affair than shooting driven birds in
+England, he yet felt, and would ever feel, that intense British love
+of the soil that had reared him, and the moors where he fired his
+first gun and shot his first bird. And, of course, upon the heels of
+the shooting came the hunting, which had once been the joy of his
+life, ever after he first put his pony at a stiff fence, entirely on
+his own, and sailed gloriously over, in spite of an anxious groom
+shouting caution to the winds.
+
+And then all the woodcraft and fieldcraft he had learnt from his
+uncle's keepers and his uncle's farmer tenants. He remembered how it
+had been part of his education as a youngster, and how in pursuit of
+knowledge he had been up early and late and in the middle of the
+night, picking up information about the woodland creatures from anyone
+who could teach him or finding things out for himself. There was the
+poacher who had shown him, for love of the sport, if sport it could be
+called, how he got the pheasants silently off the boughs in the
+night--taking them from their roosting-places and never a sound. He
+had given that poacher a bright half-crown, he remembered, and his
+firm lips twitched a little over the recollection. He had not seen the
+humour then of paying the man who was stealing his uncle's
+pheasants--the pheasants that would some day be his. He wondered if
+the boys in England now, the future landowners, were taught woodlore
+as he had been taught it, because it was good for an English gentleman
+to know all the scents and signs and sounds of his estate.
+
+And after all, he was no landowner at all. By his own act, instead,
+merely an officer in the British South Africa Police, with a few
+hundreds a year income, and nothing but a meagre pension ahead.
+
+Ah well! he had had a good deal besides for what he had lost, and it
+had been a good life enough, dependent solely on himself, and far
+removed from the caprices of a rich uncle. He regretted nothing at
+this stage of what had transpired after the upheaval came. Of course,
+his brother was now owner of the estates that might have been his, and
+was married, and had children; whereas he was a soldier-policeman
+looking forward to a meagre pension.
+
+Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered. It was only that, seeing so
+much more of the Pyms socially than he had been wont to see of anyone,
+old memories had been awakened. He hoped they would soon go to sleep
+again, for, in passing, they had taken some of the restfulness out of
+Rhodesia's far horizons, and fretted the flow of the strong, silent
+river, with a vague discontent. Sometimes between him and those far
+horizons there was a face now--sometimes a voice--sometimes just a dim
+presence--the voice and the face and the presence of Meryl Pym. And it
+was a thing to be fought down and crushed and conquered--a weakness
+that was well-nigh a foolishness--a folly such as stern men trample
+underfoot.
+
+So when Mr. Pym asked him to dine with them privately, he made some
+excuse, and only yielded under pressure. And when he joined them he
+was in one of his gravest moods, as if he had barricaded himself round
+with impenetrable reserve. There were two other guests, so Diana did
+not twit him openly; she only murmured in an aside, for his ear alone,
+"I'm so sorry it's a party, and we shall feel obliged to be polite.
+This civilisation is becoming a positive burden."
+
+Meryl was a little late, and she wore a beautiful gown, of a classic
+cut, with exquisite classic embroideries and a filigree band on her
+lovely hair. It was the first time he had seen her in evening dress,
+and he took one keen, sweeping glance and then looked away. He had
+rather the attitude of a soldier on parade, to whom the colonel had
+said "eyes front." Only he was his own colonel, obeying his own laws
+and restrictions. And Meryl only dared to take a fleeting glance also,
+for fear her eyes might betray her. And though he looked as striking
+as a man may, in immaculate evening dress, with his strong, clear-cut
+features, and inches that dwarfed most men, with the inconsistency of
+a woman she decided she liked him best in khaki that had seen hard
+service, and that look of being all of a piece, because his hands and
+face were so brown. He sat on her left, while Lord Elmsleigh, who was
+passing through from the Victoria Falls, sat on her right; and though
+she chatted lightly to his lordship, she was conscious every second of
+the hour of the big, silent, rather grim soldier-policeman. He spoke
+very little. Just an opinion now and then when he was asked for it, or
+the corroboration or correction of a statement, when someone looked to
+him questioningly. The millionaire, chatting in his quiet, weighty way
+to his two other guests, noted everything. He knew that Carew and
+Meryl scarcely once looked at each other, or addressed each other
+direct, and with a deep sense of regret he had again that feeling of
+being brought up against some barrier where neither his money nor
+power nor influence could be of any avail. And at the same time he
+knew in his heart that he had never met any man to whom he would
+sooner entrust Meryl and the fortune that must be hers. For though
+their very silence together revealed to his astute brain that neither
+was indifferent to the other, he could not but see also that
+undercurrent of grim determination in Carew. True, he was almost
+always silent, but Henry Pym perceived that his silence to-day was not
+quite of that of yesterday. Something had gone out of it--some quiet,
+grave, unquestioning content. In the keen, direct, steel-blue eyes now
+there was a shadow lurking behind, that might have been of some old
+memory, or might have been of some new pain, but which vaguely hurt
+the millionaire host.
+
+Meryl's eyes were less smiling than her lips, turning a little
+unsteadily this way and that, with a restlessness that added a touch
+of vivacity to her quiet beauty. But that, he knew, was the thing we
+baldly name pluck. It was not to-night he need fear what he should see
+in her eyes, nor perhaps to-morrow. It was any day, any hour, any
+moment in the weeks to come, when she believed no one was observing
+her.
+
+So the evening passed, and the last rubber of bridge was played, and
+the first move made towards departure.
+
+"Shall we have your company for a day or two? I must stay here over
+to-morrow!" Mr. Pym said to Carew.
+
+"I leave early in the morning," was the quiet reply. "I only came here
+to see Mr. Ireson, and now I go to Salisbury."
+
+Meryl, with her face turned away, blanched a little in the shadow.
+This was the end then. This casual, conventional good-bye at a
+dinner-party. To-morrow he would go east before they were up; and the
+next day she would go back to Johannesburg, and later England. She
+turned quickly to make a gay remark. Something in her heart tightened.
+She felt suddenly appalled at the future, and was afraid she might
+show it.
+
+But the evening had still one little unexpected treat in store for
+her. Lord Elmsleigh had a big-game trophy in his room that he wanted
+to show Mr. Pym and their other guests--something that he had shot in
+the Kafue valley. And in consequence, while Diana and Carew and Meryl
+were standing together by the open window that led on to the wide
+balcony, he took them both off with him.
+
+And then Diana said to Carew, "As you are going to-morrow, I will give
+you those snapshots to-night. I have them in my room," and she went
+away, pulling the door to after her.
+
+So Carew and Meryl were left alone by the window, looking out into the
+pulsing southern night. Meryl, quite suddenly, felt a little dizzy,
+and she drew back into the corner, leaning against the woodwork,
+feeling glad of some support. Carew remained upright and rigid, with
+something in that very rigidity that suggested a special need to keep
+himself well in hand. If he had stopped to think about it, he might
+have felt that Fate was treating him a little unkindly. So far he had
+done the strong thing every time, and gone quietly away from danger;
+not because he was a coward, but because he knew it is sometimes far
+more cowardly to skate on thin ice, and hope it will be all right,
+than to remain in safety on the bank. For Meryl's sake as well as his
+own he had chosen to remain on the bank. And yet here, for the third
+time, was Fate deliberately bringing the danger zone to him, in spite
+of his efforts to avoid it. But he did not stop to cogitate either one
+way or the other. Sufficient for him that he knew himself in the
+danger zone, and therefore it behoved him to be very wary. Not by act
+or word, if he could help it, must he let Meryl see how she had
+disturbed his peace. And there, again, it would seem, Fate had played
+with him. A subtler man would have perceived that an added rigidity
+was not entirely the safeguard he needed now. Meryl already knew him
+too well for that. Had he talked and laughed a little, she might have
+been puzzled and baffled. But Carew was not subtle. He was simply
+sincere. And so he just stood very rigid and silent; not perceiving
+that in the circumstances that it was hardly the best way to baffle
+the eyes of love. Meryl knew instinctively he was putting some special
+restraint on himself, and the knowledge made her quietly glad,
+underneath the sudden pain of the knowledge that it was farewell.
+Back, in her vantage of shadow, she looked at him. And she saw, not
+for the first time, but perhaps more fully, that inner force in this
+man, which told any who had eyes to see and understanding to perceive,
+that nothing would turn him from a set purpose, if he were persuaded
+it was a right one; and whatever woman's arts she might possess, they
+would be as the waves against a granite rock. They might play round
+him, and sprinkle foam on him, and soften his aspect, but they would
+not _move_ him. So, with an inner strength not unlike his own, she
+accepted his decree. For some reason, or set of reasons, love might
+not come into being between them. He was determined that it should
+not. Very well, she would hide her hurt and face her future without
+it.
+
+And if she chose to cherish his image, hidden deep down in her heart,
+that was her affair. A laughing, mocking world need never know.
+
+She broke the silence first:
+
+"If you are going early to-morrow, we shall not meet again."
+
+"No." He looked at her a moment, about to say something else; then
+changed his mind, and looked out of the window in silence. Leaning up
+against the lintel, in the softened light, her outline and features
+and deep, true eyes made too fair a picture for him to trust himself
+to look upon.
+
+"Perhaps you will be coming to Johannesburg presently?"
+
+"I think not."
+
+"Nor England?..." with a little wistful smile.
+
+"Nor England."
+
+"You speak almost as if you never expected to go there again?"
+
+"I shall never go there again."
+
+There was a pause; then she continued:
+
+"Yet you are so absolutely an Englishman, and they say"--with another
+little smile--"an Englishman always wants to go home to be buried."
+
+"I am more a Rhodesian."
+
+"And you feel like Cecil Rhodes?... We went out to the Matopos this
+afternoon. It was a big thought, that of his, to be buried there. It
+gives you people in the north something that we of the south have
+not--your own special great man, lying in your midst. What a country
+you will be some day! I envy you your share of the building."
+
+"The south is a great country _now_. It is not a small thing to be
+building there."
+
+"Yes, but we have two races, and it spells division and weakens our
+enthusiasm."
+
+"Help to bridge over the gap. Help to make it spell union. That were a
+work that any man might be proud to give his life to."
+
+And at that slowly she became taut and rigid almost as he, with wide
+eyes gazing into the night. He had struck a hidden chord; struck it
+full and strong.
+
+"Do you mean," she said a little breathlessly, "that though my
+sympathies are so much with the north, my work, any usefulness I may
+attain to, ought to be given to the south?... that ... that ...
+perhaps it belongs to it?..."
+
+He was silent a moment, weighing his words.
+
+"I think," he said, "that you in the south are passing through a
+critical stage, and there must be much need for strong women as well
+as strong men. Dutch Predominance is the cry now, but the scales turn
+easily, and it may be English Predominance to-morrow. No country can
+make real headway, and consolidate its greatness, while there is this
+changing and interchanging of power. There must be no predominance but
+that of the country's good; and to that end Dutch and English _must_
+be merged into South African. It is the duty of every true patriot to
+look this way and that, and see how it can best be achieved; and to be
+ready to sink all personal aims and triumphs for the furtherance of
+the great end."
+
+"Is it possible," she asked slowly, "when it seems one side only is
+honest in its protestations?"
+
+"You cannot be sure about that. Seek out the strongest and best men of
+both sides, and help them to gain the power and hold it. Your own side
+is not without blame. At the first big election after the country was
+settling down again, you could not even stand together. At the polls
+there were three parties, where there should have been only two.
+Englishmen opposed Englishmen, mostly over a question of small
+differences, and for personal pride of place. South Africa has never
+yet recovered from that mistake. You must not hold two hands out to
+the Boers--the hands of differing Englishmen--but _one hand_, that is
+absolutely reliable and sincere."
+
+"It is what I have heard my father say, and others also, but progress
+is very slow. There is much racial hatred rampant still."
+
+"It will yield gradually. The fittest must prevail in the end; but
+obviously that fittest will prove to be neither Dutch nor English, but
+South African."
+
+"How do you think it will prevail?" She was white now, and her eyes
+were gazing very straight out into the night.
+
+"By intermarriage chiefly. It is almost the only solution to the
+problem. Speaking one tongue, owning one country, will never help it,
+as Dutch and English interests united upon one hearth. That is why you
+must be patient, and just go steadily on, avoiding dissension as much
+as possible, while trying to raise the tone of both races on every
+side."
+
+There was a little tremor in her voice as she said, "And are we to
+take it just meekly when Englishmen are ousted for Dutchmen and loyal
+service ignored?"
+
+"I think you can only be patient at present. The strong part will lie
+with you, though the others seem to triumph. If the party in power
+find the country is at a standstill, and not progressing as they want
+it to, they will end by rearranging the public posts, and the
+Englishmen will come back because they are the fittest. As a race, you
+know, we are inclined to be domineering and somewhat overbearing. We
+certainly have ourselves to thank for some of the trouble. Probably
+while the Dutchman is 'top dog' he is having his fling, and we are
+learning a little wholesome wisdom. When the reaction comes the
+country will be the gainer."
+
+"And in the meantime intermarriage?" she questioned slowly.
+
+"In the meantime intermarriage," he said, with quiet emphasis.
+
+But he little dreamt that at the cross-roads he was pointing her to a
+path of tears.
+
+They heard Diana returning, and he moved restlessly.
+
+"If I do not see you again"--with a hesitating voice unlike
+himself--"I hope you will be very happy.... Meeting you has been a
+great and unexpected pleasure."
+
+"Thank you," was all she could trust herself to say.
+
+And then Diana came into the room.
+
+A moment later the other men returned, and they all said good-bye. And
+when Carew shook hands with Meryl, he noticed that her hand was as
+cold as ice and her cheeks as white as snow, and that she scarcely
+raised her eyes to his face.
+
+And wondering and fearing, he walked away into the darkness, with the
+sense of a new shadow walking beside him--a shadow that had come to
+stay, in spite of all his resolutions and strong endeavours, the
+shadow of his love for the woman he had just left in silence and never
+thought to see again.
+
+
+
+
+XXI
+
+A "HOARDING HUSTLING"
+
+
+There was probably no family in Johannesburg better known or better
+loved than that of Henry Pym, the millionaire. Even Aunt Emily was
+something of a favourite, in spite of her peculiarities, perhaps a
+little for the sake of the delightful entertaining that took place at
+Hill Court. Diana was adored for her spirits, and Meryl was regarded
+somewhat as a treasure Johannesburg had a right to be proud of.
+Certain it was that if eventually she followed the example of her
+American cousins and enriched an English peerage with her wealth, she
+would hold her own amidst the loveliest and most charming of England's
+peeresses. At the same time, though many perhaps hoped that she would
+lead the way for the young South African heiresses, not many had much
+belief that she would lead it in the particular fashion they hoped;
+for there was ever that uncertain elusive quality about Meryl, that
+suggestion of the visionary and dreamer, that betold a nature not very
+likely to follow in any beaten path, or give overmuch value to the
+advantages of a high alliance from a worldly point of view. It was
+probable she would see things in quite a different light to the
+majority and act for herself. Nevertheless Johannesburg hoped for the
+best, and would have been pleased to number a peeress among her
+daughters; if it were only to show the world, for one thing, that some
+of South Africa's heiresses were every whit as refined and clever and
+charming as America's, whatever may have been implied to the contrary
+by scathing comments on Johannesburg's millionaires which have
+appeared from time to time in varied guise.
+
+Mr. Pym himself, however, was not among those who nursed such high
+hopes. When he took the Piccadilly mansion the preceding spring, and
+transferred his household to London for the season, he meant to
+entertain lavishly, and give the girls every possible opportunity to
+see the world of the highest London society, knowing full well he
+could do this because his friends numbered many among England's high
+names. That he should take them into the wilds of Rhodesia instead had
+certainly been the very last thought in his mind. On the other hand,
+as we have said, it did not greatly perturb him. He was inclined to
+think they might gain as much from their pioneer pilgrimage as from a
+rush of continuous gaiety. What exactly they _had_ gained it would
+have been difficult to gauge; nothing perhaps that Aunt Emily would
+detect, fussing and exclaiming round them upon their first arrival.
+
+Diana, in a mood for merriment, and possibly to cover a certain
+invisible shadow that rested as a dim cloud upon the party, rouged her
+face to a brilliant red with an alarmingly fiery nose end. When she
+lifted her veil and confronted her aunt with a perfectly unconcerned
+smile, that lady raised her hands in horror and bemoaning. "O, my
+dear!... my dear!... your complexion is ruined. How could you be so
+careless? How could Meryl let you?... It will take weeks of care to
+undo the mischief."
+
+"O, don't make a fuss, aunty! Complexions don't matter tuppence-halfpenny
+in Rhodesia. You surely didn't imagine I was going to carry a
+sun-umbrella about, did you?"
+
+"But my dear child!..." still in great distress. "It is a dreadful
+thing to say, but you really look as if ... as if ..." but there her
+courage forsook her, and she could not name the dreadful possibility.
+
+"As if I had been drinking!" finished Diana cheerfully. "Yes, it's a
+little awkward, but perhaps if I don't lurch or look foolish ..." Then
+she encountered the astonished eyes of a young footman, who had come
+in with some small paraphernalia from the motor, and unable to keep
+her face, turned hurriedly away.
+
+"I'm rather afraid James is going to have a fit," she remarked to
+Meryl. "I hope it won't incapacitate him for the rest of the day," and
+she chuckled to herself. Meryl had not yet raised her veil, and the
+anxiety on Aunt Emily's face, which she vainly strove to hide, was
+delighting Diana more than ever. "Better not take your veil off
+downstairs, Meryl. Aunt Emily has had rather a shock from my face; I
+don't think she could bear any more."
+
+But the poor lady's concern was too pitiful to Meryl, and she threw
+her veil far back, saying, "She is a wicked creature, aunty. Her face
+only wants washing"; and then Aunt Emily, reassured and comforted,
+joined in the general laugh.
+
+"But soap and water won't remedy all the defects," Diana told her.
+"I've acquired a violent dislike to houses and rooms and tableclothes
+and clean hands, and all the absurd paraphernalia of civilised
+existence. Of course, I suppose I shall become rational again in time,
+but at present I thought of having a tent on the lawn and becoming a
+hermit."
+
+"How is everyone, Aunty?" Meryl asked, as the poor lady seemed again
+somewhat overcome. "Have you had hosts of visitors while you were all
+alone?"
+
+"Yes, people have been very kind, and I have not had much time to be
+dull; and everyone is delighted you are back again. Mr. van Hert has
+called twice this week to know which day you would arrive."
+
+Meryl's lips contracted a little, but Diana murmured, "Oho!... Dutch
+Willie! ready to be on the doorstep, of course, in spite of the
+hullabaloo you've been causing in the country, unrestrained by my
+caustic criticisms."
+
+"I expect he thought he would make hay while the sun shone," Meryl
+told her, "and air his pet theories while they were not in danger of
+being stamped on."
+
+Then they both went upstairs, and Meryl stood awhile at the wide
+window, looking over the lovely garden; and though she still answered
+kindly to her aunt's flow of chatter, the good lady having followed
+them to their room, her heart was far away among distant kopjes, where
+mysterious grey walls basked in the sunlight with the silence and the
+patience of the ages.
+
+For the next two or three days a continuous stream of visitors passed
+up and down the drive, and invitations poured in, and the girls found
+themselves quickly in a very vortex of social life.
+
+William van Hert did not come until the third day, and then he chose
+as late an hour as he well could, hoping to escape the throng. This he
+succeeded in doing, but Diana he could not escape. If it had been his
+hope to see Meryl alone he was entirely frustrated. Diana's small,
+practical head perceived the wisdom of avoiding all haste in what
+these two might have to say to each other, and van Hert had to bow to
+her decision. Still further, he had to undergo a small fire of chaff
+with an edge to it, concerning some of his political doings and
+sayings during their absence. But this from Diana he could always
+take. Whether she knew it or not, and whether she cared or not, at the
+time she probably wielded a more direct influence over van Hert than
+anyone else living. Certainly a more direct influence than Meryl and
+her father, for whereas his liking for them only tempered his rashness
+and indiscretions, Diana aimed shafts straight at any of his rabid
+policies in a manner that caused him secretly to reconsider. Yet all
+his devotion was drawn to Meryl in her fairness and quiet strength,
+and the hope of his heart was still to win her.
+
+As it happened, it was a very white-faced, silent Meryl who sat on the
+deep verandah that afternoon of his first call, and was content
+chiefly to listen to Diana waging her usual war. That astute young
+person had much to say, in her own slangy phraseology, concerning
+certain utterances of the Dutch extremists, openly derogatory to the
+English, and seemingly opposed to any spirit of racial conciliation.
+
+"Why don't you try and teach your people to play the game?" she asked
+him, with a fine scorn. "Do you hear any of our eminent men haranguing
+about 'keeping down the Dutch' and 'steam-rollering the Dutch,' and
+without any hesitation openly speaking of themselves as a separate and
+superior race? Whatever our men think, they are at least sportsmen
+enough just now to keep it to themselves, for the sake of the hopes
+and aims of the country. But you apparently allow your following to
+say anything, and either pretend not to hear or take no notice. Listen
+to this, said by a predicant of the Dutch Reformed Church...." She
+picked up a pamphlet, lying near, and read aloud: "'We are a nation
+with our own taal, traditions, and history. We must now stand shoulder
+to shoulder and hand in hand for the rights of _our_ people.... May
+God give _our_ people strength to be unanimous!' Unanimous in what?...
+Why, forcing the issue of the language question according to their own
+ends, and retrenching English teachers, and generally looking upon
+themselves as the superior, chosen people whom God meant to reign
+alone in South Africa."
+
+"My dear young lady," he remonstrated, "can you blame me for the
+unwise, indiscreet utterances of every Dutch predicant who opens his
+mouth?"
+
+"Why, of course I do. You are a leader, and you ought to protest
+openly against any such utterance; but naturally, if you only consider
+it unwise and indiscreet, you don't regret the purport of the words at
+all, merely their being uttered at perhaps the wrong time. Well, that
+sort of spirit isn't 'cricket,' as we understand it; and your
+attitude, in professing to hold out a hand to the English section,
+while the other is making secret signs to the Dutch, is what we call
+trying to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds; and that is an
+experiment being attempted by far too many of your colleagues just
+now."
+
+"I am doing nothing of the kind," he repudiated indignantly. "I am
+standing by my countrymen, that they may maintain the dignity of their
+nation and not be trampled under foot by the English."
+
+"O fiddlesticks! No one wants to trample you under foot. We mostly
+want to raise you. We want to broaden your outlook and widen your
+views. But you know perfectly well that that means a great united
+country, for the back-veldters might learn at last where strength lay;
+and then your precious taal, traditions, and history will have to take
+their proper place in the general scheme, and that will be on a plane
+of equality and not blatantly on top."
+
+Again he protested with outspread hands. "But we have a great country
+now through union. You overlook the most important fact."
+
+"We should have had," she corrected, "if the Bond in Cape Colony, and
+Het Volk in the Transvaal, and the Unie in the Orange River Colony had
+not chanced to be powerful enough to work almost entirely in the
+interests of a Dutch South Africa all the time they were waving a
+flag, and cheering the colours, and delivering orations on the beauty
+of Union and their love for the great Mother Country, meaning the
+Liberal Government, who mostly, it would seem, told them to do as they
+like and please themselves and not make a fuss, so long as they called
+it Union."
+
+He turned to Meryl with a deprecating air, as if asking for her
+support, and she smiled rather a tired smile and said, "It is only
+that she has had to bottle it all up for a long time, as you were not
+at hand. The next time you come she will be ready to smile on you."
+
+"But I hope in the meantime you do not endorse the slander?..."
+
+"I have plenty of hope to balance a certain amount of doubt; and if it
+is any pleasure to you to know it, Diana never troubles to cross
+swords with a man she has not considerable regard for."
+
+He flushed and looked gratified, and Diana remarked coolly, "O, I've
+lots of regard for you. I'm only sorry that a man who might be
+brilliant is content to be mediocre because of his prejudices. Now
+when we were in Rhodesia ..." and she paused, regarding him with the
+bright, piquant eyes of a small bird.
+
+"Well, what about Rhodesia? You didn't find much brilliance there, I
+imagine? Brilliance does not thrive on bully beef and existence in a
+mud hut."
+
+"Neither does 'back-veldt' obtuseness and narrow-minded bigotry and
+indiscreet loquacity, Meinheer van Hert."
+
+He could not help laughing at the droll way she made the statement.
+"Well, what does thrive?"
+
+"Silence," thoughtfully.
+
+"But that did not appeal to you?" with significance.
+
+"Not perhaps so much as the growl," was her enigmatic reply.
+
+"And did you like this wild, wilderness land of silence?"
+
+She regarded him with half-grave, half-mocking eyes. "Well, we
+understood why _you_ want to have a finger in Rhodesia's pie, you and
+your various active organisations working in the interests of a Dutch
+South Africa. Any child could see what such a country would be worth
+to you. But you won't succeed, my friend. They've got a few strong men
+up there who believe in 'to-morrow' more than 'to-day,' and are not
+afraid to forego present honours for future progress. You won't bribe
+them, and you won't hoodwink them, and you won't get them. They may
+not have much weight or power or money to back them, but there's
+something in the atmosphere up there, something in the very air, that
+would tell anyone with a grain of perspicacity they could be dangerous
+if they liked. I shouldn't rouse the sleeping lion in Rhodesia if I
+were you, Meinheer, you and your colleagues, with coercion or anything
+else--that way lie explosives."
+
+At that moment Mr. Pym joined them, and the conversation at once
+became general, though van Hert laughingly told his host he had been
+undergoing a regular hoarding hustling. Then he told them of a few
+happenings since they went away, and because he was as glad as he
+could be to see them back again, all his natural versatility came
+uppermost, and one could easily perceive why he was a leader of men,
+and likely to remain so.
+
+"If only one could make him see straight," said Diana, when they spoke
+of it afterwards, "instead of with the warped vision of a one-idea'd
+fanatic."
+
+Later she tried to draw Meryl a little concerning her attitude towards
+him, but Meryl would only maintain an unrevealing silence, and Diana
+was baffled and troubled. She felt vaguely that some new thought was
+forming in Meryl's mind, some thought that held danger, but she could
+not grasp in what direction it tended.
+
+And van Hert smoked his pipe with a very thoughtful air that evening,
+pondering deeply. Meryl had neither encouraged him nor repulsed him,
+and she seemed just the same and yet different; and once more that
+half-formed dread came back to his memory that through Rhodesia he
+might lose her.
+
+And then he thought he would put the uncertainty at an end quickly and
+learn his fate as soon as possible; for he was treading on rather thin
+ice in his public capacity just now, and a strong coalition against
+him, which was rumoured in the air, might place him in an unpleasant
+position.
+
+On the other hand, Mr. Pym's support and Meryl's charm might prove
+weapons which would see him safely through, and help him to mould his
+position anew on broader lines.
+
+But for another three weeks Diana successfully baffled his intention,
+influenced by that vague fear she could not fathom, and a futile,
+helpless desire to ward off some pending destiny. And in the meantime
+she puzzled her small head daily concerning the invulnerable silence
+and aloofness of Peter Carew, and the blue shadows deepening under
+Meryl's eyes, though she strove hourly to be ever her old self and
+show no sign.
+
+
+
+
+XXII
+
+MERYL'S DECISION
+
+
+Although van Hert had no opportunity to reopen the subject of his
+hopes to Meryl during those three weeks, she knew quite well that he
+had in no wise changed to her. His every look showed it, and an
+intangible something in his manner whenever he addressed her. And all
+the time, though her heart was given hopelessly elsewhere, she felt
+herself in the grip of circumstances that might determine her action
+against her inclination.
+
+It would be difficult to relate just what passed in her mind through
+those three weeks, while outwardly she moved in the whirl of social
+happenings dependent upon their return with all her usual charm and
+dignity. Certainly she was rather quieter than usual, but as Diana
+talked and laughed faster, possibly with intent, the change was not
+noticed. She was specially quieter when van Hert was there, and Diana
+was specially talkative; entertaining him, rallying him, teazing him,
+in a way that, at any rate, brought out his best side, and in a sense
+buffeted the bigot good-naturedly into the attractive companion. And
+it seemed to show Diana at her best too, for behind all her flippancy
+there was undoubtedly a purpose and a depth which she would not for a
+moment have admitted, but which nevertheless was sincere and true.
+
+"Of course, I don't really care either way," she would tell him
+mockingly. "You may have a Dutch South Africa and welcome, if you
+won't interfere with my personal schemes and general affairs. I've
+nothing modern about me, in the sense of wanting to reconstruct the
+world generally and be a Joan of Arc to my retrenched compatriots. But
+when some of you talkers get up and express high-flown sentiments of
+brotherhood and union for the benefit of the public Press one moment,
+and swerve right down and wink at such sentiments as steamroller the
+English or the finances or the language question the next, it is time
+you had a little wholesome plain speaking. Anyhow, who _did_ vote the
+money for the new Government buildings?..."
+
+But whether Diana cared or not, one thing was certain: the utterances
+of that well-known minister William van Hert were showing gradually a
+higher and broader tone, and an atmosphere of conciliation was
+beginning to spread over his hitherto rabid sectarianism.
+
+And van Hert himself found it went well with his feelings to exchange
+wordy battles with Diana and keep his dreams for Meryl. The younger
+girl invigorated and enthused him, while the elder, curiously enough,
+appealed more to his senses. He wanted her fairness, as a strong, dark
+man often feels himself drawn to a woman who is frail and fair. And
+yet even while he wanted her he was a little afraid of her, a little
+baffled, a little uncertain of himself.
+
+Thus the three weeks passed, and the moment of the inevitable decision
+came near.
+
+And all the time Meryl felt herself rather as one who stood upon a
+difficult, stony place, with the forbidden land behind her and the
+clear call of a great need before. She believed that she would never
+see Carew again; that definitely and forever he had cut the threads of
+deep sympathy both had known existed. It was his dictum and she could
+only abide by it. What then should she do with her life? To what end
+turn this existence, blessed by fortune with wealth and the power
+wealth brings, though suddenly swept bare of joy?
+
+And ever and again back to her mind came Carew's words that last
+evening at Bulawayo: "Help to bridge over the gap. Help to make
+division become union. That were a work that any man might be proud to
+give his life to."
+
+And every day, more and more fully, she recognised that whatever she
+had to give she owed to South Africa. She gradually thought herself
+into a state in which she existed for herself and her own inclinations
+no more, but only for that sacred claim upon her.
+
+For the spirit of noble deeds, the spirit that carried Joan of Arc to
+the rescue of her country and to martyrdom, is not dead in the world,
+though no modern historian may depict a woman in armour leading allied
+armies on the battlefield. In quieter guise, in hidden corners, in
+unsung self-forgetfulness, women still answer to the divine call that
+sounds in their hearts, more inspiringly perhaps than in a man's; and
+for the everlasting good of the human race let us hope it will never
+cease to sound.
+
+Lamartine has said: "Nature has given woman two painful but heavenly
+gifts which distinguish her from the condition of men, and often raise
+her above it: pity and enthusiasm. Through pity she sacrifices
+herself; enthusiasm ennobles her. Self-sacrifice and enthusiasm! What
+else is there in heroism? Women have more heart and imagination than
+men. Enthusiasm arises from the imagination, self-sacrifice springs
+from the heart. They are therefore by nature more heroic than heroes."
+
+Enthusiasm and a divine spirit of self-sacrifice held a very deep part
+in Meryl's heart, though never for a moment would the thought of
+heroism have occurred to her. Where Diana, out of her mocking, but
+staunch and loyal heart, amused herself dashing cold water and playful
+satire upon all heroics, Meryl said nothing at all, but at a critical
+moment both were equally capable of _acting_.
+
+And it did not require much thought on Meryl's part to see now where
+this spirit of enthusiasm and self-sacrifice seemed to call her. South
+Africa was at the cross-roads; she was at the period of her most
+urgent need for great women as well as great men. The only question
+that seemed to arise was, what did she specially want of the women
+ready to serve her?
+
+In her own case Meryl found an answer from the lips of Carew himself.
+"Intermarriage," he had said; "that is the real solution to this great
+barrier of racialism. The same hopes united upon the same hearth." And
+it did not need much thought to perceive that should she, the admired
+and beloved heiress, fondly expected to marry an English nobleman and
+blossom into a peeress, marry instead a Dutchman and devote herself
+absolutely to South Africa, she would give a tremendous impetus to
+this question of intermarriage which was to consolidate the great
+South African Union. She saw herself giving this impetus, because it
+seemed to be the service life asked of her, and following it up by a
+wise and steadying influence upon the man who was likely always to be
+in the forefront of South Africa's politics.
+
+And yet, sometimes in the silence of the night, how her spirit
+shuddered and shrank from it, lying bare and desolate and bleeding
+under the hopeless, unconquerable ache for that strong Englishman in
+the north--that soldier-policeman for whom she would willingly have
+foregone all pride of place, all luxury of wealth, all satisfaction of
+achievement! Yet this he would never know, seeing her, as he ever
+must, framed in a vast fortune from which she could not extricate
+herself. She thought if she might choose, she would remain quietly
+with her father for ever, doing good, as he, by stealth and without
+ostentation, feeding her heart on a memory that would never die; but
+here the spirit of self-sacrifice intervened, and gave her no hope of
+rest but in fulfilment of what she believed life asked of her.
+
+And so the day of decision came, and all unconsciously Diana struck
+the final note. In the morning, glancing through various papers,
+magazines, and pamphlets with an extraordinary skill to glean any
+little essential point without wading through column upon column of
+matter, she came upon a paragraph that aroused her instant
+indignation.
+
+"O listen to this!" she cried. "If they are not at it again! Somewhere
+or other General Grets has been making a speech, and here is part of
+his noble sentiment: 'I earnestly appeal to parents to prevent their
+children marrying any of the English race. They must not let this
+colony become a bastard race the same as the Cape Colony. If God had
+wanted us to be one race, He would not have made a distinction between
+English and Dutch.' Well, I wonder what Dutch Willie will have to say
+to that?" and she smiled grimly to herself in anticipation of some
+satisfaction to come. "This man Grets is certainly one of his
+supporters. If he comes this afternoon I shall have a nice little bomb
+ready for him!"
+
+But instead of waiting for his usual late hour, van Hert came early,
+and asked to see Miss Meryl Pym alone; and when Diana returned from a
+game of golf ready for the fray, she was presented to van Hert as her
+future cousin.
+
+For once even she was nonplussed and at a loss for words. "O well, it
+would be silly to pretend to be surprised, wouldn't it?" she said
+rather lamely, and crossed to the tea-table to pour out her own cup of
+tea. "And it is superfluous to hope you'll be happy and prosperous and
+all that; so I'll just say, my dear future-in-law, I think you're a
+devilish lucky man!..." And Diana snapped it out as if an
+unaccountable sensation demanded an explosive of some sort.
+
+"My dear!... my dear!..." cried Aunt Emily in outraged horror. "Do try
+to remember where you are and who you are! If you indulge in such
+vulgar, disgraceful language on the golf course, you certainly cannot
+expect to repeat it in the drawing-room." But Diana paid no heed. She
+had already observed that Meryl, though blushing faintly, avoided
+meeting her eyes.
+
+"And what about this brilliant speech of General Grets' reported this
+morning? Will your party allow you to consummate the match, do you
+think?..." with biting sarcasm.
+
+But van Hert only laughed good-temperedly. "Could it in any way better
+be given the lie?" he asked, and before that irrefutable logic Diana
+was silent.
+
+Neither could she see her way to raising any reasonable objections,
+when a little, later the engagement was announced broadcast with
+considerable beating of big drums, but she flung a few sarcasms about
+with some violence.
+
+She flung one or two at her uncle, being at a loss to understand his
+taking the engagement so quietly; but if she had been present at the
+interview between him and Meryl before the final sanction was given,
+she would have seen that he too could hardly act otherwise. In truth,
+Meryl perplexed them both in those first few days, for she was so calm
+and quiet and self-contained they both felt a little dumb before her.
+It was as if, having finally made up her mind, she was determined to
+avoid all paths that might weaken her and take her stand alone. She
+was far more quiet and composed than either her father or Diana. These
+did not say much, but they showed perhaps the more. Henry Pym's hair
+whitened perceptibly, as if from some stern mental trouble, and Diana
+was uncertain, peevish, and difficult to please. Only once the subject
+was alluded to between them.
+
+"I confess the news took me rather by surprise," her uncle admitted in
+reply to some sally of hers, "and I was a little at a loss to follow
+her actions."
+
+"Actions?..." sniffed Diana. "What actions?... None were needed; it is
+the result of meditation."
+
+"You mean?..." questioningly.
+
+"Heroics and martyrdom," she snapped, and flung out of the room,
+leaving him perplexed and grave.
+
+"If I thought so," he said in his heart, "if I were sure of it, I
+would forbid the banns myself."
+
+He moved to the window, and stood for a long time looking silently and
+sadly to the far blue hills. He was thinking that, though he had given
+his life almost to be all in all to Meryl since she was left
+motherless, there was one part now he could not play.
+
+"A mother would have seen through anything and known what to do," he
+finished, and sighed heavily.
+
+
+
+
+XXIII
+
+CAREW'S STORY
+
+
+The news reached Carew through a newspaper. He was back in Salisbury now,
+attending the renewed sitting of the Commission, giving invaluable
+assistance. Whatever he said was instantly listened to. The chief members
+of the Commission, men of note and weight, wondered a little over this
+distinguished-looking man, merely a soldier-policeman, who knew such an
+extraordinary amount about the black races in Rhodesia; but if they
+sought enlightenment they were disappointed. No one knew anything about
+Major Carew, except that he was once in the Blues and now in the British
+South Africa police, and that the natives were more or less his hobby.
+
+But there was one morning when he was more silent than usual; when he
+seemed a little _distrait_ and very difficult to approach. And the
+moment the sitting was over he declined, somewhat curtly, an
+invitation to dinner that evening, and rode out across the veldt
+alone. That was the morning the daily newspaper contained the news
+that the only child of Henry Pym, the well-known millionaire, was
+engaged to be married to Mr. William van Hert, the eminent politician.
+
+And Carew's comment was to ride out across the veldt alone.
+
+The news was undoubtedly a shock to him. Of course, he had known she
+would marry, but, more or less unconsciously, he had pictured her with
+an English home and a permanent place in English society.
+
+The reality,--what actually had happened,--had not entered his head at
+all. Of course he knew van Hert by name; everyone did. And because of
+his reputation for anti-English views Carew both marvelled and at the
+same time gleaned a probable motive. And the result of his cogitations
+was that added sternness which always came into his face when he was
+seriously troubled.
+
+Yet what use to fret and trouble now? She had gone out of his life for
+ever, and with her his last chance of glad renewing. Henceforth he
+must go back to his quiet life of service which asked and gave nothing
+else, and to the companionship of those old memories which sometimes
+awakened from their sleep.
+
+He rode far across the veldt, and for the first time for many a long
+year turned back the leaves of the closed book. And the reason he did
+this was the remembrance of Meryl's face, as she leaned up against the
+lintel of the window that last evening at Bulawayo, when they both
+felt it was a final parting. Something that had been in the depths of
+her eyes, and which she had been powerless to hide, although she made
+no other sign. It was a remembrance that called that added sternness
+to his face: the sternness of deep trouble suppressed. For he knew no
+woman of Meryl's nature would look as she had looked that evening and
+love another man in a month. Therefore it was probably for some
+altruistic motive and not love that she had consented to marry van
+Hert; no shallow, selfish motive he knew well enough, but perhaps some
+call she had found the courage to answer.
+
+But if it was also a sacrifice, an offering of herself and her
+happiness upon some altar of need, ought he to let her fulfil it?
+Between her and the husband he had pictured for her he could not allow
+himself to stand; between her and van Hert, whom he was convinced she
+did not love, was another matter. Yet he knew in his heart that he
+could not save her now; the die was cast, both of them must abide by
+it. And in any case, how could he tell her his story? How could he go
+to her with that story and empty-handed as well; she the heiress of
+great wealth, and he without even a name and position?
+
+Away out in the kopjes he rode his horse slowly up a steep hill-side,
+and on the top dismounted and sat upon a boulder, looking over a vast
+tract of lovely country to infinite blue distances. As ever in moments
+of stress, he had chosen the height, with wide horizons, fresh-blowing
+winds, far spaces of sunlight; and in the flickering shade of the
+thinly foliaged trees he took off his helmet, baring his head to the
+breeze. And it could be seen that the grey about the temples had been
+increasing, while the strong lines on the face had deepened already,
+as if it had gone hardly with him of late.
+
+He sat very still; so still that a little squirrel ran down almost to
+his feet to investigate the strange figure, and little birds chirped
+all kinds of personalities about him to each other close at hand. He
+was taking a journey into a far land--the far land of the buried past.
+He was thinking of that story he would have had to tell Meryl Pym. Of
+Joan's sad life, sad love, sad death. Of how long ago she had lain
+dead upon the heather, as far as anyone could tell, slain by his hand.
+
+He went back to it now, page by page; it seemed in some sort of
+penance that he must give. The first pages dealt with those two gay
+young brothers in the Blues; the elder, Peter, the recognised heir to
+the rich bachelor uncle, who now made life gay for them with an
+allowance of two thousand a year each; but he was an autocrat and
+something of a tyrant, the old uncle, and his will had to be law. He
+did not mind their sowing of wild oats if they were what he called
+gentlemanly wild oats, and merely got them talked about as gay young
+dogs, and he was always generous with an extra cheque if they got into
+difficulties; but he would not have foolhardy, quixotic affairs at
+all. There he put his foot down. When the younger brother, Geoffrey, a
+youth of small, mean aims and temperament, led the pretty daughter of
+one of the keepers into trouble, he told his uncle he was going to
+give her a fixed sum out of his own allowance yearly while she was
+unmarried, and something always for the child.
+
+"Nonsense," said the old gentleman tartly; "the girl shouldn't have
+been such a fool. I will pay one hundred pounds into the bank for her,
+and she shall not have another penny." Geoffrey thought himself well
+out of the scrape, but before the incident closed there were words
+between the brothers that neither ever forgot. Peter took a different
+view of the matter entirely; he knew the girl, and he knew that she
+was gentle and confiding, and that Geoffrey had won her round with
+promises. So he called his brother a cur, and a few other things with
+strong adjectives, and because he knew he was in the wrong Geoffrey
+never forgave him. He went further, and hated him from that time
+onward.
+
+But the incident was destined to bear fruit of a far more searching
+nature. Because he heard the girl was very ill and quietly fretting
+herself to death, Peter went one day to see her, prepared to make any
+amends in his power for his brother's sin. And beside the sofa where
+the girl lay he met Joan Whitby. And such are the vagaries of human
+nature, with its beginning on that day, the gay, light heart, the
+fickle fancies, light loves, wild escapades of the devil-may-care
+young sportsman, all vanished away into thin air before a love that
+filled his whole being. Lovelier, gayer, cleverer women, ready enough
+to meet the heir of Richard Fourtenay-Carew halfway, had left him only
+gay and careless. Joan Whitby, shy, distrustful, reserved, won the
+prize unsought. She had run away from him, avoided any spot where they
+might meet, hidden if she saw him in the distance, tried to hurry past
+if they met unawares; more than that she could not do, because she was
+the governess at the agent's house, and she and her charge must often
+cross the park. But Captain Peter Fourtenay-Carew was a hot-headed,
+determined young man, and having lost his heart to Joan's grey eyes
+and delicate, lovely face, he was not very likely to be abashed by the
+fact that she hid from him; rather it whetted his determination to win
+her. And in the end, because Joan perceived he was an honest gentleman
+and that he truly loved her, and because with all her pure, strong
+soul she truly loved him, she left off running away and came shyly
+through the wood to meet him. And of course Geoffrey, the jealous,
+spiteful brother, discovered their secret, and carried the tale to his
+uncle in violent, indignant guise, precipitating anger for his own
+ends, where a little discretion might have found a compromise. Mr.
+Carew's lips curled a little cruelly as he remarked he would easily
+nip that peccadillo in the bud. He would have no penniless, unknown
+governess reigning at Dartwood Hall, having already quite other views
+for his future successor. Then he informed his agent the young lady
+holding the post of governess in his house must be sent away at once,
+with a quarter's wages which he would be pleased to remit. To Peter he
+said nothing; he merely waited for an indignant scene, easily to be
+squashed with cold and cursory logic concerning allowances and future
+inheritance if his wishes were disregarded. But it was just there that
+he misjudged this gay, handsome nephew of his, possessed also of a
+fund of spirit and strong character which his uncle had not had the
+perspicacity to perceive.
+
+The interview duly transpired, but there was no indignation at all. If
+he had looked for melodrama he was disappointed; the melodramatic did
+not appeal to Peter Fourtenay-Carew. He merely told his uncle quite
+quietly and respectfully that he intended to marry Joan Whitby.
+Richard Carew condescended to reason a little before he resorted to
+that cold, cursory logic, but he might just as well have saved himself
+both. Peter stood in the library window, looking across the grand old
+park, and heard, apparently unmoved, that all those rich acres and
+woodlands and well-stocked waters and preserves would pass from him to
+his brother, if he chose to remain obdurate and marry the poor
+governess, instead of the lady of high lineage his uncle had already
+selected for him.
+
+What he said was, "Do you wish me also to lose my career and leave the
+Blues?"
+
+For the moment his uncle had been too angry to reply. "Get out," he
+had said roughly. "You can't be yourself this morning. I will not
+believe you seriously contemplate losing anything."
+
+Peter had turned back from the window, and stood a moment looking
+squarely into his uncle's face. "I am going to marry Joan," he said,
+"and as you have brought me up to be perfectly useless, except in a
+crack regiment, I only want to know if you will continue my allowance
+long enough to give me time to find out what I can be useful at," then
+he had walked quietly out of the room.
+
+And Richard Carew, distrusting his own ears and far more upset than he
+would ever for a moment admit, remembered that he had seen just that
+look on the face of Peter's mother when he had had to break to her
+that her husband had been killed in the hunting-field--a look of
+desperate finality and unswerving resolve. Within the year he had
+stood beside her grave also, and taken the two baby boys home to his
+own house.
+
+Then Geoffrey had come to him, and because he was clever and
+unscrupulous he fanned the flame easily to white-heat. Finally the
+uncle had decreed, "I will give him a week to think it over, and in
+the event of his remaining obdurate I will offer him one thousand a
+year for five years, and at the end of that time the allowance to be
+renewed or decreased, or stopped, according to my pleasure."
+
+At the end of the week Peter's reply was "I am going to marry Joan on
+the 25th by special licence, in London. If you will not receive us
+together, I should be glad if my man might pack my clothes and bring
+them to me, with a few other belongings."
+
+And Richard Carew's answer to that had been a lawyer's letter,
+politely enquiring of Captain Peter Fourtenay-Carew to what address he
+wished the allowance sent, which was to be his for five years. Peter,
+not yet too angry to be cautious, asked if the five thousand pounds
+might be invested for him in entirety, and made arrangements at once
+to exchange into a far cheaper regiment, aware that as a soldier he
+might still keep a home for his wife, whereas any experiment in the
+untried fields of labour might swallow up all he had. In due course
+the solicitor replied that the request would be granted. But ere the
+wedding was solemnised the unlooked-for hand of fate dealt him a
+pitiless blow. He had many friends in the neighbourhood of his uncle's
+estate, friends who were glad and willing to receive Joan for his sake
+and her own; and in an unhappy hour he received a pressing invitation
+to meet her at the house of one of them, and have a week with the
+pheasants before he had to rejoin his regiment. It was a bitter cold
+month that year, and every sportsman's temper was a little on edge at
+having to face December blasts in October. And one day when they were
+out in a preserve that adjoined Richard Carew's, he and his friend
+heard shots and voices over the dividing hedge; and it brought up the
+subject of young Geoffrey's cold-blooded delight in his good fortune
+at becoming his uncle's heir, and unthinkingly the friend commenced to
+repeat a report of something he had said in the local club when a
+little the worse for drink. Then he had stopped short abruptly, trying
+to turn away the subject, but with a sudden dangerous light in his
+eyes Peter had demanded to be told; and because the other man's heart
+was sore for his friend, and he wanted to give Peter an excuse to
+cross swords with his brother, he told how Geoffrey had implied his
+relations with Joan had been exactly the same as his own, Geoffrey's,
+with the keeper's daughter in the beginning, but that he had not been
+clever enough to get clear of the affair as he had done, and that now
+he was nicely sold for his high-flown superiority.
+
+And then the wrath in Peter's face had been a terrible thing to see.
+It was as if his very nature reeled. He ground his teeth together, and
+his eyes had a red look as he muttered savagely, "God damn him; he
+shall pay for this!" He was standing with his face towards his uncle's
+preserve, and even as he cursed there was a sound of shots, and a
+second later a hare dashed out and fled past them.
+
+Scarcely knowing what he did in the blind white-heat of his passion,
+but possessed suddenly with an awful desire to kill, he swung
+completely round and fired at it. And just at that moment Joan and
+their hostess were coming up behind, hidden by the brushwood and
+shrubs, to go with them to the luncheon-place,--and Joan fell, shot
+through the heart. In the first awful moment no one seemed able to
+grasp the appalling fact. Peter threw himself down on his knees beside
+her, and was like a man struck dazed and speechless. He had a feeling
+that it was some horrible dream or hallucination, and presently this
+bewildering dazed sense would pass away and he would find the horror
+had not been real. Then across his torment he heard a voice that stung
+him alive with dreadful venom. His uncle and his brother had climbed
+the fence and had come to see what had happened, hearing from a scared
+keeper that someone was shot. Peter looked up and saw them. It was a
+dreadful moment for the three to meet. His friend, Maitland, seeing
+the unnatural ferocity in his eyes, tried to draw him away. Even
+Richard Carew, the uncle, looked a little alarmed. But Peter in his
+madness took a step forward. "You cur, you libelled her," he hissed at
+his brother, and cursed him bitterly. And then Geoffrey lost his head
+too. An ugly sneer distorted his face as he answered, "Well, anyhow,
+you won't get your inheritance back now, just through a casual shot.
+Lady Lilton is going to marry me, and ..." But he had no time to
+finish, for Peter suddenly hurled himself upon him, and struggled
+fiercely to get his hands at his throat.
+
+The scene was terrible. Those who were present never forgot it, and by
+the time a keeper and Maitland managed to separate them Geoffrey was
+too much hurt to stand alone. They left him lying on the ground, while
+Richard Carew forced a little brandy between his clenched teeth, and
+Maitland dragged Peter away to where his wife and a keeper were
+watching with horror in their eyes beside Joan's lifeless form. For a
+moment they feared he had lost his reason, and then some dreadful
+tension in his brain seemed to snap suddenly and they saw he was
+himself again. Without a word to either of them he stooped down and
+lifted the still form in his arms, and carried her unaided back to
+the Maitlands' house.
+
+He did not lose hold of himself again, but for weeks suffered a mind
+agony that might well have permanently turned the brain of a weaker
+man. Night after night the Maitlands heard him leave the house, after
+all had gone to bed; and they knew that he went out to tramp the moors
+till morning, for it was only from utter physical exhaustion he ever
+slept. No word came from the Hall, but rumour said the younger brother
+was injured so that he would not walk for months. Richard Carew's only
+action was to lavish hush-money, and keep as much as possible out of
+the papers. One mistake he made. Through his solicitor he informed his
+nephew he was willing to give him his former income, that he might
+remain in his old regiment. In answer to that Peter wrote to the
+lawyer: "I am leaving England for ever, and I shall cease to remember
+from this moment that I have the misfortune to be related to Richard
+and Geoffrey Fourtenay-Carew. No letters will reach me. I leave no
+address," and then he signed himself "Peter Carew" without the
+Fourtenay, and used the second name no more. And immediately
+afterwards he joined one of the early pioneer bands setting out for
+Rhodesia, possessing nothing in the world but a little money gained by
+the sale of his personal possessions and a memory that would shadow
+his whole life.
+
+Sitting alone on the kopje-top, he leaned his elbows on his knees and
+buried his face in his hands, and it was as though the waters of
+bitterness overflowed him.
+
+No, of course he could never tell Meryl such a story as that. For
+sixteen years his path had lain alone and his bitterness been shared
+with none. It must go on so now to the end. When he could bear it the
+memory of Joan's dear face still came to him as in infinite love and
+compassion; but he seldom dared allow himself even that; it was better
+to have nothing in his life--no past, present, nor future except his
+work.
+
+He got up and stood for a moment leaning against his horse, resting
+his arms on the saddle and gazing far away. Then he rode slowly home
+under the stars, and by the time he reached the police camp his face
+was only rigid and mask-like.
+
+
+
+
+XXIV
+
+A RAIN-WASHED MORNING AND A DISCUSSION
+
+
+It was the first rain-washed morning of the wet season when Ailsa
+Grenville heard the news, through a letter from Diana.
+
+And the first rain-washed morning is an epoch in the Rhodesian year;
+therefore it cannot be dismissed with a curt announcement.
+
+All night long the vigorous, boisterous spring-cleaning had been in
+progress. Ailsa, snug in her little bed, with the rain slashing and
+banging and pounding on the corrugated-iron roof, and the trees
+swishing and swaying, and the wind rushing around like a mad thing,
+apparently from all four corners of the earth at once, had laughed
+softly to herself at the commotion Mother Nature was making upon the
+dusty, dishevelled, rubbish-strewn land. It was as if, having been
+very busy elsewhere for three months, she meant to stand no nonsense
+now, but get the whole country furbished up in one night. What a time
+they were having, those dusty, untidy-looking trees! Bucket after
+bucket, millions of buckets as big as a house, full of delicious
+rain-water, flung at their heads! And the dusty, disgraceful roads
+swept bare, with gallons upon gallons of water driving their refuse
+hither and thither, all of it, as if mightily ashamed of itself,
+scrambling along in masses; and, of course, in its haste choking up
+the drains, and becoming a serious hindrance until a veritable
+water-spout was necessary to clear the course.
+
+And then the dead branches and twigs that the trees had been too lazy
+to shed; short shrift for them on the first spring-cleaning night.
+Down they came, helter-skelter, and no notice taken of the tree's
+groaning, or its crackling cries of protest.
+
+And the little river-beds and stream-beds, carelessly left to get
+filled up with dead leaves and rank grass, such a turning out for them
+as the resistless water was driven in sweeping streams along their
+bosoms! And woe betide any carelessly thatched or unsightly roofs! Off
+they went, away with the general medley. The coming summer would have
+none of them. And the granite, which had allowed dust and dirt and
+dead grasses to accumulate upon it, how it got its face scrubbed and
+washed that first night, and the wind shrieking with glee all the
+time, dashing the sheets of rain against it with its whole might!
+
+But, of course, one could tell that everything liked it. The laughter
+in the trees and the wind was quite distinct, and the little rivers
+were fairly shouting with joy. It was not their fault that all that
+piece of the earth had grown so dusty and untidy; it was Mother
+Nature's own fault for being so long coming with those big buckets of
+hers. How could any land, however willing, look spruce and green and
+clean with no rain for four months? No wonder there was such a
+commotion, and it was such a noisy, vigorous business, when at last
+the rain did come! Every tree and every blade and every flower had a
+special little life-plan of its own to carry out, if only it could get
+enough moisture, to say nothing of all the myriad insects and birds
+and animals, who were too lackadaisical, after the long, dry heat, to
+thoroughly begin their summer preparations until the rain came. The
+activity among the humans, with their gold-mines and farms and
+fanciful erections, would be nothing, would not be worth mentioning,
+compared with the activity going on in the hidden world all around
+them on the morrow. Even the flowers had been chary of wearing their
+best dresses in such a dusty, untidy world.
+
+But wait till to-morrow, and then see them! Far, far outvying any
+assembly of Ascot frocks or Lords' cricket week or Henley Sunday. The
+boisterous rain was a little severe on the dainty blossoms, but one
+may be sure they bore it with the pluckiest patience, whispering to
+each other gleefully about the lovely frocks they were going to wear
+the next day. And there would be such eager, joyful cogitations in the
+bosoms of all the little males anxious to be off on their spring
+courting affairs. How could any self-respecting young cock bird or
+male insect go and pay his addresses in a dusty, dirty, faded coat? Of
+course, it wasn't to be thought of. The other chap, who waited, would
+get all the running. But to-morrow there would be no further need to
+wait at all. Plumage and coats would be spring-cleaned, and
+expectations for the coming summer of the highest. Well-filled
+storehouses, leaf-cosy nests, glorious hunting-grounds. Never mind
+these boisterous winds and the violent way they hurl the rain about;
+sit tight and make lovely plans for to-morrow.
+
+Ailsa, snug in her little bed, thought happily about the earth and its
+glad renewing, and woke up her precious Billy to say, "Are you awake,
+Billy? Can you hear it?... We shan't know our little world to-morrow."
+
+And Billy, who was sometimes of a very prosaic turn of mind, answered,
+with a grunt, "Just in time to save that top patch of mealies and the
+bed of onions, by Jove!..." and then rolled over and went to sleep
+again.
+
+"Bother your onions and mealies," said his adoring wife. "The world
+wasn't made for you to grow vegetables in!..."
+
+But the next morning they climbed a kopje together, just for the joy
+of it, and laughed softly, and exclaimed in hushed voices at all the
+wonder outspread.
+
+Such a glorious new heaven and new earth! In the heaven a rain-washed
+sky, resplendent with armaments of fairy cloud-vessels sailing across
+deepest, loveliest blue. On the earth every leaf and every blade
+flashing light, as if it had a little sun of its own; every flower in
+its loveliest court dress; the very stones gay with beautiful shades
+of lichen; the granite kopjes in the distance, with their faces so
+thoroughly scrubbed, gleaming with the dazzling brightness of
+new-fallen snow. Dark, rich soil where the plough had been, renewed
+with the richness of velvet. Sullen, colourless veldt, radiant in a
+few short hours with the first outposts of its coming spring glory.
+Far, blue hills, bluer and intenser than ever in the rain-washed
+atmosphere. Little cock birds and male insects away off soon after
+sunrise about those courting affairs that had been delayed. A whole
+world rejoicing; a whole world singing Te Deums of praise and
+thanksgiving in its own dear, happy, overflowing way.
+
+No wonder the big fellow in the well-worn khaki, with his vigorous
+enthusiasms and wide sympathies, thought a little regretfully of the
+hide-bound, clause-bound, doctrine-bound, sober-minded black cloth he
+had felt himself obliged to put off. Would humanity ever sing again
+as the sons of the morning? Ever burst into Te Deums of overflowing
+thanksgiving to the Giver of all good, such as echoed and re-echoed
+from a long-parched earth on its first rain-washed morning.
+
+Well, he could but try to keep the long face and depressing atmosphere
+and thin air of superiority safely out of his own little sphere, and
+while he taught the natives to be active, useful members of society,
+try to help all the settlers about him, hard cases or otherwise, to be
+honest, fearless, clean-living men, whether they achieved it to the
+accompaniment of good round oaths and a Sunday morning spent in bed,
+or on their knees between consecrated walls in the accepted way. Of
+course, he liked them to come to his little stone tabernacle with its
+thatched roof, and he made his service just as attractive as ever he
+could on their behalf; but if they were too lazy or too busy to
+come--well, it didn't follow they couldn't be honest, clean-living
+fellows without it; so then he went to them, and sat over their camp
+fire, and told them a good story or two, and in the end there wasn't a
+camp within twelve miles where the "bloomin' sky pilot" wasn't one of
+the most welcome guests.
+
+But to do them justice, they mostly liked going to his little
+tabernacle, for it was always a pleasant meeting-place, and men in
+exile, even "hard cases," like to sing a good old-fashioned hymn just
+once in a way; to say nothing of the big home-made cake, full of
+plums, which was usually ready to be handed round afterwards on the
+"sky pilot's" verandah, and which he teasingly informed Ailsa was her
+way of bribing his congregation to come to church, rather than suffer
+the ignominy of hearing him preach to empty benches.
+
+But that was as it might be; anyhow, if a settler within reach chanced
+to be ill, he might be sure he would get a jelly or soup or milk, even
+if he had never put a foot inside the little wilderness church. And if
+Billy could not take it The Kid or Moore had to, for Ailsa ruled her
+little sphere with a rod of iron, and the two troopers had long been
+her willing slaves.
+
+But though she had cut herself adrift from the pleasant world of her
+girlhood, and won a real satisfaction out of life that would be death
+to most women, she had never lost her sympathies with all that went
+on in that existence, where
+
+     Life treads on life
+     And heart on heart;
+     We press too close in church and mart
+     To keep a dream or grave apart.
+
+And when they came back from their ramble on that joyous morning,
+Diana's letter caused a shadow to come over all the sunlight, and a
+quick anxious ache to grow up in her heart. After baldly stating the
+news of Meryl's engagement her cousin wrote:--
+
+"Was it you, or was it that bearish policeman, who suggested to such a
+dreamer as Meryl the desirability of a martyr's crown?... She is far
+better suited to love in a cottage and babies, but just because that
+is the case and it is easy to obtain, she chooses to break her heart
+on some vague altar of sacrifice. I have no patience with these
+high-falutin ideas myself, nor with the cottage and babies either, for
+the matter of that; but I suppose a few people had to be practical and
+selfish and commonplace, to keep the world going round without violent
+bumps and jerks. Don't send Meryl congratulations; send her an In
+Memoriam card. Believe me, it is better suited to the auspicious
+occasion."
+
+Ailsa showed the letter to her husband, feeling that it was the worst
+news she had had for many years. "What does it mean, Billy?... What
+can have influenced her?... My sweet Meryl! What is it?... What can it
+be?... that keeps Major Carew so aloof? It was easy to see how they
+attracted each other."
+
+"He is a proud man," her husband said, gravely. "It is not easy for a
+proud man with nothing to choose a wife with a large fortune."
+
+"Ah, but there is something more," she cried, "it cannot be only that.
+What has kept him so reserved in every particular all these years?"
+
+But Grenville could not help her, and all the afternoon she worried
+and fretted in silence.
+
+In the evening she said to him anxiously, after again discussing the
+news, "Mrs. Fleetwood has often asked me to visit her in Salisbury.
+Shall I go now? Perhaps if I could get Major Carew to talk?..."
+
+"You will never get him to talk," with quiet conviction.
+
+"Nevertheless, my husband, I feel I must try. We have so much, you and
+I. One can but make the effort."
+
+She got up from her chair and went round to him, and climbed on to his
+knee and hid her face, because she was troubled and unhappy.
+
+"Tell me something I can do to help them, Billy?" she pleaded.
+
+He fondled her hair in silence a moment, and then, because he thought
+it might comfort her afterwards to know she had tried, he said, "There
+is no harm in your going to Mrs. Fleetwood's. I think the change would
+do you good."
+
+And Ailsa went to bed a little comforted that at least he sanctioned
+her journey.
+
+
+
+
+XXV
+
+AILSA LEARNS CAREW'S SECRET
+
+
+Ailsa had to journey to Selukwe in the post-cart, and she found it
+very trying; all the more so because her tender heart, which loved all
+animals, suffered agonies of compassion for the poor underfed,
+overworked mules, some with sores, urged pitilessly along by their
+black driver. She wished vainly that she was the happy possessor of a
+fortune, and might at once finance in Rhodesia the Society for the
+Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, for which funds are so urgently
+needed. At Selukwe she had some little time to wait at the hotel
+before taking the train, and she went round to the posting-stables to
+interview any white man she could find who might be in a responsible
+position towards the post-cart mules on the subject of their
+condition. The man, of course, complained of the roads, which were in
+a hopeless condition, and beyond satisfying in a measure her own sense
+of compassion, she knew she had done little good. But while she talked
+to the white man at the stables, a thin, scholarly looking,
+grey-haired gentleman chanced to overhear their discourse, and raising
+his hat to her with grave courtesy, expressed his admiration of her
+action.
+
+"But can nothing be done, do you think?" she asked him dolefully.
+
+"I'm afraid not. You see, the Government do not particularly wish that
+route used, and so they have allowed the road to lapse. Let us hope
+there will very shortly be a railway, at any rate, to Edwardstown, and
+that then visitors will be encouraged to go and see your wonderful
+Zimbabwe ruins, instead of discouraged by the discomforts of the way."
+
+They moved towards the hotel together, and Ailsa asked, "Have you seen
+them?"
+
+"Only for a few short hours, which were all I could spare from some
+research work I was doing elsewhere in Rhodesia. I was tremendously
+impressed by the little I had time to see, and look forward to a long
+sojourn there presently."
+
+They talked on, their conversation drifting from one subject to
+another, and then he discovered her name was Grenville, and she that
+his was Delcombe, and they greeted each other anew as both hailing
+from lovely Devon. After that he proudly assumed the rôle of escort,
+and waited upon her hand and foot. As it chanced, he also was
+journeying to Salisbury, so they became travelling companions, and the
+chance acquaintanceship ripened rapidly. In the evening they dined
+together in the restaurant-car and sat long over their meal; and then
+it was that Ailsa chanced to mention the name of Major Carew.
+
+Henry Delcombe at once remarked, "There was a Major Carew at the
+Zimbabwe police camp, I think, when I visited the ruins, but I did not
+see him. I should like to have done. I understood from the young
+trooper there that he is some relation to the Fourtenay-Carews?" and
+he paused interrogatively.
+
+"It was the man I am speaking of. He _is_ a Fourtenay-Carew."
+
+"Ah!..." and Ailsa saw instantly the swift interest in her companion's
+eyes; a wave as of thought-telepathy that this man probably held the
+key to Peter Carew's past. Delcombe read in her sparkling eyes that
+her interest in the soldier-policeman was no casual one, but of the
+warmest friendship.
+
+"Did you know him before he came out here?" she ventured.
+
+"I knew his father well; I lived near to them in Devon. I was doing
+some research work, and I had a quiet little home in a lovely valley
+close to the little place that was then this man's home, and quite
+near also to Dartwood Hall, where the elder brother, Richard
+Fourtenay-Carew, lived. They are not a rich family at all, you know.
+Dartwood Hall and estates and money came to Richard Carew through a
+very eccentric godmother, who brought him up, and he could do as he
+liked with it all. His younger brother, Peter Fourtenay-Carew, and his
+wife had, I think, only a very small income between them besides his
+pay as a captain. They rented a pretty little place in Devonshire
+close to Dartwood Hall, and came there for the hunting whenever he was
+able. The brothers were good friends, and he always had the run of
+the Dartwood stables. They were an interesting pair, but it was the
+younger whom I regarded as a friend, and that was why I was anxious to
+find out if I had stumbled across his son. As you may have heard,
+Captain Fourtenay-Carew, the father, was killed in the hunting-field
+and his wife died within the year. The two boys, then quite babies,
+were adopted by Richard Carew and brought up as his own sons."
+
+He paused and studied Ailsa's face gravely. She was almost breathless
+with interest, and he seemed a little taken aback by it. She saw the
+question in his eyes, and hastened to add frankly, "I cannot tell you
+how interested I am to hear this. My husband and I think there is no
+one in the world like Major Carew; in fact, in some vague, distant way
+I believe we are related. But he never speaks of his past life at all.
+For some reason he seems to regard it as a closed book; he even
+persists in calling himself a Rhodesian, and resolutely ignores the
+fact that he is anything else as well."
+
+"Ah!..." and the thin, scholarly face of her companion looked as if he
+were obtaining a clue he wanted. There was a pause, and each seemed to
+be weighing something in his and her mind. Then Ailsa spoke: "I
+conclude he has some reason for his extreme reticence, and I hope I
+should be one of the last to pry into anyone's secrets; but for a
+reason I can hardly explain, I should be very glad to know something
+now that might possibly help me to do a special service for him. I
+shall see him in Salisbury."
+
+"What I know is no secret in a general sense," said Delcombe, speaking
+with grave deliberation; "but the facts of it were cleverly hushed up
+by his uncle, and you will easily understand that Major Carew would
+never speak of it now. My own interest in the matter is because of my
+regard for his father, and, I think I may say, admiration for himself.
+Anyone seeing the two brothers together as I did--that is, the younger
+men--must have felt deeply drawn to the elder and repulsed by the
+younger. A finer young fellow than Peter Fourtenay-Carew never
+stepped. The other brother was good-looking also, but he was cunning
+and crafty and little liked. Yet, such are the mysterious ways of
+Providence, the younger brother, by an unlooked-for turn of events,
+became the possessor of wealth and place and influence, and the elder
+went out from his country penniless, exiled, and alone. As far as I
+can judge, no one in England has ever heard of him since. I don't
+think it is even known where he is. A few of us knew that he came out
+to South Africa, and journeyed to Rhodesia with one of the pioneer
+columns, but that is quite sixteen years ago, and events at home move
+quickly, and his utter silence lost him the warm places he might have
+held in most hearts, or, at any rate, left them in abeyance. I only
+came out to Rhodesia a few months ago, and I have been much on the
+veldt, studying ancient relics; but I have kept my ears open. I heard
+of the man you are speaking of at the police camp at Zimbabwe, but the
+young trooper, Mr. Stanley, was not communicative. With a very
+praiseworthy _esprit de corps_, he declined to be drawn into any
+discussion whatever concerning his officer. I heard after I left that
+he, Major Carew, was a very reserved, taciturn man, but it was
+generally credited he had once held a captaincy in the Blues; that and
+a personal description persuaded me he was my old friend's son."
+
+"Yes," Ailsa said, "there can be no doubt about it. I suppose you knew
+that he was going to be married just before he came away, and
+something rather dreadful happened?"
+
+"Ah; he has revealed that much, has he?" in some surprise.
+
+"Not to me; to a great friend of mine."
+
+"I see."
+
+He seemed perplexed, uncertain evidently, how much to tell her. Ailsa
+understood, and was a little at a loss how to act herself.
+
+"I should not have mentioned the fact to anyone else," she said, "as
+he evidently wishes to keep all personal matters entirely to himself;
+but, of course, you were very likely to know it. I also learnt from my
+husband that he was the elder brother and originally his uncle's heir,
+but something happened to cause Mr. Carew to change his mind."
+
+Then Mr. Delcombe said thoughtfully, "I think there is no reason why I
+should not tell you a little more about him. I have always felt
+exceedingly sorry for his determined exile, and the isolation from all
+his old friends and old delights. I know that he dearly loved Devon,
+and one feels it is time now that he came back to try and pick up the
+threads. You and your husband appear to be his only friends, and as a
+distant connection you might be able to approach him upon a subject
+where a stranger, or shall we say a forgotten friend, would be
+diffident." He paused, then added, "I wonder if he has the remotest
+idea that, owing to several deaths, he is now the next heir to the
+Marquis of Toxeter?"
+
+A sudden joy seemed to sweep Ailsa through and through, and her eyes
+shone, and she clasped and unclasped her hands with excitement as she
+breathed, "O, is that _really_ true? It seems too good; too much like
+a story-book."
+
+"Yes, it is a fact. Major Carew's family was a younger branch, and
+sixteen years ago it would never have entered anyone's head that the
+marquisate might fall to them. Time makes many changes, and three
+heirs have died in succession. The present marquis is old and has no
+children, therefore the next heir was Richard Fourtenay-Carew, also
+childless, and after him Major Carew's father. Richard Carew died very
+shortly after this man left England, and young Geoffrey Carew then
+succeeded to all his possessions. I believe something was left to
+Major Carew, but he refused to touch it. It is since then that (his
+uncle being dead) he has become the heir of the present marquis, and I
+think it highly probable he has no notion of the fact whatever."
+
+"I am almost certain he has not," Ailsa intercepted, "for I think he
+would have mentioned it to my husband."
+
+"Unfortunately there is very little money with the title, but he is
+not a man to trouble much about that; and, of course, the present
+marquis may live some time. But I have thought sometimes if he _knew_
+it might wipe out a little of the past bitterness. His brother robbed
+him of so much, but in the end it would seem Nature is making things
+even again. Geoffrey would give half his wealth to have the title, and
+I have reason to believe that it is a great bitterness to him to know
+that his brother, who cares nothing at all about it probably, must
+inevitably inherit it if he outlives the present owner."
+
+"And you will tell him?..." eagerly.
+
+"Perhaps. Or it may be that you!..." He hesitated, and looked at her
+thoughtfully.
+
+And then Ailsa said impulsively, "Let me give you trust for trust. I
+am taking this journey now chiefly on Major Carew's account. There is
+trouble in the air. I cannot tell you the facts; I scarcely know them.
+But he has lived his isolated, reserved life so long, I feel it has
+perhaps warped his view a little, and if he could be persuaded to open
+his heart to a friend he might see things in a clearer light, and save
+himself and a dear friend of mine great unhappiness." She paused, then
+added sadly, "But I am so much in the dark concerning him I hardly
+know how to win his confidence. There appears to have been this
+something before he left England, something rather terrible, that has
+shadowed all his life."
+
+"There was; I will tell you in confidence. Richard Carew hushed it all
+up, but there were a few of us who _knew_. His quarrel with his uncle
+was because he insisted upon marrying a poor governess, a most lovely
+and charming lady, instead of the bride his uncle had chosen. He was
+disinherited, and his allowance so curtailed that he would have to
+leave his regiment; but none of that troubled him in the least. He
+adored his fiancée, and was supremely happy, as anyone could see. Then
+the tragedy fell. I cannot tell you all the details, probably no one
+knows them except his friends the Maitlands and his brother, and uncle
+who is now dead. He was out shooting with Maitland, and the other two
+were near at hand; and Maitland had repeated something to him his
+brother had said, which was a deadly insult to Miss Whitby. He was in
+a blind fury, and scarcely knew what he was doing, when he swung round
+and fired at a hare behind him...." There was a moment's intense pause
+before he finished in a low voice--"and the shot killed the poor girl
+he was to have married in a week."
+
+"O, how terrible!..." Ailsa gasped, and went white to the lips. "How
+terrible! Poor man! O, poor man!" Tears came into her eyes, and she
+turned away to hide them, and for some moments both were silent.
+
+Then Delcombe continued, "It is no wonder that he has been always
+reserved and silent. I suppose in a way it killed the part of him that
+could be anything else. He just went right away to a strange country,
+dropped the double name they had always been proud of, and cut himself
+adrift altogether from everything connected with his old life. It is
+no doubt his intention to remain apart, and take up the old threads no
+more. But I loved his father, and I loved him in my old-fashioned way
+which he was not likely to perceive; and when the Royal Geographical
+Society offered me a chance of a trip to Rhodesia I took it gladly.
+One of my first thoughts, when the decision was finally made and I was
+appointed, was, 'Perhaps I shall come across Peter Carew's son.'"
+
+Ailsa rested her elbow on the table and leaned her head on her hand,
+still with the glisten of tears in her eyes. "It makes one feel there
+is surely a Providence," she told him softly, "for my chance meeting
+with you may save him, and that other, from everlasting regret."
+
+A little later, when they went to their separate compartments for the
+night, she thanked him again. "You have made me feel quite
+broken-hearted for our dear soldier-policeman. Think what his memories
+must have been all these years! But perhaps his dark day is finished.
+I am very hopeful now. God bless you for remaining so staunch a friend
+to him and giving me your confidence!"
+
+And in Johannesburg that night Meryl said simply and quietly to van
+Hert, "I will marry you as soon as you wish. As you say, there is
+nothing to wait for, and, afterwards, there is much that we can do
+together."
+
+"In a fortnight?" he urged, and she assented.
+
+But Diana insisted otherwise. "It is simply indecent haste," she
+exclaimed, "and nothing in this world will persuade me to decide upon
+my bridesmaid's frock and have it ready in less than three weeks, and
+it may be a month."
+
+And Meryl--a quiet, white-faced Meryl nowadays, with little enough
+enthusiasm for frocks and wedding-presents--let her have her way.
+
+
+
+
+XXVI
+
+"HOW CAN I GO TO HER!..."
+
+
+The first meeting between Ailsa and Carew was a very difficult one for
+the woman. Directly she saw him she realised that he had drawn back
+into his shell further than ever, and the increased greyness on his
+temples spoke for itself of anxious, troubled hours. At first he had
+been difficult to entrap. In reply to her note came just a vague
+regret that he was exceptionally busy, and often out on the veldt,
+with a hope that he would see her before she left. One or two other
+attempts failed entirely to procure the interview, and she was almost
+at her wits' end. Finally, she had to resort to strong measures, and
+gain her end by subterfuge. Carew went to the house of a man friend by
+invitation, and was shown into his friend's den to find Ailsa awaiting
+him alone. The expression on his face told her instantly that he felt
+himself trapped, and resented it. But she could be very disarming when
+she liked, and she had tact enough to follow the straight course most
+likely to appeal to him now that she had gained her interview.
+
+"You must not be angry with me," she said, with engaging frankness. "I
+simply had to see you."
+
+He stood very upright, with a cold, unresponsive face, and waited for
+her to proceed.
+
+"Won't you sit down? You make it difficult for me when you are ... so
+... so ... distant and unbending."
+
+He moved away to the window, and stood looking out, with his back to
+the room. "Will you tell me what it is you have to say?" he asked very
+quietly. He knew perfectly well it had to do with Meryl, and he did
+not want her to see his secret in his face. In fact, he did not wish
+to speak of the subject at all.
+
+Ailsa stood silently a moment, looking at his back, and then she said
+very quietly, "I have heard the story of your past life. I ... I ...
+know it all."
+
+For a moment there was such a stillness in the room that one could
+almost hear heart beats. The figure in the window never moved.
+
+"Who told you?..." he asked at last.
+
+"Mr. Henry Delcombe, the scientist, who was a great friend of your
+father's."
+
+Another silence. At last--
+
+"Is he in Rhodesia now?"
+
+"He is here, in Salisbury. He will not tell anyone else," she added.
+"He told me because ... because ... he perceived that Billy and I
+cared for you very much, and for your happiness." She moved a little
+nearer to him, and continued gently, "I felt almost as if I could
+break my heart with sympathy for you,--and that you should have borne
+such memories all these years, _alone_."
+
+"I have put them behind me," he said, speaking almost harshly. "The
+past is dead. What does it matter who and what I was before?... To-day
+I am a Rhodesian, and my work is _here_. I shall remain here now until
+I die."
+
+"You may not be able to do that," and her voice had suddenly a ring in
+it that seemed to arrest him.
+
+"Why may I not?"
+
+"Because presently--very soon perhaps--you will have to answer to a
+call that requires you in England."
+
+He half turned to her, waiting silently and unmoved, with grave eyes
+fixed on the distance.
+
+She came a step nearer. "Mr. Delcombe told me also, that because of
+many changes that have taken place in the sixteen years since you cut
+yourself adrift from home, you are now heir to the marquisate of
+Toxeter. When the present marquis dies you will succeed him."
+
+It seemed at first as if he heard without understanding. Once more
+there was a silence in which one might hear heart beats.
+
+"Will you let me congratulate you?" Ailsa asked a little timidly.
+
+"I think he must have been dreaming," he said in slow comment.
+
+"No; there is no doubt about it whatever. He will tell you himself if
+you will let him. He wants to see you very much."
+
+And still he was only silent, gazing, gazing to the far distance. If
+it was true, how was it he had never heard?... Could it possibly all
+have transpired during the times he had been away shooting in the far
+north, or out on the veldt, away from newspapers for months?
+
+"There is something else I want to speak about," and her voice
+trembled somewhat. "This news concerning your future will make it a
+little easier. You know, of course, that Meryl Pym has become engaged
+to Mr. van Hert, the well-known Dutch politician?"
+
+Instantly he stiffened. "I saw it in a newspaper."
+
+She came close up to him suddenly. "O, Major Carew"--and there was an
+infinite pleading in her voice--"Billy and I thought you cared for
+her, and we believed she cared for you. Don't let her wreck her whole
+life now.... Don't stand by and let her marry a man she does not love.
+Go to her before it is too late!"
+
+Under his iron control his face seemed to work strangely. She saw the
+swift compression of his lips, the swift pain in his eyes, the strong
+hunger he could not entirely hide.
+
+"It is impossible," and the usual steadiness of his voice was shaken.
+"You say you know my story!... How can I go to her and tell her that
+once I killed the woman I loved?... How can I speak to her of love--I,
+the policeman, she the heiress?... How can I tell her that story which
+was told to you?... The story of damnable hate and passion, when I
+tried to strangle my own brother. I tell you she would shrink away in
+horror. She must shrink. Why did you speak to me about it at all! Your
+thoughts are folly and madness. _I_ offer love to Meryl Pym?... My
+God! I have some decency--some pride left." And the pain and
+bitterness in his voice shocked and stabbed her.
+
+But in spite of her inward shrinking she answered him boldly, drawing
+on a courage lent her by love and sincerity.
+
+"And I say that if you love her truly, you ought to be able to trust
+her with your story. It is not noble and spirited of you to stand
+aside as you perhaps think. It is cowardly. Pride is generally
+cowardly. For the sake of your pride, of your own personal feelings,
+you will let her go on with this marriage and never say a word and
+never move a finger to save her from shipwrecking her whole life.
+First you will let your own sad past come between you; then you will
+let her hateful gold drive you away; then you will talk of yourself
+as just a policeman. And in any case--you must know it as well as I
+know it--none of these things would estrange Meryl Pym from the man
+she loved. There is nothing whatever between you except your pride,
+and you think that demands a renunciation from you, careless or no
+whether it brings heart-break for her."
+
+He had grown deathly white now, with dark hollows round his eyes, and
+she could almost see how his teeth were clenched behind the firm lips.
+She had taken him entirely by surprise in her outburst, and her news
+concerning himself; and he discovered she had swept his secret from
+him concerning his love for Meryl, almost before he knew what he was
+speaking of.
+
+"There might be something in what you say if Miss Pym cared for me in
+return. That she does is the merest supposition."
+
+"And how do you know that with such sureness?" she cried. "No, no,
+Major Carew; in your heart you know otherwise. But you just let her go
+away without a word, without a hope, and one or two of us know what
+this hasty engagement means. Diana calls it martyrdom. She wrote me to
+send Meryl an _in memoriam_ card instead of congratulations, for it
+was more in accord with the occasion."
+
+His face worked visibly, in spite of his stern suppression, but he
+still stood rigid and upright, looking away from her--out over the far
+shadowy veldt, seeing nothing.
+
+In the pulsing silence that followed he beheld again that terrible
+October scene, when his love lay dead upon the heather. Could he ask
+any other woman to share that with him?... let the burden of such a
+memory faintly touch her life?... He knew that at the inquest it had
+been decided no one could possibly say who fired the shot. His uncle
+and brother were both shooting at the time, in the same direction; but
+though his friend Maitland had insisted upon a verdict of accidentally
+shot by someone unknown, and Richard Carew had resolutely supported
+him, in his own heart he had stood condemned. Yet if penance were
+required, what had he not given?... Exile, loneliness, nonentity for
+all the best years of his life; and her image, the beloved face of his
+lost Joan, the only woman's presence in his life. And yet now, as he
+stood gazing, gazing to the far blue hills, it seemed that her face
+and Meryl's were strangely blended. From the very first their eyes
+had been as the eyes of one woman, infinitely comprehending,
+infinitely true. Was it possible that Ailsa's accusation was true? One
+woman had been sacrificed more or less to his mad, insensate fury
+against his brother. Was the other perhaps to be sacrificed to his
+rigid, indomitable pride? One picture seemed to stamp itself upon his
+brain with ever-increasing strength and clearness: the picture of
+Meryl, leaning up against the window lintel that last evening at
+Bulawayo, white as a frail, exquisite lily, with the anguish in her
+deep eyes that she could not entirely hide. That, and the iron control
+he had needed to put upon himself, making him seem grim and unfeeling
+for fear one instant's weakness should make his longing arms enfold
+her. Well, he had played his man's part as well as he could; ridden
+away from her, disappointed her, openly avoided her, only in the end
+to love her with the deep, wise, understanding, all-embracing love of
+a man past his first youth, and with a wide knowledge of human nature.
+
+And this engagement of hers to van Hert! What might it not result
+from?... What hopelessness, what despair, what heroic resolve to play
+her little part in the country's good, and win some satisfaction
+perhaps, since she might not have happiness!
+
+Standing silently at the window it all seemed to pass through his mind
+with piercing clearness, and Ailsa's spirited attack rang still in his
+ears: "First you will let your sad story come between you, then her
+hateful gold, then your lowly position, answering to the call of your
+own pride, careless whether it wreck her life's happiness or no."
+
+Yes, she was quite right, it _was_ his pride. Even now the thought of
+the gold was hateful to him.
+
+Still, if some day he would indeed be the Marquis of Toxeter!... if he
+could at least offer her a high position!... if it was no longer a
+question of going to her empty-handed....
+
+The silence continued, and in the background Ailsa waited and watched.
+She could read nothing from the tall figure in the window, except that
+his thoughts were far away and he was probing deeply. She leaned back
+in a low chair, feeling suddenly very tired and overwrought. She had
+come all the way from far Zimbabwe for this interview, just to say to
+this man, before it was too late, the spirited things she had said.
+And now?...
+
+She looked round the den of the man who was her friend, and his, and
+had helped her to win the interview, noting each trivial detail, each
+attempt at decoration and hominess, each cunning substitute such as
+every Rhodesian contrives out of his ingenuity for some trifle not
+easily procured in that far land. And all the time she was tensely
+painfully aware of that strong man in the window, and of the issues
+that hung upon his decision. How, in the event of his deciding to
+approach Meryl, the recognised fiancé was to be treated, was beyond
+her. She was too tired to probe further. She only cared that Meryl's
+happiness should be saved. Her own had been so nearly lost, she had
+seen so much unspeakable bitterness arise out of one great mistake,
+made once by many women at the altar, and she only waited to know if
+she had lost or won.
+
+At last the silent figure moved. At the window Carew turned and came
+towards her. She watched him with all her soul in her eyes, unable to
+rise from her chair for very tension.
+
+"What are you going to do?..." she asked, hoarsely.
+
+"Can you tell me where I can find Henry Delcombe?" he said.
+
+
+
+
+XXVII
+
+DIANA BEGINS TO GROW PERPLEXED
+
+
+In the meantime the household at Hill Court was a restless, uneasy,
+depressed one. No person in it, except Meryl, seemed undisturbed by
+the unsatisfactory atmosphere. She by taking thought, had, contrary to
+the old dictum, added to her stature; but it was the stature of her
+mind. The spirit that takes a woman through the troubled waters at
+hand, with all her consciousness set upon the great goal ahead, upheld
+her now; and in the presence of onlookers gave her a grave serenity,
+not in any way akin to joy, but baffling to those who would fain have
+seen her show a stronger feeling either of gladness or regret.
+
+It baffled even van Hert himself. To him she seemed so strangely the
+same, yet different, from the woman he had loved before the Rhodesian
+tour. In all his work, his plans, his schemes, she was as earnest and
+interested as he could possibly wish; but that fairness his dark
+strength had coveted seemed to elude him at every turn. When he kissed
+her, he felt vaguely that she suffered his caress; on one or two
+occasions it almost seemed as if she went further and shuddered, and
+yet she never actually repulsed him. And then the dainty, light humour
+that had been hers as well as Diana's!... What had become of it?... It
+seemed now as if Diana had absorbed it all, for Meryl was nearly
+always quiet, while the younger girl was almost boisterous. And yet
+even in Diana there was a note that puzzled him. She was so jumpy and
+uncertain. Childishly gay one moment, and cuttingly brilliant the
+next. He was glad she was there. After the first week of the
+engagement he found himself quite willing to further Meryl's obvious
+wish for her company upon every occasion. So if she rose to leave them
+alone they deterred her with vague requests and excuses; and when they
+went in public together, Diana was always with them. And when she was
+snappy, they laughed at her and did not mind. Diana snappy was better
+than no Diana at all.
+
+Aunt Emily thought otherwise, and was deeply grateful to them in her
+heart whenever they took her refractory niece safely out of her way.
+Her escapades were apt to be so wild nowadays, and her language so
+horrifying; and whenever the poor lady remonstrated, she was always
+told that it was the result of the Rhodesian trip.
+
+"It will take me quite a year to get over it," Diana informed her.
+"You can't eat rats, and sleep with a frog in your bed, and go
+unwashed for weeks on end, without suffering from it in some way. God
+bless my soul!... is it likely?..."
+
+At the end of the second week, anyone watching with keen insight might
+have seen a still more significant change creeping over the three most
+noticeable inmates of the house; for Mr. Pym was only silent and grave
+and retiring, going early to his study and feigning to be much
+occupied. And Aunt Emily had acquired a habit of going to sleep after
+dinner during her solitariness, which Diana wickedly called a
+dispensation from Heaven to bless the household of Henry Pym.
+
+So the lovers and Diana were left to themselves, and usually sat upon
+the deep verandah. And it became apparent presently that all the
+talking was done by Diana and van Hert; Meryl was merely a silent
+listener. Perhaps she was not even a listener; one could not tell. She
+sat so still, with wistful eyes looking out beyond the stars. But
+Diana, on the other hand, exceeded herself; and in doing so she made
+van Hert exceed himself also. She was brilliant, mischievous,
+reckless, serious, satirical, nonsensical, all in a breath. She drove
+him hither and thither; led him on one moment, and withered him with
+her satire the next. It was obvious the man very soon left off
+treating her with any careless levity; if he did he was outwitted in
+no time; torn to shreds, and cast to the four winds on merry logic
+that had ever the sting of satire behind its laughing lightness. Very
+quickly he was on his guard, with thrust and parry; keen, watchful,
+alert--the politician to whom South Africa listened. And finally there
+came a day when, after unfolding a plan to Meryl, he added, "That is
+my idea, but I thought I would consult your cousin first." It seemed
+to strike him that it was a little odd, and he added, "She is
+extraordinarily observant. She may see some weak point we have
+overlooked."
+
+"Yes, consult Diana," Meryl had replied at once; "she knows a lot
+about statistics of that kind. She has often had arguments with father
+over them."
+
+So in the evening van Hert came in eager haste to have his talk with
+Diana. And Diana had taken herself off to a dinner-party and was not
+forthcoming. So the lovers sat on the verandah alone, and after a
+little they began to feel at a loss for anything to say, and wished
+devoutly that Diana would return.
+
+As she was likely to be late, van Hert got up and spoke of departing.
+He said he had a measure to study carefully, ready for the reopening
+of Parliament at Cape Town. And while he was still explaining, Diana
+returned. She had made an excuse and left the party early.
+
+"It was so dull," she said. "I have no patience with people who let me
+bite them, and do not try to bite back. I bit them all, more or less,
+in the end, and left them bathing each other's sores, so to speak, and
+exclaiming with bated breath at my cleverness. Fools and blockheads!
+just because I've got a banking account that would buy half of them
+up, and never miss it. As if I didn't know, when I'm in that mood, I'm
+a cattish little spitfire!..."
+
+"So you came home to worry us?..." and the pleasure in his face was
+suddenly illuminating.
+
+"Well, you have the pluck to hit back," and she looked at him with a
+flash of her eyes that made his senses reel a little. She threw her
+costly evening-cloak on to a chair, and pushed it a little aside with
+her foot, with a graceful action that displayed a dainty slipper and
+ankle, in no wise lost upon him. "I always hit back myself," she
+continued. "I've no sympathy with the 'other cheek' theory. I hit
+twice as hard as the attacker if possible. If Aunt Emily were here, I
+should say I give a dickens of a smack; but as she isn't, it is not
+worth while." She came forward with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.
+"Poor dear Aunt Emily! I sometimes have her conscience very much on my
+mind; but there ... I can bear it." And her comical enunciation in the
+poor lady's exact tones set both Meryl and van Hert off laughing.
+
+The laughter was coming back to her own eyes too. When she entered
+they had been clouded, and her lips pouting. If they only knew it,
+she had been bored to tears at the party; bored utterly and
+completely, longing to be back on the verandah fighting a wordy, keen,
+good-tempered battle with van Hert; and she felt sure he would have
+gone when she returned. She had noticed he never stayed late when she
+was absent. But she was just in time. He had not gone, was only just
+going, and she perceived the face of each was tired and depressed.
+
+"What have you been doing?" she rallied them. "You looked as if you
+had been intending to read the marriage service through together, and
+had read the funeral one by mistake; or possibly because it appealed
+to you more!... You both seemed doleful enough for anything."
+
+"We missed you," Meryl said, simply. "William wanted to ask you about
+a new measure he is planning."
+
+Van Hert said nothing, but he was looking at her unconsciously, with a
+light in his eyes that staggered her. Other men had looked at her with
+admiration, but this man had an expression that seemed to envelop her
+with himself. She felt throughout her pulses that he was all fire and
+eagerness and intensity, a strong, wilful, obstinate, fierce, virile
+personality that reached out mute, unconscious arms to her
+level-headed coolness. The fire in his eyes was only smouldering as
+yet, but it seemed to tell her that he was a fine-toned, brilliant
+instrument that she, and perhaps she only, could play upon as she
+liked, bringing forth both thundering chords and enveloping sweetness.
+
+And in the sudden silence that had fallen upon the verandah, Diana
+knew that she liked to play, would always like to play, that with this
+man at least boredom would never fret her restless soul.
+
+Then she plunged into words with him, and they sparred delightedly,
+and that work he had spoken of as awaiting him at home was left to
+take care of itself.
+
+Later, Diana went outside on the verandah of her room and Meryl's and
+looked at the stars. The tables had turned utterly, but it was
+doubtful if either of them perceived it. Meryl went quietly to bed
+with only a few words, and either slept, or feigned sleep. Diana
+loitered on the verandah, and looked at the stars. She hardly knew
+why, only some strange half-consciousness was springing up inside her
+that made her restless. Somehow van Hert seemed to be gaining a hold
+over her. She could not gauge how, nor why, nor wherefore; but as she
+thought of his fine dark eyes in the starlight, with that luminous,
+glad expression when he looked at her, she had a sense of violent
+antipathy one moment, and of a gladness that made her blush secretly
+the next.
+
+But within three days the date of the wedding was fixed, and all the
+papers paragraphed it far and wide.
+
+It appeared in Salisbury the day after Ailsa had had her talk with
+Carew, and it came as a shock to both of them. It left just three
+weeks for action, and no more. What was to be done? Ailsa tried to get
+another interview with Carew at once, and found he had had to ride to
+some place twenty miles distant, and might not be back until the
+morrow. So, in distress, she sought Henry Delcombe. What he had to
+tell her was faintly reassuring. Carew had gone to see him after he
+left Ailsa, and had asked for proofs of his heirship to the marquisate
+of Toxeter. Delcombe had been able to satisfy him, and he had been
+gravely friendly, but that was all. At last, in desperation, Ailsa
+decided to write to Diana. The mail left that morning, and would reach
+Johannesburg in three days. Diana was full of resource, and she might
+think of a plan. Ailsa decided to tell her as much as she could
+without betraying any confidence. She said no word of the tragedy.
+That only concerned Meryl, and if she were to hear it at all, she must
+hear it from him. Neither did she mention his changed position; that
+also he should tell himself. She contented herself with letting Diana
+know that he had admitted he loved Meryl.
+
+In the meantime she waited anxiously for Carew to return, but heard no
+word of him until the Sunday afternoon. In reply to an urgent little
+note he came to see her. She had wondered if he would be changed at
+all; if his new position would shed a ray of gladness in his steady
+eyes. But he seemed exactly the same, and she could read nothing.
+
+"Did you see the announcement yesterday?" she asked. "There is so
+little time. I had to see you."
+
+"I did."
+
+"And what are you going to do?"
+
+He looked down at the carpet, lost in thought. "I hardly know," he
+said.
+
+"O, won't you at least go to Johannesburg?..." she pleaded. "See Meryl
+once. If you fail her now, perhaps you will never forgive yourself."
+
+"On the other hand, I may only disturb her mind. How do you know she
+has not cared for this man for a long time? In any case, what right
+have I to cross _his_ path now?"
+
+"O, your logic!..." she cried. "The way you men think this and that
+and the other, when a woman just _knows_! Go and see her. Go and make
+sure of things for yourself."
+
+But he shook his head in doubt and perplexity. To him it seemed almost
+like stealing to go and attempt to take from this other man what he
+had won fairly and openly; and though Ailsa tried other arguments, she
+could not move him. Only one half-hope she extracted from him.
+
+"Perhaps," he said, "I will write to Mr. Pym and ask his advice."
+
+Then he went back to the hours of desperate mental stress, that were
+steadily increasing the grey about his temples. To Ailsa he might have
+seemed cold and self-contained as ever, but if she could have known
+it, all his being was torn with conflict. With the hourly growing ache
+and longing to throw everything to the winds and to try to carry Meryl
+off while there was yet time there was the fear lest a wrong step on
+his part should shatter for her some newly found content.
+
+
+
+
+XXVIII
+
+DIANA'S PERPLEXITIES INCREASE
+
+
+The two days after Diana came home early from her dinner-party were
+chiefly noticeable for the fact that for the first time since the
+engagement van Hert remained away from Hill Court. No one knew why,
+and the excuse he sent was of the vaguest. Diana asked her own heart
+and was troubled. When he came on the third day, he walked into the
+drawing-room to look for Meryl, and found Diana reading in the window
+alone. They discovered each other suddenly, and it was almost as if he
+gave a guilty start; and he looked unusually pale, with haggard eyes,
+as if he had slept badly of late. Diana saw it all, but gave no sign.
+
+"You are something of a stranger, Meinheer van Hert," she said
+lightly. "My sword had almost time to rust."
+
+"It would never do that. The best of swords is none the worse for an
+occasional rest; unless"--with a somewhat tired gleam of humour--"you
+have been keeping it bright at the expense of poor Aunt Emily."
+
+"No, it has had a real rest. I am saving it again for the best
+swordsman worthy of it."
+
+His eyes came suddenly to her face, and she realised at once that
+until that moment he had scarcely looked at her; and in that second's
+flash she saw something in them that hurt: a swift, deep trouble that
+he was struggling to hide. He looked away again quickly, noting the
+lovely shades of the room, the masses of violets, the general airiness
+and elegance.
+
+"Is Meryl at home?"
+
+"Yes. I will go and tell her you are here."
+
+Diana went upstairs very slowly, lost in thought. And when she had
+told Meryl, she stood a long time at the window, thinking still.
+Presently Meryl came back. "William came to ask me to definitely fix
+the date of the wedding. We decided on the fifth; that will give us
+just a week before he must go to Cape Town." Then, as if she did not
+expect Diana to make any comment, she added, "The invitations must go
+out to-night."
+
+That evening van Hert came as usual, but, simply because he was gayer
+than usual, Diana perceived that his gaiety was forced; and she saw
+also that he shunned meeting her eyes, looking anywhere, nowhere,
+rather than into her face.
+
+The next day she rode in a direction where she and Meryl often met and
+joined him for a gallop. Meryl had suggested coming as usual, but
+Diana had contrived to put her off. She wanted if possible, without
+quite knowing why, to see van Hert alone; and as it happened, Fortune
+favoured her, for he appeared up a side road suddenly, and had no time
+to escape her, even had he wished. So they rode together, and he tried
+to talk to her as usual. When they came to a spot where they often
+dismounted, and sat to enjoy the lovely view of distant hills, Diana
+prepared to get off her horse. She saw him hesitate, and then he
+muttered something about an important engagement.
+
+"O, nonsense!..." with a gay, airy smile. "If I'm not in a hurry, you
+can't be. I only want to sit for about fifteen minutes."
+
+So they gave their horses' reins to the smart black groom, who always
+rode with the girls, and sat on the rustic bench where the three had
+several times sat together.
+
+And suddenly, Diana, giving rein to her impulsive temperament, said,
+"What is your opinion of a man who marries one woman and loves
+another?"
+
+She saw him start and stiffen, but he tried to parry the thrust. "What
+a question to ask a fiancé of a few weeks, on the eve of becoming a
+bridegroom!..."
+
+"Well, that's why! I thought you would have formed many opinions on
+the subject of love and marriage."
+
+"And why do you want to know?"
+
+"O, just a fancy! I know men sometimes do that kind of thing.
+Personally I think it is rather cowardly."
+
+"Why cowardly?..."
+
+"Because it shows a man hasn't the pluck to own he has made a mistake.
+He would rather go on with it, and pretend everything is all right."
+
+She saw him bite his lip, and felt more thoroughly that he would not
+meet her eyes.
+
+"It is hard on the other woman, the one he _does_ love, too. It might
+make her very happy to be told. One joy is better than two miseries
+any day, even if his lordship did have to own to a mistake and look
+rather silly!..." with a little laugh.
+
+"Perhaps I shall know more about it when I am married," trying to
+speak carelessly. "You must ask me later."
+
+"Probably I shall not want to know then; my fancies are always
+varying. What should _you_ do, for instance, if you suddenly found you
+cared for someone else more than Meryl?"
+
+She was watching him closely, and she saw the swift, tell-tale blood
+rush to his face.
+
+"I'm sure I don't know," he answered, with a forced, unnatural laugh.
+"It is rather a remote probability now."
+
+"O, one never knows!..." Diana spoke with assumed lightness, and
+looked away to the hills, feeling a little unnerved by the sudden,
+swift palpitating in her blood. "Shall we go on now?" rising and
+turning her back to him. "I mustn't keep you any longer from that
+important engagement."
+
+She might have added that she had learnt what she came out to learn;
+but instead she put her horse to a smart gallop, and rode back without
+scarcely speaking, flinging him a gay good-bye over her shoulder when
+their roads separated.
+
+When she reached home she found Meryl surrounded by dressmakers, and
+trying hard to assume an interest in the proceedings; but Diana's
+clear eyes saw the effort as plainly as if it had been written across
+her forehead. She saw that she looked ill, too; ill and worn and
+joyless, as if something had damped for ever her natural fount of
+gaiety. And withal she was so sweet-tempered and considerate, studying
+everybody else's feelings in this wedding of hers; everyone's
+apparently except her own. Diana wanted to shake her one moment, and
+howl round her neck the next. Instead of doing either she was a little
+more snappy than usual.
+
+"Will you have your dress fitted now?" Meryl asked her. "Madame has it
+all ready."
+
+"No," shortly. "I haven't time this morning; and besides, one can't be
+fitted just after a ride. I'm going to have a hot bath and a
+cigarette," and she flung out of the room, leaving Meryl a little
+perplexed and Madame considerably perturbed.
+
+In her own apartment she tossed things about, and was very irritable
+with her maid. Later, she went out into the garden to a shady nook
+where she was not likely to be disturbed, because she wanted to think.
+But thinking was no easy matter. On every side were perplexities.
+
+"It's just the devil's own mess," she summed up at last, unable to
+think of any other sufficiently strong description. "Meryl doesn't
+want to marry van Hert, and van Hert doesn't want to marry Meryl; they
+both want to marry someone else; and yet they both mean to go on to
+the bitter end, because of some rotten-cotton notion about serving
+South Africa. O! I've no patience with these heroic attitudes! They
+are not suited to commonplace everyday life. If they'd a little more
+sound common sense, and a little less of the noble and lofty soul
+spirit, they would perceive they will only do more harm than good by
+going against nature and trying to force inclinations. But the absurd
+thing is, that neither has yet had the perspicacity to perceive the
+other's unwilling frame of mind. That exactly bears out my point.
+These heroic attitudes do not suit the exigencies of everyday life. If
+they weren't both so bent on doing the noble thing, they would
+perceive they are merely making fools of themselves, and incidentally
+straining my powers of resource beyond all reason. Of course it can't
+go on; but what in the name of all that's wonderful can I do to stop
+it?... Send for The Bear, and compel him to make the best of the awful
+fact that Meryl possesses a fortune, and console dear Dutch Willie
+myself, I suppose!..." And she smiled grimly. Then her face softened,
+and tears unexpectedly gleamed in her eyes. She brushed them away,
+apostrophising herself impatiently. Then she swallowed down a sob,
+murmuring, "I can't bear the thought of Meryl, standing with that
+smile on her lips and that expression in her eyes, to be fitted for
+her wedding-dress. It makes one want to tear the whole world to
+pieces, and sink South Africa in the nethermost ocean. No wonder uncle
+shuts himself in his study so much nowadays. He must be just as hard
+put to it as I am to know what to do." A step disturbed her
+cogitations at that moment, and Aunt Emily came into view.
+
+"Ah, my dear, I thought I saw you come down the garden. There is a
+letter for you with a Rhodesian stamp. I thought you might like to
+have it." And she handed it to her, at the same time sitting down on
+the garden-seat beside her.
+
+"Have you seen Meryl's dress," she enquired, with an expression that
+had suddenly grown sentimental. "The dear child. To think of her in
+her wedding-dress, so soon to be a bride!"
+
+"Well, that's a commonplace enough event! Girls like Meryl usually do
+become brides, and later on they wear shrouds, and have a nice little
+coffin all to themselves. There really isn't very much difference!..."
+
+"O, my dear!... What a dreadful remark to make! I am sure it is
+unlucky to speak like that."
+
+"Then I hope it will be unlucky enough to postpone the wedding
+indefinitely."
+
+Aunt Emily turned and looked at her niece as if she thought she had
+taken leave of her senses, but that was not by any means a new
+expression upon the face of Henry Pym's sister confronting Henry Pym's
+niece.
+
+"Really, Diana!..." she expostulated. "I think it is hardly a subject
+for jesting. Marriage is a very serious thing. I hope God will bless
+dear Meryl with great happiness. I confess, at first, I was
+disappointed that she chose a Dutch husband; but Mr. van Hert has very
+good Huguenot blood in his veins, and he is undoubtedly a very
+charming man; and then, of course, her children will only be half
+Dutch."
+
+"Her children ought to be bear cubs!" snapped Diana, wishing her aunt
+would go away and leave her to read her letter in peace.
+
+For a moment Aunt Emily was too horrified to reply, and then Diana
+added, "Don't trouble to expostulate any more. I'm not really mad,
+only eccentric. I never could see why people make such a silly fuss
+about weddings; anyhow, they are all the same and all commonplace.
+When I marry, I shall give all my friends the shock of their lives,
+something to talk about for a year, and then for once in my life I
+shall be a public benefactor. I see Helen looking about on the terrace
+as if she wanted you. Shall I ask her?..."
+
+"No, I will go in to her"; and she got up and walked towards the
+house, still wearing a shocked expression.
+
+"I wonder if Helen will have the sense to manufacture some request?"
+thought Diana, glancing after her. "As if I could see the terrace from
+here!..."
+
+Then she opened her letter.
+
+When she had read it through once, she turned back to the beginning
+and read it through again. And all the time she was so rigidly still,
+that a little bird hopped close up to her foot to investigate.
+
+Then she laid the letter down and looked out across the garden. Five
+minutes later she got to her feet.
+
+In a moment of crisis Diana was the type who courageously follows an
+inspiration, without overmuch weighing and sifting. She had faith in
+her own keen woman's instinct and she knew there were times when
+sharp, decisive action is better than lengthy, minute attention to all
+the laws of war, and far-reaching considerations of what might or
+might not result.
+
+A gate at the far end of the garden led out to the main road, and not
+very far down was a post office. Diana went straight to it, and sent a
+wire, with prepaid reply, directed to Major Carew, which ran:--
+
+"Can you come at once? Urgently wanted. Go to Carlton and send message
+on arrival to me.
+
+"DIANA PYM."
+
+
+
+
+XXIX
+
+A USEFUL BLUNDER
+
+
+The railway journey from Salisbury to Johannesburg takes three and
+sometimes four days; so that whether Carew responded to her urgent
+message or not, Diana had rather a long time to possess her soul in
+patience and make up her mind what course to take next. She was in two
+minds whether to take her uncle into her confidence or not, but
+decided men were always apt to bungle, and she had better trust
+entirely to her own guidance. Beyond a doubt the situation required
+the most delicate and skilful handling. First of all, she felt she
+must convey to van Hert some suggestion that would prepare him for the
+shock of what might be expected to follow upon Carew's arrival,
+supposing he came. Meryl she did not worry greatly about. She might be
+expected to be swept off her feet and go with the tide, by the very
+suddenness of it all. The two men presented the obstacles. Carew would
+have to be inveigled with the greatest finesse into an interview with
+Meryl, without ever letting him perceive a woman was leading him. In
+her heart Diana was a little afraid of the steady, unbending face. He
+was not likely to prove pliable; he might even refuse to come. Nothing
+she could say could alter the fact that he was a policeman and Meryl
+was burdened with a fortune, and that was the only barrier Diana was
+aware of. She laughed a little to herself as she wondered whether it
+would help matters if Mr. Pym made a will disinheriting Meryl, and
+dividing his money between her and charities. She could easily give it
+back to Meryl later. Then she sighed. "More heroics!... and they tell
+us it is a base world. Here am I driven out of my senses nearly,
+positively suffocated with high-mindedness, because three delightful
+people can't come down from their unlivable altitude and exhibit a
+little practical common sense."
+
+Then, of course, there was van Hert's pride to consider. What in the
+world, at this time of all others, was to be made of an English girl
+jilting a prominent Dutch politician a week before the wedding day!
+"It's almost enough to cause another war!" sighed poor Diana. "I'm
+really beginning to wish I had let them all go their own foolish ways.
+If I don't mind I shall end in becoming a heroine myself, and that's
+really too alarming!..."
+
+However, the bull having been taken by the horns, it was wiser to keep
+a firm hold of them; though more than once Diana felt herself very
+entirely in sympathy with Mark Twain when he says, "It is better to
+take hold by the tail, because then you can let go when you like."
+
+Obviously van Hert must be tackled first, but she waited until the
+morning after sending her wire, hoping for a reply. It came early, and
+fortune favoured her in that she received her orange-coloured envelope
+unknown to anyone. She carried it upstairs and opened it with a
+beating, anxious heart. It contained only two words, and was not
+signed:--
+
+"Arrive Saturday."
+
+For a moment she felt a little dazed. He was coming then, the stern
+soldier-policeman. What in the world was she to say to him?...
+
+Then a flood of gladness began to well up in her heart. After all, it
+meant before all things, that a day of great joy might be at hand for
+Meryl. Did anything else really matter?... If she personally came
+through the transaction a little battered--well, it wouldn't really
+matter, if Meryl and The Bear were safely off the rocks. Rather than
+let any shadowy good for South Africa come between them now she would
+marry van Hert herself, and at that she gave a little low laugh. In
+the meantime she had three days to think out a plan and convey to van
+Hert some sort of preparation.
+
+When he came that Wednesday evening it was easily seen that he was
+feverish. His eyes were unnaturally bright and his face flushed, and
+at dinner he only played with his food and ate nothing. He talked and
+laughed gaily, but with intermittent shivering which he tried hard to
+hide. Everyone saw it, and Meryl grew concerned. He tried to laugh it
+off, but was not successful. Finally Mr. Pym advised him to go home to
+bed. And then Aunt Emily made the crowning blunder of her life, and
+like some other big blunders now historical, it proved a blessing in
+disguise.
+
+She glanced at Diana with a scared face and exclaimed in perturbation,
+"Now if the wedding is put off it will be your fault, Diana. I told
+you it must bring ill-luck to speak about it as you did."
+
+There was an awkward pause, and in spite of herself Diana flushed
+scarlet.
+
+"What did Diana say?" van Hert asked of Aunt Emily, half grave and
+half casual.
+
+The poor lady, having quickly discovered she had made an unfortunate
+remark and become considerably flurried, made matters worse by
+stammering guiltily, "O, it was nothing much; she was only talking at
+random. She ... she ..."--distressfully discovering van Hert's eyes
+still fixed upon her--"said something about hoping the wedding would
+be postponed, and I said it was unlucky."
+
+For a moment the constraint was painful. Meryl had grown as white as
+the tablecloth, and Mr. Pym looked thoroughly worried. Diana, however,
+had quickly recovered herself, and was now the most composed of any.
+She gave a little sniff and glanced defiantly at van Hert. His eyes
+roved round the table and finally fixed themselves upon hers. She did
+not waver, but looked steadily back at him. He gave a self-conscious,
+constrained laugh. "I presume you had your reasons?" he said.
+
+She narrowed her eyes a little as she replied with a directness
+probably he alone understood, "Yes, I suppose I had. It was yesterday,
+Tuesday. Tuesday is often a queer day with me."
+
+And he knew she was referring to their conversation during the
+morning's ride.
+
+Then Meryl got up to relieve the tension, and because she began to
+feel a little uncertain of herself.
+
+"Di often has queer days, but they have nothing to do with your
+feverishness, William. Jackson had better go back with you, and we
+will telephone Dr. Smythe to look in and see how you are." She went
+away to order the motor, and van Hert seized an opportunity to speak
+to Diana unheard.
+
+"I know what you are alluding to," he said, gravely. "We cannot very
+well leave it like this. Will you ride the same way to-morrow?"
+
+"But if you have fever?" hesitatingly.
+
+"In the war I fought all day long with fever on me. Surely I can ride!
+You will be there?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+When van Hert arrived at the meeting-place next morning, he wore an
+overcoat and looked as if he ought to be in bed, and Diana's heart
+smote her. But she comforted herself with the thought that his fever
+was very much of the mind, and her medicine, if drastic, might still
+do him more good than any physician's.
+
+They rode side by side to the seat they had sat upon before, and
+without saying much he helped her to alight and gave the reins of both
+horses to the black groom.
+
+Once seated, however, he turned to her and said, gravely, "Of course,
+that remark of yours had to do with our conversation the last time we
+sat here?"
+
+"Of course," agreed Diana, calmly. The intricacies of the task she had
+set herself were beginning to interest more than scare her, and she
+was not afraid as to her skill in handling van Hert.
+
+"May I ask in what exact particular?"
+
+"Merely that you are the man about to marry a woman you do not love."
+
+He opened his lips to expostulate and deny, but she rested a little
+hand on his arm a moment and interrupted. "No, do not trouble to deny
+it. I should not have dared to say such a thing without being sure of
+my ground. Your face told me on Tuesday."
+
+He was silent, feeling himself unaccountably in the grip of something
+he could no longer thwart.
+
+"Now listen to me. When Meryl went to Rhodesia you _did_ love her. I
+think she was all the world to you. So she was when she came back, _at
+first_. You were in haste to win her, and she consented to be engaged
+to you. Afterwards...." She paused.
+
+"Well, afterwards?..." in a strained, unnatural voice.
+
+"Afterwards you found in some vague way she was changed. You had won
+her, but you did not possess her. Something had happened. You seemed
+to have seized the substance and found it shadow. I seem to be talking
+like a book, but we will let that pass! Instead of trying to find out
+whether this really was the case, you attempted to hurry forward the
+wedding. That, I think, was weak of you."
+
+"And something had happened?..." he asked, hoarsely. "What?..."
+
+Diana spread out her hands with a little French gesture. "It is
+sometimes just as poignant to say, '_Cherchez l'homme_' as, '_Cherchez
+la femme_.'"
+
+"You mean?..."
+
+"That what had happened was another man."
+
+"Ah!..." in quick surprise; and after a short, tense silence, "Then
+why in the world?..." But again she stayed him with a little arresting
+hand.
+
+"You wonder why she engaged herself to you?... When you have the clue
+it is quite simple. The other man loves her, but he has not told her
+so. I do not know that he ever will. He is a proud, obstinate
+Englishman, and has no position and no money. Apparently he is ready
+to let Meryl wreck her life, rather than bless his with herself and
+her fortune. Some men are like that. It is a mixture of pride and
+heroics very difficult for a well-meaning cousin like myself to cope
+with. I think it may even turn my hair grey yet." Again she spread out
+her hands. "Can you not see the rest?... You yourself led up to it.
+You urged your united service to South Africa (though why poor South
+Africa should be dragged in, I don't know), and she, having as she
+thought lost all hope of simple, personal happiness, decided to give
+herself to you and to her country. Now do you understand?"
+
+He was silent for a considerable time, thinking deeply; and then, with
+one of his quick versatile changes, he turned and pounced upon her
+with the question, "Granting all is as you say, what I want to know
+is, how have you discovered it?" He looked hard into her face with
+keen, searching eyes. "How did _you_ know that _I_ had changed?"
+
+He had taken her a little unawares, and suddenly she felt the hot,
+tell-tale blood mounting higher and higher up her face. She moved
+restlessly, impatiently, as if his gaze were intolerable, and then
+replied a trifle lamely, "You must have heard the English proverb,
+'Lookers-on see most of the game.'"
+
+"Ah! I wonder at what particular point you saw first?..."
+
+"In any case it is beside the question," she declared, anxious to get
+the conversation away from herself. "As I asked you on Tuesday, I ask
+you again, 'What do you think of a man who marries a woman when he
+does not love her?'"
+
+"That is not the question you asked me."
+
+"Yes it is," a trifle shortly. Diana was beginning to feel rather like
+a swimmer out of his depth.
+
+"I beg your pardon, it is not; but we will let it pass for the moment.
+Granting that what you have told me is true, what do you expect me to
+do?"
+
+"Tell Meryl the truth."
+
+"And what is the truth?" He was gazing hard at her again, and Diana
+began to wish she could run away and hide. She knew that her changing
+colour and averted eyes were telling him something he badly wanted to
+know.
+
+"O, you're very dense!" she cried, seeking to cover her discomfort.
+"Tell her you have discovered it is all a mistake; that you do not
+think she loves you better than all the world; and that you feel
+yourself wedded to your work, and ... and ... that kind of thing. Of
+course it won't be nice, but surely you can see it is a far _braver_
+thing to do, than just to go on because you are afraid of what the
+world will say?"
+
+"And suppose Meryl wishes to hold to her promise and give herself to
+her country?"
+
+"She can still do that, only in some other way."
+
+"And what do you think South Africa will say?"
+
+"O, that's quite beyond me!..." with a little comical grimace, "but,
+of course, at any cost, you must avert another war!..." They both
+smiled, and she added more seriously, "You can announce that you
+discovered in time you were not very well suited to each other, and
+mutually agreed to break off the engagement."
+
+Again he was silent for a long time, lost in thought. At last, "And
+when do you think I should say this to Meryl?"
+
+"It will not be any easier through waiting. Why not to-night?"
+
+Again he was silent, and something in the air, some secret, veiled
+magnetism, told Diana whither his thoughts were tending, and her
+cheeks grew hot in spite of herself.
+
+"If I speak to Meryl to-night, and she decrees that the engagement
+shall end, will you promise to ride this way to-morrow morning?"
+
+"What for?" trying to speak with nonchalance.
+
+"To answer the question I asked you just now."
+
+"Which question? I have forgotten it."
+
+"I will ask it again to-morrow."
+
+"But why all this mystery?... Ask me now. I will answer it if I can."
+
+"I would rather wait until to-morrow. Come, you have said all you
+wanted to say to me. Let me have my turn now." And she knew that his
+eyes, sharpened by love, were reading things she had scarcely yet
+admitted to herself.
+
+She got up suddenly, feeling a little breathless. She began to have
+again that alarming sensation of being mastered; as if he had some
+hold upon her, against which it was her instinct to fight, not because
+of any antipathy to him, but because, like all women of her
+independent character and fearlessness, she dreaded the mere thought
+of losing her liberty or yielding her independence. And at the same
+time she knew that the thought which held a dread held a charm also.
+Diana would never lose her grit and personality, she would never
+submit for a moment to any overshadowing, but deep in her heart she
+knew she was true woman enough to like to be conquered by the right
+man. Her instinct was to contradict van Hert in anything just then and
+deny any wish, but she was glad he quietly insisted upon her granting
+his request, and that when they finally rode away it was an understood
+thing she would come again the next morning.
+
+
+
+
+XXX
+
+DIANA IS RESTLESS
+
+
+It would be most difficult, indeed well-nigh impossible, for any
+chronicler to describe the state of Diana's feelings that afternoon;
+and very certain that under no circumstances would she have attempted
+to describe them herself. The swift coming into life of the love
+between her and van Hert was like the man who said he had not been
+born, he just happened. One could imagine Diana calmly stating their
+love had no explanation, it just happened. Perhaps it had been there
+longer than either of them knew; perhaps it took form suddenly when
+each realised the unsubstantial nature of the engagement to Meryl.
+Diana had always had a special liking for van Hert, and had said so
+openly; but as he had for some time been presented in her mind as her
+cousin's lover, there had been no reason why the liking should grow to
+anything warmer, and probably it never would have. But when she
+thoroughly realised how unsatisfactory a basis he was about to build
+his wedded happiness upon, a certain resentment on his behalf took
+shape in her mind, as well as troubled anxiety for Meryl. From this it
+was not a very far step to a warmer feeling still, and as we have
+seen, the old gaieties ceased to attract her if he was not a partaker.
+And then, knowing well that Meryl's heart was given elsewhere, she
+spent no anxious moments as to whether this warmer feeling of hers
+were unfair to her cousin. It was as though it was just held in
+abeyance waiting for something to happen; and when the something had
+happened, she swam out fearlessly into the deep water. With van Hert
+it had necessarily been different. He knew nothing of Carew, and only
+felt vaguely that Meryl had changed; nothing tangible that he could
+take hold of, and yet a something that was as an invisible barrier
+between their closer knowledge of each other. Puzzled and baffled, he
+turned with eagerness to Diana's frank camaraderie, to awake suddenly
+one evening to the fact that, unknown to him, his heart had slipped
+out of his and Meryl's keeping into hers. Yet even then he tried to
+deny the change even to himself; he would not believe he could so
+suddenly transfer his affection. It was not until later, seeing the
+whole from the vantage-ground of distance, that he realised his
+affections had not been transferred. His affection for Meryl still
+existed; he admired her profoundly as before. What had died was his
+desire, starved by the growing sense that she chiefly suffered his
+caress. But he had not the moral courage to go to her frankly and tell
+her this; and rather than face the consequences he attempted to stifle
+this strong longing for Diana and put himself beyond the reach of it.
+Fortunately for all three, that practical common sense of Diana's,
+which she was pleased to call selfish commonplaceness, dared swift,
+unconventional measures, careless of consequences, rather than to sit
+still and let the mistake pass beyond recall.
+
+But at the beginning she had not given much thought to her own
+personal feelings in the matter, and it was only after the ride with
+van Hert she found these suddenly confronting her in their full
+significance. And because the turn of events was becoming a little
+overwhelming, she spent the hours between parting with him and his
+coming interview with Meryl in a whirl of emotion wholly new to her.
+
+Once or twice Meryl asked her if anything was the matter, she was so
+extraordinarily restless, but she only laughed it off and tried to
+steady her feelings.
+
+In the evening, when they left the dinner-table after dessert, she
+mysteriously vanished; but later, swept with an inexplicable wave of
+longing and uncertain dread, she crept down to the dining-room to try
+and discover what had happened. It was growing in her consciousness
+with illuminating clearness that her own happiness depended upon what
+decision Meryl made.
+
+At last there was a movement in the drawing-room as of someone
+stepping in from the verandah, and she waited breathlessly for a
+glimpse of Meryl's face. She and van Hert came out into the hall
+together, and Diana saw that her cousin looked extraordinarily frail
+and white and rather exhausted. Van Hert was very gentle to her.
+
+"Shall I see your father to-night?" he asked, and she answered, "No, I
+will tell him myself. I expect he will see you to-morrow."
+
+"Good night," and Meryl held out her hand.
+
+Diana saw him hesitate; and then, with a movement that had in it the
+graceful courtesy of the Huguenot and the reverence of a fine spirit,
+he bent very low before her and kissed her hand. Afterwards he went
+quietly away, and Meryl stood alone in the hall. For one moment she
+waited, as if listening to his departing footsteps, and then very
+slowly turned and walked to her father's study.
+
+Diana slipped out and went upstairs, but presently her restlessness
+again caused her to descend. She could not settle to anything until
+she knew the truth and how Meryl took it. Thus she was again in the
+dining-room when the study door opened and Meryl came out. Her father
+came with her to the threshold, and it was evident that she had been
+crying. Diana saw her raise a white, tear-stained face, and saw Henry
+Pym kiss his child with ineffable tenderness. Then Meryl went slowly
+upstairs, and Mr. Pym went back into his study and closed the door.
+
+But something in his face, at her last glimpse of it, went swiftly to
+Diana's loyal, devoted heart; and because she loved him as if he were
+her own father, an impulse carried her straight across the hall with
+noiseless feet to the study door. Without knocking, she opened it
+softly and crept in. Henry Pym was seated at his writing-table, with
+his face hidden in his hand; and she saw, perhaps more poignantly than
+ever before, how the last few weeks had whitened his hair.
+
+As she softly closed the door and crossed the room he looked up. Diana
+warm-hearted to a degree when she deeply loved, slipped on to her
+knees beside him, and taking the hand hanging limply at his side in
+both hers, raised it to her lips.
+
+Henry Pym looked down into her eyes, and for the first time guessed
+from whence the solution had come.
+
+"You saved her?..." he said a little huskily.
+
+Diana nestled up against him. "I saved _them_," she corrected. "Van
+Hert is a fine man; he deserves a wife who gives him her whole heart,
+just as truly as Meryl deserves a husband who has no thought for
+anyone else in the world."
+
+"Then you knew he cared for someone else?"
+
+"Did he tell her so?" She lowered her head that he might not see her
+face.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did he say whom?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"Perhaps Meryl knew?"
+
+"She did not say."
+
+She kissed his hand again, and asked in low tones, "Why was she crying
+when she came out of the study? She ... she ... is not sorry about
+things?..."
+
+"No; she is glad. She sees she made a mistake."
+
+"Then why was she crying?"
+
+She saw him flinch, and read in his face all the pain in his heart.
+Evidently he knew of that hidden sorrow shadowing his child's life;
+evidently her sorrow was his sorrow. The wedding he so dreaded was
+safely prevented, but would the happiness come back?... the happiness
+that had been in that household before they went to Rhodesia? Could
+all his love and hope and tenderness bring back joy to the eyes that
+were his heaven and his earth?
+
+"Dearie," murmured Diana again, "was she crying because of that big
+soldier-policeman up north?"
+
+He did not reply, and suddenly she knelt upright, and took his sad,
+careworn face in her hands and nestled her soft cheek against it.
+
+"Because he's coming on Saturday, dearie. Hush! don't breathe a word;
+it is my secret; only I had to tell you because of what I saw in your
+face just now. He is coming because he loves her."
+
+Then slowly a great tear gathered in Henry Pym's eyes and fell
+unheeded upon Diana's hand. He held her fast and made no attempt to
+speak. And Diana hid her face because there were great tears in her
+eyes also.
+
+After a moment she got up, and shook the hair back from her face, and
+rallied him tenderly.
+
+"You see, Meryl must 'mother' something in the way of a country: it is
+her tremendous Imperial instinct; so I thought she had better 'mother'
+Rhodesia." And with a last tender kiss she went softly away and left
+him.
+
+In their own room she found Meryl had sent the maid away, and was
+waiting for her in the dark, standing in the window with her form
+dimly outlined against a moonlit sky.
+
+She went up to her at once and slipped her arm through that of the
+silent figure. Meryl pressed it, but for a moment or two did not
+speak. Diana did not speak either; for once in her life she had
+nothing to say.
+
+At last Meryl said, as if answering some thought deep in her own mind,
+"William told me to-night that there was someone else he loved. Di
+darling, I think there is only one woman it could be."
+
+And still Diana was silent.
+
+"I gathered also that something had been said between you and him;
+something that resulted in ... what has happened to-night...."
+
+"But you are not angry?..." Diana whispered.
+
+"O no. Every moment now I see more clearly what I ought to have seen
+before. I am afraid I have only been foolish, and ... and ... I wanted
+so to do what seemed the best," with a little break in her voice.
+
+"Of course you did; we all know that," said Diana loyally. "But I saw
+the mistake quickest, and I couldn't just sit still and do nothing; I
+am not made that way."
+
+Meryl pressed her arm affectionately.
+
+"Di," she whispered, "I want it all to come right as quickly as
+possible. I won't ask you any questions. Of course, I know it is you
+William cares for, and it seems so perfectly natural now that it
+should be. If you care for him, don't delay anything on my account. It
+would make me glad to hear that you were engaged to him to-morrow."
+
+Diana pressed the hand in hers. She felt strangely bashful with Meryl
+to-night; unable to say anything at all. In her heart she was a little
+shy with herself too. When she started out with a more or less light
+spirit to change the course of two lives, she had hardly realised how
+great a mountain she would be moving.
+
+"Do you love him, Di?..." Meryl asked her softly.
+
+"Yes," and Diana felt a little breathless as she made the admission.
+
+"God bless you! I'm very glad." And Meryl took the girl's face in her
+two hands and kissed her.
+
+Then they went quietly to bed, and Diana knew she had said no word of
+Carew's coming because she was afraid to.
+
+
+
+
+XXXI
+
+THE SOLUTION IS SEALED
+
+
+It was a rather sobered Diana who rode out the next morning to meet
+William van Hert, and when she saw him she felt suddenly conscious of
+herself in a way she had never done before and hoped she never would
+again. The glow in his eyes made it difficult for her to meet them,
+and they dismounted and went almost in silence to their usual seat.
+
+"You know, of course, what happened last night," he said, with
+ill-suppressed eagerness. "It has seemed like weeks and months since;
+every hour a week. I have not slept all night with longing for the
+morning."
+
+He was looking at his very best: another man almost since they last
+sat there; not good-looking, no one would ever call van Hert
+good-looking, but muscular and lean, with an air of virility and force
+always alluring. A man destined to be a leader in some way; one who
+must carry others along with him, if only because of his enthusiasm
+and fervour. The main point was, that he should carry them in a
+useful, practical direction. And hitherto there had been no special
+reason to hope this would be the case; it seemed more probable that,
+for the sake of making a noise in the world and gaining a following,
+he would identify himself with policies which the older and wiser men
+left alone; not from any indifference to the influence he was likely
+to wield, but because he was so full of warmth and intensity it must
+find an outlet. Some men are like that, especially politicians. They
+seem to be obsessed with the idea that they must make a hit somehow at
+once and come to the front _now_. And so they are apt to seize upon
+the first available policy likely to prove a good solid tub to stand
+and shout on; whether it is a durable tub, or one certain to be to
+their credit, is something of a side issue. The main point is a tub
+big enough and strong enough to bear them while they make the
+commotion and gain the hearing they are bent upon. And this spirit,
+like most spirits, may have its uses; it is not entirely to be
+deprecated. It may bring home very forcibly to the electors a weak
+spot that had otherwise been overlooked. In listening to the shouter,
+they may perceive how very entirely he is wrong; and, none the less,
+make the useful discovery that he is a good shouter. This then becomes
+the critical point. Having gained his hearing, will he condescend to
+moderate his views and listen to a little wisdom from older and more
+experienced men; or will he be obtuse enough to continue to stamp and
+shout on his tub, for fear people will call him a turncoat, or a few,
+who really do not matter, will leave off listening to him if he grows
+less noisy? And it is then perhaps a great politician is marred or
+made. Perhaps it often depends very much upon the main influence that
+held sway when the moment came to leave off shouting. That moment had
+come for van Hert, and he had the perspicacity to perceive it; though
+whether he would have acted upon his wiser judgment, left entirely to
+himself, it is impossible to say. It is, on the whole, pleasanter to
+think that, just because he was a clever, capable, sincere man and
+South Africa had need of such, the God of nations placed the matter
+beyond all doubt by sending the right influence across his path.
+
+Diana's mocking spirit loved to make game of heroics and big matters,
+but it was an affectation and nothing more: as Meryl and Henry Pym had
+long ago perceived, not van Hert himself nor Meryl cared more at heart
+for the great questions of the day affecting South Africa, and through
+her the Empire itself, since every year shows more clearly how
+tremendously England's colonies must matter to the mother country. The
+older and wiser men were already beginning to shake their heads over
+the grave and difficult problem of the white races and the black; over
+the tremendous increase of the latter in comparison, which threatened
+to swamp the white man out of South Africa altogether. One thing was
+obvious to all thinkers, the white races _must_ combine. Union must
+indeed be Union and not an empty name. The Englishman and the Dutchman
+_must_ join hands and sink differences, not only for the common good,
+but the common safety. So when Diana's practical spirit perceived how
+great and real an attraction van Hert had for her, she did not try to
+put it from her and struggle against it because he was a Dutchman. The
+moment she was sure, and the course was clear, she let herself go
+fearlessly; not as an act of sacrifice at all, she was far too
+practical to have much faith in a sacrifice such as Meryl had
+conceived, but because she loved the man and believed in him, and had
+no shadow of doubt as to his courage and sincerity if he were but
+influenced to move in the right direction.
+
+Well, he had stood on his tub and done his shouting right well; and
+now he had a goodly following and was the object of not a little
+execration, which is a usual thing for tub-shouters, and does not
+matter very much. What mattered was whether he possessed the genius to
+keep his followers and carry them along with him, after moderating his
+views and coming into line with the older and wiser men. Diana
+believed that he did, and as to be believed in is a very strong aid to
+all men, there was very little doubt that eventually the God of
+nations would prove to have given South Africa a fine statesman, even
+if he were built up upon a rabid politician. And if the instrument
+used was a woman, has not a great nation itself been built up through
+such instrumentality?
+
+And here one pauses a moment to think the old question, how often is a
+woman at the back of a man's greatness or a country's or any greatness
+whatsoever? Only these women do not need to do any shouting, because,
+as a rule, they only want to be heard by _one_. And when the result is
+a fine edifice, they are still content to go unnamed and unsung if
+that _one_ be lauded generously. For God made women in the beginning,
+the best women of all, to want love and be content with love, and care
+very little about fame. And so they go quietly on their way, creating
+great results, moving mountains, and saying very little about it. It
+is that old heroic spirit Lamartine wrote about. And there is a spark
+of it in the soul of every woman waging her solitary fight on the
+outposts of the Empire, whether she put new life and hope and spirit
+into a miner's cabin, or a farmer's little wattle-and-daub home, or in
+the heart of any servant of the Empire. What the colonies owe to their
+women is so little talked about, partly perhaps because words are all
+too inadequate to express it, and also perhaps because if the _one_ is
+there to listen and the _one_ to love, many women want no recognition.
+
+But all this time it only remains to be said that Diana believed in
+van Hert and believed in his work for her country, and that was why
+she had been able to give her love so frankly and absolutely, and was
+not in the least deterred by those mutterings of execration which
+there is very little doubt she intended shortly to put an end to for
+good and all; for if she had entertained any doubts as to how much he
+loved her and was ready to do for her, they must have been swept away
+utterly out of sight after the first moment of their meeting this
+morning. What he had fought to keep out of his face before was now
+flooding through it. Never at any moment, even when he first loved
+Meryl, had he looked at her as he now looked at Diana. In every pulse
+of her being she felt he loved her, not perhaps with the calm, strong
+love of her own countrymen, but with a fierceness and intensity,
+inherited maybe from some French ancestor, that appealed to her love
+of vigour. She at least had level-headedness enough for the two.
+
+But it would hardly have been Diana to sit demurely and listen to his
+outpouring, now that he might speak and she might hear. It was far
+more natural that the very certainty of everything should make her
+feel contrary and want to tantalise him; particularly when, after his
+first question had been answered with a quiet affirmative, he plunged
+into the subject filling his heart without any preliminary, and with
+all that quick enthusiasm of his bursting its bounds.
+
+"Then we need not say any more about it. Why should we?... There is
+only you and I now. It seems for the moment as if there were no one
+else in the entire universe. But I want the answer to that other
+question of mine"; and he leaned near to her, with his whole attitude
+a sort of inspired interrogation.
+
+"What question?..." A shade of lightness had crept into Diana's voice;
+the shadow of a smile into her eyes. She felt on the verge of being a
+little unnerved, and a feigned or real inconsequence was ever her
+refuge.
+
+"The question you were not willing to answer yesterday, and which I
+told you I should ask again to-day. You said that you had asked me
+what I thought of a man who married a woman when he did not love her.
+And I said that was not what you had asked. Do you remember the
+original question, or must I tell you what it was?"
+
+"I don't remember anything about it. I'm afraid I'm rather given to
+asking questions."
+
+"That means I must tell you. Diana, what you asked me was, what did I
+think of a man who married one woman and loved another? Now, I want to
+know how and when you discovered that I loved another?..."
+
+"It was the obvious conclusion"--studying the toe of her smart
+riding-boot with exaggerated interest. "Otherwise you must have loved
+Meryl; you could not help it."
+
+"I see." The smile dawned in his eyes now. "And was it equally obvious
+who the other woman was?"
+
+She glanced away to hide her tell-tale mouth. "It might have been if
+it had interested me."
+
+"But, of course, it didn't?..." and he laughed a low, happy laugh.
+
+"Not in the least. Why should it?..."
+
+"Ah, why?..." and his hand suddenly closed over hers, and at the
+strong, possessive touch the magnetism of the man made her blood race
+through her veins. She tried to draw her hand away, but he only held
+it more tightly, and his face was very engaging as he said, "I've a
+good mind not to tell you who the other woman is as you are not
+interested."
+
+"Then I shall conclude she will not have anything to do with you,"
+came the quick retort. And then her fascinating mouth twitched at the
+corners in a way that threatened to undo van Hert entirely. He looked
+away with a half-fierce expression. "If you don't want me to crush you
+in my arms out here in a public road, don't do that."
+
+"Don't do what?..." innocently; and then they both laughed.
+
+When they were serious again his voice sounded a deeper and more
+forceful note. "Dearest," he said, still imprisoning her hand, "it
+seems superfluous for me to tell you how much I love that other woman,
+as superfluous as to name her. I seem as if I had neither a thought
+nor an idea nor a feeling that does not love her."
+
+"Then let us hope she is not a stiff-necked Britisher," quoth Diana,
+still as if a little afraid to be serious.
+
+"Ah!..." and he raised her hand to his lips. "I believe you will make
+me love the whole race."
+
+"That would complicate matters exceedingly for you," with a
+mischievous taunt in her eyes. "You seem to have hated them so very
+satisfactorily up to now. What shall you say to your colleagues the
+next time they are expecting you at one of their fiery denunciation
+meetings?... I have married a wife, an English one, therefore I cannot
+come?..."
+
+"Shall I have married her?..." and he looked hard into her face,
+blissfully indifferent to her shafts.
+
+"Married whom?..." she asked, provokingly.
+
+He clenched his teeth together. "I feel as if I could shake you!..."
+and he glanced round to see if anyone were in sight.
+
+"O, if you're going to be that sort of a tyrant!..." Diana began. But
+she got no further. No one was in sight, not even the boy with the
+horses. And van Hert just gathered her into his arms and crushed her
+for the sheer joy of it until she cried for mercy. "Say you will be
+good and treat me with proper respect," he demanded before he released
+her, and Diana was compelled to promise.
+
+"But I won't marry you," she added, wickedly, the moment she was free.
+And then to save herself from a second undignified surrender she had
+to capitulate quickly, and add, "At least, not before next week."
+
+Then she raised her eyes, shining with happiness, to his. "Meinheer
+van Hert, if my memory serves me rightly, you have not yet asked me
+the most important question of all."
+
+He raised her hand again to his lips, with a movement of reverence,
+and said, very simply, "Diana, I love you with all my heart and soul
+and strength; will you do me the honour to become my wife?"
+
+And there was a little warm glisten in her eyes as she answered, "Yes,
+dear; I am ready to take the long trek with you."
+
+A little later she went home with an air of quiet radiance that told
+Meryl all she needed to know the moment she set eyes on her, and her
+embrace was full of warmest affection.
+
+Only Aunt Emily seemed thoroughly perplexed, and not able to entirely
+grasp the happy aspect of affairs when she heard it all for the first
+time.
+
+"How extraordinary!..." she exclaimed; and then, with an air full of
+mournful reproach, she looked at Diana and added, "I told you
+something dreadful would happen, my dear, if you spoke of the wedding
+so strangely."
+
+"Yes, aunty, so you did! and it was very clever of you," Diana
+replied. "But, of course, you ought to have warned me before I said
+it. Now, you see, I've got caught in the net myself. Ah well!..." she
+finished comically, "I can bear it."
+
+And Meryl's low laughter, as she hastened to soothe poor Aunt Emily's
+wounded feelings, had a happier note than it had known for many a day.
+
+"I don't think I quite understand," continued the perplexed lady. "It
+reminds me of a story I once heard about the aunt of a friend of my
+father's, that is to say, the aunt of a friend of your grandfather's...."
+
+"Yes, I remember," said the incorrigible; "but she didn't do it in the
+end, you know. And, anyhow, the great question just now is, having
+taken over the bridegroom, ought I to take over the wedding presents
+as well?..."
+
+"Of course, they must all be sent back," Aunt Emily replied, with
+great gravity. "Dear me, what a pity!... What a pity!... And he is
+really quite a nice man, although he is Dutch."
+
+"O, do you really think so?..." Diana asked, and went laughing out of
+the room.
+
+
+
+
+XXXII
+
+A CHAPTER OF SURPRISES
+
+
+In Diana's happy state of mind there was not the slightest doubt her
+interview with Carew, when it came off, would be the reverse of
+conventional.
+
+He arrived at the Carlton the day after it had been notified to the
+papers that the engagement between Miss Pym and William van Hert was
+broken off by mutual agreement. The new engagement was looked upon
+only as a secret understanding at present, and no announcement was to
+be made for some weeks.
+
+Carew saw the news in a paper he got at Kimberley, so that when he
+stepped out upon Johannesburg station, from a difficult, perplexing,
+somewhat equivocal situation he found himself suddenly and
+unexpectedly with a clear course.
+
+He had responded to Diana's urgent summons with alacrity, although it
+left him entirely in the dark as to what had transpired; his action
+had in fact something of the daring which had led to the sending of
+the telegram. Wearied out physically and mentally with the struggle,
+he seized swiftly the chance of a solution the message suggested, and
+trusting to Diana's resourcefulness let himself go with the tide. It
+was as though after sixteen years some spirit of the past suddenly
+re-entered him; some of that old reckless, dare-devil spirit that had
+distinguished him in his regiment long ago.
+
+Without doubt the news that he would some day inherit the Marquisate
+of Toxeter, if he outlived the present owner, had worked a wonderful
+change in him. He still hated Meryl's fortune, when he dared to let
+himself think of a future they might possibly share, but at least he
+could now offer her a position that might one day be among the highest
+in England. And all that it meant to him after his long exile and
+lonely life, apart from all the friends and delights of his youth, lit
+a new light in his eyes. And when he saw the paragraph in the paper,
+and realised Diana had indeed not sent for him for nothing, he seemed
+to let many years slip from his shoulders. Only a week earlier he had
+felt middle-aged, and looked every year of his forty-two. The man who
+strode down the platform on Johannesburg station, drawing all eyes
+after his upright, distinguished form, looked at the very prime of
+manhood, and the grey on his temples only enhanced whatever it was
+that caused those eyes to turn in his direction.
+
+Diana, waiting for his message in no small trepidation, went off at
+once to the hotel. Nothing was to be gained by hanging back, and she
+felt more sure of herself generally if she dashed headlong into a
+delicate situation.
+
+So she walked boldly up to the door of his private sitting-room, gave
+a little sharp knock, and entered.
+
+He was standing with his back to the door, looking idly from the
+window, but when he heard the door open he turned round and faced her.
+
+Diana closed the door and walked into the room, glancing about her.
+
+"What a nice den!..." she said. "I'm sure you could only growl
+prettily here."
+
+He came towards her with outstretched hand, and she was instantly
+struck with the change in his eyes. The steadiness was still there,
+the expression of unflinching purpose, but behind it all was that new
+light now: the light she had never seen in Carew's eyes before.
+
+"You look very well," she told him, warming swiftly to their old
+friendship and forgetting her moments of trepidation. "You ... really
+... you almost look as if you might have come into a kingdom!..."
+
+"Perhaps I have," with a humorous gleam.
+
+"Umh!... I'd be very sorry for the subjects; they would be ruled with
+a rod of iron."
+
+He pulled a chair forward, a large cosy one, such as he knew her soul
+loved, and she sank down into it. He still stood upright, watching her
+with kindly eyes.
+
+"Well!..." he began. "You sent me a very curt summons."
+
+Diana coloured a little, not quite clear where to begin.
+
+"Won't you sit down? You seem so far away up there. I feel a little
+lost somehow, you are so ... so ... Perhaps if you were to growl I
+should feel more at home with you!..." she finished.
+
+He smiled and took the chair beside her.
+
+"I never did growl really. It was all your imagination."
+
+"O, was it?..." emphatically. "Why, thunder in the distance was dulcet
+music beside it!..."
+
+"Well," he said again, "about that summons?..."
+
+"It's just this way," began Diana. "I had a letter from Mrs.
+Grenville...." She watched him keenly, and saw that he grasped at once
+something of what the letter had contained.
+
+"And she told you?..."
+
+"Not very much, but enough, in my mind"--with a sudden flash--"to
+justify my summons."
+
+"I don't think I quite understand." He was grave again now, with a
+line between the straight brows.
+
+"Well, don't get too serious or you will frighten me. I suppose I'd
+better be quite direct. You and I don't either of us care for much
+beating about the bush and subterfuge, do we?"
+
+He signified his agreement, and she ran on.
+
+"I knew that Meryl cared for you; I have known it a long time. Yet she
+was going to marry van Hert. And van Hert cared ... well, he cared for
+someone else too, yet he was going to marry Meryl. It was just a silly
+muddle altogether, do you see?... Honestly, I was at my wits' end-to
+know how to prevent them making fools of themselves. Then came Mrs.
+Grenville's letter. Mrs. Grenville had seen you. She had discovered
+that you cared for Meryl, and she told me so. I didn't stop to think
+then. I saw in a moment it was your business to help me help them out
+of the tangle. So I just sent you a telegram and asked you to come at
+once."
+
+"And now I am here?"
+
+Diana began to look roguish. "I just wanted to suggest," she said,
+demurely, "whether it wouldn't simplify things all round if Mr. Pym
+disinherited Meryl, and divided all the silly money between me and
+charities!..."
+
+He could not help smiling, but there was something more than mere
+friendship in his eyes as he looked at her. He understood perfectly
+that she had strained every nerve to bring him and Meryl together.
+
+"And in the meantime," he commented, "I gather from the newspaper the
+knot disentangled itself, and everything is smoothed out."
+
+"Well, I shouldn't exactly say there were no wounded left on the
+battlefield!..." with a low laugh.
+
+"I see; and you think it is for me to attend to the wounded?"
+
+"To _one_ of them," with significance; and then suddenly her
+unmanageable mouth began to twitch. Carew divined something lay beyond
+the remark.
+
+"And what about the other one?"
+
+"Well," with a little air of coyness, "I rather thought of attending
+to his hurt myself."
+
+He watched her keenly for a moment, and at last she raised a pair of
+laughing eyes to his face.
+
+"The only thing that's worrying me is that I may unintentionally find
+myself a heroine."
+
+His low laugh was full of amusement, and his eyes grew kindlier still.
+
+"You are evidently a most resourceful young woman. Have you made up
+your mind how you propose to heal him?"
+
+"Yes," with feigned gravity. "I thought on the whole it would simplify
+matters if I took Meryl's place at the wedding."
+
+He stared at her with undisguised astonishment. "You mean?..."
+
+"Just exactly what I say. I've taken over the prospective bridegroom,
+and incidentally I thought of taking over the wedding presents as
+well...." And then she threw her head back and laughed whole-heartedly
+at his incredulous face.
+
+"You have given me a great surprise," he said. "I suppose you are in
+earnest?"
+
+"Your surprise is nothing to what is coming upon my friends. Just
+think of it!... I can hardly think of anything else. I do so love
+giving people shocks. Do you remember our first meeting in the ruins,
+when I sat quite still and watched you until you looked up?... That
+was your shock!... You were frightfully disgusted with me, but I
+didn't mind, I'd had my bit of amusement and no one was hurt; any
+other silly girl would have coughed or walked away. Goodness!... how
+black you looked!..." And again she laughed mirthfully.
+
+He began to tell her he hoped she would be very happy, but she stayed
+him and suddenly sobered.
+
+"Not now. We haven't much time left, and we must plan something. Meryl
+will come here and call for me soon in the motor. She knows I have
+come to see a friend, but she does not know whom. She will not come in
+herself, because she is shy about being seen just now. What shall we
+do? When will you see her?"
+
+He got up, and walked to the window with a grave face, and for some
+time he did not speak.
+
+"Are you still worrying about that absurd money? My dear good man, she
+isn't stuffed with it, and she doesn't care tuppence about it. Isn't
+it enough that you know she could love you as a Rhodesian
+soldier-policeman? Why torture yourself unnecessarily?"
+
+"If I were only a Rhodesian policeman I should not have come."
+
+She looked at him with quick curiosity. Then something had happened!
+There really was some great change in him. He smiled into her
+questioning eyes. "Then Mrs. Grenville did not tell you?"
+
+"Tell me what?..." with swift eagerness. "O, do be quick, I love
+surprises. Have you found a gold-mine up there?... or the corpses in
+the temple hung with gold ornaments?..."
+
+"Neither."
+
+She took his arm and gave it a little shake.
+
+"Then what? O, do tell me quickly!..."
+
+"It isn't very much, but it gives me courage to hope, where a
+policeman might consider himself called upon only to renounce. And,"
+he added, quietly, "I owe the knowledge of it to Mrs. Grenville."
+
+"It must be a legacy?..."
+
+"Not exactly. It is only that when the present Marquis of Toxeter dies
+I shall succeed."
+
+"O, my goodness!..." comically. "Am I going to be own cousin to a
+marchioness?..."
+
+"That is as your cousin decrees." Then with a little smile he added,
+"So the shocks are not all given by you, you see."
+
+At that moment a knock sounded on the door, and in reply to Carew's
+"Come in," a hall-porter informed them that Miss Pym was waiting in
+the motor.
+
+"And we haven't decided what to do," said Diana, in dismay.
+
+He was thoughtful a moment, then told her he would endeavour to find
+Mr. Pym at his office and come to Hill Court later.
+
+So Diana went downstairs alone. But on the way, with that mixture of
+restlessness and level-headedness that was so characteristic of her,
+she decided Carew's plan was much too prosaic and dull, and speedily
+commenced to think out a better one. After which she accosted Meryl
+with the words, "I want to introduce you to my friend. It won't keep
+us long. She has a sitting-room upstairs, but she has a cold, and
+could not come down to you."
+
+Meryl looked unwilling, but finally yielded to persuasion and
+alighted. Outside the door of Carew's room, Diana was so afraid her
+face would betray her, she had to pretend to sneeze, in order to hide
+it with her handkerchief. Quite suddenly it had occurred to her
+humour-loving mind, that if shocks were the order of the hour, Carew
+and Meryl were going to have the biggest all to themselves for that
+day at least. Then she opened his door and half pushed Meryl in in
+front of her. They saw only a broad back at the window first, then he
+half turned. The next instant the door closed softly, and Meryl found
+herself alone in the room, face to face with Peter Carew.
+
+There were a few tense seconds in which they each seemed trying to
+realise the other; and then she understood. She went slowly towards
+him, seeing with unerring tuition all the love in his eyes, and
+without knowing it held out both hands.
+
+And across the long years, that self that he had thought for ever dead
+seemed to reawaken by leaps and bounds. He would always be somewhat
+quiet perhaps, a little grave, but the spirit of vigour and reckless
+daring was in him still, if sobered by sixteen years and all that the
+years had brought. He did not stop to explain. Quite suddenly it all
+seemed unnecessary. Between these two the hours of probing were ended.
+He took her outstretched hands in his and drew her into his arms.
+
+It was some time before he told her of his changed position; there was
+so much else to tell first. And when at last it was said she paid
+little heed.
+
+She only looked at him a trifle anxiously, saying, "But, of course,
+you could never give up Rhodesia? You wouldn't let any claim come
+before hers?"
+
+He kissed the finger-tips of the hand imprisoned in his, and murmured,
+"Bless you; it would have gone hard with me if you had wanted me to
+leave Rhodesia for good."
+
+"I shall never do that," softly. "It was the Rhodesian policeman I
+loved first. The other does not greatly matter, except that perhaps it
+brought us together." Then with one of her rare flashes of humour she
+added, "I'm not sure that we shall even have time for a honeymoon. We
+may have to go up there any time about this settlement scheme of
+father's and mine. As Diana is going to help William van Hert to run
+South Africa generally, we must get to work quickly with Rhodesia...."
+And her smile was a very happy one.
+
+
+
+
+FINIS.
+
+
+And so in the end Diana had her little jest, and gave Johannesburg its
+shock and its nine days' wonder, and was certainly the most surprising
+bride of the year; though, of course, afterwards most people said they
+were not surprised at all, and had expected it all along.
+
+Before the wedding a sufficiently characteristic letter found its way
+to a certain mission station in Rhodesia to delight the hearts of its
+contented occupants. After duly relating all that had transpired and
+how the problem had been solved, it added: "And now the only
+difficulty seems to be how to relieve Meryl of her superfluous
+fortune, in order that she and The Bear may live upon love and air,
+and how to save me from appearing in the guise of a heroine!..."
+
+To her old friend Stanley she wrote gaily of the perfectly splendid
+surprise she had succeeded in administering to about half the
+English-speaking population of South Africa.
+
+And Stanley wrote back, with many regretful qualms tugging at his
+heart: "The astonishment of South Africa is a mere detail. When the
+news reached Zimbabwe, bones that have lain buried for three thousand
+years rattled in their grave-clothes, and antiquities of the ages
+crumbled to dust. In the morning, over our coffee, Moore and I ask of
+the four winds and of the liquid butter and of the unyielding bread,
+'Which did he actually marry in the end, and what became of whom?'"
+...
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD.,
+
+BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E. 1, AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
+
+
+
+
+=Hutchinson's 1/- Net Novels=
+
+  _Bound in +Cloth+, with pictorial wrappers._
+
+=THE CAP OF YOUTH=            Madame Albanesi
+=THE SUNLIT HILLS=            Madame Albanesi
+=ODDSFISH=                    Robert Hugh Benson
+=INITIATION=                  Robert Hugh Benson
+=LONELINESS=                  Robert Hugh Benson
+=AN AVERAGE MAN=              Robert Hugh Benson
+=COME RACK! COME ROPE!=       Robert Hugh Benson
+=THE COWARD=                  Robert Hugh Benson
+=THE RETURN OF RICHARD CARR=  Winifred Boggs
+=THE WOOD END=                J. E. Buckrose
+=MEAVE=                       Dorothea Conyers
+=THE STRAYINGS OF SANDY=      Dorothea Conyers
+=THE SCRATCH PACK=            Dorothea Conyers
+=TWO IMPOSTORS AND TINKER=    Dorothea Conyers
+=A RASH EXPERIMENT=           Mrs. B. M. Croker
+=WHAT SHE OVERHEARD=          Mrs. B. M. Croker
+=IN OLD MADRAS=               Mrs. B. M. Croker
+=THE SERPENT'S TOOTH=         Mrs. B. M. Croker
+=SANDY'S LOVE AFFAIR=         S. R. Crockett
+=TWILIGHT=                    Frank Danby
+=LILAMANI=                    Maud Diver
+=A DOUBLE THREAD=             Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler
+=WE OF THE NEVER NEVER=       Æneas Gunn
+=BIRD'S FOUNTAIN=             Baroness von Hutten
+=SHARROW=                     Baroness von Hutten
+=MARIA=                       Baroness von Hutten
+=THE LORDSHIP OF LOVE=        Baroness von Hutten
+=THE GREEN PATCH=             Baroness von Hutten
+=PAUL KELVER=                 Jerome K. Jerome
+="GOOD OLD ANNA"=             Mrs. Belloc Lowndes
+=THE DEVIL'S GARDEN=          W. B. Maxwell
+=A BRIDE OF THE PLAINS=       Baroness Orczy
+=PETTICOAT GOVERNMENT=        Baroness Orczy
+=THE ELUSIVE PIMPERNEL=       Baroness Orczy
+=A TRUE WOMAN=                Baroness Orczy
+=MEADOWSWEET=                 Baroness Orczy
+=THE MONEY MASTER =           Sir Gilbert Parker
+
+
+=MABEL BARNES-GRUNDY= has rapidly come to the front as one of our most
+successful novelists. Her stories excel in wit, humour, observation
+and characterisation. The complete and uniform edition of her novels,
+as under, will be published at short intervals, =at the popular price
+of 1/-=
+
+
+  By
+
+=MABEL BARNES-GRUNDY=
+
+  _Each bound in +cloth+, with most attractive picture wrapper in
+colours, =1/-= net._
+
+  =An Undressed Heroine=
+    =Marguerite's Wonderful Year=
+      =Hilary on Her Own=
+        =Two in a Tent--and Jane=
+          =The Third Miss Wenderby=
+            =Patricia Plays a Part=
+              =Candytuft--I mean Veronica=
+                =The Vacillations of Hazel=
+
+Like Gertrude Page's Shilling Novels, +Mabel Barnes-Grundy's Shilling
+Novels for 1917 will be the outstanding success of the year+.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=London: HUTCHINSON & CO., Paternoster Row.=
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RHODESIAN ***
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/27950-h/27950-h.htm b/27950-h/27950-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..62fecbd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27950-h/27950-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,10201 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Rhodesian, by Gertrude Page</title>
+
+<style type="text/css">
+
+body {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%;}
+p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em; line-height: 1.5;}
+h1,h2,h3 {text-align: center; clear: both;}
+h1 {margin-top: 4em;}
+h2 {margin-top: 3em; margin-bottom: 2em}
+h3 {margin-top: 2em;}
+h5 {font-size: 90%; text-align: center; font-weight: normal;}
+h6 {font-variant: small-caps;font-size: 150%; font-weight: bold;}
+.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px; padding-bottom: 2em}
+.bl {border-left: solid 2px;}
+.bt {border-top: solid 2px;}
+.br {border-right: solid 2px;}
+.bbox {border: solid 2px;}
+.underline {text-decoration: underline;}
+
+.poemdedication {margin-left: 47%; margin-right: 15%;}
+.poemdedication span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: -6em; padding-left: 3em;text-indent:-3em;}
+.poemdedication span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em;text-indent:-3em;}
+
+.blockquot {margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 2em;}
+.blockquot p {line-height: 1.3;}
+.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;}
+
+.transnote {background-color: #EEE; color: inherit; margin: 2em 15%
+1em 15%; font-size: 80%; padding: 0.5em 1em 0.5em 1em;}
+.transnote p {text-align: left;}
+
+poetry
+
+.poem {margin-left:36%; margin-right:15%; text-align: left;}
+.stanza br {display: none;}
+.poem.stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;}
+.poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em;
+text-indent:-3em;}
+.poem span.i3 {display: block; margin-left: 10em; padding-left: 3em;
+text-indent:-3em;}
+.poem span.i5 {display: block; margin-left: 12em; padding-left: 3em;
+text-indent:-3em;}
+.poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 8em; padding-left: 3em;
+text-indent:-3em;}
+
+.table { width: 60%;  }
+td {padding-left: 2em; text-align: left; margin-top: 0;
+margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: top;}
+
+hr.full { width: 100%;
+          margin-top: 3em;
+          margin-bottom: 0em;
+          margin-left: auto;
+          margin-right: auto;
+          height: 4px;
+          border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */
+          border-style: solid;
+          border-color: #000000;
+          clear: both; }
+
+a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none}
+a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none}
+a:hover {color:red}
+
+    </style>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RHODESIAN ***</div>
+
+<div class="transnote">
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:<br />
+<br />
+Inconsistent spelling, particularly names of characters in
+the original text, has been retained, as has variable
+punctuation.<br />
+<br />
+The table of contents has been added for the convenience of
+readers.
+</div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<h1>THE RHODESIAN</h1>
+
+<table style="margin:auto;" class="bl br" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="0">
+<tr><td align='left' class="bt"><h3>GERTRUDE PAGE'S NOVELS.</h3></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align:center"><i>In cloth gilt, 6s.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>SOME THERE ARE&mdash;&mdash;.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>FOLLOW AFTER.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>WHERE THE STRANGE ROADS GO DOWN.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>WINDING PATHS.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align:center;padding-top:0.5em;"><i>In cloth gilt, 3s. 6d.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>TWO LOVERS AND A LIGHTHOUSE.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align:center;padding-top:0.5em;"><i>Also in cloth gilt, 2s. 6d. net.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>JILL'S RHODESIAN PHILOSOPHY.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align:center;padding-top:0.5em;"><i>In cloth, uniform with this volume,</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align:center"><i>1s. net</i>.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>PADDY THE NEXT BEST THING.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>LOVE IN THE WILDERNESS.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE GREAT SPLENDOUR.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE EDGE O' BEYOND.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left' class="bb"><b>THE SILENT RANCHER.</b></td></tr>
+</table>
+<hr style="width: 33%;" />
+
+<h1><big><i>THE RHODESIAN.</i></big></h1>
+
+<h1><i>By GERTRUDE PAGE</i></h1>
+
+<h5><i>Author of "The Edge o' Beyond," "The Silent Rancher," etc.</i></h5>
+<hr style="width: 33%;" />
+<h3><i>LONDON: HURST &amp; BLACKETT, LTD. <br />PATERNOSTER HOUSE, E.C.</i></h3>
+
+<table style="margin:auto;" class="bbox" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='left'><h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#I"><b> I&nbsp; THE POLICE STATION</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#II"><b>II &nbsp;THE MISSION STATION</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#III"><b>III  &nbsp;TWO HEIRESSES</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#IV"><b>IV &nbsp;THE RHODESIAN PROJECT</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#V"><b>V &nbsp;WILLIAM VAN HERT</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#VI"><b>VI &nbsp;THE JOURNEY</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#VII"><b>VII &nbsp;CAREW IS DISTURBED</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#VIII"><b>VIII &nbsp; TWO UNEXPECTED MEETINGS</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#IX"><b>IX &nbsp; THE BEAR</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#X"><b>X &nbsp;A MINING CAMP</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XI"><b>XI &nbsp;AN EVENING RIDE</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XII"><b>XII &nbsp;THE MISSION STATION</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XIII"><b>XIII &nbsp;A DECISION THAT FAILED</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XIV"><b>XIV &nbsp;THE ANCIENT RUINS</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XV"><b>XV &nbsp;CAREW RIDES AWAY</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XVI"><b>XVI &nbsp;"THE SHIP OF FOOLS"</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XVII"><b>XVII &nbsp;AN EVENING CONVERSATION</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XVIII"><b>XVIII &nbsp;THE CHARTER FLATS</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XIX"><b>XIX &nbsp;THE CONVENTIONALITIES ONCE MORE</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XX"><b>XX &nbsp;FAREWELL</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXI"><b>XXI&nbsp; A "HOARDING HUSTLING"</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXII"><b>XXII&nbsp; MERYL'S DECISION</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXIII"><b>XXIII&nbsp; CAREW'S STORY</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXIV"><b>XXIV&nbsp; A RAIN-WASHED MORNING AND A DISCUSSION</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXV"><b>XXV &nbsp;AILSA LEARNS CAREW'S SECRET</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXVI"><b>XXVI &nbsp;"HOW CAN I GO TO HER!..."</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXVII"><b>XXVII&nbsp; DIANA BEGINS TO GROW PERPLEXED</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXVIII"><b>XXVIII&nbsp; DIANA'S PERPLEXITIES INCREASE</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXIX"><b>XXIX&nbsp; A USEFUL BLUNDER</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXX"><b>XXX&nbsp; DIANA IS RESTLESS</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXXI"><b>XXXI&nbsp; THE SOLUTION IS SEALED</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXXII"><b>XXXII&nbsp; A CHAPTER OF SURPRISES</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#FINIS"><b>&nbsp;FINIS</b></a></td></tr>
+
+</table>
+<hr style="width: 33%;" />
+<h3>TO</h3>
+<h2>THE PATHFINDERS</h2>
+<div class="poemdedication">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i6">"Fate lies hid,</span><br />
+<span class="i0">But not the deeds that true men dared and did."</span><br />
+</div></div>
+<hr style="width: 33%;" />
+<h1>THE RHODESIAN.</h1>
+
+<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2>
+
+<h2>THE POLICE CAMP</h2>
+
+<p>The velvety darkness of a southern night, with its sense of rich,
+luscious, breathing intensity, lay over that romantic spot in Southern
+Rhodesia where the grey walls of the Zimbabwe ruins, with a sublime,
+imperturbable indifference, continue to baffle the ingenuity and
+ravish the curiosity of all who would read their story. Scientists,
+arch&aelig;ologists, tourists come and go, but the stern old walls, guarded
+by the sentinel hills, give back no answer to eager questioning, eager
+delving, eager surmise.</p>
+
+<p>But in the meantime the Valley of Ruins no longer lies alone and
+unheeded in the sunlight; and no longer do the hills look down upon
+rich plains left solely to the idle pleasure of a careless black
+people. The forerunners of to-day's great civilising army have marched
+into the valley, and beside the ancient walls there is now a police
+camp of the British South Africa Police, presided over by two robust
+young troopers.</p>
+
+<p>In the velvety darkness on the night in question there is a single
+bright light pouring through the open doorway of a dwelling-hut.
+Through the enfolding silence breaks the bizarre music of an
+indifferent gramophone, recklessly mocking the sublime grandeur of
+the age-old antiquities. Laughter and gay music and devil-may-care
+colonists awaking echoes that have been more or less silent to
+civilisation for how many thousand years?</p>
+
+<p>But on this particular evening it is as though some shadow had fallen
+upon the little camp. Nothing tangible&mdash;nothing that changed the
+general habits or surroundings&mdash;but a vague regret and introspective
+sadness upon the faces of two young men, usually full of careless
+content. Cecil Stanley, the more refined, a gentleman by birth and
+education, lounged low in his chair, with his hands behind his head
+and his feet on the table, and ever and anon his eyes looked with
+pained regret into the surrounding depths of night. Patrick Moore,
+with a grave face, cleaned his gun in a deeper silence than usual,
+proceeding with an occupation that was his joy on many evenings,
+whether the gun needed cleaning or not, rather as if it eased his mind
+to have his hands busy.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if the Major will come through to-night?" he remarked, as if
+the silence were growing over-oppressive.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure to," laconically. "The moon will be up directly, and he can't be
+very far away."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose he won't have heard?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not likely to have done. Gad! I feel as if I'd give anything to have
+had a chance to stand three hours in that queue. It will hit him hard.
+If it's bad for us, who have at least known all along, it will be
+worse for him, hearing it suddenly at this late hour. Those newspapers
+to-day have made me feel like a kid on his first day at
+boarding-school. I'd like to cry if I weren't ashamed to."</p>
+
+<p>"I liked that professor," said Moore, changing the subject. "Decent
+old Johnny, wasn't he? Jolly nice of him to bring all those papers in
+case he came across anyone glad of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite a good old bird. That's a rum theory of his about the corpses
+in the temple being buried deeper than anyone has yet dug, and hung
+with valuable ornaments. Wouldn't it be a jolly lark to dig down for
+one and have a look at it!..."</p>
+
+<p>He gave a low, half-hearted chuckle over his gruesome suggestion, and
+lazily getting to his feet, selected another tune for his gramophone.</p>
+
+<p>Moore, busy still with his gun, gave a corresponding chuckle, and
+remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"Begorra, lad!... if we could get a few out one at a time on
+moonlight nights, and fill up the blooming holes again, we shouldn't
+want any blasted machinery for our gold mine, except a pickaxe and a
+shovel."</p>
+
+<p>"We'd want a bit of pluck, though. The ghosts of the corpses might
+come dancing round to have their say in the matter."</p>
+
+<p>"We'd chance the ghosties. Shure! if they've been hanging round for
+three or four thousand years, they'd maybe like a new sensation by
+this time."</p>
+
+<p>Stanley put on "The Stars and Stripes," wound up the gramophone, and
+slid into his lounge chair again.</p>
+
+<p>Moore glanced up as the music started.</p>
+
+<p>"What!... that thing again!... I'm beginning to feel like those old
+ghosts about it. The same moth-eaten tune for three or four thousand
+years. I'd like a new sensation."</p>
+
+<p>"It can't be much staler than cleaning that old gun."</p>
+
+<p>"Shure, she's a daisy." The Irishman looked tenderly at his treasure.
+"An' she just loves me to be fondlin' her like."</p>
+
+<p>"If it weren't for the Major I don't know what is to prevent us
+proving the old man's theory," said Stanley, evidently harping again
+on his corpses.</p>
+
+<p>"Him, and the bloomin' Company! The old gentlemen sittin' on the Board
+in London suddenly find that the Yankees have been snaffling a lot of
+valuable trinkets and things from the ruins while they took forty
+winks, and then they up and says no one's to look for anything more at
+all; not even a <i>boney fidey</i> Rhodesian, sweating in the police camp
+outside the walls."</p>
+
+<p>"Still, it would be a rare lark to find a corpse with gold ornaments
+on it, and say nothing at all."</p>
+
+<p>"And what should you be doing with the old corpse when you've taken
+the gold?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! put him in the soup!" And Stanley slid lower in his chair, with
+another chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>The gramophone ran down with a horrible grind, but its owner only
+looked at it dully and took no notice.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I wind up again?" Moore asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No, let it rip. It sounds all wrong to-night. Everything is all
+wrong. The whole world gone awry. It's like being on another planet to
+be out here in this wilderness at such a time. I don't believe I've
+ever felt exiled before, but, begad! I do to-night. Let's turn in.
+Probably he won't come now."</p>
+
+<p>Moore carried his gun into one of the huts and stood it carefully
+beside his little stretcher-bed. Stanley took the gramophone into
+another hut, and planked it down somewhat roughly on a table,
+evidently made by an amateur. Without going outside again, he shouted
+"Good night," and after that no sound broke the silence, except sundry
+mutterings from the Irishman, who had discovered an enormous frog
+under his bed, and his beloved pointer pup inside the blankets
+serenely sleeping.</p>
+
+<p>All the next morning Stanley hung about the camp as one who waited,
+but it was not until three o'clock that Major Carew rode slowly up to
+the huts. As he dismounted, briefly acknowledging Stanley's salute,
+there was a characteristic absence of all superfluous words. The
+latter waited until the soldier-servant had led away the mule and
+another boy relieved the officer of his water-bottle, which he always
+carried himself, and then he looked hard at the thin, brown, resolute
+face, with an expression in his eyes that made Carew ask shortly:</p>
+
+<p>"Any news?"</p>
+
+<p>"Bad news from England. I suppose you haven't heard?"</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't heard anything."</p>
+
+<p>For one pulsing second the two men stood and looked at each other; and
+to a looker-on it might have appeared that, however laconic and
+indifferent their attitude, their relationship was not solely that of
+officer and subordinate. The elder man, in his gruff way, was the
+friend of the man under him. The younger had acquired a respect that
+held something deeper than casual liking, and his face showed it now
+as he hesitated before breaking his news. Then he said, very simply:</p>
+
+<p>"The King is dead."</p>
+
+<p>A quick, incredulous expression filled Carew's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"The King?..." he repeated. "Not ... surely not ..." He paused,
+leaving his sentence unfinished.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. King Edward. After a few days' illness."</p>
+
+<p>The man's mouth grew rigid. He stood like a figure of bronze, staring
+with unseeing eyes to the far horizon. Stanley drew in his breath a
+little sharply. Yes, he had been right, the news had hit Carew very
+hard.</p>
+
+<p>"When?..." came at last, abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"A fortnight ago. Just after you left. The funeral took place
+yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>Carew made no comment. Evidently it was true. Little else mattered.
+Nearly all through this trek of his round those distant kraals his
+King had been lying dead, and he had not known it. Such a man as he is
+not stunned by tidings; but he recedes still further into his shell,
+if possible. There is no comment, no discussion, just a grim silence
+sealing a deep pain that cannot express itself.</p>
+
+<p>He stayed a moment longer, while Stanley told him a few details, and
+then he went away into his hut and shut his door to the sunlight&mdash;one
+of those exiles for whom the news had, as it were, an added sorrow,
+because during the first shock he had remained in ignorance, and had
+thus been prevented joining in the loyal homage of grief that had been
+offered by his countrymen from the four corners of the earth.</p>
+
+<p>It was thus with many of the far-off Empire-builders. They heard so
+late, so unpreparedly, so suddenly; and in the first shock, an exile
+which had been a calmly accepted condition, became almost a menace,
+seemed swiftly to develop a force. The men in the far places <i>felt</i>
+their aloofness; knew that their souls were beating vainly against
+prison bars, for the longing to annihilate space and stand beside the
+beloved dead. That quiet band of men whom we sometimes call "The
+Pathfinders," and who go away across the world to bring the wilderness
+into line; to smooth the rough, link the severed, subdue the untamed,
+and carry prosperity to the waste places. The men who cope with
+strange, deadly diseases; who fight fever swamps, and compel them to
+carry a railroad across their reluctant bosoms, though the swamps in
+turn exact a heavy toll of human life; who make the paths that the
+women and children will presently pass over, though no such
+soul-stirring cry urges their exhausting efforts.</p>
+
+<p>But it is not usual to laud these men, who win their colours at the
+dull, prosaic work of path-finding, as it is to laud those who
+encounter shot and shell in the lurid atmosphere of battle, and one
+feels they do not ask it. Yet now and then they must surely be glad to
+know that thoughtful women and thoughtful men follow their work and
+bless them in silence, sending across the world to them a homage of
+praise that is, perhaps, richer than the plaudits of the crowd. And
+not to them only, but also to the mothers who bid them go, accepting
+their hard part of lonely, anxious waiting without complaint.</p>
+
+<p>And if they fall by the wayside, unrecognised, unknown, but having
+carried the path forward, maybe a mile, maybe a yard, maybe an inch,
+how great a thing is that compared to the small happenings that of
+necessity make up most men's lives!</p>
+
+<p>In the sultry midday heat Carew sat alone in his hut, and certain
+memories, that for fifteen years he had tried to crush out of his
+mind, crowded back upon him with overwhelming force in the grip of his
+sudden sorrow. For that sad event which had plunged a great nation
+into grief had been to him a personal loss. In the silence and shadow
+he mourned deeply, not only the idol of his youth and dear object of
+his heart's best loyalty, but the memory of a friend.</p>
+
+<p>For long ago, or so it seemed, there had been a moment when a royal
+hand had clasped his, and a royal voice&mdash;the royalty all lost in the
+friend&mdash;had said, "Perhaps you are right. It is best to begin again.
+But do not imagine your life is over and its aims purposeless. Out
+there you will find renewing. Some day come back and tell me about
+it."</p>
+
+<p>That was fifteen years ago, but he had never gone back. Never sought
+the second hand-clasp that would have been his. Never unfolded to
+those interested ears his personal experiences with the pioneer column
+that led the way to do the path-finding in Rhodesia. In the hush of
+the afternoon, with his head bowed on his arms, the years between
+seemed to pass out of mind, and that which once had been to stand
+alone, awaking within him an infinite regret.</p>
+
+<p>He saw again certain lovely park-lands&mdash;the woods and hills and
+dales&mdash;of a rich inheritance that should have been his. He saw
+himself, the gay guardsman. He saw the dear face of the woman for whom
+he had chosen to cross that arbitrary will which would brook no
+disobedience, and sought to intimidate him with disinheritance.
+Through his mind passed in slurred detail the sordid story which had
+given him a brother's hate in return for a quixotic championing of the
+weak&mdash;a hate which proved to have power enough behind it to draw a
+devastating hand across the promise of his future.</p>
+
+<p>Lastly&mdash;and here in the silence it was as though his head sank deeper
+in its pain&mdash;he saw that woman's dear face, as he had last seen it,
+lying white upon the heather&mdash;<i>dead</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Ah, the memories were terribly alive to-day; not even fifteen years in
+a new life, with new interests, had done anything but draw a thin
+curtain of silence over the unforgettable pain. Would anything ever
+ease it in reality? Had he for a moment believed that it would? Or had
+he always known, that just as surely as his hand had held the gun
+which killed her, so to his last breath the tragedy would cast a
+shadow over the whole of his life?</p>
+
+<p>He might look out upon the world with quiet eyes and firm lips and
+fearless mien, but the gnawing ache would surely go with him to his
+grave.</p>
+
+<p>And because of it he knew that he had grown somewhat churlish; that
+men who did not understand his unsociable ways and extreme reticence
+looked at him askance. But what of it? How little such things
+mattered! The tragedy was his and the silence was his, and he had
+never asked anyone to share either.</p>
+
+<p>Only to-day, for just this one afternoon, fifteen years was as
+yesterday, and he seemed to realise thoroughly for the first time all
+that royal hand-clasp had meant, before he went to his voluntary exile
+in a far wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>But after a time, when it grew cool enough to walk, he came out into
+the sunshine and started off towards the steep rock pathway that leads
+to the summit of the Acropolis Hill, following an impulse to seek
+comfort in the fresh hopefulness of a height, and to lessen the pain
+in his heart by looking out across a world still living and loving and
+striving. So he climbed on up the winding pathway, enfolded with
+mystery and romance concerning the feet that trod it in the far-off
+centuries, and made his way between the mighty natural boulders out on
+to the high platform, where eyes, all those long centuries ago, must
+have looked out even as his, across the lovely land.</p>
+
+<p>Was it as lovely then?... Could it have been less so?...</p>
+
+<p>How the quiet beauty soothed and caressed him! Surely there were
+moments when the wilderness, tamed at last, like a lovely, wayward
+mistress become entrancingly docile, fondles the hand, and ravishes
+the senses of the strong man who conquered it.</p>
+
+<p>Is this one of the rich rewards Life holds in the palm of her hand for
+the path-finders?... This glorious sense of ownership. This winsome
+soothing of shy gratitude when the fierce first resistance to conquest
+is overpast. A man may call England his country because he was born
+there, and his father before him; but, perhaps, after all, that is a
+small thing compared to standing upon a high eminence, and looking
+across a quiet world which is your country because of all you yourself
+have given to it of hope and faith and steadfast purpose.</p>
+
+<p>In some such spirit soothing came to the quiet man on the top of the
+Acropolis Hill, whispering to him that, after all, this was <i>his</i>
+country, and if the beloved dead did indeed seem so far away in fact,
+in spirit he was perhaps nearer to his Empire-builders than he had
+ever been before.</p>
+
+<p>He turned his head at last, and his eyes rested upon the circular
+wall, four hundred feet below, that enclosed the temple ruins. Then
+for a moment a wave of depression swept over him, blotting out the
+landscape loveliness. Was it all, then, vanity, this building and
+striving?... The making of walls and fortifications for another race,
+centuries afterwards, to look upon with cold wonder and curiosity?
+Three thousand years ago perhaps another man had stood even there and
+mourned his king that was dead. And so soon ... so soon ... he also
+died, and the massive walls became ruins, and the dynasty, or empire,
+or era, passed away into oblivion. How soon might a similar fate
+overtake his own great Empire!... and the beloved King, Edward the
+Peacemaker, be perhaps but a legend to some strange new race.</p>
+
+<p>And then it was as though the land to which he had given so much rose
+up to give in her turn the might of hope and renewing. His eyes
+wandered again to the distant mountains and over the fertile plain
+lying between, and all the outspread richness called to him that at
+least there was no ruin here, no hopelessness, no decay.</p>
+
+<p>Progress spoke to him from the rolling plains and from the mysterious
+kopjes, and his blood warmed to that glad sense of possession&mdash;if not
+in fact, at least in the fancy born of what he had given. For it is
+when we give, and not when we take, we become the truest possessors,
+rich owners of so much that neither wealth, nor birth, nor striving
+can buy.</p>
+
+<p>In the quiet evening hour the stars were just beginning to light their
+brilliant lamps, and a glow like a rose-flush in the west marked the
+passage of the departed sun. Carew prepared to make the steep descent.
+And as he looked out across this country, that seemed so intensely his
+country, he felt himself heir of all the ages, the strong product of
+long eons of careful development, too rich in those vague splendours
+of the human and the divine not to realise the weak futility of musing
+sadly upon dead dynasties and bygone races.</p>
+
+<p>On the northernmost point, ere the path drops suddenly on its way to
+the valley, he stood still once more and gazed steadily to the north
+where England lay.</p>
+
+<p>Then, thinking deep thoughts of love and loyalty of the King who had
+been his friend, and the friend who had been his King, he gravely gave
+the salute.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2>
+
+<h2>THE MISSION STATION</h2>
+
+<p>Although only stationed for a short time at the Zimbabwe camp, Carew
+had chosen always to conduct his own <i>m&eacute;nage</i>, and take his meals in
+solitary state apart from Stanley and Moore. This was in every case
+typical of the man, who rarely sought company, and was often quiet to
+taciturnity when he had it. He had not come to the wilderness for
+adventure, or for the companionship of the men he might find there; he
+had come because he wanted to forget. Not even to seek renewing and
+fresh hopes, but only to crowd out of his life the memory of that
+upheaval and tragedy that, it seemed, had placed a stern hand upon
+mere joy for evermore. And he believed he would achieve this best with
+the vigorous, interesting occupation of helping a young country
+struggle through to fulfilment.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until after the dinner-hour that he again showed himself,
+and then he came outside his hut, filling his pipe, and stood for a
+moment beside Stanley and Moore without saying anything.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you have a successful trip, sir?" Stanley asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite," dryly.</p>
+
+<p>The young trooper watched him a moment, and then added:</p>
+
+<p>"Did you have trouble with M'Basch?"</p>
+
+<p>"He tried to make trouble. He is a dangerous native."</p>
+
+<p>"And you gave him a lesson?"</p>
+
+<p>"I burnt his kraal."</p>
+
+<p>"Whew!..." and Stanley gave a low whistle. The man was courageous
+indeed who dare resort to such a step, now that it was necessary to
+pamper the natives if one wanted no trouble at headquarters.</p>
+
+<p>Carew took no notice of the significant rejoinder, but his firm mouth,
+if anything, grew a little firmer.</p>
+
+<p>"I gave him due warning, but he thought I dare not carry out my
+threat. He was mistaken. Never make a threat that you can't carry out.
+It matters more than anything with natives. He will not give trouble
+again at present."</p>
+
+<p>"But they may say a good deal at headquarters if he carries his story
+there!"</p>
+
+<p>"I had to risk that. But he is so entirely in the wrong, and so
+clearly aware of it, I don't think he will venture to say anything. I
+have three cases of diabolical cruelty against him, besides stealing
+and law-breaking generally."</p>
+
+<p>Stanley watched him with eyes of admiration. To him the man's strength
+was ever a source of delight, now that his unsociable ways were no
+longer a puzzle.</p>
+
+<p>"We had a scientific man here yesterday to view the ruins," he
+continued, as Carew still lingered while he lit his pipe. "He has a
+remarkable theory for divining corpses by the gold ornaments buried on
+them. He thinks there are probably several in the temple, deeper than
+anyone has yet dug."</p>
+
+<p>Carew did not look very interested. His eyes had still the
+retrospective, pained expression that had come into them instantly,
+when he grasped the import of Stanley's sad tidings.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did he come from?" he asked, half turning away.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. He was only here for a few hours. We gave him some tea,
+and he left us some interesting papers, if you would care to have
+them. He seemed rather interested in you!..." and Stanley looked
+keenly into his face.</p>
+
+<p>"In what way?" Carew pulled hard at his beloved pipe and spoke with
+studied carelessness.</p>
+
+<p>"Your name cropped up about something, and he wanted to know if you
+were a Fourtenay-Carew."</p>
+
+<p>The officer started very slightly, but made no comment, and Stanley
+added, "He particularly wanted to know if you were a Devonshire man. I
+said you were."</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>was</i> a Devonshire man," Carew corrected; "I <i>am</i> a Rhodesian."</p>
+
+<p>Then he turned and with a short good night went back into his hut.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning, directly his official work was finished, he started
+to ride over to the mission station, where some far-off connections of
+his, William and Ailsa Grenville, found by chance in the wilderness,
+lived the simple life with a contentment that surprised all who beheld
+them.</p>
+
+<p>It was the first visit he had been able to pay for some weeks, and
+almost before he dismounted a woman stepped out from the large rustic
+building, with its thatched roof, and came towards him with eagerness
+and sorrow strangely blended in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, how long you have been coming! I have watched for you ever since
+we heard the sad news. Billy and I so wanted someone from <i>home</i> to
+talk to."</p>
+
+<p>"I could not help it. I have been right away into the Ingigi district.
+How are you?"</p>
+
+<p>He did not give her his hand because the formalities had long been
+dropped between them, but as he walked beside her to the building his
+face seemed a shade softer.</p>
+
+<p>"We are both well. We are splendid. But we have felt very cut off
+these two weeks. England seemed so terribly far away. The evening we
+heard, Billy and I just sat hand in hand under the stars, dabbing the
+tears away. Don't smile, it was the only thing to do, and we longed so
+to be in London." As she talked she passed into the cool shade of the
+hut and busied herself preparing a lemon squash for him, not needing
+to ask if it were his choice. "We were miserable for days. I'm sure
+all of you were too."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not hear until I came back yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah ... I was afraid so. Of course, that made it worse."</p>
+
+<p>She brought him the lemon squash and stood leaning against the table
+beside him while he drank it, with the gladness of seeing him still in
+her eyes, though they were grave now with sympathy. It was evident
+their friendship had in it a wide understanding.</p>
+
+<p>She was silent a few moments, and then added simply, "I suppose you
+knew him personally?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>He did not tell her more, and she did not ask him. There was one
+subject that no deepening of friendship had ever made it possible to
+approach, and that was the story of his past. She knew only, from her
+husband, who was extremely vague on the subject, that he had once held
+a commission in the Blues, and been, not only a well-known society
+man, but the heir of a rich old uncle. And then suddenly something had
+happened, and his brother became the heir, and England had known him
+no more. Even William Grenville himself was in the dark as to the
+cause of the lost inheritance, as he had been abroad at the time, and
+had never had much intercourse with Carew's branch of the family. He
+was supposed to be in disgrace himself, because his soul was too
+honest to allow him to continue in a comfortable country living, after
+his convictions lost faith in the tenets of the English Church; but if
+it were so it never troubled him, and he loved his wilderness home
+dearly. Ailsa had her story also, but she too, it was evident, had
+found a solution that held satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>After giving Carew his drink she moved away and picked up some
+needlework, seating herself near the open door, with sympathy in her
+face and in her silence.</p>
+
+<p>"We had a splendid service," she told him. "We did all we possibly
+could to show our loyalty. But how little it seemed! The far countries
+hurt at a time like this."</p>
+
+<p>He assented in silence, looking out over the lovely landscape as if it
+were a sight his soul loved, and she bent lower over her needlework.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me about your Ingigi trip, unless you would rather wait for
+Billy. He will be in directly, and he will want to hear everything."</p>
+
+<p>He glanced towards her a moment, noting half indifferently that she
+looked unusually pretty to-day; but he only said a few generalities
+about his work, with his eyes again on the landscape. Ailsa sewed on,
+not in the least dismayed. It was good enough to have him there,
+whether he were communicative or not, and she was glad she chanced to
+have put on her new, pretty dress from home. For, of course, all women
+liked to look fair in the eyes of Peter Carew, quite indifferent to
+the fact that in all probability he scarcely saw them.</p>
+
+<p>But Ailsa Grenville could not have looked other than fair to any man,
+though to some she looked so much more besides. Her frank grey eyes,
+full of expression, her low, broad forehead and chestnut hair, were so
+full of beauty that they seemed to counteract entirely a nose that was
+a little too small and a mouth a little too large. One felt that
+nature had intended to make her a beautiful woman, and then changed
+her mind and allowed a flaw in her beauty, possibly to give her more
+character and an attraction of a different order. To the lonely men
+within reach of the mission station she was goddess and angel
+combined, and knowing it was one of the joys of her uneventful life.</p>
+
+<p>Thus they sat on together in the doorway, speaking quietly of the loss
+they had chosen to make their own, in an intimate sense perhaps only
+possible to far-off Empire-builders. And while they talked the
+missionary himself appeared, and all his face lit up when he saw
+Carew.</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove! I'm glad to see you," he exclaimed, tossing his khaki helmet
+carelessly aside. "We hoped you would come soon. Ailsa was sure you
+would."</p>
+
+<p>He sat on the edge of the table, swinging one putteed leg, a fine,
+athletic, big fellow, with a khaki shirt open at the throat, and
+sleeves rolled up above his elbows, and a brown attractive face with
+honest eyes. "How are the others?... Going strong?... We had them
+all here for our funeral service: the Macaulays, White, Richards,
+Henley, the three prospectors out Chini way, everyone within reach.
+And afterwards we gave them a feed. A homely one, with cakes and jam,
+as Englishy as possible. By gad, Carew! how a loss like this makes you
+think of home and country; and how we Britishers in the colonies ought
+to hang together through thick and thin! If we all felt it more, it
+would be a great thing for the dear old Mother Country. She'll want
+her boys in the colonies to stand by her stoutly, if she is to go on
+holding her own, I'm thinking."</p>
+
+<p>He got up and strode about the hut, his hands in his pockets and his
+pipe in his mouth. "Hang it all!... since I came out here to try and
+do a little useful development among the blacks, I've grown more and
+more to feel that helping the settlers to live clean lives and pull
+together and care about the Old Country, is every bit as important, in
+fact far more so, than teaching Christianity to the heathen."</p>
+
+<p>He stood in the doorway, blocking the view with his immense bulk, a
+rarely attractive man, with boyish enthusiasm in his eyes, and
+fearless honesty in his whole aspect, and just that touch of the
+fanatic which helped him to soar above disappointments and keep his
+charming wife devoted and content with him out there in the
+wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>From his post in the doorway he swung round suddenly, and was about to
+launch upon one of his enthusiastic tirades on the natives or settlers
+or both, when Ailsa stayed him lightly, declaring that lunch was
+ready, and they all proceeded to the dining-room hut.</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards they lazed in a wide verandah, commanding one of the
+loveliest views in Rhodesia, and talked a little of the West Country,
+because the ache was still with each one to be at home at that sad
+time.</p>
+
+<p>When Carew, later, prepared to depart homewards, she gave a large plum
+cake carefully into the hands of his black soldier-servant, telling
+him, Carew, that it was for The Kid and Patrick, and not to let The
+Kid overeat himself, and tell him to come over and see her at once.</p>
+
+<p>"He is rather interested in the subject of corpses just now," Carew
+said, with something approaching a gleam in his eye, "but I don't
+encourage him, because, for two pins, I believe he would dig up the
+entire temple, if the spirit took him."</p>
+
+<p>"The scoundrel!..." with an affectionate laugh. "Tell him if he dares
+to touch one stone of my temple he shall never, never have a cake
+again."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I only surmise it from the expression in his eyes when he told
+me, rather wistfully, that some scientific visitor had described to
+him how the corpses, if found, would certainly be decked with valuable
+gold ornaments."</p>
+
+<p>Then he mounted and saluted her gravely as he rode away.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2>
+
+<h2>TWO HEIRESSES</h2>
+
+<p>In a Piccadilly mansion, about the same time that Major Carew returned
+from his long trek, two girls sat in a wide window-seat and looked
+somewhat disconsolately across the fresh spring green of the park.
+Both were the daughters of South African millionaires. Both were
+motherless, and one an orphan. They were also cousins, and the same
+roof usually was their home.</p>
+
+<p>Two months previously the father of the one and guardian of the other
+had brought them to England, that they might duly "come out" the
+ensuing season in London society. Their presentation at Court had
+taken place in April, followed by a splendid ball at the stately
+mansion taken for their stay, and both girls had looked eagerly
+forward to the festivities ahead.</p>
+
+<p>And now, a few weeks later, they found themselves suddenly dressed in
+black, with nearly all the expected gaieties cancelled, and this
+overshadowing loss weighing upon their spirits. Added to this the
+death of first one mother and then the other, followed by a period of
+ill-health to the guardian and father, had postponed that "coming out"
+long past the ordinary age for such functions; Diana, the orphan,
+being now twenty-two, and Meryl two years older.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl was the graver of the two; graver indeed than is at all usual at
+twenty-four, but with a quiet fund of humour and a romantic
+dreaminess, and withal a certain elusive quality that made her always
+interesting, and pleasantly something of a mystery. Diana was a
+sparkling, practical, outspoken young woman, much adored of young men
+whom she treated with scant courtesy, and with a great deal of common
+sense in her pretty head. The girls' influence upon each other, which
+was cemented by a very deep affection, was wholly beneficial; for
+whereas Diana awakened Meryl from too much dreaminess, Meryl's quiet
+dignity had a softening effect upon Diana's too great exuberance of
+spirits and occasional boyish lack of refinement, which was more the
+result of a boisterous capacity for enjoyment than inbred.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl, as became the dreamer, had been profoundly touched by the event
+which had called forth that swift grief; and whereas Diana could not
+refrain from bemoaning all she must necessarily lose through the
+season of mourning, Meryl thought chiefly of how they could get away
+quickly into the country and replace the lost gaieties with quiet
+delight.</p>
+
+<p>She had already spoken to her father about her wish to leave town, but
+he had been much occupied of late, and not yet had time thoroughly to
+discuss the question. And meanwhile she and Diana waited a little
+disconsolately to see what the days brought forth. Diana was disposed
+for a trip to Switzerland, or Norway, or even Iceland, but she wanted
+to go in a party, and not just they two and a chaperon. Meryl was not
+enthusiastic and it nettled her a little, so that, on the wide
+window-seat, there was a cloud on her face as she drummed idly with
+her fingers and watched the traffic go by.</p>
+
+<p>"If you would only say what you <i>do</i> want," she asserted impatiently,
+"instead of just mooning about and making no plans whatever."</p>
+
+<p>But the fact was, Meryl could not quite make up her mind what she did
+want. In some vague way a kind of upheaval had been taking place in
+her heart, and left her high and dry upon the rocks of uncertainty and
+dim dissatisfaction. New thoughts, new questions, new desires had
+risen in her during that sad month of May, and she felt as one seeking
+vainly she knew not what. She looked beyond the trees of the Green
+Park to the far skies with wistful eyes, and asked herself deep
+questions concerning many things, born of the thoughts that arose in
+her mind when she stood amid a people mourning tenderly a dearly loved
+sovereign, and beheld how in hearts all over the world he had won love
+and admiration, in that, to the best of his endeavour, he had
+splendidly fulfilled his high trust.</p>
+
+<p>And a high trust was hers. How could she not know it, when she was
+sole heiress to her father's millions; and yet, what was she doing,
+or preparing to do, in fulfilment of that trust? That it was no less
+so with Diana did not weigh with her. Diana was different. When she
+was allowed a free hand with her fortune she would buy yachts and
+houses and diamonds, and scatter it right and left, which was good in
+its way; but it would never satisfy her, Meryl, the visionary and
+dreamer, who looked with grave eyes to the far skies, and asked vague
+questions.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, with an impatient little kick at a footstool, Diana broke
+the silence. "<i>Do</i> you know what you want? Have you any ideas at all,
+or are you just a blank?"</p>
+
+<p>Meryl smiled charmingly. "I'm not exactly a blank, but something of a
+confusion. I confess crowded Swiss hotels do not sound alluring. I
+like Iceland better, but it seems rather ... well ... purposeless."</p>
+
+<p>"And what in the world do you want it to be? Do you want to go a
+journey to convert heathen, or preach Christian Science, or explore
+untrodden country? If so, you had better take Aunt Emily and go alone.
+I'm hoping for a little life and amusement."</p>
+
+<p>"We always have that. I want something bigger for a change."</p>
+
+<p>"O, now you're getting to high altitudes. Meryl, do come down and be
+rational. I just feel as if I could shake you." She got up and roamed
+round the room, then returned to the window-seat and leaned out of the
+window watching some workmen who were painting the balcony below them.
+Meryl sat on silently, still seeking some sort of a solution to
+something she could not name.</p>
+
+<p>"There's such a good-looking workman," Diana remarked presently, "I'm
+sure he's an artist. I wish he would look up, but he is too shy."</p>
+
+<p>"Too wise, perhaps. Why are you sure he is an artist?"</p>
+
+<p>"O, well, because he looks like it. He has a Grecian head, and his
+hair curls adorably, and I'm certain his eyes are blue. He'll be just
+underneath the window soon, and if he doesn't look up then I shall
+drop something to make him."</p>
+
+<p>"Come away to lunch and don't be a goose. The gong sounded quite five
+minutes ago."</p>
+
+<p>Diana withdrew her head reluctantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Who wants to eat cutlets when they can watch a Grecian profile!"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you would sooner drop one on his head to make him look up?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would; much sooner. Do you think they've brought their lunch with
+them, or shall we send them some?"</p>
+
+<p>"I expect they've got their dinners in red pocket-handkerchiefs,
+hidden away somewhere at the back."</p>
+
+<p>"Except my Greek"&mdash;with a little smile&mdash;"and I'm sure his is in a
+Liberty silk square."</p>
+
+<p>They sat down to lunch in the big, oppressive dining-room alone, as
+their chaperon, Aunt Emily, was laid up with a headache, and Mr. Henry
+Pym, Meryl's father, was usually in the City at midday. And after
+lunch, for the sake of something to do, they ordered the motor and
+drove out to Ranelagh to see the polo.</p>
+
+<p>Then came dinner, and with it in quiet, unsuspected guise the news
+that would presently change their lives. Henry Pym, a small, dark man,
+with the keen eyes and quiet manner that so often go with success,
+told them that because there would be practically no London season at
+all that year he had decided to go back to Africa, and he would take a
+country house for them anywhere they liked and leave them there for
+the summer with Aunt Emily.</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Emily nodded her head with an approving air. A quiet country
+house instead of a season's racketing was quite to her taste, and she
+felt dear Henry, as ever, was showing the marked common sense for
+which she humbly worshipped him afar off. Meryl looked at her father
+inquiringly and with a thoughtful air. Diana remarked, rather
+disgustedly, "O, uncle, what rot! Why should we be condemned to some
+dull little hole of an English village, just because there is to be no
+London season?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Diana," remonstrated the lady who was supposed to fill the
+post of mother and chaperon to both girls, and was therefore in duty
+bound to express disapproval of Diana's English, "you surely do not
+imagine your uncle admires that unladylike mode of speech!"</p>
+
+<p>"But he understands it," said the incorrigible, "and that is far more
+important."</p>
+
+<p>There was a decided gleam in the millionaire's eyes as he inquired,
+"And what do you want to do instead, Di?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yacht, or travel, or go in an aeroplane, or anything. I simply
+can't sit down in an English village until further notice."</p>
+
+<p>Then Meryl spoke:</p>
+
+<p>"Why can't we go back with you to South Africa, father?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I'm going to take a trip north. I'm going up to Rhodesia
+about some mining claims."</p>
+
+<p>"And couldn't we go there with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not very well. I'm not going to the towns, except for a day or two. I
+shall have to do a lot of trekking in the wild, outlying parts. You
+couldn't manage that."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not," murmured Aunt Emily. "How dreadful that you should
+have to go, Henry! Why, there are lions and elephants and things, and
+the natives are savages; surely no mines are worth running such
+risks?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not quite as bad as all that, Emily, but hardly the place for you and
+the girls. Would you all like to go to Norway?"</p>
+
+<p>"And fish?..." from Diana, with a sudden light in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"You could have a yacht and take a party," he continued, "and come
+back when you are all tired of it. I'll ask Sir Robert to let me have
+the 'Skylark,' because his captain is so reliable. What do you say,
+Meryl?... Shall you like that?..."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you could come," was her rather evasive answer, and she gazed
+at the table decorations as if pondering something in her mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you can think it over," said the millionaire quietly, "and if
+there is something you would like better tell me." He was peeling a
+pear in a slow, methodical fashion, and his face quickly seemed to
+assume the expression of one whose thoughts were already elsewhere;
+but not before, with a quick, characteristic movement, he had glanced
+keenly and surreptitiously into Meryl's face and read her indecision.
+Something was on her mind. He knew it quite well; and his busy brain,
+under its mask of complacent thoughtfulness, probed into the question.</p>
+
+<p>Ever since the day of the King's funeral she had worn that thoughtful
+air and baffled him a little with her wistful indecision. And though
+he said nothing, he thought about it in his leisured moments; for
+dearer than all his wealth and his power and his success was his only
+child.</p>
+
+<p>That night, trying still to probe the unrest in her heart, Meryl
+stepped out on to their balcony and looked at the stars. Straight
+before her, outlined in a misty moonlight that was almost overpowered
+by the glare of the city's lights, were the tall towers of
+Westminster. Down below the traffic passed ceaselessly to and fro.
+From all sides came the mysterious hum of a great city's life. And as
+she leaned listening, and gazing at the far-off stars that seemed such
+mere pin-pricks above the glare, there came to her a thought of the
+majestic stars that hung over Africa and the majesty of silence upon
+the African veldt. And then gradually there stirred in her a warm
+remembrance of Africa, and of how she had always loved it, and a
+swift, unaccountable feeling of kinship with all the Britishers
+scattered far and wide who called some colony "home."</p>
+
+<p>True, she was English born and English educated; but so also was she
+South African, for quite half her life had been passed in
+Johannesburg, and it was there that her actual home existed. And so,
+by slow imperceptible degrees, out of nowhere and without explanation,
+crept into her mind the sudden realisation of Africa's claim upon her.
+She remembered that it was there her father had amassed his wealth.
+There had been won for her all the smooth, luxurious ways of her life;
+and, but a step further, as it were, stood out the answer to her
+questioning doubts. Whatever trust is yours in the future, whatever
+life asks of you in return for all she has given, it must be for
+Africa. Her heart warmed and swelled swiftly, and her eyes glowed in
+the misty darkness. She felt in her blood that Africa was calling.
+Africa, so sunny, so gay, so breezy, so lovable, and withal with so
+great a need of strong women as well as strong men, to help her to win
+through to the great future that should be hers.</p>
+
+<p>She leaned lower, and it was as though her gaze looked beyond the
+darkness to some unseen horizon. She saw the veldt with its far blue
+mountains, that called to men again and again with such resolute
+calling. Overhead, in her fancy, she saw the luminous Southern Cross.
+All around were the wide, boundless horizons, the swift, scented
+winds. In her spirit she was back again in the sun-soaked land,
+breathing the sun-soaked atmosphere, looking far to the "never, never"
+country that called from the clear distance.</p>
+
+<p>And it was her Africa,&mdash;hers, hers, hers.</p>
+
+<p>What did she want with an English village? What to her was a yachting
+cruise in Norway? These might be won some day as restful leisure hours
+in a strenuous life; but without the just winning, what had they to do
+with her?</p>
+
+<p>Africa needed strong women as well as strong men; and, strong or weak,
+Africa was calling&mdash;calling.</p>
+
+<p>She had come to London for the season because it was what all the
+other rich men's daughters did; but was she honestly grieved that
+their plans had all to be changed? Surely, now she was free, she could
+find something to do that would fill her hours afterward with gladder
+remembrance than just a season's triumphs.</p>
+
+<p>But what?...</p>
+
+<p>She leaned on in the starlight, chin sunk in hands, thinking,
+dreaming.</p>
+
+<p>And so presently, still by those imperceptible degrees, through which
+works the hand of Fate, her thoughts came at last to the dinner-table
+conversation.</p>
+
+<p>As in a flash, she remembered Rhodesia; and, remembering, it was as
+though the romance of the land reached out strong arms to enfold her.</p>
+
+<p>Here in very truth was a young country, offering a wide field to all
+who sought work, adventure, achievement. Her thoughts ran on
+exultantly. She was rich, she was free, she was young, she was strong;
+why dawdle and dream among the fiords of Norway? Why scale Swiss
+mountains? Let that come later, when she had earned a playtime. In the
+first vigorous years of her youth, let her go out to the sunny land
+that was her home and give it of her best. Let her go north and see a
+young country struggling towards fruition, and perhaps win the joy
+and privilege, generally reserved for men, of helping it forward. All
+in a moment her decision was made. If she could anyhow win her
+father's consent, she would go with him on his trip to Rhodesia.</p>
+
+<p>She stood up, tall and slim, and the subdued light glowed more deeply
+in her eyes. The eyes of the visionary, who sees great things and
+dreams great dreams, and, alas! how often, breaks a heart that of its
+very fineness could only do or die.</p>
+
+<p>Yet better, how much better, to hope and dare and die upon the
+heights, than linger content in the warm, snug valley of little joys
+and little sorrows!</p>
+
+<p>And then across her dreams broke the sound of a sleepy voice from the
+room behind her.</p>
+
+<p>"If you stay out there any longer, Meryl, you will grow wings and fly
+away. Do be rational enough to come in and go to bed."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you were asleep, Di. I'm sure I haven't been keeping you
+awake."</p>
+
+<p>"No, but you are doing so now; and, besides, it's so imbecile to stand
+out there and stare at the stars."</p>
+
+<p>"I've been thinking hard, Di." She came in and sat on the little gilt
+bedstead, with its dainty hangings, and looked lovingly at the pretty
+head on the lace-decked pillow.</p>
+
+<p>"That's nothing new. If you <i>hadn't</i> been thinking hard it would be
+worth while mentioning it," and there was half a pout and half a smile
+on the winsome mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"But there was more object than usual to-night. Listen. If I persuade
+father to take me up to Rhodesia with him, will you come too?..."</p>
+
+<p>"O, golly!... to be eaten by lions, and tigers, and savages, and
+elephants, and things!..."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there wouldn't be much apiece if they all had a bite."</p>
+
+<p>Diana sat up and shook the hair out of her eyes, looking very much
+like a small imp of ten, instead of a finished young lady of
+twenty-two. "There's just a chance they would eat Aunt Emily first,"
+said she, "and as that is a consummation devoutly to be wished, I
+think we'll go...."</p>
+
+<p>They both laughed, but Meryl soon grew serious again. "I'm awfully in
+earnest, Di. Who cares about Norway when they might go to Rhodesia!
+You'll perhaps fall overboard and be eaten by commonplace fishes if
+you go there."</p>
+
+<p>"What has given you the notion, Meryl? I thought only miners and
+farmers went to Rhodesia, except a few tourists to the Victoria Falls.
+Do you think there is anything to eat there except locusts and wild
+honey?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let's go and see. I ... I ... want to do some Empire work or
+something. I can't explain. But we've just got into such a maze of
+petty happenings and petty pleasures, and since the King died ..."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course!... you've been miles away ever since, dreaming and
+romancing and imperialising. But it won't last, and when you've landed
+us all high and dry in some Rhodesian wilderness we shall just hate
+each other and everything else, and be ready to murder you."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense. We shall explore all round, and study the natives and the
+animals, and make friends with the settlers; and it will all be just
+new and big and teeming with interest."</p>
+
+<p>"Not if you are chewing the mule harness, because you've had nothing
+to eat for days."</p>
+
+<p>"O yes, even that; why not?... We should love it all when we came
+safely back."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'll have the bridle, then. It won't, perhaps, be quite so
+greasy."</p>
+
+<p>"Now you're disgusting. Just put your head back on the pillow, and
+register a vow to see me through this craze, if you like to call it
+so, and I'll love you for ever. I like to think of it as Empire work.
+Come and do a little Empire work too."</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't want to. I'm bored to tears with the Empire. We hear a
+great deal too much of it nowadays; that and Standard Bread. I don't
+know which is the worst"&mdash;making a wry face&mdash;"and, besides, if you
+really want to do Empire work, your plain duty is to marry Dutch
+Willie and cement the races."</p>
+
+<p>A cloud flitted for a moment across Meryl's fair face, which Diana was
+quick to see, and she snoozled down into her cosy bed with a little
+chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>"Got you there, my fair Imperialist! Dutch Willie, or let us call him
+William van Hert, will drop this wild anti-British policy of his like
+a hot brick, if you will only make up your mind to be Madam van Hert,
+and bless his hearth with a Dutch doll or two, having good English
+blood in their veins as well as eighteen-carat Dutch," and the
+chuckles grew more and more audible.</p>
+
+<p>But Meryl only got up slowly and moved away to her own little bed.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I shall ask father to-morrow, and if you won't come I shall try
+to make him take me without you. I think he will."</p>
+
+<p>"O, no he won't. If you are really quite obdurate, I shall do a little
+Imperial work also. I shall come along to keep watch and ward, and see
+that you don't fail the Empire by losing your heart to some
+fascinating young Rhodesian settler and forget your own South Africa
+altogether. Dutch Willie is a lot the nicest Dutchman who ever
+belonged to that obtuse people, and I foresee it will be my lot to
+guide you to your high destiny on behalf of the two races."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl only smiled dreamily, as if she scarcely heard. Swiftly,
+mysteriously, unaccountably, as is her way, Rhodesia had caught her
+senses and filled all her horizon for the time being. She nestled down
+into her own pretty bed, with the unrest already fading from her eyes,
+and a new gladness in her heart, as of one renewed with a great
+purpose and comforted with a wide hope.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2>
+
+<h2>THE RHODESIAN PROJECT</h2>
+
+<p>Aunt Emily represented what Diana was pleased to call "the family
+skeleton in the flesh." She was Henry Pym's only sister, and there had
+been a time when she shared a pound a week with him in a tiny cottage
+in Cornwall, while he worked as a miner in order to teach himself all
+he could about mining. After that she had taken a situation as
+housekeeper, while he went out to South Africa to make his fortune.
+Later she had spent a year or two with him, sharing his struggles in
+the new country, and then he had married, and she was once more left
+to take care of herself; for at that stage Henry's finances would
+barely keep himself and his wife. Three years afterwards, when his
+genius for finance was bearing fruit, his wife died, and at
+twenty-seven he found himself a childless widower just becoming
+prosperous. He again offered his sister a home, but her recollections
+of Africa were none to draw her back thither, and she chose to
+continue life in the comfortable situation she had procured as
+companion to an invalid lady. So Henry devoted himself entirely to the
+science of money-making, and at thirty-five he was a rich man. He
+married a second time, choosing for his wife among the gentlest-born
+Johannesburg could offer, and winning the sweet woman who was Meryl's
+mother. About the same time his brother came out from England and
+joined him, and in fifteen years they were two of Johannesburg's
+wealthiest millionaires. A few years later both were widowers, and
+very shortly afterwards John Pym died, leaving his only daughter and
+all the wealth that would be hers to his brother's care. Thus the
+household became as we have seen it, for Henry, remembering gratefully
+how his sister had stood by him in his days of struggle, now insisted
+upon her sharing his luxurious homes and acting as chaperon to the
+two girls. That she was a little trying he knew perfectly, but his
+sense of fair play and kinship resolutely turned a deaf ear to the
+half-spoken pleas of the girls, that he would give her instead a cosy
+home of her own, and procure a younger and brighter chaperon for them;
+and she had now become a fixture.</p>
+
+<p>But what irritated Diana so was the fact that had the good lady
+consulted her own taste, she would infinitely have preferred the cosy,
+independent home; but just as Henry's sense of fair play offered her a
+place in his, so her sense of duty to the two motherless girls made
+her accept it in spite of her inclination.</p>
+
+<p>"If people would but consult their comfort instead of their duty,"
+quoth poor Diana, "how much nicer it would be all round! Uncle doesn't
+really want her here, and she doesn't really want to come, and we'd
+give our heads to be rid of her; but just because Old Man Duty loves
+to make people supremely uncomfortable, here we all are!" and her
+expressive gesture made further comment unnecessary.</p>
+
+<p>But, as a matter of fact, she made a very easy and good-natured
+chaperon, and it was only some of her irritating little ways that
+troubled them. Without being really deaf, she usually failed to hear
+any opening speech, and this Diana coped with very summarily. "Aunt
+Emily," she would begin. "Eh ... eh ... eh ... eh ... ah," and when
+Aunt Emily had duly enquired, "What did you say, my dear?" she would
+speak her sentence for the first time. Or, again, with reference to
+her propensity to get exceedingly worked up upon a subject of very
+little general interest, she would say, "The great point is, not to
+start her off, and not to give her a chance to start herself off. A
+little perspicacity will soon tell you what subject to nip in the bud,
+or when to talk as hard and fast as you can about something else."</p>
+
+<p>"And as for her mournfulness," declared the matter-of-fact young
+heiress, "well, that's genuinely funny. If I've got a bit of a hump
+myself, and I hear Aunt Emily, with a face of heroic resignation, say,
+'I can bear it,' I begin to feel quite chirpy at once."</p>
+
+<p>But when the Rhodesian project came seriously under discussion, they
+were all a good deal surprised to hear Aunt Emily take part in it as
+one who must inevitably be of the party. Henry Pym was a reserved,
+undemonstrative man, and when Meryl begged him to let them accompany
+him on his travels, though he said very little, he was secretly a good
+deal gratified and pleased. His own early hardships had taught him the
+inestimable value of learning self-dependence and plucky endurance,
+and it was not without some regret he viewed a future for the girls
+entirely of rose leaves. Yet how could it very well be otherwise?
+When, however, Meryl pleadingly asked him to take them to Rhodesia
+with him, he perceived that the trip might be beneficial in more ways
+than one.</p>
+
+<p>"You probably don't understand," he told her quietly, "that I am going
+on a business, prospecting trip. I am going right away from hotels and
+railways to see mines, and I don't intend to be bothered with anything
+elaborate in the way of an outfit. I suppose I shall take a tent, and
+travel in a travelling ambulance, but certainly nothing out of the way
+in food or equipment. You would have to do the same, and as you know
+absolutely nothing in the world about 'roughing it,' you probably
+wouldn't like it at all."</p>
+
+<p>"But that is just what we should like," Meryl urged. "That is one
+reason why we want to come."</p>
+
+<p>They were sitting in the smoke-room with him, as was often their habit
+in the evening, preferring it, as he did, to the stately drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl sat on a footstool near him, watching his face anxiously, while
+Diana, with an open book on her knee, listened from the depths of an
+enormous arm-chair in which she had curled herself.</p>
+
+<p>"Shouldn't we ever need to wash?" she asked suddenly, in a sprightly
+voice that set them all laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it's a hot country, you know," said her uncle, "but it might be
+more or less optional."</p>
+
+<p>"Scrumptious!" and Diana snoozled lower into her chair.</p>
+
+<p>"Uncouth," remarked Aunt Emily, disapprovingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Or do you mean unclean?" enquired the sinner.</p>
+
+<p>"It is quite the maddest idea I ever heard of." Ignoring her, and
+growing more and more mournful, the poor lady heaved a deep sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"But need you be bothered with us?" enquired Meryl, diplomatically.
+"Wouldn't you rather have a nice quiet summer in England?"</p>
+
+<p>"And let you go alone?... How could I?... Your father will be much
+engaged with his business, and it would be most unseemly for two girls
+of your age to be left so much alone. I believe it is a dreadful
+country, but if you can face it, I think I can find the courage to
+come with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Think you can bear it, aunty?..." chirped the voice from the
+arm-chair, and Meryl frowned in a little aside at the snoozler.</p>
+
+<p>"If they decide to come at all, they would be all right with me out on
+the veldt," put in Mr. Pym. "If they are prepared to eat 'bully beef'
+and probably do their own washing-up."</p>
+
+<p>"How horrible!..." from the arm-chair. "It sounds worse than chewing
+mule harness."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean, Diana?" her aunt asked, nervously.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, didn't you know there was nourishment in mule harness?... It's
+simply splendid stuff when you've had nothing else for days."</p>
+
+<p>The poor lady shuddered, and her brother chuckled, but Meryl
+interposed with, "Don't listen to her, Aunt Emily. It isn't likely we
+shall ever have had nothing for days."</p>
+
+<p>"I once heard of a man ..." began the spinster, putting down her work,
+and raising her head with the air they all knew so well, denoting a
+long rigmarole about some exceedingly uninteresting person, and Diana
+immediately chimed in with, "Shall you wear a knickerbocker suit,
+aunty, or just a commonplace divided skirt?"</p>
+
+<p>"Neither will be in the least necessary," was the decided answer. "I
+have met people from Rhodesia, and they dress quite ordinarily."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's when they're in another country," insisted the
+incorrigible. "Up there you simply must wear knickers, or a divided
+skirt; it's ... it's ... such a high altitude ... and so ...
+windy!..."</p>
+
+<p>"Diana, be quiet," interrupted Meryl, now sitting on the arm of her
+father's chair. "If you don't mind we shall leave you behind."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't know that I particularly want to go. It doesn't sound
+very inviting except about the washing."</p>
+
+<p>"I think you had all better take a week to decide in," said Henry Pym,
+finally. "I won't say anything about the yacht at present, and you can
+change your minds and have it if you like. And if your aunt chooses to
+stay quietly in England, I'll take a house for her anywhere she likes,
+and I'll look after you both myself. You can take care of each other
+when I have to be absent for a day."</p>
+
+<p>"Would you like us to go?" asked Diana, screwing her head round
+impishly. "Or are we going to be a ... a ... frightful nuisance?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like you to come, if you can make up your minds thoroughly to
+take the rough and the smooth together, and make the best of it. I
+think it will be an experience for you, and a wholesome change from
+too much luxury. But mind"&mdash;and his strong, dark face looked very
+determined&mdash;"I want no grumbling and no fretfulness. If you think
+you've any real, genuine pioneer spirit in you, <i>come</i>. If you're in
+doubt about it, stay behind, and go to Norway and have your gaiety."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I've very much," said Diana, "but Meryl has enough for
+two, I'm sure; and for the rest, I never grumble, and I'm only peevish
+with very young men. That, of course, I might work off on the
+niggers."</p>
+
+<p>"Has Meryl a lot of pioneer spirit?" asked her father, watching her
+with quiet, affectionate eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Stacks of it. She wants to become an Empire-builder. I don't. I'm
+bored with the Empire. But I don't mind sampling just one dive into
+the wilderness, to see how I like primitive conditions. I don't know
+what Aunt Emily wants with the wilderness though, unless she has a
+secret fancy for niggers!..."</p>
+
+<p>"I think that is a little coarse of you, Diana. I have no fancy either
+for a wilderness or niggers; but if either you or Meryl were ill, or
+anything happened to you, I should never forgive myself had I
+remained comfortably at home."</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing will happen to us, aunty. I think you are rather unwise to
+think of coming," said Meryl.</p>
+
+<p>"If you go, I shall come as far as Bulawayo anyhow. Then I shall at
+least be within reach."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, think it over for a week," said Henry Pym again, getting up and
+moving towards his writing-table. "I don't like hurried decisions at
+any time. If you like to come and take pot-luck with me I shall be
+glad to have your company, but do not let that influence you. Come for
+your own sakes, and prepared for anything, or remain behind."</p>
+
+<p>They understood that he wished to be left to do some reading or
+writing, and after kissing him good night, went upstairs to their
+room.</p>
+
+<p>But Meryl's eyes had already a new glow of hopeful anticipation, and
+it was easy to see she did not intend to waste much time in making up
+a mind already entirely decided.</p>
+
+<p>Diana found her a little irritating.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, Meryl!" she said, "you look as ridiculously pleased as a cat
+with kittens. You are quite the most unaccountable creature in the
+world. What, in the name of fortune, <i>is</i> the good of going to
+Rhodesia? Frankly, I'd rather stay in England."</p>
+
+<p>But Meryl only smiled happily, and made no comment.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, put the light out," snapped Diana. "I really can't stand that
+superior, complacent air of yours any longer."</p>
+
+<p>For answer the elder girl crossed the room and gave her a hug.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be cross, Di. You know you'll love the atmosphere of adventure
+when you are fairly started. Anyone can go to Norway."</p>
+
+<p>"Adventure! Stuff! Heat and flies and sand, that's all we're in for;
+and uncle in a prosaic, 'I told you so' mood."</p>
+
+<p>"We may see lions when we are trekking."</p>
+
+<p>Diana put her head on one side, like a small, bright-eyed bird. "We
+can see those in the Zoo, beloved."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, and you can see Norway on a cinematograph."</p>
+
+<p>Diana turned away with a low laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Clean bowled. Good for you, O wise Hypatia! Well, we'll go to this
+heathen land and be horribly uncomfortable for a time, and then we'll
+come back and make things hum in London as they never hummed before.
+Where is Jeanne, I wonder? If I've got to do my own hair for two solid
+months I'll never touch a wisp of it until we go," and she rang the
+bell peremptorily.</p>
+
+<p>Later, for a few moments, Meryl again stood out on the balcony,
+enjoying the June night, and as she looked at the stars she smiled
+softly. She was going back to Africa, after all&mdash;her Africa, and
+perhaps Life would give her something big to do yet.</p>
+
+<p>And half unconsciously, though with a sense of pleasurable possession,
+she stood with her eyes to the south.</p>
+
+<p>And away in a distant land, on a high hill, strewn with ruins of an
+ancient, mysterious race, a man stood with his eyes to the north.</p>
+
+<p>A taciturn, difficult, unaccountable man, who baffled the people that
+would fain be friendly with him, and chilled any who showed him
+warmth, and yet was invariably liked and trusted by all who had the
+perspicacity to see beyond the rigid exterior.</p>
+
+<p>Even to-day, though he was mourning his sovereign, he had shown no
+softening of grief to those who beheld him. Rather, if anything, he
+had been more silent, more taciturn, more aloof than ever.</p>
+
+<p>Yet the enfolding night and the quiet stars saw what none others saw.
+They saw the ache in the steady eyes, the compression as of pain on
+the resolute lips, the swift, unusual hunger, sternly suppressed, for
+something that had once been in some old life and was now for ever
+ended.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2>
+
+<h2>WILLIAM VAN HERT</h2>
+
+<p>They, that is, the Pyms, stayed in Johannesburg before they started on
+their travels. Mr. Pym had built for himself a charming house in the
+Sachsenwald neighbourhood, architectured, of course, by Mr. Herbert
+Baker, and having a lovely view to far blue hills.</p>
+
+<p>Few people who have never seen Johannesburg have the smallest
+conception of the charm of its best suburbs, with their wonderful far
+vistas to a dream country of blue mountains on the horizon. To most it
+suggests little beyond dump-heaps of white powdered quartz, tall
+machinery, tall chimneys, with a town of tramways and offices and
+wealthy people all struggling together for more wealth.</p>
+
+<p>Yet in a few minutes one may leave all this behind, and drive along
+tree-lined roads and avenues to where, probably amidst swaying firs, a
+"stately home" of South Africa is picturesquely standing.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pym's house was not of the largest, for he had never been
+ostentatious of his wealth, and much of it was represented by large
+tracts of land, where he generously experimented for the benefit of
+the country. As with several rich South Africans, he had his stud farm
+and his agricultural farm; and both were kept up to a very high
+standard, without any particular consideration for profit and loss.
+But his house in the Sachsenwald neighbourhood had more of charm and
+comfort in it than display. The rooms were very high and airy and well
+ventilated, with artistic colour effects which the girls had achieved,
+and something of an Italian air about it.</p>
+
+<p>Along one side, widening into an embrasure at the middle, where doors
+from the drawing-room and dining-room stood open to it, ran a broad
+tessellated terrace; and from the terrace one looked out over a
+lovely garden, gorgeous with the flaming flowers of South Africa, yet
+softened by velvety turf such as is seldom seen "over there," and can
+only be attained by much consistent care and attention.</p>
+
+<p>It was here the girls loved best to sit: Diana because the prospect
+was fresh and breezy and wide, and, true to her namesake, she loved
+the smell of the firs and the earth; Meryl because of those far blue
+hills which made so fitting a background to the dreamland thoughts
+that filled her mind; and, moreover, Aunt Emily did not particularly
+love light and air, so she usually remained in her own sanctum, and
+Diana was able to enjoy, not one cigarette, but two or three, after
+each meal without the tiresome accompaniment of a disapproving eye.</p>
+
+<p>They reached Johannesburg in the latter half of July, and those people
+who had not already fled from the high winds and driving dust were
+hurriedly preparing to do so. In consequence, few friends were there
+to welcome them on their return, and their plans proceeded apace.
+Diana had a smart khaki knickerbocker suit made, and a wonderful
+broad-brimmed hat with a long feather to go with it. When they
+laughingly told her she was not journeying to an uncivilised country,
+and could not possibly wear such a garb in modern Rhodesia, she merely
+asserted she was going into the wilderness to please them, and in
+return they must put up with her in any sort of garb she chose. In the
+end Meryl was persuaded to have a knickerbocker garb also, though she
+insisted that she would never wear it. Aunt Emily bought yards and
+yards of green and blue muslin, in which she proposed to tie up her
+head. "You must have a particularly ugly helmet, and a pair of smoked
+spectacles, and a butterfly-net as well," said Diana, "and then you
+will look as if you belonged to the British Association."</p>
+
+<p>Her uncle, sitting back silently in his big arm-chair, with the quiet
+twinkle in his keen eyes, remarked, "And you will look like the
+principal boy at a pantomime."</p>
+
+<p>"How heavenly!..." said outspoken Diana, and Aunt Emily raised her
+hands in horror.</p>
+
+<p>It was on one of the last evenings before their final departure that
+William van Hert came from a quiet sea-side place above Durban to see
+them. He was taking a long rest there, after a strenuous parliamentary
+campaign, and only discovered through a belated newspaper that they
+had returned from England, and were contemplating a journey north. He
+immediately took a day's road journey to the nearest railway and
+departed for Johannesburg.</p>
+
+<p>Diana saw him arrive, and executed a remarkable spring into the air,
+finished off with a little kick. "Oh, golly!..." she breathed. "Here's
+Dutch Willy come flying to the arms of his ladylove!"</p>
+
+<p>Meryl looked up with swift, questioning eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible!... He is down at M'genda."</p>
+
+<p>"A little bird whispered, 'She, the fair one of many millions, has
+returned,' and straightway the thousand white arms of M'genda failed
+to hold him."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be spiteful, Di. Mr. van Hert cares nothing for anyone's
+millions. You know it well."</p>
+
+<p>"I do; and for that reason he should be kept in a glass case. Still,
+he cares for a fair Englishwoman who has been&mdash;well, kind to him."</p>
+
+<p>"He is interesting. Was there any special kindness in letting him know
+that I had the perspicacity to see it?" And they went downstairs
+together to receive him.</p>
+
+<p>William van Hert was at that time one of the most disliked, one of the
+most attractive, and one of the most disturbing men in South Africa.
+Gifted with brains and polish, he was yet, at present, marred by
+bigotry, narrowness of vision, and an unreasonable antipathy to the
+advance of English ways and customs. Furthermore, having obtained for
+himself a considerable following, he was, unfortunately, powerful.
+When genuine efforts were being made to bury the hatchet over the
+racial question, this man had more than once dug it up again; but it
+was not entirely clear at present whether he was actuated by motives
+of misguided patriotism, or whether, like far greater men, he only
+wanted to make himself thoroughly heard in the world first, and when
+that object was satisfactorily attained, he would modify his tendency
+to rabid policies and prove himself a reliable statesman. In the
+meantime he was dangerous.</p>
+
+<p>In England there were many who quite seriously believed the racial
+feud was over. There were others who knew that it was still
+exceedingly bitter. There were others again who said very little, and
+perhaps professed to know very little, but in the quietness of their
+own thoughts pondered deeply and patriotically how a real and sincere
+union, and not a merely public newspaper one, was to be wrought
+between two fine races, so that in true harmony they might bring a
+country of great promise to its day of fulfilment. The men who saw any
+solution in making both languages compulsory were not men of true
+insight; neither were those who retrenched Englishmen in one
+direction, and created new posts for Dutchmen in others. One could but
+suppose these men were content to be patriots, not in a big sense to
+the whole country, but in a limited one to their own countrymen. To be
+patriots of South Africa herself, in her widest sense, seemed too much
+to ask of them. Yet, because of the fine qualities many of these men
+possessed, one could but hope that ere long what was good for South
+Africa would be good for each individual, whether in private life he
+called himself English or Dutch.</p>
+
+<p>That William van Hert was ever a welcome guest in the Pyms' household
+showed that he had many excellent qualities besides his undisputed
+personal attractiveness to counterbalance his obstinate bigotry.
+Otherwise Mr. Pym would not have shown him the friendliness he did;
+for in his quiet way Henry Pym possessed greatness, and everyone
+throughout the land knew that he was of those resolute, reliable few
+who would let all their wealth go before they would pander to any
+government or any party to save it. Meryl talked to him because she
+perceived there was a rough sincerity in the man underneath his
+bigotry, and hoped because he was powerful he would presently expand.</p>
+
+<p>Diana alone crossed swords with him, and though perhaps he did not
+know it, it was no small thing that she thought it worth while.</p>
+
+<p>He stayed to dine with them in a simple, homely manner, and his
+conversation at the table was sparkling and vivacious. He told them
+some excellent stories, concluding with one in very broad Dutch that
+they had great difficulty in following. And then Diana opened fire.</p>
+
+<p>"Such a monstrous, face-distorting language," she remarked coolly. "I
+wonder you don't forbid its use instead of urging it."</p>
+
+<p>The gleam came quickly to her uncle's eye, though he appeared to take
+no heed. It was left to Meryl to frown cautiously, and shake a wise
+head.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't frown at me, Meryl," said the incorrigible. "It's a hideous
+tongue, and he knows it, and what's the good of pretending anything
+else? I don't hold with pretence in anything."</p>
+
+<p>"It is the tongue of my country," van Hert told her, more amused than
+annoyed. "Every true patriot loves his mother tongue."</p>
+
+<p>"O, nonsense!" with a charming insolence. "Meryl and I both have Norse
+blood in us. If you go far enough back we probably are Norse. But
+where would be the sense in our professing to love our country by
+talking her tongue, when it served every reasonable purpose in the
+world better to talk English? You're so one idea'd, you Dutch folk, at
+least some of you," pointedly. "The language and the Bible and your
+early-morning coffee!"</p>
+
+<p>They could not help laughing at her, but van Hert indignantly
+repudiated her charge.</p>
+
+<p>"O well!..." she continued, airily. "You know perfectly well you do
+make a fetish of the Language Question; and that your back-veldt
+followers believe the Bible was written in Dutch for the Dutch race
+alone; and that you start having coffee at daybreak, with relays up to
+breakfast-time. And you don't expect your natives or your women to
+possess such a thing as an individual will. That is a luxury for the
+strong sex only!... It all means just one thing. Out in the back veldt
+you are years and years and years, positive, &aelig;ons, behind the times;
+and you'd sooner represent a big dam to the progress of the world than
+yield one little silly, rotten cotton prejudice to help it forward. So
+there!..." And having delivered herself of this piece of oration Diana
+got up, pushed her chair back with a jerk, and finished, "I'm going
+out on the terrace. When I think of your back-veldters, and your
+back-veldt policy of suppressing all individualism and all advance, I
+need the company of a few worlds and solar systems to regain my
+equilibrium. No, don't expostulate," as he rose in his eagerness to
+confront her. "I seldom argue. It is not worth while. I merely
+'express an opinion,' having the good fortune to belong to a race in
+which women are permitted such an indulgence," and she threw a
+laughing glance back at him from the window before she stepped out.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl watched her with a swift look of deep affection in her eyes, and
+then glanced at her father. Henry Pym's face was expressionless, but
+his eyes seemed to reply to her unspoken question, and tell her that
+he, too, recognised a little more thoroughly that under the surface
+flippancy and light raillery there was depth. In the meantime, feeling
+she had not been quite fair to her opponent, to go off without
+allowing him to defend himself, he purposely discussed the language
+question a little more openly than was at all his wont with such
+prickly subjects, speaking a few quiet truths in a way that even a
+firebrand like van Hert could not possibly resent. When they joined
+Diana she was sitting on a table, swinging her feet, and singing a new
+music-hall ditty.</p>
+
+<p>"Touching that slander of yours," van Hert began, good-humouredly,
+for few could ever be seriously annoyed with Diana, "I should like to
+say ..."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I forbid it," she interrupted. "Arguments bore me. Have you heard
+that little song before that I was singing? It's a ripping little
+ditty. Chain Aunt Emily to the drawing-room sofa and I'll sing it all
+through to you; but if she were to hear it she might faint, and that
+is so tiresome."</p>
+
+<p>He laughed, and sat on the table beside her, and the rabid sectarian
+politician, so given to raising storms and creating scenes in that
+most remarkable of parliaments, the South African Union Assembly,
+forgot his pet injustices and prejudices, and was quickly the
+versatile, virile, engaging social man. Meryl sat a little apart, with
+some dainty crochet-work in her delicate fingers, and though the
+visitor chatted with Diana, his eyes were almost always upon her.</p>
+
+<p>They had purposely put out the electric light after their coffee was
+served, preferring only the lights in the rooms behind them and the
+splendour of the night before. And in the dimness Meryl's fair skin
+gleamed unusually white beside her dusky hair, and the velvety,
+blue-grey eyes, when she looked up, had caught the dreaming darkness
+of the heavens. Only now and then she glanced round. Mostly she sat
+with her eyes on the shadowy darkness and her work in her lap. And the
+Dutchman, gazing, felt with a sort of fierce reluctance that there
+were no women in the world for calmness and strength quite like the
+Englishwomen, nor more delicately, entrancingly fair.</p>
+
+<p>Then, suddenly, Meryl heard her name and looked up.</p>
+
+<p>"Why in the world do you want to go to Rhodesia?" he had said; and
+Diana answered, "I don't know that we do want to go; but Meryl has
+suddenly developed into a violent Imperialist, and we go at her
+desire."</p>
+
+<p>"What to do?" and he asked the question a little sharply of the dark
+eyes now turned to theirs. Quite suddenly and unaccountably he
+resented their going; resented, at any rate, that she, Meryl, should
+go. There had been so much "Rhodesia" of late. Everyone seemed bitten
+with a kind of silly craze for the place. Now it was gold; now it was
+land; now it was union or no union; now it was annexation and "twenty
+pieces of silver"; such a lot of fuss about some square miles of
+wilderness, containing odd outcrops of gold-bearing reef.</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing worth seeing in Rhodesia, except the Victoria
+Falls," he asserted; "and you can run up there and see all you want to
+and get back in a week!" And still he looked enquiringly at Meryl.</p>
+
+<p>"We want to see the people," she said, half turning. "The pioneers,
+who went first to investigate, the settlers who followed, the women
+who went forward with their husbands into the wilderness."</p>
+
+<p>He got off the table and came and leaned against a verandah-post
+beside her with folded arms, looking down. "But that is what you won't
+see; how should you? You will only see dusty, upstart towns, with
+horrible corrugated-iron hotels, where you will swelter in heat and
+flies and eat abominable tinned stuffs. It is a barren, comfortless
+land at present, with a possibility of being useful some day. They
+want money, energy, brains to develop it thoroughly; and they won't
+accept them when they are offered, because a few stiff-necked
+Englishmen happen to be in power. It is absurd to go there at present.
+You will only get typhoid and malaria, and be excruciatingly
+uncomfortable."</p>
+
+<p>"It sounds a pretty rotten sort of place! What do you and your
+colleagues want it for so badly, anyway?..." asked Diana, throwing her
+head back and narrowing her eyes as she looked at him with a shrewd
+questioning air.</p>
+
+<p>He coloured slightly under the sunburn on his cheeks. "We want a
+United South Africa. Why should one country stand aloof!"</p>
+
+<p>"Meinheer van Hert," said she, coming down from her table and taking a
+step forward to confront him, "for any man with your political views
+to talk about including Rhodesia in the Union solely for the sake of a
+United South Africa and for her own good, is the veriest cant. There's
+gold up there, and perhaps tin; and there's land for farming, and land
+for ranching, and hunting grounds, and a big river. In your United
+South Africa you want your people to be 'top dog' always, and as long
+as Rhodesia stands out there's a menace in the north. That's one
+reason why you want her! Rumour tells us there's a fine race of men up
+there, who don't mean to have any tongue but Cecil Rhodes's tongue
+taught in Cecil Rhodes's country, so it certainly is no place for you!
+You've got to learn more thoroughly what an Englishman means by
+'cricket' before your overtures will be considered; and we're all
+hoping you'll learn it quickly, because we want to be friends, good
+friends, just as soon as ever we can."</p>
+
+<p>He bit his lip and looked angry, but she was already laughing the
+moment's tension aside. "You didn't know I was a politician, did
+you?... As a matter of fact, I'm not!... I'm sick of the whole bag of
+tricks, and the Empire that fills Meryl with heaves and swells isn't
+half so much to me as winning a tennis tournament or a golf
+championship. But when you Hollanders are bursting with pride of place
+and achievement, and offering energy and brains to help Britishers
+along, I just feel as if you'd got to be told a few home-truths for
+your good. Now I'm going to liven the meeting with a little operatic
+music," and she tripped indoors to the piano. Van Hert shrugged his
+shoulders expressively, and then stood silently beside Meryl for some
+moments looking into the night. And as he stood he became conscious of
+a vague sort of dissatisfaction with himself. It was a sensation he
+knew only at rare moments, and those moments were chiefly at the Pyms'
+house. He admired the two cousins more than any women he knew; he
+admired Henry Pym; he loved the homyness of their household; and he
+had to remember that they were English. There must, of course, be many
+others like them. Were there many like them among his own countrymen?
+When Diana told him his people had yet to learn more thoroughly what
+was meant by "cricket" she had hit him hard. He would never have
+admitted it for one moment, but, nevertheless, when he was at the
+Pyms' house he <i>wondered</i>.... Densely, stubbornly patriotic to his own
+people and his own tongue he might be, but he had travelled enough to
+recognise certain traits in the English "old public-school boy" which
+it was good for a country there should be in her young men, and which
+were not noticeably present in his countrymen of the back veldt.</p>
+
+<p>Then his eyes rested on Meryl, and all his pulses throbbed with her
+nearness. He had known for many months now that he loved her, yet he
+had never actually told his love. At first there had been a
+disinclination to marry an Englishwoman because of the unbending,
+resolute policy he had identified himself with in the Union
+Parliament. No one spoke of anti-British and anti-Dutch nowadays. It
+was impolitic. But whereas certain men genuinely tried to ease the
+forced situation and meet with fairness and justice upon common
+ground, others still kept the flag of discord in their hands, though
+they hid it under the table, so to speak, and only produced it when,
+as they chose to assert, some pet foible of their countrymen was
+overruled or some indignity threatened.</p>
+
+<p>And of this section in Parliament van Hert was the leader. If he then
+married an Englishwoman, not even South African born, would he not be
+held up to ridicule by his colleagues? And then he would see Meryl
+again, and all his feelings would merge into one great longing for
+her; not for her money&mdash;she had been right when she said such a charge
+was unjust, indeed, he almost wished she had been poor&mdash;but her quiet
+dignity and calm strength and the exquisite fairness that held all his
+senses.</p>
+
+<p>And as he stood beside her now he hated more and more, without knowing
+why, that she should go to Rhodesia. Whatever he had said to the
+contrary, he knew that there was a romance about that far land that
+might fascinate her. He knew that up there there were some of the
+cream of England's men. "The second son's country," he had heard it
+called, and that meant very often the well-born, high-bred gentleman
+who was not afraid to work, who had never been pampered, and was full
+of the best sportsman's spirit. The man of all others to attract such
+a woman as Meryl Pym. The mere thought of it seemed to fill him with a
+growing alarm, and presently, almost before he knew it, he found
+himself pouring into her ears the story of his love.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl was startled and taken aback. She had known perhaps that he had
+a special liking for her; seen it often in his eyes when he gazed at
+her. But that he should speak now was a little sudden, and she wished
+Diana had not left them alone. She tried to meet his eyes, but
+something a little too ardent in them abashed her, and she looked out
+into the darkness, nervously twisting and untwisting the thread of her
+work.</p>
+
+<p>He saw that she was taken aback, and tried somewhat to curb the eager
+intensity that he felt was unnerving her.</p>
+
+<p>"You are going away up there, and I shall be very anxious about you,"
+he pleaded. "If you would only give me your promise before you go, and
+let me have the right to follow at once if you are ill or anything, it
+would make it so much easier."</p>
+
+<p>She stood up, agitated, still gazing wistfully into the night.</p>
+
+<p>"It is very sudden.... I did not know.... I hardly thought.... Have
+you ... have you ... remembered everything?..."</p>
+
+<p>"That you are English and I am Dutch?... What of it, Meryl?... I may
+call you Meryl, mayn't I?... Are we not both South Africans?..."</p>
+
+<p>He tried to take her hand and draw her to him, but she shrank away and
+he did not urge it.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you remembered it long enough?... Thought it out thoroughly?...
+It all seems somehow so sudden."</p>
+
+<p>"I have known long that I loved you. Does anything else really matter
+if you can love me in return?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!..." she breathed and stopped short.</p>
+
+<p>She had liked him long. She had always liked him. Away from his
+politics he was liked by most people. Huguenot blood was in his veins,
+and it showed itself in a French charm of manner that came to him
+naturally when he could get away from that bigoted, narrow obstinacy
+that marred him. She felt he was a man who might be led to many
+things, though driven to none. Because he attracted her she felt she
+half loved the Huguenot side of him already. If only the other side
+did not so insistently repel! Could it perhaps be overruled? Could she
+love him truly enough to hold his love for ever, and through it lead
+him to heights he might never even sight without her? Yet her eyes
+were wistful, gazing out there at the dreaming stars, and her face
+gleamed whiter and whiter.</p>
+
+<p>This was not the love that whispered to her when she looked to the far
+blue hills. This was not the consummation the high stars in far
+infinities told her vaguely might some day bless her life.</p>
+
+<p>And then he pleaded again in low-voiced eagerness, and in distress she
+turned to him. "I'm so sorry. I can't bear to think of perhaps making
+you unhappy. But ... but ... I'm afraid I don't love you in the way
+you want. I hadn't thought about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I have been too sudden." He drew himself up, and his eyes followed
+hers out to the darkness. And a touch of latent nobility seemed to
+come out in him; a quiet dignity like her own that appealed to her
+strongly. "I won't take your answer to-night. I shall come to you
+again when you come back. Perhaps then ... when you have thought
+about it ..." He broke off abruptly. "May I write to you?... Will you
+sometimes write to me?... Perhaps I could follow ..."</p>
+
+<p>They heard steps and voices coming towards them from the drawing-room
+where Diana had wearied of her operas, and in sudden haste he caught
+her hand and raised it to his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I have to thank you for a good deal," he told her a trifle
+huskily. "Men of all nations are better for being admitted to the
+friendship of women like you. If there were anything I could do to
+serve you?..." and he waited for her to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Serve South Africa," she breathed tensely. "I could ask no more of
+any man."</p>
+
+<p>His hand tightened upon hers.</p>
+
+<p>"Serve her with me. Together we could do so much."</p>
+
+<p>He saw her waver.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me tell you when I come back. Yes ... together we might do so
+much...."</p>
+
+<p>"When you come back ..." he said, and pressed her hand in
+understanding.</p>
+
+<p>Then Diana stepped out of the brightness of the drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>"How can you two stay sleepily there, looking at the stars like two
+cats, when I am trying to lure you indoors with the latest comic-opera
+music! Meinheer van Hert, Mister Pym says, will you drink with
+him?..."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2>
+
+<h2>THE JOURNEY</h2>
+
+<p>As he had three ladies with him Mr. Pym decided to take a private
+saloon-car, but no saloon in the world could prevent them being nearly
+smothered with the dust through Bechuanaland and Matabeleland in
+August, and while Aunt Emily rent the air with her complainings and
+sufferings, Diana chose to pass disparaging remarks upon the
+long-suffering British Empire, which she considered responsible for
+her journey north. Meryl said nothing, but there was often a wistful
+expression in her eyes as they sighted a lonely farmstead, or stood in
+a little wayside station with perhaps one corrugated-iron building,
+where some white-faced woman looked listlessly at the train. When she
+tried to voice her sympathy with their loneliness, however, Diana
+snapped her up a little impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Meryl, you will look at things always in the sentimental
+light. A woman with a husband and child in this freshness and sunshine
+is at least better off than if she were in a city slum, and her man
+probably out of work, and her child dying for want of fresh air."</p>
+
+<p>"But that is not the only alternative!... And in any case to suffer in
+company is almost always easier than to suffer alone."</p>
+
+<p>"But they don't suffer, or, at any rate, they needn't necessarily.
+That is where you are so short-sighted. The average woman wants a
+husband and a child, and I don't see that it matters much whether she
+has them in the wilderness or in a city; the main thing is to have
+them."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, for my part," put in Aunt Emily in an aggrieved voice, "if I
+could only have a man in a cloud of dust I'd sooner never see the
+species again," which tickled Diana hugely and caused her to horrify
+her aunt by adding, "But what an advantage for him never to be able to
+see what you were doing! One could have such high jinks!..." Then,
+changing her voice subtly, she enquired, "Is it too much for you,
+aunty?... I mean the dust and the journey? because there must be such
+very much worse things ahead, and ..."</p>
+
+<p>"That will do, my dear. I can bear it," and her expression of mournful
+resignation tickled Diana more than ever. On the day before they
+reached Bulawayo, however, when hour after hour brought very little
+but scrub and sand, she and her aunt were very nervy and irritable,
+and only Meryl, with her dreams and ideals, continued quietly
+interested. When they reached Bulawayo matters did not improve much,
+because a sand-storm was blowing and it was almost impossible to go
+out. Mr. Pym packed them off to the Victoria Falls as soon as
+possible, and remained behind himself to complete the arrangements for
+his trip. On the further railway journey the dust was worse than ever,
+and utterly out of heart with everything Rhodesian, Aunt Emily retired
+to a suite of rooms at the hotel on their arrival and said she should
+stay there until the cool of the evening.</p>
+
+<p>So Diana and Meryl stood on Danger Point alone, when they took their
+first long look at the amazing cataract of waters. Neither spoke for
+many seconds, and then Diana breathed, "I'm glad Aunt Emily didn't
+come. She would have called it 'lovely' or 'sweet.'"</p>
+
+<p>Meryl laid a sympathetic hand on her arm and murmured, "And you?..."</p>
+
+<p>"One couldn't call it anything. It just <i>is</i>." And Meryl with her
+understanding heart pressed her arm in silence.</p>
+
+<p>They walked together through the rain forest, getting drenched with
+spray and hardly noticing it, until they came to the opening near the
+Devil's Cataract at the south end, and sat down to gaze at the
+splendour and wonder outspread.</p>
+
+<p>Then Diana spoke a little in something of an undertone, half to Meryl,
+half to the air:</p>
+
+<p>"A god did it. I don't know which&mdash;Jupiter or Pan, or Apollo or
+Hercules&mdash;and when they grew tired of the earth and went off to other
+planets, they just left it behind as a child might a castle he has
+built in the sand; and by and by some crabs crawled along and found
+the castle, and sat down and looked at it because it seemed to them
+so wonderful; and by and by some humans found the gods' waterfall,
+crawled up to it, and sat down and wondered. That's all there is to
+do. O, Meryl, I wish I were a goddess and not a worm. The waters are
+mocking us. Don't you hear them?... I just feel as if there were
+something about it all I can't bear."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl smiled a little tender smile. To her Diana in all her moods was
+adorable. In her shy, fierce, tense ones, as now, she was best of all.</p>
+
+<p>"What does it say to you, Meryl?..." the girl went on. "Do you feel as
+if you hated it and worshipped it both together? Hated its remote
+magnificence and devilish cruelty, and worshipped it because you
+couldn't help yourself, either from fear or wonder? I don't know
+which, only I feel ... I feel ... as if I ought to throw over
+something I loved as a sacrifice of propitiation. And it goes on just
+the same&mdash;think of it&mdash;year after year, century after century, just
+calmly spilling magnificence on the desert air! I believe I'm
+frightened, Meryl. Tell me what it all says to you."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl looked dreamily along the glistening mighty cascades, and then
+spoke softly:</p>
+
+<p>"I feel I'm in the presence of one of the world's biggest things, and
+it is inspiring. You know that sentence of James Lane Allen's, 'When
+one has heard the big things calling, how they call and call, day and
+night, day and night!...' Here they call louder, that is my chief
+feeling. I look at this great natural wonder, and whatever there is in
+me most akin to it swells upward. I feel I must do great things or
+die ... be great or not at all. And while I feel like this there is a
+sense of kinship, as if some spirit of the waters understands."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps that is why I am afraid," breathed Diana. "I don't care about
+greatness. I don't want to be great. It all seems so unreal. I like
+the sunshine, and flowers, and trees, and birds, and four-footed
+things. I don't want to be bothered with my fellow-creatures; they are
+a nuisance. If they are in difficulties, and can't find a way out for
+themselves, they might just as well go under."</p>
+
+<p>"You heartless little heathen!" affectionately.</p>
+
+<p>The girl brightened suddenly. "Why! it understands, Meryl!... The
+Spirit of the Waters heard me, and now it is laughing. It is great
+enough to understand and appreciate the feelings of both of us. Don't
+you hear the note of revelling now?... Why!... it's all revelling. The
+waters are shrieking with joy. They've come tearing down the Zambesi
+valley for the rapture of plunging over the precipice, and now they
+are just beside themselves with the excitement and delight of it.
+O!... they heard me say I don't care about my fellow-creatures, that
+they are just a nuisance, and they're shouting to me, 'Neither do
+we ... neither do we!... Silly, wide-eyed, open-mouthed humans come
+and stare at us, and try to describe us, saying we are lovely and
+wonderful and pretty and such-like, and we just roar at them and their
+puniness and take our glorious plunge.' That is what the waters are
+saying to me now, Meryl. I feel as if I simply must plunge with them.
+Take me away. I can't bear any more to-day." And they went silently
+back through the lovely plantations to the hotel.</p>
+
+<p>But in the evening, in the moonlight, her mood changed again.</p>
+
+<p>"I feel a little like you to-night, Meryl. The big things do matter,
+of course. If I'm such a silly little goat I can't do anything big
+myself, I guess I'll help you whenever it's possible. And, of course,
+even humans matter a little, though I do like dogs and horses so much
+better; but there's something so calm and big and strong about the
+waters to-night, they are telling me all the time that the big things
+matter. O, Meryl, it's so lovely&mdash;so lovely&mdash;it hurts dreadfully...."</p>
+
+<p>And after a pause: "If it hadn't been for you I should never have
+taken the trouble to come and see it. I won't grouse at the dust any
+more."</p>
+
+<p>And later: "I'm glad there's no sign of a human habitation at hand,
+and that the wilderness is all round. They had to be splendidly
+isolated&mdash;magnificently alone&mdash;the god who did it understood that. One
+can think of the wide reaches of Africa afterwards, and the gem, like
+a priceless jewel, set in them. Deep silence, wide horizons, untrodden
+country on every hand, and this in the midst like a treasure tenderly
+enfolded."</p>
+
+<p>After three days they returned to Bulawayo, and found their pilot
+impatient to be off. He unfolded his plans, and the two girls listened
+eagerly when he said:</p>
+
+<p>"I am told there is every indication of gold in the Victoria district,
+and my engineer is anxious I should journey down there and see one or
+two properties. The railway does not extend beyond Selukwe, so if we
+go we must take a travelling ambulance and tents and sleep out in them
+for three or four weeks. I think there is a pretty good hotel in
+Edwardstown, where you could remain if you like while I travel round,
+and then we might all journey to Salisbury up the old pioneer route."</p>
+
+<p>The girls were delighted, but Aunt Emily's mournful resignation had
+reached its limit. She informed them, in a voice which implied, no
+matter how they pleaded with her, she should remain firm, that nothing
+would induce her to accompany them upon such a journey.</p>
+
+<p>Her brother said quietly, "Just as you like, Emily. I think I can take
+care of the girls. Will you stay in Bulawayo, or go back to
+Johannesburg?"</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Emily's face wore rather a reproachful expression as she replied,
+"I suppose I had better return to Johannesburg, and then if any of you
+get ill with malaria or typhoid, you must wire for me and I will come
+back."</p>
+
+<p>"You were very good to come so far," said Meryl gently, seeing the
+veiled disappointment that they could dispense with her so easily.</p>
+
+<p>"If it is any consolation," volunteered Diana, "you may be quite sure
+we are all going to be most horribly uncomfortable for the next month
+or two. The only illness I anticipate is an utter and complete
+weariness of life. I don't know which sounds the most dreadful: being
+bumped along dusty roads in an ambulance, and sleeping with snakes and
+toads under a tent; or being stifled in an odious little
+corrugated-iron hotel, living on poisonous tinned stuffs in a
+perpetual odour of stale roast nigger. If I am going to endure it for
+my country, I hope my country will give me the only fitting
+reward&mdash;the Victoria Cross."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps we needn't stay in the hotel," said Meryl hopefully. "We can
+probably camp out. Surely the wonderful old ruins are somewhere near
+Edwardstown, father? How splendid if we could camp beside them!..."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite near. We will certainly go and see them. They tell me there is
+a police camp there, and at this time of the year it is quite
+healthy."</p>
+
+<p>"But how glorious!..." cried Meryl. "I had no idea you were going in
+their direction."</p>
+
+<p>"I meant to if possible," her father said; and so the trip was decided
+upon.</p>
+
+<p>Three days later the cavalcade started off from Gwelo with great
+<i>&eacute;clat</i>. Two ambulances: one containing the two girls, a driver, a
+fore-looper, and a small black boy named Gelungwa, who was everything
+from ladies' maid to general adviser; and the other containing Mr.
+Pym, his engineer, driver, fore-looper, and the engineer's black
+cook-boy, who proved himself an invaluable asset.</p>
+
+<p>Each ambulance was drawn by eight mules, and carried its share of the
+paraphernalia necessary to a long sojourn in the wilderness, and being
+thoroughly well equipped, they had decided to dispense with any
+further railway service until they reached Salisbury.</p>
+
+<p>They started from Gwelo, with its wide, tree-lined roads, in the
+freshness of the morning, and leaving the surrounding bare,
+uninteresting common quickly behind, dived straightway into a track of
+Rhodesia that is like a vast, undulating park. The red road wound
+across a wide, breezy stretch of veldt to wooded hills and valleys,
+and beyond this was an enchanting vista of dreaming blue kopjes on a
+far horizon. Even Diana found nothing to grumble at. Like Meryl, her
+eyes rested often on that dreaming distance, and the unique charm of a
+journey into the unknown, independent of railways and hotels, held her
+senses. When two graceful buck sprang up in the grass near them, stood
+a moment to investigate, and then fled away, leaping and bounding to
+safety, she drew a deep breath of delight.</p>
+
+<p>"Di, it's going to be a glorious trip!" Meryl exclaimed in low-voiced
+ecstasy.</p>
+
+<p>Diana paused before she remarked in answer:</p>
+
+<p>"It seems so natural somehow, to be journeying out to an unknown
+bourne in this primitive fashion. I wonder if, in another existence, I
+was one of the wives or handmaidens in Abraham's caravanserai? Perhaps
+I was his favourite concubine!... How interesting!... I'm sure I've
+journeyed like this into a far land before."</p>
+
+<p>And again:</p>
+
+<p>"How jolly to have two drivers who don't understand a word we say,
+instead of a chauffeur who is all ears and an Aunt Emily who is all
+prejudices!"</p>
+
+<p>"Still," said Meryl, "you couldn't very well have a coachman in
+England wearing a sky-blue felt hat that was obviously meant for a
+lady, and with a large blue patch upon brown trousers."</p>
+
+<p>"He's just a dear," was Diana's laughing comment. "I love his awful
+solemnity. He's like a Hindoo idol. And what luck to have a side wind
+instead of a forward one!"</p>
+
+<p>At twelve they stayed in a welcome piece of shade for their first
+veldt meal. Lounge-chairs were untied for them to rest in, and an
+excellent little repast prepared by the cook-boy, while the small
+black imp waited upon them like a trained butler. Then they dozed
+through the hot midday hours, continuing their journey to those
+alluring blue distances after all were rested, until they reached the
+first night's camping place and pitched their tents near a rippling
+river&mdash;as Diana described it, "all mixed up with stars, and dreams,
+and niggers, and kopjes, and mules."</p>
+
+<p>For a week they journeyed on, each day seeming lovelier than the last,
+and the dreaming repose of a great content hovered over all of them.
+There was no need for haste and none was made. There was no pitiless
+urging of tired mules as in the post-cart; no shouting natives, no
+hurried pauses for a snatched rest. The mules jogged contentedly
+along, realising they were in good hands, and always through the
+midday hours everyone lazed. An early spring had brought many young
+leaves out, although it was still August, and these were often
+beautiful shades of red, bronze, orange, scarlet, gold, and
+emerald-green, beyond or through which blue kopjes took on a yet more
+dream-like, ethereal air. Sometimes the red road wound along through
+woods of loveliest colouring, carpeted already with spring flowers.
+Sometimes it ran out into open spaces where the trees stood back in
+line, revealing wonderful glimpses of the fascinating land to their
+eager gaze.</p>
+
+<p>Strange, fantastical, granite kopjes like mighty mausoleums adorned
+with ilex trees barred their path, and Diana was convinced some of
+the bones of her ancestors lay buried there, because she felt so
+weirdly at home with them.</p>
+
+<p>"This is my natural environment," she informed her uncle and the
+engineer. "I ought to be dwelling here in state, as the favourite wife
+of the greatest chief in the land."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl grew dreamier with every day, though sometimes her eyes were sad
+as she looked out over the country, as if she already loved it with a
+love that was akin to pain.</p>
+
+<p>Had he, that great Imperialist, looked at it with those calm eyes of
+his, and known just that sense of aching love?... When he journeyed
+out into its enchanting untrodden spaces, accompanied only by some
+kindred spirit, had the land risen up and enslaved and enfolded him,
+like some enchantress who bound men's souls for ever?... Had Rhodesia,
+in her sunny loveliness, been wife and child to the great man who went
+lonely to his grave?...</p>
+
+<p>As they drove along and the fascination increased, far outweighing any
+discomfort of glare and dust and jolting roads, Meryl felt herself
+engraving the sight and the sound and the freshness of it upon her
+soul, that she might have hidden pictures to gaze upon with closed
+eyes when the exigencies of life called her back into the throng.</p>
+
+<p>Her father was mostly silent as was his wont, planning and scheming
+with a brain that knew little other rest than following its natural
+bent, yet with that in his silence, and in his watchful eyes that made
+one feel he too loved the land for itself, as well as for what he
+could get out of it; and that when occasion came, like Alfred Beit and
+Cecil Rhodes, he would pay his debt a hundredfold.</p>
+
+<p>So they came at last to the wide, open veldt where Edwardstown was
+situated, and knew themselves in the district teeming with pioneer
+memories.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl and Diana descended reluctantly at the hotel, and looked round
+disparagingly at their little hot bedroom, thinking regretfully of
+their tent in the wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>"How awful," said Diana, "if we find ourselves never able to exist in
+an ordinary house again! We shall have to pitch two tents in Hyde
+Park. Ugh!... it positively smells of walls and doors and windows;
+how I hate them!"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll go on to Zimbabwe to-morrow and camp beside the ruins,"
+answered Meryl. "How splendid to be going there so soon!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ruins are not much in my line," quoth the outspoken. "Let's hope
+there'll be a man there as well."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2>
+
+<h2>CAREW IS DISTURBED</h2>
+
+<p>The news that the millionaire Henry Pym with his daughter and a niece
+were journeying to Great Zimbabwe reached the police camp first
+through a letter from the Administration to Major Carew, requesting
+him to have the long, disfiguring dry grass burnt, and the
+surroundings of the temple tidied up a little, and to show every
+attention to the travellers. When he received the letter it was
+obvious at once that the information did not give him any pleasure. On
+the contrary, his expression as nearly approached a frown as he was
+likely to permit it on receiving orders from headquarters. He had
+opened the letter standing outside his hut, where it had been handed
+to him by the native runner, and Stanley was reading a newspaper near,
+while Moore affectionately handled an antediluvian gun he was thinking
+of buying from a prospector.</p>
+
+<p>Stanley glanced up, wondering what letters had come, and saw the
+hovering frown.</p>
+
+<p>"Any news, sir?" he asked frankly, for he was no longer in awe of his
+silent chief. As a matter of fact, he never had been to any degree.
+The Kid would have found it difficult to be in awe of anyone, but for
+a few days Carew had baffled him.</p>
+
+<p>"Henry Pym, you've probably heard of him, is likely to arrive here in
+a few days."</p>
+
+<p>Stanley opened his eyes a little. "What! the millionaire?... Good biz!
+We'll rook him at poker and bridge and shooting, and a few other
+things. It isn't right for him to have all that money. It would even
+things up a little if we could transfer some of it to poor, penniless
+policemen."</p>
+
+<p>"He is accompanied by his daughter and a niece," said Carew in even
+tones.</p>
+
+<p>"Lord love a holy duck!..." exclaimed the young policeman, and was
+fairly astonished on to his feet. "Coming here, sir?... Coming here to
+Zimbabwe?"</p>
+
+<p>"So the letter says. It also adds that they may wish to camp near, and
+they are to be shown every attention."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>They shall be</i> ..." quoth The Kid, so comically that even Carew's
+lips relaxed. "I suppose the letter doesn't specify the attention?...
+Christopher Columbus!... Great Scott!... Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!...
+To think of two millionaires' daughters all at once in this benighted,
+thirsty land!... It fairly catches me in the breath," and he sat down
+again suddenly as if the news was too much for him.</p>
+
+<p>"By gad, Moore!... do you hear that?... a bloated millionaire and two
+millionairesses are about to descend upon us from the skies. Talk of
+manna and blessings coming down from heaven!... Give me
+millionairesses!..."</p>
+
+<p>The Irishman looked up with a knowing smile. "Shure!" said he, "give
+me whisky...."</p>
+
+<p>"Begorra, Pat!" laughed The Kid. "If you got the heiress you could
+swim in whisky." Then he looked again at Major Carew and observed the
+suggestion of a frown still on his face while he stood with the letter
+in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Heiresses are seemingly not much in your line, sir?" he suggested
+humorously. "You ... well, you don't quite look overjoyed!..."</p>
+
+<p>Carew in his quiet way had grown fond of the gay young trooper, and he
+showed no offence at the attitude of familiarity.</p>
+
+<p>"We shall have to consider a good camping-place for them, and probably
+give up two huts to the ladies. I gather they may be here in two or
+three days. Is the grass dry enough to burn to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>The Kid glanced round doubtfully. "Hardly; and the place won't look
+well all black."</p>
+
+<p>"That's why I thought we had better begin at once. If they are some
+days the ash will have had time to blow away. Arrange for a gang of
+boys to be ready at six o'clock, and we will light up and see what we
+can do."</p>
+
+<p>In the hut he tossed the letter down on to his table. "Confound
+it!..." he said under his breath. "Fancy women down here, staring and
+chattering, and prying! I suppose they will expect the entire police
+force in the neighbourhood to be at their disposal, and nothing else
+will matter at all." His face grew more and more gloomy. "If I had
+only started to M'rekwas yesterday, I could have been absent a
+fortnight, and by then they would have departed again." He stood a
+moment considering if he could start at once, and decided, as the
+letter was sent specially to him, he could hardly leave before
+carrying out his instructions.</p>
+
+<p>Stanley and the other trooper meanwhile made hurried preparations for
+a great fire. They lit up in the evening, having stationed boys at
+intervals to keep the flames within bounds, and themselves stood
+posted with their guns, hoping for a shot at wild pig or cheetah, or
+possibly a lion or leopard. Carew kept guard at the huts, with a few
+boys to beat off the flames that encroached to any danger points and
+watch for flying sparks that might ignite the thatch. It was a
+wonderful sight, and his eyes were full of appreciation as he watched
+it. The gathering darkness, the lurid flames lighting up with swift
+brightness the ancient ruins; the high Acropolis Hill on one side, the
+low granite-strewn kopjes on the other, and running between the Valley
+of Ruins, now a vale of fire.</p>
+
+<p>It crossed his mind that it was almost a pity they had not left the
+burning of the grass until the travellers arrived, that they might see
+the strange, fantastic sight. But he cogitated that the millionaires
+he had known hitherto had little appreciation for much beyond
+money-making, and no doubt they were merely taking a passing glimpse
+at the ruins; the man on some money-making quest, and the girls just
+to be able to say they had seen them. His eyes rested on the temple
+wall, and he felt suddenly absurdly resentful that these rich
+pleasure-seekers should come even there to gape and stare. He had
+grown to love the ruins dearly, until that moment he had scarcely
+known how dearly, and to him it seemed for the moment like showing
+some treasured personal relics to barbarians.</p>
+
+<p>There were so many other things for the pleasure-seekers. Let them go
+to the Falls, and Lake Nyassa, and the Himalayas, and those tourist
+treasures; but why come and chatter inane banalities about his ruins:
+his treasured, mysterious relic of perhaps the oldest civilisation
+the world has known?</p>
+
+<p>Of course, he knew perfectly that much controversy had raged round the
+question, and that one or two learned scientists had definitely stated
+their belief that the ruins were of comparatively recent date, and
+deduced more or less convincing proofs in support of their theory; but
+controversies and carefully worded reports were small things to the
+man who had dwelt beside the mysterious temples and fortifications,
+and learnt to love and treasure them. He had his proofs too and his
+deductions, and such as they were they satisfied him, in the face of
+all opposition, that the curious remains were indeed of great
+antiquity, quite probably the ancient Havilah of the Scriptures. To
+him every nook and every corner had its meaning and its history. In
+the play of his fancy he had seen the white-robed priests and acolytes
+in stately procession, amid the old, old walls; heard strains of
+far-off music when an ancient worship offered its votary of prayer and
+praise to that mysterious deity whom they believed in; heard perhaps a
+single lovely voice, or seen a single lovely convert kneel before the
+Sacred Enclosure. He had seen their strong men and their brave men and
+their great men marshalling a host of women and children and infirm
+citizens safely into the fastnesses of the Acropolis Hill, where, with
+a sufficient supply of food and water, three thousand people might be
+safely shielded for any length of time. He had seen them stand on the
+high battlements, and look out across the plain or into the rock-hewn
+kopjes for the hosts of the enemy. He had seen them, even when
+besieged upon that mighty hill, assembling together to worship in the
+temples they had laboriously raised upon the giant granite ledges.
+Were they fair, those women of that old, old day? Were they brave,
+were they mighty in stature, those men who evolved and achieved those
+wonderful defence works? Did they love the fair land that fed them
+with the love of home and country, or were they but sojourners for a
+while amid unfriendly, cruel tribes, that needed watchful eyes day and
+night? Led perhaps by a spirit of adventure, or by persecution
+elsewhere, or by the lust of gold, yet faithful always to the worship
+of their race, and building at infinite, incomprehensible pains those
+temples in the alien land. How they held him; how they fascinated; how
+they soothed with infinite soothing the bitter sorrow, the gaping,
+stinging wound that had driven him furiously away, all those years
+before, from the flesh-pots of a modern Babylon! Had he cared for it
+all very much then?... He wondered, looking full and deep into his
+hidden memories. Had the lights and the music, the song and dance, the
+laughing women and reckless men, the midnight orgies and morning
+headaches, really given him so much pleasure that he must needs fling
+it all aside with such bitter anger and harsh regret when the
+thunderbolt fell and the searching dart stabbed him awake? Outraged,
+hurt-maddened, he had flung away, as he believed, to outer darkness,
+and to a joyless, purposeless, colourless life. And he had found?...</p>
+
+<p>Ah!... when he looked at the ancient, mysterious ruins he had grown to
+love, and around upon a country that was life-hope and life-interest
+to him, he knew that it was the other life which had been purposeless,
+and all of one colour, and the self-chosen exile that had given him
+the things it is good to live and breathe and die for.</p>
+
+<p>And thinking of it all, with that shy softness which sometimes stole,
+as it were, stealthily into his strong face in moments of dreaming
+thought, he remembered with growing regret the advent of the party for
+which he was bidden to make preparations, and resented it yet more
+forcibly. Why need they come?... these women ... these spoiled,
+flattered, perhaps vulgar, heiresses. What did they want with ancient
+rites and wonderful relics of antiquities? What were they doing in
+Rhodesia at all, flaunting their finery and their possessions before
+the eyes of the hardy settlers and the plucky women who shared their
+difficulties and disappointments? In a young, struggling country what
+place was there for the idly, gracefully rich?</p>
+
+<p>In his goaded fancy he saw their elegant, costly garments, and he
+heard strident voices exclaiming shrilly at his treasure, perhaps
+calling it an interesting heap of stones. Was there still time to get
+away, he wondered? Could a sudden call be arranged?... a sudden need
+for hasty departure?...</p>
+
+<p>Let The Kid laugh the hours away with them, and take his fill of gay
+companionship; and let him return when the siege was over, and the
+soothing and the restfulness and the splendour had come back.</p>
+
+<p>Wondering still, and with the sore regretfulness growing, he looked
+round to make sure all was safe, and that no further danger need be
+feared from blowing sparks or creeping flames; and then went gravely
+into his hut to read.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning he told Stanley that he might be obliged to go east
+the following day on important business, and leave him to receive the
+travellers, and remained imperturbably grave and non-seeing when
+Stanley raised his eyebrows and regarded him with a little amused
+twinkle of understanding.</p>
+
+<p>But in the afternoon the party quite unexpectedly turned up, and
+somewhere away in the blue, dreaming kopjes the voice of a following
+fate laughed softly.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2>
+
+<h2>TWO UNEXPECTED MEETINGS</h2>
+
+<p>Early in the afternoon Carew rode to the mission station to tell Ailsa
+Grenville and her husband of the expected visitors, and of how he was
+likely to depart in the morning for M'rekwas and be away about a
+fortnight.</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa Grenville smiled at him archly when he told her. "Why do you run
+away when, for once in a way, you have the chance of a little
+companionship? It would do you more good to stay."</p>
+
+<p>"I think not; and besides," he added, hastily, "I am going on
+business."</p>
+
+<p>"A convenient sort of business, I fancy. Why not wait and see them
+first?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I could hardly go away immediately after their arrival, when
+Mr. Pym probably knows of the letter despatched to me from
+headquarters. It is far simpler to send a runner back with excuses."</p>
+
+<p>"But why go at all?" in a persuasive voice.</p>
+
+<p>Carew walked to the door and knocked the ashes out of his pipe against
+the heel of his boot; and Ailsa knew by his face that, though he did
+not resent her questioning, he would take no notice of it. And it made
+her a little sad, for of all the men she knew, next to Billy, her
+husband, she admired Carew, and she regretted deeply his insistent
+determination to stand aloof from mankind generally behind the
+barriers he had built up.</p>
+
+<p>Then Billy himself came in: khaki-clad, vigorous, and gay as ever; and
+when he heard the news he was less reticent, and exclaimed outright,
+"But what do you want to go away for? Why, it will be quite a treat
+for you to have ladies there; and who knows, one of the heiresses may
+be very charming&mdash;charming enough even for your fastidious taste!"</p>
+
+<p>"I prefer the company of the veldt," was all he said, without relaxing
+the fixity of his face; "ladies are more in Stanley's line."</p>
+
+<p>"The Kid must be awfully pleased," Ailsa said, smiling. "I'm sure he
+isn't going away."</p>
+
+<p>Carew, lying back in a big chair, was leisurely lighting his pipe, and
+he did not reply. All his attitude showed only cold indifference, and
+it would have been difficult to believe that, even in his heart, he
+had taken the trouble to be resentful. Ailsa, watching, felt a little
+impatient with him. She wanted to break through the shell in which he
+chose to hide that self which her instinct told her was so different
+to his outward seeming. What had become of the gay Londoner, who drove
+the smartest four-in-hand in the park, and rode the fastest horse to
+hounds? She longed to write home and ask her people of his story, but
+bitter things had been said when she elected to go into exile with her
+husband, and there had been almost no correspondence since. And Billy
+had been away in South Africa at the time of the crash and heard
+nothing about it. All he could tell her was that Carew of the Blues
+had been known as one of the gayest of the gay fifteen years or so
+ago, and that suddenly he had seemed to vanish off the face of the
+earth; and that Carew of the B.S.A.P. was the same man, only
+different, and he must be over forty years of age. So she had to
+content herself as well as she could, and be glad that, at any rate,
+while he remained in the Victoria district, they could have his
+companionship, though he chose to keep his own counsel as to why he
+was there.</p>
+
+<p>At first she had been rather afraid of him, and felt shy and awkward
+when he came to see them; but Billy's attitude of jovial good
+fellowship, in no way repulsed by the other's cold reserve, had helped
+to reassure her, and now they both appeared unconscious of any lack of
+warmth in their visitor. If he liked to be silent he could, and if he
+seemed in a taciturn mood they took no notice.</p>
+
+<p>When he called for his horse to return he said good-bye to her before
+mounting, and spoke of not coming again for a fortnight, and she
+watched him ride away regretfully. Evidently he did not mean to be
+sociable, even to the lady travellers, and it was no use hoping
+anything for him.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, the first ambulance, containing Meryl and Diana,
+arrived at the ruins. Mr. Pym was detained in Edwardstown with his
+engineer, and might not join them until the next day, but the girls
+begged him to let them go on, longing to be out in the open again,
+away from hotels and bungalows.</p>
+
+<p>So a police-boy from the town camp was sent on to escort them, and the
+Zimbabwe camp notified by runner of their approach. Stanley opened the
+letter in the absence of his chief, and much to his own delectation,
+was waiting alone to receive them upon the chosen camping-ground on
+their arrival. Diana saw him first, and remarked joyfully that he was
+white.</p>
+
+<p>"Hooroosh!..." said she, "there's a man as well as ruins." And a
+little later, "I'm afraid he's only a boy, but he looks a nice boy,
+and there are occasions when the 'half a loaf' proverb applies to
+'half a man.'"</p>
+
+<p>Then he helped her out of the ambulance after receiving them with a
+grave salute, and regretted that, in the absence of Major Carew, there
+was no one but himself to receive them. He was evidently a trifle shy
+and embarrassed, stammering a little as he offered his services to
+superintend the pitching of their camp, with eyes that would wander
+from the elder cousin to Diana's small, impish, alluring face.</p>
+
+<p>"Have some tea with us first," said she. "We've already acquired a few
+Rhodesian vices, such as an unlimited capacity for tea-drinking, and
+Gelungwa can make quite a decent apology for the beverage which cheers
+but not inebriates."</p>
+
+<p>They sat down, and laughed and chatted together until the kettle
+boiled, and before the tea was finished The Kid had fallen in love
+with both, and was congratulating himself that Carew had taken that
+afternoon ride. Then the girls said they would ramble while their tent
+was pitched, but disagreed as to which direction they would take
+first. Meryl had left her little guide-book with her father, and
+wanted to postpone the temple until she had it. Diana said it was too
+hot to attempt the Acropolis Hill. In the end they separated. Meryl
+strolled towards the Acropolis and Diana sought the cool shadiness of
+the temple.</p>
+
+<p>About the same time Carew started his homeward ride, and when he
+reached the base of the Acropolis Hill he gave his horse to the runner
+who had gone with him to carry some books for Ailsa Grenville, and
+climbed a little way into the hill to remark a point of investigation
+he had been discussing with Grenville; and, quite suddenly, round a
+sharp piece of masonry, he came upon Meryl Pym. She wore a large,
+shady hat, and she was standing quite still, gazing across the
+country. For a moment Carew stood quite still also. It was odd that
+she had not heard his steps upon the rough footpath, but apparently
+she was too absorbed to hear anything at all. He was exceedingly
+relieved and drew aside stealthily, prepared to return quickly the way
+he had come. But before he started he glanced once more, for something
+in her quiet pose struck oddly upon his heart. She looked very slim
+and graceful and girlish in a simple washing frock of some soft grey
+material, with little Quakerish cuffs and collar, and the big, shady
+hat tied on with a ribbon. And all in a moment he was transported
+years before, and there was a Devonshire wood, and a slim lassie, and
+little Quakerish cuffs and collar, and eyes that watched and
+waited&mdash;watched and waited for him.</p>
+
+<p>And then....</p>
+
+<p>No, not even in thought would he dwell again upon what followed. It
+was a weakness he had fought down. A weakness that even now, given
+rein, could unman him. The quick light vanished from his eyes, the
+mouth grew stern again, and he turned to descend.</p>
+
+<p>At the same moment Meryl turned also and came towards his
+hiding-place. He had just time to step further back and take shelter
+behind a low, bushy tree, which would hardly reveal his khaki, before
+she passed. And just in front of him she raised her head and glanced
+upwards, so that he saw her eyes, and for a moment his pulses seemed
+to stop beating. If her pose had reminded him of someone it was as
+nothing compared to her face with that upward glance. The delicate
+contour, the fine features, the wistful, dreamy, quiet eyes. Were they
+blue, or were they grey?... How came they with long, dark, curling
+lashes when her hair was a dusky, light shade, with soft waves and
+gleams of sunlight? In his hiding-place he stood very still and very
+rigid. For a moment he might have been part of the rock behind him.
+Then she passed on up the steep ascent, and he came out and retraced
+his steps, feeling a little dazed.</p>
+
+<p>Who could she be?... But, of course, the party must have arrived
+unexpectedly: had not remained in Edwardstown as they intended. And
+she was one of the heiresses&mdash;one of the flaunting, gaping, vulgar,
+dressed-up young women he had been secretly so resentful over. And, of
+course, she was none of these. Then suddenly he almost laughed; almost
+laughed aloud. For she was worse&mdash;far, far worse. The gushing,
+loud-voiced heiress he might have coped with. His frigidity froze most
+people if he chose; and avoidance was not difficult. But what could he
+do with Joan&mdash;his love, his dead love Joan&mdash;looking at him out of this
+girl's beautiful eyes, touching him with this girl's slender hands,
+speaking to him from this stranger's lips? It was
+impossible&mdash;impossible; all the careful training of that fifteen years
+in exile would be undone. His very life would be undermined again. For
+the moment it seemed incredible, preposterous. He felt stunned by it.</p>
+
+<p>Then his rigid self-control came to his aid, and his face grew stern
+and hard.</p>
+
+<p>The preposterous thing was that he should let a chance resemblance hit
+him so; should even admit the possibility of being undone after all
+his careful self-training. No, a thousand times no; he was not such a
+weak fool as that. The strength he had won was his still. He had only
+to go on being resolute and cold and the past would lie down again,
+and once more go quietly to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>He defied it to overcome him now. By every agonised pang, by every
+hour of unfathomable bitterness, by every solitary year of self-chosen
+exile, he insisted that he must prevail. He strode on, scarcely seeing
+anything about him, and his face grew sterner and sterner. Then he
+came within sight of the camping-place, and saw the white tent, and
+Stanley giving directions, while Moore and some black boys unpacked
+things from the ambulance.</p>
+
+<p>And he thought he would get more complete control of himself before he
+joined them; take this thing fairly by the throat and throttle it,
+that he might regain his peace of mind absolutely before the second
+encounter with the owner of the face and form that seemed for a moment
+to have made an upheaval in his life. So he turned aside and made for
+the temple, feeling glad and relieved at the consciousness that the
+mood was passing, and reassured that, being no more taken by surprise,
+he would successfully master it. Probably he could still go away on
+the morrow, and once away, Rhodesia would take him to her heart again.
+He knew it full well. Every day now the country was giving back to him
+of what he had given to her; lulling him, soothing him, revivifying
+him with her freshness and her charm.</p>
+
+<p>But his mind was very occupied still and his vision clouded as he
+passed into the cool shade of the temple, and he did not see a small,
+dainty person with an impish face perched high on a broken wall, with
+her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands, and a queer,
+fitful, half-serious, half-bored expression in her dark eyes. Instead,
+seeing no one and thinking himself alone, he sat down on a low wall
+quite near to her and stared gloomily at the ground. Diana, not a
+little amused, surveyed him at her leisure. "What in the world," she
+wondered, "was this smart, soldierly looking man, correctly booted and
+spurred, sitting down there for in the ruins?..."</p>
+
+<p>The great temple at Zimbabwe has never been roofed. The ruins consist
+of a wonderful outer wall, from twenty-two to thirty-two feet high and
+in some places fifteen feet thick, of an elongated shape, and within
+this wall are remnants of other walls which formed separate small
+enclosures. There is also the sacred enclosure with the conical tower,
+and leading into it from the north entrance the wonderfully contrived
+passage, between two high walls, scarcely more than a shoulder's
+breadth apart in one place. Amid the ruins trees have grown up, many
+of them higher than the outer wall, and these shade the glare of the
+sun, casting cool shadows and networks of sunlight upon the broken
+walls. And on the afternoon in question here and there were splashes
+of brilliant scarlet, where a Kaffir Boom tree flowered with a
+flaunting indifference to the passing of centuries and races.</p>
+
+<p>Diana, with her whimsical, artistic temperament, was fully alive to
+the fascination and uniqueness of her surroundings, but being a little
+tired with the drive, she felt for the moment somewhat impatient with
+ruins generally, and just a shade depressed with a certain air of dead
+forlornness that hovered all around. Then into the midst of this dream
+of antiquity strode a stern, fierce-looking, very up-to-date
+sportsman, who sat, for no conceivable reason, on a broken wall and
+stared at the ground. For one moment her sense of the ludicrous made
+her almost laugh aloud. Then, with sudden, upleaping interest, she sat
+still as a mouse and watched him. Once she half smiled to herself.
+There was a man, then, as well as a boy! She was not going to be
+entirely stifled in ruins, after all! She went on with her
+cogitations, staring hard, her head a little to one side. A real man,
+too, with a lean, brown face, and a square, determined chin, and a
+nose quite Roman enough to suit any novelist, and dark hair a little
+thin on the top and a little grey at the temples. She could not be
+sure if he were a soldier or not, but evidently he had been riding,
+for he still carried a hunting-crop; and also, judging by his face and
+attitude, something was considerably on his mind.</p>
+
+<p>Without the slightest movement she sat on and waited; and that was
+exceedingly characteristic of Diana. Where another girl would have
+felt embarrassed and made some sound to relieve the tension, she
+almost held her breath to retain it. The situation was unique. In a
+life that offered deplorably little of novelty and adventure she would
+not for worlds have thrown away such a chance. Meryl, on the other
+hand, would probably not have felt the tension; she would have quietly
+walked past him out at the entrance. Diana felt the atmosphere of the
+footlights and calmly waited.</p>
+
+<p>And, of course, in the end, vaguely conscious of some disturbing, not
+quite accountable element, Carew looked up straight into her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Diana looked straight back and tried hard to keep her lips from
+twitching. She noticed pleasurably that he did not start; that he
+scarcely even showed surprise. Such a man, she felt, would not. Yet
+the very fact that for several seconds he remained perfectly still,
+staring at her, showed that he was quite satisfactorily astounded.
+Then he stood up, and waited a moment as if he expected her to speak.
+She thought he might have smiled. The hero on the stage, of course,
+would smile&mdash;divinely&mdash;and a blush like a tender dawn would overspread
+the heroine's rose-leaf cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>But he did not smile; to be honest, he looked excessively annoyed, and
+no tender blush of any sort could possibly have shown upon her
+sunburnt face.</p>
+
+<p>Still, she did not intend to flinch, and if the mischievous smile
+lurking at the corners of her mouth died away, she still regarded him
+with a calmness equal to his own, and with the impishness quite
+emphatically still in her eyes. Then suddenly she felt as if there had
+been some invisible sword-play between them. Her instinct told her he
+resented her silent watching, and that his cool, collected front now
+and his silence were the expression of his resentment. It was not in
+the least like a fairy story, of course; here was the prince, surly,
+stony, and bearish, and the princess, red and brown with sunburn, on
+the point of being caught at a disadvantage. But there Diana's native
+wits came to her aid, and she did a clever thing.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you mind helping me down?" she asked, sweetly. "I climbed up
+here to get a good view of the interior, and when I try to descend the
+stones slip so, I am nervous. I did not like to disturb you before,"
+she finished, unabashed and unblushing, but carefully lowering her
+eyes a moment.</p>
+
+<p>He stepped forward at once and reached his hand up to her, and she saw
+that his keen eyes were of that intense clear blue seen in so many
+strong, notable men, but that they looked at her in a cold, aloof
+manner which made her feel rather small and childish. "Surely," she
+thought, "he is not genuinely angry just because I did not tell him I
+was there?" Aloud she said:</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," and placed her hand quite calmly in the strong, inviting
+brown one upheld to her.</p>
+
+<p>Then, taken with a fit of devilry out of growing exasperation, she
+added, "I'm not the daughter, I'm the niece."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Pym, I presume," he said, coldly, and bowed to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Diana Pym," she replied, and slightly inclined her head.</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Carew," he told her, with bluntness.</p>
+
+<p>"And are you ... er ... a scientist, evolving a theory about the
+ruins?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am a policeman." He said it brusquely, almost rudely, and Diana was
+taken with a sudden desperate inclination to laugh. All in a moment he
+reminded her forcibly of the uniformed autocrat holding up one lordly
+hand to stop the traffic. She moved towards the entrance, keeping her
+face averted. "The same sort of policeman as Mr. Stanley, I suppose?"
+she suggested, affably, but he seemed not to hear her, and a covert
+glance at his face was not reassuring. But the mere fact only spurred
+her on. If she was silent he might think he had overawed her.
+Goodness! how appalling! She quickened her step, and tossed her small
+head a little with a kind of challenging jerk.</p>
+
+<p>"I rather like your ruin," she said. "It's quite a nice old heap of
+stones."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2>
+
+<h2>THE BEAR</h2>
+
+<p>Once more Carew vouchsafed no reply, but Diana knew perfectly well
+that his lips tightened slightly, which signified that in some way she
+had hit him.</p>
+
+<p>So pretending to be perfectly unaware of his non-responsive attitude,
+she ran airily on:</p>
+
+<p>"Such a mad idea to travel hundreds of miles to see a few old remains
+of a doubtful edifice, built by Bantus! or is the plural Bantams?...
+I'm sure when you heard we were coming you wondered if you had better
+prepare a dwelling for us with padded walls. Now, didn't you?..." and
+she looked up archly into his face.</p>
+
+<p>"I understood Mr. Pym had come to this neighbourhood about some gold
+claims," in cold, even tones.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, so he has. But we haven't; at least Meryl hasn't. She came to
+see Rhodesia. I don't quite know what I've come for," na&iuml;vely. "I was
+just wondering about it sitting on that wall." And still he refused to
+be drawn. "You were looking very grave. Were you wondering what you
+are here for too?"</p>
+
+<p>At that moment they reached a spot where the path divided into two:
+one fork leading to their tent and the other to the police camp. He
+stood still. "I believe I was considering the best solution to a
+native problem that has lately arisen." He glanced towards their tent.
+"I see Mr. Stanley is helping to arrange your camp. Please let him
+know of anything you want. You will find him an excellent guide."
+Then, scarcely looking at her, he saluted and walked away.</p>
+
+<p>Diana returned to their tent feeling baffled and interested,
+half-inclined to be cross and half-inclined to laugh. And almost at
+the same time from the other direction came Meryl.</p>
+
+<p>"O, it's wonderful!" Meryl cried softly, with all her face aglow. "I
+never imagined anything half so fascinating; and I haven't even seen
+the temple yet. Mr. Stanley, do stay and dine with us. Our cook-boy is
+quite good."</p>
+
+<p>"All except his soup," put in Diana, "and he is only good at that in
+the sense of making it out of nothing. Sometimes I think he just boils
+a bit of the harness, or a corner of the tent-flap, or probably he
+makes it of rats if he can catch enough."</p>
+
+<p>Stanley looked at her with all his eyes and accepted the invitation
+eagerly, saying that he must first go back to the camp to change. Half
+an hour later he reappeared, looking quite smart in a white duck
+dress-jacket and a starched collar.</p>
+
+<p>As they sat down to their alfresco meal, taken under the stars, with
+two lanterns suspended on sticks for lights, Diana suddenly said to
+him:</p>
+
+<p>"Who is the bear?..."</p>
+
+<p>"The bear?..." doubtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. The bear who lives down there in the police camp, and rejoices
+in the name of Carew."</p>
+
+<p>Stanley, looking much amused, replied, "You must mean the Major; but
+you haven't met him, have you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I had the pleasure of being snarled at for about fifteen minutes this
+afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>Stanley laughed outright. "But where? He never said that he had seen
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think he did see me. We merely met. Most of the time he
+either looked away or looked through me at something beyond. Still, he
+might have mentioned the meeting. I don't feel flattered."</p>
+
+<p>"O, but that is nothing with Carew. He is an awfully silent chap."</p>
+
+<p>"Silent!... do you call it?... I never felt so ... so ... suppressed
+... in my life. I thought he seemed rather inclined to bite me."</p>
+
+<p>"But where did you meet him, Di?..." asked Meryl, with interest.</p>
+
+<p>"I was sitting on a wall in the temple, and he strode in and sat on
+another wall and stared at the ground ... and I stared at him ... and
+then he looked up and saw me ... and afterwards ..." she paused.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to say you sat perfectly still in front of him, and let
+him sit on, thinking himself alone, and then suddenly discover
+you?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it wasn't very fair on him."</p>
+
+<p>"Such nonsense, Meryl! That's just what he seemed to think. Why
+shouldn't I have a little romance if I want to? Such a dull, prosaic,
+commonplace old world as it is, generally speaking! I was having a
+lovely one. He was a great hunter who had lost his way, and dragged
+himself into the temple to die...."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you said he strode in?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be silly; he wasn't in the romance then. And I was a lovely,
+mysterious veiled lady who lived in the wilderness; but my veil
+happened to be thrown back, and when the dying hunter raised his
+eyes...." she stopped short.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?..."</p>
+
+<p>"That's where the romance stopped, where he brutally spoilt it,
+because when he raised his eyes and saw me there he just scowled
+horribly."</p>
+
+<p>Stanley and Meryl laughed whole-heartedly, but Meryl told her it
+served her right because she was unfairly taking him at a
+disadvantage.</p>
+
+<p>"But I did nothing of the kind. No one was at a disadvantage except
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure you weren't," Meryl remarked. "You never have been yet."</p>
+
+<p>"That's where you are mistaken, my dear. When you are sitting in a
+lovely romance, gazing at a dreadfully handsome, distinguished-looking
+man who is the hero prince, and will presently discover you and smile
+divinely with all his soul in his eyes, and when instead an
+iron-visaged person looks up at you, and scowls and grows as black as
+thunder, I defy any woman not to find herself at a disadvantage."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, how did you get out of it?... What did you do?..."</p>
+
+<p>The alluring twinkle shone suddenly in Diana's eyes, and her lips
+twitched mischievously, as she replied:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I smiled divinely instead, and asked him to help me down from
+my high wall."</p>
+
+<p>"O, you are quite incorrigible," laughed Meryl. "If I had been him I
+would have left you there to get down the same way you went up. But
+who is he?..." turning to Stanley. "He sounds rather interesting."</p>
+
+<p>"He's a splendid fellow," The Kid asserted, warmly. "We couldn't stick
+him at first, Moore and I, but we soon found he only wants knowing.
+There's some history attached to his being out here that no one quite
+knows; but he is a Fountenay-Carew and used to be in the Blues."</p>
+
+<p>"But how nice!" quoth Diana. "This is much more interesting than the
+old ruins. Is he rich and haughty, with lovely estates left to
+dishonest stewards, and all that?..."</p>
+
+<p>"No very poor, I should imagine; nothing but his pay, anyhow. I
+believe when he was in the Blues an old uncle gave him a big
+allowance, but something happened, and he threw the money in the old
+chap's face, and the old chap chucked him out."</p>
+
+<p>"And what happened to cause the quarrel?" asked Diana, all ears. "Why,
+he is more romantic than my prince!"</p>
+
+<p>"That is what I fancy no one knows. Anyhow, in a country like this, no
+one asks. It isn't quite the game, you see; and, anyhow, no one is
+interested now. He has done a tremendous lot for Rhodesia in one way
+and another, especially for the police force and natives; and we're
+quite proud of him in our way for that, independent of his history."</p>
+
+<p>"How nice!" and Meryl's eyes grew very soft. "It is a much finer
+reward than he would probably ever have gained in the Blues. I hope he
+thinks so?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't suppose he cares either way. Certainly, he doesn't appear to.
+He just loves the country, and seems only to want to stay here; but he
+never speaks even of that. Since he came here a few months ago he has
+done a lot of investigation work among the ruins privately. He is most
+awfully attached to them."</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly Diana asked, "I suppose he is pretty sick about two modern
+young women presuming to journey here to gaze at his treasure?"</p>
+
+<p>Stanley coloured up, and Diana laughed. "O, don't bother to deny it. I
+could feel it in my very bones when we met this afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>They finished their meal, and the boys moved the table away, so that
+they could sit round the glowing embers of a small fire, not so much
+for warmth as for the idea, and they lazed low in their chairs,
+talking idly and enjoying the cool, fragrant night.</p>
+
+<p>And presently, not &agrave; propos of anything in particular, Diana said,
+quite aloud, "I guess The Bear is growling and scowling away nicely
+to-night down there in his den. I expect the first time we meet I
+shall forget and call him Bear Carew instead of Major Carew, and then
+he'll shrivel me up with a glance."</p>
+
+<p>A sound beside them in the shadow made all look up suddenly, and the
+lamplight fell full upon Carew's face as he stood near Diana's chair.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl rose hurriedly, blushing to the roots of her hair, while
+Stanley, secretly much amused, stood up likewise. Only the culprit
+remained unperturbed to outward seeming, glancing archly round.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid you overheard what I said ... <i>Major</i> Carew.... I'm quite
+ready to apologise, only ..."</p>
+
+<p>"Please, don't...." For one instant the coldly even voice had a tiny
+inflection in it, as of humour, though he stifled it immediately, as
+he turned to Meryl and said, gravely, with a bow, "Miss Pym, I
+think?... A letter has come for you from Edwardstown by runner. I
+brought it on in case you might wish to send a reply, and to enquire
+if you are quite comfortable here for the night."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl took it from him, thanking him in her low, sweet voice, and with
+a rather shy, upward glance. And Diana, in the shadow, saw the soldier
+suddenly flinch and suddenly grow sterner, standing in an attitude of
+almost unnatural rigidity.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no heed to reply," Meryl said, after reading her note. "It
+is only a message from father to say he may be detained until
+afternoon. Thank you so much for bringing it. Won't you sit down? Can
+I offer you anything? I'm afraid there is not much choice. Father does
+not like luxuries in the wilderness, and we only carry whisky."</p>
+
+<p>"No, thank you." The tones were even again now, and he made no
+movement towards a chair. "Have you everything you need for the
+night? I hope Mr. Stanley has made himself very useful?"</p>
+
+<p>"He has been splendid. I am only afraid we have tired him out. Won't
+you sit down?" and she shyly motioned to a chair.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you. I'm afraid I must get back. I have some despatches to
+write. Would you like a police-boy to keep guard here all night? There
+is nothing whatever to fear, but if it would add to your comfort?..."</p>
+
+<p>"O no, thank you," warmly. "We are not in the least nervous. I think
+there are no lions very near," with a little laugh.</p>
+
+<p>Diana, lying back in her chair, had scarcely taken her eyes off the
+tall soldier, though she watched him covertly, and without seeming to;
+and her quick brain perceived dimly that his aloof attitude was partly
+a mask which had become a habit, and that, however much he suppressed
+her, there was nothing whatever repellant about his chilly reserve.
+And then, suddenly, the little mischievous devil possessed her again,
+and she longed to try her arts upon him, just to see what happened,
+and to show him she was not seriously in the least afraid of him.</p>
+
+<p>And no sooner had Meryl remarked that there were no lions near them,
+than she could not for the life of her help murmuring, "No lions, only
+bears."</p>
+
+<p>Again there was an instant's answering gleam in Carew's eyes, but he
+only smiled very slightly, and said, "Perhaps a bear's growl, like a
+dog's bark, is worse than his bite."</p>
+
+<p>It was as though something altogether too much for him was struggling
+with an inclination to relax just the least bit on Diana's behalf and
+insistently conquering. With scarcely a second look at her he drew
+himself up tautly and said he must be going. Then he saluted gravely,
+said good night in a voice that included them all, and strode away
+through the darkness towards the police camp.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment there was silence round the glowing embers.</p>
+
+<p>"It was kind of him to say good night," said Diana, sarcastically.</p>
+
+<p>"What a fine-looking man!" commented Meryl.</p>
+
+<p>"He is gruffer than usual to-night. Perhaps something has happened to
+upset him. I think I must be going also," and Stanley reluctantly rose
+to follow his chief.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course he is gruffer," said Diana. "Two tiresome women have dared
+to journey to Zimbabwe to look at his ruins."</p>
+
+<p>In the darkness Carew strode on to where a light shone through the
+doorway of a hut, but his eyes were looking straight before him into
+the night, and had the expression of one whose thoughts were very far
+away. It had cost him an effort to go up there with the note, but he
+had made it purposely, determined to take in hand quickly that vein of
+weakness which threatened him at sight of Meryl. He would go up and
+speak to her and break the spell as quickly as possible, regaining his
+old fortitude. More particularly as he felt he could not now leave on
+the morrow, just as Mr. Pym was arriving expecting to find him there.
+Not that there appeared any reason why, just because he happened to be
+a millionaire, a police officer should be expected to wait on him, but
+no doubt the Administration had its own reason for showing special
+attention to a very rich man, and hoped for some benefit to the
+country thereby.</p>
+
+<p>So he had taken the bull by the horns and strode up to the lamplit
+camp, where the travellers sat over the glowing embers; and, of
+course, he had heard Diana's remark, and smiled grimly to himself, in
+no way displeased, for it suited him perfectly to be shunned as a
+bear. And then, keeping an iron control over himself, he had addressed
+Meryl, and looked straight into her face without flinching. The upward
+look, for one second, had shaken him, but the iron control held good,
+and before he left them he had spoken to her and looked at her with
+perfect calmness. The visit had been quite as he wished it, and for a
+few seconds, striding into the dark, he congratulated himself upon
+having so satisfactorily coped with a situation that had threatened to
+be a little difficult and had disturbed him so in the afternoon. Of
+course, she wasn't really like Joan, except in a very general way.
+Just her height and figure and graceful movements and colouring; and,
+of course, the upward glance from confiding, thoughtful, blue-grey
+eyes that had humour lurking in them, and power and possibilities, and
+were so curiously framed in dark lashes in spite of light hair. In the
+midst of his self-congratulation he remembered the upward look again,
+and all in a moment once more it shook him. His gaze went blindly to
+the stars, and his mind flew back. Ah! how sweet Joan had been; how
+strong, how true! How she had stood by him through the beginning of
+the storm, turning the clouds to sunshine, making everything worth
+while! And then, the swift tragedy, the climax; the awful, awful days
+and nights that followed. How he had trodden the lonely Devon moors,
+blindly, passionately seeking a dead weariness of body that would dull
+his mind! How he had cursed the two men who drove in the final barb,
+and vowed never to see their faces again!</p>
+
+<p>And then the little note-book he had found, in which Joan had
+inscribed some of her thoughts from time to time, and copied a few
+favourite passages from favourite authors! It had come to him like a
+voice from the dead&mdash;Joan's voice, calling to him to rise above his
+despair and prove himself still worthy of her. And out there on the
+moors at sunrise he had vowed that he would. Calmly, coldly, as an
+austere monk, he had laid down for ever the things that had made his
+life gay and joyous before, and prepared to turn his back on England
+and all that it held pertaining to him.</p>
+
+<p>And now there is a distant wilderness and great southern stars, and
+mysterious, antique ruins, and a man who has grown strong and silent
+in aloofness, and won a sort of soothing content out of what he has
+given, seeking no reward.</p>
+
+<p>Not, perhaps, that "renewing" a royal friend had spoken of fifteen
+years ago, for the contentment was void of hope and fear and joy, but
+balm upon the passionate, frantic bitterness and despair. But the
+"renewing" might come even yet, however much he scorned the thought;
+for forty-two is at the prime of years, and Life has a tender way of
+her own of healing when she will.</p>
+
+<p>But to-night the memories are bitter, and the reopened wound throbs
+and burns. Carew strode up to his hut, with only a curt good night to
+the trooper, and when Stanley arrived back there was no light burning,
+only darkness and silence.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2>
+
+<h2>A MINING CAMP</h2>
+
+<p>The following day Carew avoided the camp, after telling Stanley he
+might devote his time to the ladies if he wished. In the afternoon,
+however, he saw Mr. Pym and his engineer arrive, and then, presently,
+the party all went down to the ruins together. About an hour later
+they re-emerged, and while the two girls went back to the tents, the
+millionaire strolled towards the police camp. Carew, seizing his
+opportunity, came out, and went to meet him. He considered himself
+fortunate in being able to offer the necessary courtesies when the
+ladies of the party were absent. Mr. Pym hid his surprise at seeing so
+distinguished-looking an officer at such an out-of-the-way camp, and
+received his somewhat curt greetings in his own quiet, business-like
+manner. He thanked him for the attentions he had already rendered, and
+hoped they were not causing any inconvenience in pitching their tents
+near the ruins. Carew assured him they were not, and mentioned that
+Mr. Stanley would be happy to place his time at their service and do
+anything he could to make their stay agreeable.</p>
+
+<p>Henry Pym, noting the obvious intention of the officer not to place
+much of his own time at their disposal, looked quietly into the
+resolute face, and felt his interest growing apace. At the same time,
+following his lead, he made no attempt to lengthen the interview,
+which he felt was more or less regarded as an official duty; and with
+courteous thanks said good night, hoped Major Carew would dine with
+them one evening, and returned to his tent.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, uncle," was Diana's greeting, "what do you make of The Bear?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Bear?..." questioningly.</p>
+
+<p>"The cast-iron soldierman, who condescends to breathe the same air as
+ordinary mortals down there in the police camp."</p>
+
+<p>"O, Major Carew!..." with a quick gleam in his eyes. "I thought him
+rather a fine fellow. Don't you?" and he smiled at her slyly.</p>
+
+<p>"A fine bear," quoth Diana, with a little pout. "I prefer a man with a
+little more flexibility. A little more commonplace flesh and blood, so
+to speak."</p>
+
+<p>"I asked him to dinner to-morrow," her uncle remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"And is he coming?" with ill-concealed interest.</p>
+
+<p>"No. He is going to see two young miners named Macaulay a few miles
+away, and was regretfully compelled to decline," and the humorous
+smile on his face widened, for he knew that Diana would be piqued.</p>
+
+<p>"As if he couldn't go there any day!" she grumbled. "O, of course, he
+is perfectly odious."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl's eyes met her father's, and they both laughed, while he
+remarked, "Never mind; perhaps we can lay a trap for him another time.
+Evidently he has no particular fancy for ladies' company."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know the Macaulays?" Meryl asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No, but I am going to see them in two or three days on business."</p>
+
+<p>"And you will take us?..." she pleaded. "I do want so to see all we
+can of the settlers as well as the country."</p>
+
+<p>"We will see later," he said, and made a move to prepare for dinner.</p>
+
+<p>During the next two days he and his engineer made sundry small
+excursions on business. Their investigation of several outcrops in the
+Victoria district had convinced them the gold was by no means worked
+out by that ancient people who had left so many traces of mining
+operations, and Mr. Pym was prepared to buy up claims and properties.
+On the fourth day he went to see the Macaulays, and took the girls
+with him, having procured a mule each for them to ride. Stanley and
+Carew were also to be of the party; the latter not a little to
+everyone's surprise.</p>
+
+<p>All through the four days he had held consistently aloof, personating
+merely the courteous official upon whom Mr. Pym had a certain claim
+because of the letter from headquarters. As a matter of fact, he had
+undertaken a journey of some length on two of the days to outlying
+kraals; and Diana, hearing of it from Stanley, had laughed a little
+grimly, and said, "He need not have troubled. We have no wish to speak
+to him"; and Stanley, not quite clever enough to understand, remarked
+regretfully, "But you would like him so much if you knew him
+properly."</p>
+
+<p>The reason was not very apparent for his accompanying them to the
+Macaulays' mine, but Meryl shrewdly suspected her father, who had gone
+quietly to smoke a pipe in the police camp with him on one or two
+occasions, had asked him to come more or less as a personal favour.
+For though Stanley knew the road perfectly he knew very little about
+the surrounding country itself; and Mr. Pym, with his unerring
+instinct, had quickly discovered that Carew's mind was a well of
+knowledge on most things Rhodesian. So the taciturn soldier joined the
+cavalcade, though he succeeded in attaching himself to Mr. Pym and
+riding well on ahead.</p>
+
+<p>The two Macaulays were "small miners," working on tribute a mine
+belonging to a block owned by a company in which Henry Pym had large
+interests. Complaints had come through to his ears concerning the
+difficult conditions upon which the two young miners, and many others
+like them, struggled to make a fortune or a livelihood, and he had a
+fancy to go and see them for himself. The mine was in a hollow, banked
+round by tall, gloomy kopjes, which seemed to stand like a bodyguard,
+sternly shutting them off from all sight or sound of the outside
+world. At the same time, the road to it was delightful. Sometimes they
+climbed nearly to the top of a kopje, the mules going up stairways of
+granite as if born to it, and the lovely country lay outspread in a
+glorious panorama before them.</p>
+
+<p>The party said very little, but their eyes told that the fascination
+had crept into their hearts already, though they could only appreciate
+in silence, wondering, perhaps, why they felt this strong attraction
+for a land that was chiefly kopjes and veldt.</p>
+
+<p>Was it, perhaps, the marvellous, translucent atmosphere, or was it the
+blue intensity of the dreaming kopjes, ornamented ever and anon by
+gleaming white battlements of granite, where the sun blazed down on
+giant boulders, or was it the unfathomable, mysterious, syren-like
+allurement of the country, that, without effort, without thought,
+steeped the senses in an irresistible fascination? Why does Rhodesia
+fascinate? Why does she call men back again and again to her manifold
+discomforts and unnerving disappointments, to her pests and glare, to
+her bully beef and unwashed Kaffirs? Who shall say?... Who shall
+attempt to explain?...</p>
+
+<p>There is no explanation; only the foolish would seek it. The country
+just gets up and takes hold of one and smiles, and men become enslaved
+to her. Ever after "the hazy blue of her mountains, the waft of the
+veldt-born scent," is like a germ in the blood. The discomforts are
+forgotten, the disappointments dissolve into air, the noontide glare
+and choking dust are a mere nothing: libellous creations of some
+discontented grumbler. And in the midst of the crowd, or in England's
+green lanes, or on some far shore, the wanderer is caught in the old
+mesh suddenly, and all his pulses beat with swift longing at just that
+heaven-sweet impression: "The hazy blue of her mountains, the waft of
+the veldt-born scent...."</p>
+
+<p>And she, the syren, lies there in her sunshine and her loveliness;
+locked in the arms of the deep, luscious, dreaming nights, whispering
+and murmuring softly under embracing, star-lit heavens; making wild
+riot when the splendid storms fling after each other across her bosom,
+while the thunders roll deafeningly amidst her kopjes, and the
+lightning pierces brilliantly the riotous clouds and makes a glory of
+the mighty scene. Sulky and colourless when she is waiting impatiently
+for the delayed rains; resplendent, and with a colouring that is like
+a Te Deum, when the renewing has come, and all her soul sings aloud in
+the joy of spring, and all her flowers and trees lend her loveliness
+past telling, and her hills a yet deeper blueness under yet intenser,
+rain-washed skies. All this&mdash;all her moods and whims and
+waywardness&mdash;going serenely on&mdash;splendidly, superbly indifferent to
+the men who come to tame her and stay to love in silent enslavement;
+as also to the men who come solely for gain and gold, and go away
+shrieking their complainings to the four winds. Because, perhaps, the
+enchantress has not troubled to show them her allurements, and
+ruffled, discontented minds have discovered only the dust and heat and
+pests.</p>
+
+<p>But what of it to the syren?... There are others who stay, as many,
+perhaps, as she wants, and to whom she puts out a shy hand of
+friendship, and presently soothes and consoles as the strong, silent,
+storm-tossed man who rode with so soldierly a bearing beside Mr. Pym;
+suffering no stab of love and longing any more as he looked over her
+fair bosom, because the shy hand was in his, because there was that
+subtle sense of understanding in his heart which seemed to tell him
+that even as he loved Rhodesia, Rhodesia loved him.</p>
+
+<p>And so they came to the Saucy Susan Gold Mine, at least to the ridge
+of the surrounding kopjes, and looked down to where a cluster of huts
+like beehives told them humans dwelt down there in the hollow.</p>
+
+<p>"It can't be a mine," said Diana. "It's just a hollow in the hills;
+the sort of place giants hide in when they play hide-and-seek."</p>
+
+<p>"But it is," Stanley assured her. "We shall see a little more as we
+wind down."</p>
+
+<p>And presently they came within view of a shaft, and two honest-eyed
+young Englishmen, both old Charterhouse boys, came forward to greet
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl shook hands with her face all aglow with interest; and to their
+humble apologies that they had only huts to invite them into, she
+said, "But it is so nice of you to invite us at all. You wouldn't
+believe how proud I am to come here to see you, and how tremendously
+interested."</p>
+
+<p>And Diana, with a droll expression, remarked, "You seem to live rather
+in the nethermost depths. You must feel as if you were going to heaven
+literally and figuratively every time you ascend to the outer world."</p>
+
+<p>The elder brother laughed pleasantly, but the younger, who had a white
+face and a delicate, refined air, looked at her a little wistfully.
+Meryl chatted on with the elder, but Diana, with her quick perception,
+scented a silent, wordless, plucky endurance of adverse conditions in
+the younger, and gave her attention to him.</p>
+
+<p>Then they went into the dining-room hut, and found a meal spread on a
+roughly made table, with only two chairs for seats and all the rest
+packing-cases.</p>
+
+<p>"Who has to sit on a chair?" asked Diana. "I needn't, need I?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, they are quite sound!... Are you afraid of a spill?..." asked
+Lionel Macaulay, looking amused.</p>
+
+<p>"No, only I can sit on a chair any day of my life. I simply insist
+upon having a packing-case when such a good opportunity offers."</p>
+
+<p>So Meryl and her father were duly ensconced in the only two chairs,
+and Diana mounted gaily on to a tall, thin packing-case, which would
+certainly have gone over backwards if Colin, the rather sad-eyed
+brother, had not caught her just as she was overbalancing.</p>
+
+<p>"How clever of you!..." she laughed. "What happens when you two
+overbalance and don't happen to be near enough to catch each other?...
+Does the dinner come in and find you both sprawling on the floor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we've had a good deal of practice, you see," he told her,
+already cheering visibly. "The tables are turned for us, and we choose
+a chair when we can get it, for a treat."</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards she made him show her all his clever contrivances for
+packing-case furniture, and admired his sackcloth curtain, barrel
+washhand stand, and made him feel vigorous and hopeful.</p>
+
+<p>Stanley was talking to Meryl, and Lionel Macaulay was showing Mr. Pym,
+the engineer, and Carew over the mine, so she gossiped away to him all
+by herself. And she drew from him a little of the bitter
+disappointments they had encountered in the country. A story of first
+one mine and then another failing them; of capital slipping away and
+bills mounting; of the gradual cutting down of comforts and increased
+austerity of living: a story common enough in all colonies where Life
+puts men through the mill again and again to prove and harden them.
+Acting perhaps on the lines:</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i3">"It is easy enough to be pleasant</span>
+<span class="i5">When life moves along like a song,</span>
+<span class="i3">But the man worth while is the man who can smile</span>
+<span class="i5">When everything goes dead wrong."</span>
+</div></div>
+<p>Life wants a lot of men and women whom she knows are "worth while" in
+carrying out her great affairs, and that is perhaps why so often
+"everything goes dead wrong."</p>
+
+<p>Diana maintained her r&ocirc;le of gay inconsequence because it pleased her
+best.</p>
+
+<p>"It all sounds very superior and all that rot, and I'm sure Meryl
+would call you a hero; but I should swear myself black and blue in
+your shoes, and that's about what you do pretty often, I expect."</p>
+
+<p>His smile grew fresher and more genuine.</p>
+
+<p>"It doesn't do much good though."</p>
+
+<p>"O yes it does. Don't tell me! When things get into a silly stupid
+mess with me I just shut the door and say every swear word I know
+until I feel better. That's one advantage of living in a hollow in the
+desert. You needn't even bother to shut the door!... You can shout
+your ruffled feelings to the kopjes, and I suppose they echo the words
+back to you. How perfectly splendid! That's a thing about Rhodesia I
+hadn't thought of before. Of course, the echoes are sometimes
+wonderful; so if you were to shout a few swear words the kopjes would
+shout them after you; and that's much better than 'dreaming stillness'
+in my opinion. But why aren't you and your brother making a fortune? I
+thought everyone in Rhodesia was making one who had a mine."</p>
+
+<p>"We don't get up enough gold. By the time we have paid our royalty and
+the expenses there is nothing left."</p>
+
+<p>"Then the royalty must be too big. Who do you pay it to?"</p>
+
+<p>He coloured, and she watched him humorously.</p>
+
+<p>"Has my uncle something to do with your company? O, don't look
+uncomfortable. I'll just talk to him about it. There ought to be
+occasions when no royalty is taken at all. I'll tell him so."</p>
+
+<p>Colin Macaulay laughed into her smiling eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"As it is, there is a charge for everything, even the grass the
+donkeys eat!..."</p>
+
+<p>"O, monstrous! I never heard of such a thing. I'll interview the board
+about it if you like. Tell your donkeys they may eat anything they
+choose in future, it is not going down in the bill any more!..." and
+they both laughed gaily.</p>
+
+<p>In a more serious mood, however, she asked him presently, "I suppose
+it has been rather a disappointment?... This coming out to Rhodesia to
+make a fortune!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"O, well, lots of reasons. You haven't come within sight of the
+fortune, for one thing; and you've still got packing-case furniture
+and live in huts. And you eat a lot of bully beef, now don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"We do."</p>
+
+<p>"But that isn't what you came for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Still"&mdash;meditatively&mdash;"it's not a small thing to be in a country
+where a fortune may be won any day. It is that, of course, which keeps
+us going. It is better anyhow than a stool and one hundred and fifty
+pounds a year in England."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure?" And she watched him with keen eyes.</p>
+
+<p>He coloured slightly, but answered with firmness:</p>
+
+<p>"Quite."</p>
+
+<p>"But not better than something else, perhaps?"</p>
+
+<p>He saw that her interest was kindly and genuine, and suddenly drawn to
+expand he told her simply:</p>
+
+<p>"It's the isolation that hurts. Day after day, day after day, just
+this hollow and these kopjes, and never anyone to speak to except each
+other. We send for the mail once a week, but sometimes very little
+comes by it; and we get nothing fresh to read except a weekly
+Rhodesian paper. That is a gold mine to us for just one evening; but
+for all the rest there is nothing. Lionel is studying French, and I do
+a little also, but it palls after a time badly."</p>
+
+<p>"I should think so. It sounds as dry as dead bones."</p>
+
+<p>They were sitting upon a rocky knoll, and Diana had her hands clasped
+round her drawn-up knees, presenting a very attractive picture. "I'm
+not a true Imperialist at heart," she informed him. "I hate gush and
+talk and heroics, but between you and me I think an awful lot of you
+men making your solitary fight in the wilderness. It's always a lot
+easier to put up with discomforts when you know your next-door
+neighbour is jolly uncomfortable too. Of course, most people don't say
+so, but that's because they are conventional, and fondly try to
+persuade themselves, very unselfish also; but when they are honest
+they know quite well a misfortune is lightened when several others are
+in the same box. That's why, on a wet day, I console myself sitting at
+the window and watching folks struggling with drenched umbrellas and
+bedraggled skirts. It's so good to be safe inside."</p>
+
+<p>He waited with amused eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"And, of course, the trouble for you is just sitting down here among
+these monotonous kopjes and being uncomfortable all alone. No one to
+grumble to&mdash;ugh, how I should hate that!&mdash;no one to feel superior
+with; no one to envy you, even if there were anything to envy. It's a
+positive grave."</p>
+
+<p>"You've left out one of the worst contingencies. No one to discuss
+with; no friction of mind and opinions."</p>
+
+<p>"That comes under the heading of grumbling. When I discuss I almost
+always grumble about something. It is good for the progress of the
+world." And she laughed whimsically. Then, with one of her sudden
+changes, "How long do you expect to stay on trying to dig up a
+fortune, and pretending it is worth while when you know you hate it
+like Old Harry?"</p>
+
+<p>"We shall probably try another mine soon. That is what we want to do;
+but it cost so much to get our machinery down into this hollow we
+don't quite know where to find the money to get it out again. So we
+just go on hoping we shall strike a good reef soon."</p>
+
+<p>She remained thoughtful and silent some moments, and then, as if to
+change the subject, remarked, "Mr. Stanley seems happy enough in his
+solitary place. He says he used to be in Salisbury, but very much
+prefers Zimbabwe."</p>
+
+<p>"Most of the police prefer a quiet place with good shooting; and now
+that he has Major Carew there so much it must often be interesting."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know Major Carew well?" and her quick voice failed to entirely
+hide her interest.</p>
+
+<p>"As well as perhaps anyone does. He comes to see us fairly often on
+Sundays."</p>
+
+<p>"But he is so silent, he can't be very interesting."</p>
+
+<p>"He is not always silent."</p>
+
+<p>"No, sometimes he snarls," with a little laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! you don't know him. Get him to talk to you about the natives;
+about their habits and legends and customs. There isn't a man in
+Rhodesia knows more, and there isn't one they trust more absolutely.
+He is down in this district now on their behalf, and before he set
+foot here they knew all about him. Natives a hundred miles apart
+communicate that sort of thing to each other. Every kraal here knew
+perfectly that he was stern and rigid, but absolutely just. If he once
+says a thing he stands by it, even if he gets into trouble at
+headquarters, which isn't so very unusual. Someone out of jealousy or
+pique or utter inability to understand stern justice, will
+misrepresent his actions and misreport him for doing his duty. It's a
+heart-breaking business for him sometimes; but he never gives in when
+it is keeping his word one way or the other with natives. He would
+sooner resign, and they know it; and fortunately they recognise his
+value and meet him somehow. Of course, he isn't in the Native
+Department, properly speaking, but he has done a lot of work with them
+for some time."</p>
+
+<p>"And what do you think he is down here for now?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; but it is some abuse or other that has reached the ears
+of the administration. This sort of thing happens among the
+short-sighted, small-minded Native Commissioners. There was a man a
+short time back who charged his house boys five shillings for
+everything they broke. At the end of six months they had had no pay at
+all, and were pretty heavily in debt. He was magistrate as well as
+commissioner and had them brought before his court, and promptly
+sentenced them to work six months for nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"What a shame!" she burst out indignantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Or a Native Commissioner may terrorise a native into selling cattle
+to him for a mere song by nothing but a look. Of course, they are not
+allowed to buy cattle really, but if they are married their wives buy
+them instead sometimes, and then the Commissioner in an outlying
+district can fairly easily fix the price, if he has made himself a
+dread to all the kraals round. He can collect taxes, too, not strictly
+just, to make his accounts look well at headquarters."</p>
+
+<p>"But I thought Native Commissioners were always gentlemen?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are generally, but they don't all live up to the usually
+accepted standard. Some of them seem rather to glory in behaving like
+bounders and treating the native unjustly. It is bad for the country,
+but things are improving. Almost all new appointments now are made
+among public-school boys and Varsity men."</p>
+
+<p>"And do you think Major Carew is here about some such matters?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but it isn't given out so, and no one knows just what. But the
+natives are fortunate to have him on their side. He is not in the
+least afraid, and he won't shelter any unjust steward. On the other
+hand, whatever complaints there are against the natives will be just
+as honestly examined, and woe betide the kraals that are in the wrong!
+He is no Exeter Hall sentimentalist, and they must know it pretty well
+by now."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you think he is out here at all? Surely he might have been a
+general with his K.C.M.G. if he had stayed in the army?"</p>
+
+<p>"I rather fancy Carew would think that a small thing compared to what
+he has done in Rhodesia. After all, K.C.M.G.'s are pretty cheap
+nowadays, aren't they? But it isn't every man who can know a new
+country is grateful to him, and who has achieved all he has at a work
+he loves."</p>
+
+<p>"Why did he come?" Still Diana strove vainly to hide her interest. "Do
+you know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Adventure, probably. A good many men from crack regiments came in the
+early days."</p>
+
+<p>"There must have been something more."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you <i>know</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"No." He looked at her with a little smile. "It isn't the game to ask
+questions out here."</p>
+
+<p>"That is just what Mr. Stanley said, and it is so dull of you both.
+The man's a perfect bear. I christened him 'The Bear' before I had
+known him an hour. But why is he? Why should he be? That's what I
+want to know."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't fancy you will. I doubt if anyone knows. He has never made
+friends, I think, out here, except with the Grenvilles, and they are
+some connection."</p>
+
+<p>"That's the missionary and his wife, isn't it? What in the world can a
+man like that see in a missionary? Of all the soppy, flabby
+individuals give me the usual specimen who goes out to preach
+Christianity to the heathen, and generally disgusts them and everyone
+else."</p>
+
+<p>"Not this missionary."</p>
+
+<p>"O, is he an original also?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's one of the finest men I've ever known."</p>
+
+<p>"Then what in the world is <i>he</i> buried in the wilderness for? I never
+knew anything so absurd. A fine soldier and administrator, just a
+policeman; a splendid man, just a missionary. And you and your brother
+just grubbing about in a God-forsaken mine, apparently for nothing. It
+is enough to make anyone wild." And she faced him with that
+smouldering indignation she rarely allowed to come to the surface.</p>
+
+<p>"But they are both in Rhodesia"&mdash;ignoring her kindly inclusion of
+himself and his brother&mdash;"and Rhodesia wants good men."</p>
+
+<p>"And when she gets them just buries them at her outposts. I haven't
+much faith in your Rhodesia. She is a capricious jade. She absorbs a
+man's finest qualities and best years and gives him nothing in
+return."</p>
+
+<p>"Ask Carew if she gives him nothing. Probably she has given him more
+than anyone else could give."</p>
+
+<p>She got up impatiently. "All the more reason why he shouldn't be such
+a bear. People who have got what they want out of life ought to be
+amiable and friendly."</p>
+
+<p>She turned round, and found herself face to face with Carew himself,
+looking, if anything grimmer than ever.</p>
+
+<p>"I came to tell you that tea is ready, and the others have already
+commenced."</p>
+
+<p>Diana looked straight into his eyes, with a daring, challenging
+expression. "And you heard me discussing your amiable attributes? I'm
+sorry, but"&mdash;with a swift gleam&mdash;"I do discuss something else
+sometimes."</p>
+
+<p>"I heard nothing," he answered, returning her direct gaze, and stood
+aside for her to pass.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h2>
+
+<h2>AN EVENING RIDE</h2>
+
+<p>As they rode home in the evening Diana, more nettled with Carew's
+impassivity than she would have cared to own, contrived to get a
+little apart from the others with her uncle, and in her frank,
+engaging way explained to him the rapaciousness of certain mining
+companies and her own promise on behalf of the donkeys. Mr. Pym
+regretted that he could not immediately grant her request without
+consulting his co-directors, but Diana knew perfectly, by the friendly
+gleam in his eye, that he meant to look into the question; and because
+he was impressed by the sturdy, plucky fight of the two brothers he
+would probably do a good deal more for them in the end.</p>
+
+<p>After which she prattled to him gaily, until Stanley was clever enough
+to distract her attention and remanipulate the party. He had been
+riding with Carew, and the engineer with Meryl; but on the party being
+disarranged the engineer joined Mr. Pym to discuss the mining
+properties they had been visiting, and Carew found himself unavoidably
+partnered with Meryl, while Stanley and Diana went gaily on ahead. It
+was the first time, what he was pleased to term "his luck" had
+deserted him. Heretofore there had been no single <i>t&ecirc;te-&agrave;-t&ecirc;te</i>
+between him and either of the cousins since Diana surprised him in the
+temple ruins. It was his fixed intention that there should be none. He
+argued in himself that he had no "small talk" in his vocabulary, and
+would only reciprocate the boredom he would himself suffer, and rather
+than either should be inflicted he steered a resolute course which
+partnered him with a man. In vain Diana, spurred by pique, had once or
+twice laid a trap for him; and Meryl, with growing interest, had
+sought to draw him into conversation. With masterly art he had steered
+clear of both, and continued his serene, impassive way.</p>
+
+<p>But on that homeward ride Fate, for once, got the better of him.
+Stanley and Diana were cantering gaily ahead along the narrow path,
+that meant smooth-going for one horse and a stumbling amid small rocks
+or long, dry grass for the other; while Mr. Pym and his engineer
+conversed with a solemnity no one could lightly disturb between the
+two front horsemen and the two back.</p>
+
+<p>At first Carew rode along with his eyes fixed rigidly on the horizon,
+and, except for its innate strength, an almost expressionless face.
+Meryl was a little amused. She realised thoroughly that the situation
+was none of his seeking, and she was in two minds whether to give him
+expressionless rigidity in return, or purposely tease him with
+questions. At first she chose silence, and looked around her with eyes
+of growing tenderness at the kopje-strewn country.</p>
+
+<p>And so, instead of being irritated with the "small talk" he dreaded,
+Carew found himself left entirely to his own cogitations; while,
+judging from her rapt expression, she scarcely realised his presence.
+And then, just because human nature is stronger, after all, than most
+things, memory, for the sake of a dream-face he would treasure while
+he had breath, made him look at her covertly with seeing eyes. He
+noted first that she was a perfect horsewoman&mdash;slim and upright and
+easy, almost like a part of her horse. Both girls rode astride,
+wearing long holland coats and specially made light top-boots, with
+large shady sun helmets; and because for a long time he had not seen
+anything much but slipshod garments among women riders, or exceedingly
+warm-looking correct home attire, he appreciated their cool smartness.</p>
+
+<p>Unconsciously it took him back to the old buried days, when the
+Devonshire moors and Devonshire lanes knew no hotter rider than Peter
+Carew. To the steeplechases, when he was so slim and wiry that, in
+spite of his height, he had ridden many a horse to victory. To the
+polo matches, when his matchless horsemanship had scored goal after
+goal for his regiment of picked riders. She recalled to his mind the
+stag-hunting in Devon and Somerset, where the first women had ridden
+astride to the meet, realising mercifully how the steep ascents and
+descents were eased for their horses, without the tightly girthed
+side-saddle, and for themselves without the side-seat strain. Almost
+as if it were a carefully permitted luxury, he saw the wide,
+wind-swept moors, heard the cheery shouts and the excited hounds, felt
+his thoroughbred sweeping gloriously along, as if its soul and his
+soul were both one in feeling the joy and exhilaration of the chase.
+What glories there were in those wind-swept, sun-bathed mornings in
+Devon! What joy of life! What lust of manhood! What splendid,
+whole-hearted young inconsequence! In his heart he smiled a little
+grimly. Peter Carew of the Blues had been no shunner of women in those
+days; no taciturn, silent, unappreciative onlooker. Rather he had
+loved too many, kissed too freely, ridden away too light-heartedly.</p>
+
+<p>Until the blue-grey eyes, so like Meryl's, looked shyly up, and then
+in their turn ran away from him. Of course, he had followed blindly
+like the hot-headed, hard-riding sportsman he was&mdash;followed blindly,
+wooed irresistibly, and won gloriously.</p>
+
+<p>And then ...</p>
+
+<p>Over the kopjes, over the vleis, over the veldt a black cloud came
+down, and suddenly all the picture was blotted out. An expression that
+was momentarily almost wistful left the fine mouth; the far-away
+softness left the keen blue eyes, and his face hardened strangely.
+Then he looked up at Meryl, riding beside him, and saw all the
+questioning interest in her face.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid you have a very dull companion," he said; but it was in
+the voice that Diana usually called his snarl.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl smiled. "I did not for a moment suppose that you would talk."</p>
+
+<p>She could hardly say that his face relaxed, but at least there was
+that in it which suggested he liked her answer far better than any
+conventional politeness.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly a wholly unlooked-for twinkle lurked somewhere in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Bears don't usually," he said.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl laughed. "Diana is too fond of nicknaming her friends and
+acquaintances; but on the whole I think she has let you off lightly. A
+bear is a magnificent animal."</p>
+
+<p>"Not given to much amiability. No Prince Charming, for instance," and
+he smiled a little grimly.</p>
+
+<p>"But strong&mdash;and&mdash;well&mdash;dangerous, which is better."</p>
+
+<p>"You think so?" He looked at her rather curiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Decidedly."</p>
+
+<p>They rode on in silence, and, for a little way, the road being rough,
+he reined in his horse to the narrow path behind her. Then, when it
+grew smoother again, she waited for him to come alongside.</p>
+
+<p>"You haven't always been in this part of Rhodesia?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; only recently."</p>
+
+<p>"Long enough to get very attached to it."</p>
+
+<p>"More or less," and suddenly his voice hardened a little, as if
+scenting a discussion and wishful to ward it off.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder why Rhodesia is so fascinating?" And her eyes roved with
+love in them from far horizon to far horizon. "I suppose you do not
+attempt to analyse it? You are content to care unquestioningly."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes"&mdash;with an effort&mdash;"after a time, one just cares."</p>
+
+<p>"And at first?..."</p>
+
+<p>"At first one has to find one's footing, so to speak. She is somewhat
+the bewildering, uncomfortable stranger to the new-comer."</p>
+
+<p>She marvelled that he should say so much, but hid her pleasure lest
+she should unwittingly change his mood.</p>
+
+<p>"She has never seemed that to me. Something has attracted me from the
+very first. I came, I saw, I loved."</p>
+
+<p>"You must remember that you came under exceptional circumstances."</p>
+
+<p>"And you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was among the early pioneers."</p>
+
+<p>"How splendid! I wish I could say the same."</p>
+
+<p>"It was extremely uncomfortable."</p>
+
+<p>"But you didn't mind. I don't need to be told that. There was so much
+to make up for it. How good it must be to be a man!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yet the women are the true heroes out here."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"We get what we came for. Interest, excitement of a kind, freedom...."</p>
+
+<p>"And the women?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is not much for the women, but the plucky ones are often
+heroines."</p>
+
+<p>"Only no one tells them so?"</p>
+
+<p>"No one tells them so; therein lies the heroism."</p>
+
+<p>"I see. They put up a good fight, and no one says, 'Well done!' Isn't
+it the same with the men?"</p>
+
+<p>"The men get many compensations."</p>
+
+<p>"Compensations that make it worth while?"</p>
+
+<p>"Distinctly."</p>
+
+<p>They rode on in silence, both looking ahead to the blue mountain that
+guards the north of Zimbabwe. The peaceful loveliness soothed his
+spirit because he loved it, but in her it awakened a vague, swift
+ache. She felt somehow that he had a right to love the country,
+because he had made it his and given it of his best; that, for all his
+presumable poverty in many things, he was yet so rich in what he had
+achieved, and in what he had won for himself of interest and
+usefulness. While for her?... She was an alien, a mere tourist, a
+looker-on; the daughter of a millionaire who came to Rhodesia for
+wealth, and gave&mdash;how little in return!</p>
+
+<p>He might look at the tender outline of the lovely mountain with the
+glad, restful consciousness of work well done. She could only look at
+it with that ache of divine discontent: unplumbed, wordless longing.
+Even the heroism of the settler's wife was not for her. The women who
+were plucky enough to put up that good fight, although no one ever
+said "Well done!" Compared with them, in his eyes she was probably a
+mere cumberer of the earth; an ornament, intended only to be admired
+by the leisured classes. The young splendid country had no use for
+her, no place for her. She was an alien, an interloper; child of a man
+who came only for gain, and took his gain elsewhere, recognising no
+claim from a land that was no home to him, only an investment.</p>
+
+<p>Her soul cried out it was no wish of hers that it should be so; but
+only silent condemnation seemed to echo back to her from the far blue
+hills.</p>
+
+<p>She glanced at the strong, serene face of her companion, and because
+somehow he seemed a little less stern and uncompromising to-day she
+said to him simply, leaning a little to his side:</p>
+
+<p>"I envy you so, the sense that you have won the right to love her. I
+envy the plucky settlers' wives who are the mothers of her future. I
+feel myself so utterly an alien. Has Rhodesia any use for ... for such
+as I?"</p>
+
+<p>He looked at her strangely, and as he looked she saw an expression
+almost like hungry longing come into his eyes; then as suddenly vanish
+again, leaving him utterly amazingly stony. He turned his head
+sharply, and his gaze became fixed and rigid.</p>
+
+<p>"Millionaires' daughters can usually be pretty useful if they like,"
+he said almost brutally; and she felt as if he had struck her. In
+sudden anger and bewilderment she touched her horse with her whip and
+darted ahead. It was not the words, but the way in which he had said
+them. What did he mean?... What did he not mean?... She bit her lips
+to keep back the smarting tears that blinded her eyes. She felt as if
+she hated him. For a little space he had been so different to the
+cold, callous soldier, and in quiet response she had spoken from her
+heart; and in return he had said this cutting thing with cold intent,
+making her feel that he despised her. Did he see in her only a willing
+accomplice to her father's money-making schemes? The one perhaps who
+spent the gains heartlessly and carelessly elsewhere? Beside those
+settlers' wives he had said were heroines, was she but an idle,
+contemptible, useless heiress? She spurred her horse on, letting her
+thoughts run away with her, unwilling that he should overtake her
+until she had got herself well in hand; and Carew followed behind,
+feeling again that sense of a black, rayless abyss all about him. Why
+had he looked full and deep into her eyes like that?... Why had he not
+gazed only upon the mountains that soothed and refreshed him?... The
+mere discovery that the past he thought to have outlived slept so
+lightly was a shock to him. Had he not then outlived anything? Had he
+only put his memories lightly to sleep, and dreamt all the life he had
+lived since? He was scarcely conscious that he had said anything
+inconsiderate; he hardly knew what he had said. He only remembered he
+had looked full and deep into beautiful eyes, and suddenly it was as
+though his dead love Joan had come back to him.</p>
+
+<p>Presently she slowed down so that he came up to her, and it was
+noticeable that something in her whole attitude had changed. She was
+as upright as he now, and her eyes also looked rigidly ahead. He saw
+the change without understanding it and wondered a little, without
+troubling to probe.</p>
+
+<p>"Your friends, Mr. and Mrs. Grenville," she said coldly, "would they
+care to see us if we called, or would they think it perhaps just
+vulgar curiosity?"</p>
+
+<p>"They would be delighted; visitors are a very rare treat to them." He
+was puzzled a little at her manner, but let it pass. Meryl had it on
+the tip of her tongue to add, "They don't mind even millionaires'
+daughters?" but her own good taste saved her from a momentary
+satisfaction that a man of his breeding could only have considered
+bourgeoise.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps Mr. Stanley would take us," was all she suffered herself; and
+added, "From his account Mrs. Grenville is evidently one of Rhodesia's
+heroines."</p>
+
+<p>"She is," he answered so simply that Meryl felt a little nonplussed.</p>
+
+<p>When they reached the camp Diana had already dismounted and gone into
+their tent, whither Meryl followed her.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," she said, "how did you get on with The Bear? Did he chore you
+up over anything?"</p>
+
+<p>Meryl considered a moment before replying. "One moment I thought him
+the rudest man I have ever met, and the next ..." she seemed puzzled
+how to explain.</p>
+
+<p>"And the next I suppose he didn't seem a man at all, only a pillar of
+stone!..."</p>
+
+<p>For answer, she said thoughtfully, "I wonder if something hurt him
+very badly some time or other?"</p>
+
+<p>"If it did, it doesn't exempt him from the ordinary amenities of human
+intercourse. He isn't the only man who has been hurt." And Diana
+kicked off her boots impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Meryl; "but it makes it a little easier to forgive him."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't do anything so foolish. You'll end by thinking him interesting
+and falling in love with him; which would be too utterly silly when
+you are as good as engaged to Dutch Willy, and when he, The Bear,
+would care about as much as my foot," with which dictum she put her
+head out through the tent flap, and called to Stanley and Carew,
+"Hey! Mr. Stanley! don't go away. Stay and keep us company in my
+uncle's absence. I believe he is venturing into The Bear's den
+to-night."</p>
+
+<p>Carew smiled quite frankly for him.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't I tempt you to come also? I daren't promise you a decent
+dinner, but I've some fresh Abdullah cigarettes out from home, if you
+care to come down afterwards."</p>
+
+<p>Diana was disarmed in spite of herself. "And will you promise to growl
+very prettily?" with an arch expression.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll try not to frighten you away too quickly."</p>
+
+<p>Diana withdrew into the tent.</p>
+
+<p>"O!" she said, "he's a bear with two faces; and that's the most
+difficult to cope with of all."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h2>
+
+<h2>THE MISSION STATION</h2>
+
+<p>They went to the Grenvilles' the next day, while Mr. Pym took another
+of his investigation trips. Stanley acted as escort, and Carew went to
+Edwardstown on business.</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa Grenville met them with her brightest smile, and ushered them
+proudly into her cool, picturesque drawing-room hut.</p>
+
+<p>"How charming!" they cried, with genuine delight; and Diana added, "O!
+why can't I have a hut in the wilderness?..."</p>
+
+<p>Then the khaki-clad, sportsmanlike missionary strode in, and after the
+preliminary greetings Diana asked with charming piquancy, "O! are you
+really and truly a missionary?"</p>
+
+<p>"Really and truly," he told her gaily, and came over to her side of
+the hut to sit beside her. "Why do you ask it like that?"</p>
+
+<p>She considered a moment, and then declared impishly, "Because it
+doesn't seem possible that a man like you should never say 'Damn.'"</p>
+
+<p>He laughed outright. "Well, I'm not going to tell tales out of school;
+but if you'd only got one pair of brown boots in the world and one
+pair of brown gaiters, and the boy tried to clean them with blacklead
+and paraffin oil!..."</p>
+
+<p>Diana moved nearer to him, with her prettiest and most ingratiating
+air. "O, tell me some more!... Tell me lots more."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think that is half so bad as the boy washing the saucepans
+and the teacups all in the same water together," put in Mrs.
+Grenville.</p>
+
+<p>"How perfectly delicious of him!" cried Diana. "What else did he do?"</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to have been here this morning when our stores came out
+from Edwardstown," the missionary told her. "The boy carries them on
+his head, you know; and there was a tin of golden syrup ..."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes ... yes ... and it leaked!..." gleefully.</p>
+
+<p>"Trickled all down his head and neck; you never saw such a sticky
+mess! And as soon as the other boys discovered ..."</p>
+
+<p>"Did they duck his head in a bucket?..."</p>
+
+<p>"O, dear no!... <i>licked</i> him!..."</p>
+
+<p>Diana fairly howled with delight; and then Stanley came in, after
+seeing that the horses were properly watered and fed, and was
+immediately accosted by Grenville with, "Hullo, Kid! you're quite a
+deserter! What have you been doing all the week?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you call him Kid?" Diana asked. "What a capital name for him!"</p>
+
+<p>"He has been 'The Kid' almost ever since he came to this district."</p>
+
+<p>"It pays," remarked Stanley jocularly; "they give me sugar."</p>
+
+<p>"And he lives with The Bear; how comical! Instead of the lion lying
+down with the lamb, in Rhodesia you have The Kid feeding with The
+Bear."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is The Bear?" Ailsa Grenville asked, from the packing-case
+cupboard, where she was reaching down cups and saucers.</p>
+
+<p>"Need you ask?" queried Diana. "Doesn't Major Carew ever growl when he
+is here?"</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa looked much amused. "Not exactly," she said; "but I admit
+sometimes he rolls himself up into a ball, so to speak, and relapses
+into a sort of winter sleep."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you prod him," said Diana.</p>
+
+<p>"Billy wouldn't let me," glancing affectionately at her husband.
+"There is only one Major Carew for him."</p>
+
+<p>"Still, it might do him good. We prodded him last night, didn't we?"
+addressing Stanley. "We went right into his den, and gave him a good
+baiting, while we smoked his new Abdullah cigarettes," and she smiled
+gleefully at the remembrance of the stern soldier, in an astonishingly
+sociable mood for him, humorously parrying her chaff. "You know," she
+ran on, "he simply hated our coming. I almost wonder he didn't dig
+impassable trenches across the road, or fortify himself in the
+Acropolis Hill. Anyone might have thought we were the bears, and he
+the woman."</p>
+
+<p>"I expect he was afraid of your charms," said Grenville smilingly. "We
+wilderness-dwellers have none of the townsmen's armour to withstand
+fair women."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, growling and scowling are very fair substitutes," quoth Diana;
+"and, besides, he didn't even trouble to observe if we had charms. As
+far as he decently could he looked the other way altogether."</p>
+
+<p>While she chatted on, delighting the missionary and his wife with her
+gaiety, Meryl sat in a low chair, and gazed through the doorway out
+over the smiling country, much as Carew usually did.</p>
+
+<p>"It must be very wonderful," she said at last, aroused by a
+sympathetic question from Ailsa Grenville, "to live day after day with
+such a scene as that in one's doorway."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," Ailsa told her. "The wonder never grows less, nor the mystery,
+nor the beauty. Major Carew, when he is here, loves just to sit and
+look at it; and so do I."</p>
+
+<p>Diana, with the two men, had strolled outside; and Ailsa and Meryl sat
+alone in the cool interior.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl sat very still, with her hands lightly clasped on her knees, and
+her eyes always&mdash;always&mdash;to the lovely prospect that was like a mighty
+ocean in which the waves were blue, mystical kopjes; and over which
+the first clouds, that heralded the approach of the rainy season, shed
+entrancing lights and shadows. Ailsa sat a little behind, and her eyes
+roved back from the view that had grown into her being and become part
+of her life to the face of the young heiress. She noted at once its
+instinctive charm; the charm of a woman blessed with most of the
+traits that hold and bind men for ever. Strength was there without
+masterfulness; sweetness that would never cloy; a dreamy elusiveness
+that meant a closed book it would be a joy to study chapter by
+chapter; and some of the chapters would surprise with their lightness
+and mirth, while others would surprise with their depth of sympathetic
+understanding, and yet others would bewilder alluringly with their
+whimsical, irresistible uncertainty. She knew that society papers
+sometimes spoke of the well-known millionaire's daughter as beautiful,
+but to her it seemed the word was hardly the right one. Meryl's face
+had in it something too strong and too distinctive for actual beauty;
+and yet Ailsa thought of all the lovely women she had ever seen none
+were quite so attractive. And because she was a tender-hearted woman,
+the thought crossed her mind to wonder if perhaps, out of the dark
+shadow that she knew hung ever over Peter Carew's life, there might
+yet be a way of escape; a gracious healing, and a final joy. Could two
+such humans meet and not love? Could anything truly separate them if
+once the love were born?</p>
+
+<p>She mused a moment or two happily, sublimely ignorant of all the
+forces that warred between; of what caused the shadow; of the power of
+a dead face; of the pride of a resolute man; of that attractive
+Huguenot Dutchman biding his time down south.</p>
+
+<p>At last Meryl broke the silence. As she sat gazing through the open
+doorway her mind had lingered unconsciously over that last sentence.
+"Major Carew, when he is here, loves just to sit and look at it," and
+in her fancy she saw the silent, watching form of the grim
+soldier-policeman.</p>
+
+<p>"He is an interesting man," she said simply. "I think I understood he
+was some connection of yours?"</p>
+
+<p>"You mean Major Carew? Yes; he is a distant sort of cousin, but we are
+two entirely different branches of the family, and had drifted widely
+apart until we three met out here. Yet it was not surprising we should
+meet like this. The Carews were always wanderers and adventurers, like
+Drake and Frobisher and the other fine old pirates. A humdrum career
+in the Blues would hardly have continued to satisfy Major Carew, any
+more than the conventions and hide-bound prejudices of the Established
+Church could hold my husband."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet, if you will forgive my seeming rudeness, both of them apparently
+took a decided step downwards from the social point of view."</p>
+
+<p>"That would not trouble either of them for a moment. They sought
+Freedom, and found it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet it meant, in a sense, what some people call being buried alive."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, those people do not understand. That is how I took it at first.
+Shall I tell you a little, or will it bore you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Please tell me. I think it is kind of you to trust me so soon with
+your confidence."</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa smiled. "One always knows. Anyone with insight would trust you
+instinctively. But there isn't much to tell. Only that when I married
+my husband he held a living in Shropshire, with a sure promise of
+quick promotion; and then Doubt crept in which he could not overthrow,
+and after a long struggle he gave it up because his conscience would
+not let him be a hypocrite."</p>
+
+<p>"But he is still a Church missionary, is he not?"</p>
+
+<p>"In a sense; but he is not paid by any society, and works on his own
+lines entirely. He had a little money of his own, and I have also, and
+out here it is ample. But at first I was very bitter with him, and let
+myself be influenced by my people who were still more bitter, and I
+would not join him. I went back home and lived the old life of my
+girlhood. He never uttered one word of reproach, although he was just
+breaking his heart for me, and&mdash;for which I bless him every day of my
+life&mdash;he wrote every mail telling me about the country and his work.
+At first I scarcely read the letters, and often did not reply; but he
+wrote on patiently and waited. And at last my mood changed. The
+endless tea-parties began to pall, and the insipidity of my home life.
+Week after week, week after week, the same round of social gatherings;
+the same people, the same conversations, the same everlasting tea,
+buns, and gossip. In each parish around, so many, many unmarried
+women, so many empty, monotonous lives. I think the condition of
+England's country villages is becoming almost a tragedy; all the men
+seem to have gone away to a bigger and wider world, and all the women
+to have been left behind to feed on emptiness. There are the
+clergyman's daughters, the doctor's daughters, the solicitor's
+daughters, and perhaps a few retired veterans and their daughters; all
+struggling through the same old empty round; while the men go out to
+conquer the earth." She paused a moment, but seeing Meryl's rapt
+attention, went on uninterruptedly, "And one day I awoke to the fact
+that I had a special right to one of the finest men who had gone out
+to do his share, and a special place at his side. To cut a long story
+short, I won through the frantic opposition of my family, cut myself
+adrift, and came out here to see for myself what Billy was doing that
+gave him a satisfaction he had never found in his peaceful easy
+living; in spite of the hunger I had always known was wearing out his
+soul for me." She looked out across the country dreamily, before she
+finished. "I shall never forget when I first saw this," motioning to
+the sunny prospect. "We arrived here in the dusk, owing to a
+breakdown, and so I had a long night's rest before Billy first showed
+it to me. I must tell you I was already tremendously impressed, on the
+quiet, with my brown, stalwart, khaki-clad husband in place of the
+decorous, black-coated parson I had parted with; and although the
+journey had been very exhausting, for I had to travel in the
+post-cart, my interest in him and the country had never abated. Then
+he opened the door wide about sunrise, and said casually, 'Sit up and
+look at my view, Ailsa.' I sat up, and for a moment I could not speak
+at all. Do you know, Miss Pym, the country looked positively hung with
+diamonds that wonderful morning. I shall never forget it. Just outside
+the door, forming a sort of framework to the scene beyond, was some
+tall, dry grass, thin and straggly enough to let the light through.
+And where at the top it spread into graceful, hanging, feathery
+seed-ears, it was hung with large dewdrops, reflecting all the colours
+of the rainbow. Behind them was the bluest of early-morning skies.
+Beyond them, what you see here, a far dream-country of untold
+loveliness. I said, 'O, Billy! have you lived beside this all these
+months?' And then I began to cry, because I didn't know what else to
+do, and I was so glad that I had come."</p>
+
+<p>A fleeting shadow of sadness seemed to cross Meryl's face. "I envy
+you," she said in a low voice. "You can stay on with the man you love,
+and see it every day. I must go back to the tea-parties."</p>
+
+<p>"Most people pity me."</p>
+
+<p>"I dare say; and they envy me," with a little forlorn smile.</p>
+
+<p>"You have much power, and power is good," softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Have I?... How, why, where?... What shall I do with all this money my
+father makes? I wonder what I could do to take from my heart this
+feeling that I am an alien and an intruder in this lovely country,
+among you people who are quietly making history? If your husband
+wants money for his mission, I could get him a cheque for a thousand
+pounds from my father, I know; but what is that compared to giving
+one's life as you do, and growing right into the heart of the country,
+and feeling just that it is yours because of what you have given? I
+know that is how Major Carew feels also. One can see it in his rapt
+gaze. He does not care for very much else in the world. But we, my
+father and I, we just take riches out, and give nothing but cheques
+which we never even miss." She got up and moved to the doorway,
+controlling with an effort her sudden, unexpected show of emotion.
+"The others have been looking at your fowls and cattle," she said,
+"and now they are coming back. I hope Mr. Grenville will show us over
+the mission station."</p>
+
+<p>"He will be delighted," Ailsa answered, following her lead with quick
+understanding; "and another day you must come and sit in my doorway
+again."</p>
+
+<p>"I should love to;" and she stepped out into the sunlight to join the
+gay trio Diana was still the life of.</p>
+
+<p>Then Mr. Grenville took them into his workshops and his little mission
+hall, and showed them how he taught the boys carpentering and
+blacksmithing, and reading and writing and farming; making good,
+useful labourers of them with even greater zeal than that with which
+he made them Christians. Diana, the outspoken, could not resist a
+surprised comment.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought people who had been abroad always ran down missionaries,
+and scoffed at missionary work?"</p>
+
+<p>"They do very often," Grenville replied, with frankness, "and not
+without reason. A great many missionaries are naturally not very
+suitable men. It is almost impossible to pick and choose."</p>
+
+<p>"There are some," put in Stanley disgustedly, "who just confirm all
+the blacks they can, without bothering about how much they understand,
+and then make communicants of them so that they can send good figures
+home to their society for the missionary magazines. They don't teach
+them anything useful at all, and they do a roaring trade with the
+garments sent out by pious ladies' work guilds; as if the natives
+weren't better in their own natural state than they are ever likely
+to be dressed up in clothes and fuddled with doctrines."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Grenville, standing very upright and looking every inch a man,
+said simply, "It isn't entirely their fault always. The home folk like
+the figures; they imagine they stand for progress, and they know
+nothing about the conditions. Many missionaries are very fine men, and
+they would do even better work if left a little more to their own
+initiative, and not cursed with this atmosphere of competition in
+figures. It isn't fair to damn the whole flock because a few of the
+sheep are black."</p>
+
+<p>"And don't you ever feel you are wasting your talents?" Meryl asked
+him a little shyly.</p>
+
+<p>He threw his head back and squared his shoulders with a characteristic
+movement. "It is better than the hypocrisy and feebleness of the
+condition of affairs at home; and I am very fond of the natives. They
+are most lovable, when one once gets their confidence and understands
+them. And the freedom is good, and the primitive conditions. The
+getting right down to the bedrock of nature, so to speak, without too
+much highly developed civilisation. Yes, it is a good life for a man.
+Sometime I should like to show you the mission farm. We've made
+tremendous strides lately."</p>
+
+<p>"And you?..." Diana turned with a winsome air to Ailsa Grenville. "Do
+you find the natives lovable, and the primitive conditions?... And are
+you proud of the mission farm?... Or doesn't it all sometimes make you
+just long to scream?... It would me!..."</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa smiled into her eyes. "One grows adaptable very quickly. I
+confess I am very happy here. Certainly there are times when one feels
+rather as if one had dropped off the world into space, but it doesn't
+take long to struggle through it. But then, of course, it is well to
+remember that Billy and I are rather an exceptional couple; quite
+absurdly, idiotically satisfied with each other's company. If it were
+not so our lives would be purgatory. The tragedies of these far
+countries are for the husbands and wives isolated from all other
+companionship, and having perhaps nothing in common with each other.
+There are few conditions worse than isolation under those
+circumstances. It breaks the woman's spirit and sours the man and
+brings shipwreck, where a little other congenial companionship might
+have brought them through in safety."</p>
+
+<p>They were interrupted by the sound of voices outside, and found that
+Mr. Pym and his engineer, having encountered Major Carew returning
+from Edwardstown, had persuaded him to show them the way to the
+mission. Mr. and Mrs. Grenville greeted them with eager warmth, and,
+the afternoon sun having sunk behind some trees, tea was spread
+outside the huts, so that they could drink it while admiring the view.
+Carew, though silent as ever, was less rigid, and Meryl saw how
+insistently his eyes strayed back to the blue vista of kopjes. She
+wondered what he thought of all day long, in his continuous silences,
+and behind the quiet, forceful eyes. It was noticeable that Diana
+seemed to have outgrown both her awe and chagrin towards him; and
+though at first he proved very unbending, she eventually won something
+like a repartee out of him. Ailsa watched them quietly from the
+background, and waited hopefully, but in vain, to see his eyes stray
+to Meryl. Indeed, he seemed almost to shun her, and she noted it with
+regret. Was it possible that already his preference was given to
+Diana, with her light raillery and ready laugh? Diana so pretty, so
+attractive, so original, and yet to Ailsa's thinking, so far less
+reliable and restful than Meryl. In the end, by a clever little
+man&oelig;uvre, she brought Carew and Meryl together.</p>
+
+<p>"You are almost outvied, Major Carew," she told him lightly. "Miss Pym
+likes my view already, as much, if not more, than you. I told her you
+loved to sit and look at it, and that is exactly what she likes to
+do."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl smiled, but made no comment. Mere admiration seemed superfluous,
+and Carew was grateful that she spared him raptures. So they sat quite
+still, and instead of any constraint between them because of the
+silence, there was a vague sense of restfulness and understanding.
+Meryl spoke first, and then she made no allusion to his love of the
+spot.</p>
+
+<p>"I think you were right," she said simply. "Mrs. Grenville must be one
+of Rhodesia's heroines."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you specially mean it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean it, because one <i>knows</i> there must be times when the isolation
+is almost unendurable, and when she must long for many of the things
+of her old life, however much she declares otherwise."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I think there are. She evidently had many friends, and she has
+almost lost them all. It is difficult to keep up friendships by post."</p>
+
+<p>Then Ailsa herself joined them.</p>
+
+<p>"Has Major Carew been with you into the temple, yet?" she asked Meryl.
+"He is better than any guide-book for information."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl coloured faintly, but looked a little amused. He had so
+persistently withstood every friendly hint or invitation to accompany
+them among the ruins.</p>
+
+<p>"He has been very much occupied ever since we came," she said,
+glancing towards him.</p>
+
+<p>Carew looked quite unconcerned, and merely assented, which made Ailsa
+rather want to shake him. "But it ought to be part of your business,"
+she told him, "to interest visitors in our wonderful old ruin."</p>
+
+<p>"I can hardly imagine anyone needing any incentive to that from me,"
+he said.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl glanced at him humorously. Some new phase she had detected in
+him, since Diana persisted in what she called "baiting" him, made her
+more ready to overlook his bearishness and less quick to feel
+repulsed.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you take me if I promise not to ask any silly questions?" she
+asked, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>He looked up, and for a brief moment the past seemed to lie still as
+one that is dead. His keen, direct eyes looked straight into hers, and
+he said simply, "I should like to take you."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl felt her cheeks glow a little with sudden, swift, indefinable
+pleasure, and almost at the same moment Diana broke in upon them.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know, Major Carew, your singularly appropriate nickname has
+been subjected to a little embroidery?... You are now called, after
+the C&oelig;ur de Lion, 'The Bear with two faces.'" All in a moment he
+stiffened and the shadow loomed; and while Meryl wondered Diana ran on
+unheedingly, "If I say to you when we meet, 'Which face is it to-day?'
+you will know that I mean, is it your day of lordly graciousness, or
+is it the cast-iron, beware-of-the-bull frown day?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think you are excessively rude, Diana," Meryl said, though she
+smiled with the rest.</p>
+
+<p>Carew smiled too, but he rose from his seat and moved away on some
+small pretence.</p>
+
+<p>And as he went, Meryl, watching with eyes that were daily gaining
+clearer sight, saw that the shadow was as of some deep, unfathomable
+pain.</p>
+
+<p>She too got up and moved a little away from the rest, gazing with
+grave, tender eyes across the kopjes, lying how bathed in a faint
+ethereal flush of rose and gold.</p>
+
+<p>"He had not always two faces," she said in her heart. "Something hurt
+him badly once, and ever since he has taken refuge behind the iron
+mask."</p>
+
+<p>"Rhodesia," her heart whispered, almost without her consciousness,
+"cannot you with your fairness reward him for his work by soothing
+away the memory so that the refuge is no longer needed?..."</p>
+
+<p>A little later, as they all prepared to ride home, she saw how
+resolutely he took his place with the engineer, and hastened on ahead,
+quenching even Diana by the stoniness of his mien.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII</h2>
+
+<h2>A DECISION THAT FAILED</h2>
+
+<p>As Carew sat outside his hut that evening smoking a solitary pipe, two
+thoughts seemed to fill his mind. The one that he had told Meryl he
+would be pleased to visit the temple ruins with her; the other the
+warning unconsciously conveyed in Diana's raillery, reminding him that
+he was in danger of straying from the rigid pathway he had chosen of
+unsociable aloofness, and therefore in a measure, perchance, inviting
+trouble.</p>
+
+<p>But of course he need not go. A polite message by Stanley, or a call
+as he rode past perhaps, already starting on some convenient
+engagement. Yet as he sat on he knew it was not entirely his wish to
+resort to either subterfuge. Why, after all, should he not go with her
+just once, and no doubt Diana also, and tell them a little about the
+mysterious walls?</p>
+
+<p>He pulled hard at his pipe, staring into the darkness. Why not go and
+get it over, instead of troubling to send an excuse? Surely that were
+the simpler plan? One moment he thought he would, and the next he
+found himself shrinking unaccountably, warned again by Diana's chaff.
+He knew quite well she was right. He was a man, or a bear if she
+preferred it, with two faces; but the trouble was that she should so
+thoroughly have grasped the fact. He had only intended to show one
+face, the uninviting, frigid one; and yet unconsciously she had won
+from him more than one glimpse of the other.</p>
+
+<p>And if he unbent so far as to act as their escort to the ruins, he was
+yielding still further to an atmosphere of friendliness he had
+forsworn.</p>
+
+<p>He turned in at last, still in indecision, but the next morning he
+said he would not go.</p>
+
+<p>So Meryl waited a little forlornly through the morning hours. It was
+unusually cool for Zimbabwe, the hot sun being hidden by grey clouds,
+and she knew no question of heat could possibly be detaining him. She
+had hoped he would call for her about eleven and then come back to
+lunch; but the morning wore on, and no tall figure in khaki strode out
+from the clearing where the police camp stood.</p>
+
+<p>Neither did the afternoon bring any word or sign, until Stanley
+arrived for a cup of tea and to ask them to stroll up to the store
+with him at the head of the valley. Diana agreed readily, having found
+the hours somewhat tedious; but Meryl felt tired and headachy, and
+chose to remain behind. Once, as casually as she could, she asked if
+Carew had gone anywhere for the day.</p>
+
+<p>"No, he's grinding away at his report for the Native Commission, and
+as solemn as a judge. I don't think he has spoken two words all day."</p>
+
+<p>"Is there some special haste then?"</p>
+
+<p>"O no; it is just his mood. He gets a sort of black day sometimes,
+when he barely answers if you speak to him, and looks like a bronze
+figure. Then he grinds away at something or other as if his life
+depended on it, and Moore and I have to just shut up."</p>
+
+<p>When they had gone away up the valley Meryl sat on alone in the shade,
+thinking deeply. Evidently he had some reason of his own for not
+following up his promise, and she need not any longer expect him. He
+did not want to take her, and probably was vexed that he had said that
+he would. It did not seem very polite, but she hardly looked at it in
+that way. Somehow, with this stern-featured soldier-policeman, the
+ordinary amenities of conventional intercourse seemed to have little
+weight. If he regretted his words and did not want to go, she liked
+him better for calmly remaining away, than coming against his wish,
+because he felt he ought. Another man would have done that, any man,
+in fact; only Peter Carew, and a few like him, would calmly change his
+mind and remain aloof without saying anything.</p>
+
+<p>Yet how keenly she was disappointed. It was quite idle to pretend
+otherwise to herself, and with a strength like his she calmly faced
+the fact. When she went to bed the previous night she had lain awake
+thinking of the morrow, hugging to her consciousness with shy
+gladness that he was on the point of unbending at last and showing a
+little friendliness. In a few days now they would be journeying on,
+and she had begun to expect he would remain unbending to the last, and
+let them go away, perhaps never to meet again, with nothing beyond the
+official courtesy and the occasional sparring with Diana. And then had
+come this sudden hope, and she had been strangely glad. One might live
+a lifetime and not again meet a man quite like him. Even if their
+intercourse were to be of the merest afterwards, still it was better
+than nothing, better than a final end to all friendship when they
+journeyed on again, leaving him and the ruins behind.</p>
+
+<p>And now had come this swift disappointment. He must have regretted his
+move instantly, and made up his mind to be more rigid than ever.</p>
+
+<p>She hardly troubled to ask why. Doubtless he had his own reasons, and
+whatever they were, they were nothing petty or small. Her eyes strayed
+a little longingly to the police camp, and she watched the door of his
+hut from her chair securely hidden behind some low bushes.</p>
+
+<p>Was he still grinding at his report, she wondered, looking like a
+bronze figure? The simile pleased her, and she smiled. Yes, bronze was
+the right word to use, for his face and hands and arms were tanned
+almost to the colour of his khaki with exposure, so that he sometimes
+looked all of a piece, except for the close-clipped dark moustache and
+keen, intense blue eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Then as she looked she saw some movement in the camp. A boy appeared,
+apparently in answer to a call, and stood a moment receiving
+directions. Then the tall figure itself appeared, stood a moment to
+give an order, and strode down towards the little gate. She sat up,
+and her breath came a little unevenly. Was he really coming at last?
+Had he, after all, been seriously delayed?</p>
+
+<p>No; outside the gate, without one glance towards the tents on the
+hill-side, he turned to the left and disappeared in the direction of
+the Acropolis Hill.</p>
+
+<p>So there was nothing further to hope for. He would never come now. It
+was the end.</p>
+
+<p>She got up, feeling suddenly a new tiredness, and wishing vaguely that
+they were leaving on the morrow. Perhaps it would be possible to
+persuade her father to do so without exciting much comment. Diana was
+already a little bored with their camping-place and ready to be off,
+and she ... without daring to probe too deeply, Meryl felt, for the
+sake of her own peace of mind, it would be wiser to go quietly away
+from a presence so likely to disturb her peace.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, she would ask her father to plan a move as soon as he came in,
+and in the meantime she must do something herself to pass the next
+hour more helpfully than sitting alone in the shade.</p>
+
+<p>The greyness had rolled away now, and the evening grown exceptionally
+lovely, with clear skies overhead and great banks of pearly tinted
+clouds on the horizons. Where should she go? Only two ways lay open.
+Either she must follow Diana and Stanley up the valley, or she must
+stroll down to the temple alone. The third route lay to the Acropolis
+Hill, and that was formidably closed by the presence of the man who
+should have been her companion. Finally she decided on the temple, and
+tying on the large grey hat that blended so charmingly with her eyes
+and the soft tints of her skin, she walked along the little footpath
+skirting the police-camp vegetable-garden to the western entrance.</p>
+
+<p>Inside the temple walls all was very peaceful and still, while the
+sunshine made a network of gold through the leafy trees upon the
+antique masonry. Yet as she looked around upon the empty desolation
+her heart grew sad with a nameless sorrow; that old, old ache, and
+old, old tiredness, for the utter futility of work and of striving,
+that sometimes seems to fill the human heart, when in a depressed mood
+it looks upon the ruins of something that has once had strength and
+greatness. Meryl carried in her hand a little pocket edition of Omar,
+but she did not open the leaves nor read the lines. In a vague way it
+was enough to have it with her; it was like having in her hand the
+hand of a friend who understood. For of all poets the world has known,
+perhaps none have so perfectly voiced the cry of the human heart when
+it questions the why and the wherefore and the worthwhileness of its
+own mysterious existence. So she sat very still in the ancient temple,
+and pondered the old questions that live from age to age&mdash;unanswered.</p>
+
+<p>And because Sorrow seemed for the moment to have her in his keeping,
+all her thoughts were tinged with sadness. She looked around upon the
+broken walls, and it seemed to be brought home to her with sudden
+force, how little time was given to each one to play his part before
+he must make room for another.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i3">The Bird of Time has but a little way</span>
+<span class="i3">To fly, and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.</span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And because there was that element of greatness in her, which was also
+in her father, she thought less of the "worthwhileness" of doing than
+of the poorness of <i>not</i> doing. His talents were given to
+money-making, because it was the thing he had a genius for; but she
+knew that in a measure he fulfilled his trust, and besides subscribing
+generously to charities, helped many a "lame dog" over his stile in
+secret. But what had this to do with the trust that was hers? She who
+did not even bear the heat and burden of the day in making the
+money?... She who had but to spend it.</p>
+
+<p>In the ruined temple she sat on&mdash;thinking, thinking.</p>
+
+<p>How the spot fascinated her!</p>
+
+<p>In this far Rhodesia, how strange that she, the product of the most
+modern and presumably enlightened age, should linger there amidst
+these broken walls, and feel strange kinship and fascination about
+those old people in that remote age; should stretch a hand out to
+them, as it were, across the centuries, with this feeling that their
+thoughts had been even as her thoughts, and that the passing of the
+ages could never eradicate the essential likeness of one people to
+another in those old eternal questions of whence and why and
+wherefore.</p>
+
+<p>And they, the maidens of that day, had loved the man who was big and
+strong and true, even as the maidens of to-day; the man who achieved;
+who was ever fearless to do and dare; who gave his service to the
+world quietly, unostentatiously, indifferent to praise or reward. And
+what was the use of it all: the love, the heartache, the silent
+admiration.... The maidens were dust now, and all the strength and the
+heroism of the strong men could not give them one age longer to do and
+dare ere they too made room for others.</p>
+
+<p>Yet always&mdash;always&mdash;deep-rooted in the heart and mind of humanity, was
+this ineradicable belief in the simple act of <i>doing</i>; this
+half-contempt of the lives content to flutter their little way in
+aimless self-seeking. The spirit that took men through the terrible
+solitudes of untrodden places, that urged them across uncharted seas,
+that carried them fearlessly aloft to conquer the air&mdash;not for gain,
+not for notoriety, not for praise, but just that simple splendid need
+to be <i>doing</i>. How it appealed to her, how it enthralled her senses,
+how it made her ache with a great overwhelming desire to discover
+quickly what "doing" in a big sense there might be for her!</p>
+
+<p>Of course he, the stern soldier-policeman, was of the fearless band.
+In his quiet way he was "doing" with the foremost, though it might be
+a work that would never bring him anything in this world but enough
+pay just to live upon. But that was beside the point. The band to
+which he belonged did not linger in the shallows, counting the cost,
+counting the gain; they plunged straightway into the deep waters, and
+struggled to some mysterious, perhaps fugitive, goal ahead, finding
+their reward in the struggle itself and the difficult headway won.</p>
+
+<p>And afterwards!...</p>
+
+<p>O, what did it matter about afterwards, if one had put up a good fight
+and dared the deep waters? How much better to be overwhelmed there,
+than to fritter away a butterfly life in the shallows! How splendid to
+win through and stand on the far bank with the quiet band of strong
+workers, even though no one knew aught of the struggle, instead of
+being lauded to the skies by the playing butterflies!</p>
+
+<p>Only, what could she do; ah, what?</p>
+
+<p>A wave of hopelessness seemed to seize upon her, and back across her
+mind like a lash cut the dictum of the strong, rigid man, "A
+millionaire's daughter can generally be pretty useful if she likes."</p>
+
+<p>Of course, signing cheques, cheques, cheques&mdash;a mere machine&mdash;and
+never to get in touch with the deep need, the inarticulate sorrow of
+the world that her soul ached to comfort. It would seem that even to
+him, the figure of bronze, it was what she should seek as her
+<i>m&eacute;tier</i>. She almost wondered if somewhere in his heart he had a
+faint contempt for her, because she was a millionaire's daughter: a
+product of the new r&eacute;gime; someone who could not be permitted to stand
+in the same light as the women of his ancient, illustrious name; who
+had no part with the proud, patrician ladies of his great family.</p>
+
+<p>She rose to her feet suddenly, feeling unaccountably hurt by the
+thought, and her eyes roved half unconsciously, and fixed themselves
+upon the spot where the scarlet petals of the Kaffir boom showed
+blood-red against the ancient northern wall. The ache in her heart
+coloured all her mind for the moment, shutting out the glad sunshine
+with its golden evening glow resting tenderly upon the granite blocks,
+showing her only the splashes of scarlet like blood upon the ancient
+walls. Was it the altar of sacrifice? Did the Kaffir boom shed its
+great red flowers for ever, like drops of blood upon the altar of the
+world's pain?</p>
+
+<p>The sound of a step upon broken stones roused her suddenly; a man's
+firm tread close beside her. She looked round slowly as it stood
+still, and with the ache and the question lingering in her face, found
+herself looking into blue eyes of a disconcerting directness&mdash;the eyes
+of the soldier-policeman.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw you from the Acropolis Hill," he said, "and so I came."</p>
+
+<p>No word of why he had not come sooner; no explanation of his presence
+on the Acropolis Hill when she had a right to expect him with her; no
+preliminaries at all, no self-conscious excuses, no apparent
+realisation that he had behaved a little oddly; only the simple,
+direct announcement, "I saw you, so I came."</p>
+
+<p>Yet there was something more&mdash;a vague intangible something, that made
+the directness of his eyes disconcerting in a way it had not been
+before. Meryl felt a pink flush stealing over her face, and turned her
+head away to hide it.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder what you were thinking about just then?" he said, with the
+slightest softening. "I awoke you from a very deep reverie."</p>
+
+<p>She raised her eyes, and they fell again upon the scarlet flowers.
+Something born of her own deep understanding told her, give this man
+straightness for straightness always if you would stand well with
+him; no begging the question, no subterfuge.</p>
+
+<p>"I was thinking," she answered simply, "that those scarlet petals of
+the Kaffir boom, falling on these ancient walls, suggest great blood
+drops offered, upon the altar of the world's pain throughout the
+ages."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!..." The exclamation escaped him quickly, unheedingly&mdash;sharp,
+short, abrupt. It was as though she had struck him suddenly in a
+vulnerable place. It told her, as perhaps nothing else could have
+done, she had gauged rightly when she remarked to Diana that sometime
+something had hurt him very much.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment there was a tense, pulsing silence, and then he turned
+aside towards the sacred enclosure which stood behind them. Meryl
+turned also, and ventured as she did so to glance into his face. It
+was stern again now, but she knew for a brief moment as he made the
+exclamation it had not been so, and for a reason she did not seek to
+fathom her heart was strangely glad.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV</h2>
+
+<h2>THE ANCIENT RUINS</h2>
+
+<p>When Carew had started up into the Acropolis Hill an hour previously,
+he had not had the faintest intention of fulfilling his engagement and
+going in search of Meryl. On the contrary, he had gone there to avoid
+her.</p>
+
+<p>All day long, as Stanley described, he had been grinding away at his
+native report in a gruff, determined silence: a silence even gruffer
+and more determined than usual. Because of his thoughts the previous
+evening and of his decision in the morning, he had finally made up his
+mind not to visit the temple with Meryl Pym, and not to run any
+further risk of slipping unconsciously into the friendly attitude he
+was so anxious to avoid. When Stanley set out towards the tents, he
+mentioned casually that he was going up the valley to the store, which
+is also a most attractive and comfortable hostel for Zimbabwe
+visitors, and should ask the two girls to go with him. A little later,
+glancing in the valley direction, Carew saw the khaki figure for a
+moment going up the pathway, and the flutter of a light dress, or
+possibly two, just ahead. He took it for granted that Meryl and Diana
+had both accompanied Stanley, and that his escort was no longer
+expected. He told himself he was glad, and decided to go into the
+Acropolis Hill, about that point of interest still unravelled between
+himself and Grenville, and so avoid any chance encounter.</p>
+
+<p>But when he found himself among the ruined fortifications, he became
+conscious of a flagging interest wholly unlooked for. Something seemed
+to have gone out of him, or out of the ancient stones, and he knew
+himself in some vague way not in tune. He gazed at the amazing walls,
+erected upon granite boulders two hundred to two hundred and fifty
+feet above the valley, and the marvel in him that never seemed to die
+was, at any rate, less arresting than it had ever been before.</p>
+
+<p>Here, on an isolated hill, rising to a height of three hundred and
+fifty feet, were fortifications which in their ingenuity, massive
+character, and persistent repetition at every point of vantage had
+astonished the highest experts of modern military engineering. Rampart
+walls, traverses, screen-walls, intricate entrances, narrow and
+labyrinthine passages, sunken thoroughfares, banquettes, parapets, and
+other devices of a people thoroughly conversant with military
+engineering and defence, and not one word, not one line, not one clue
+as to the identity of the builders nor the object of their colossal
+labours; labours which one felt could only have been achieved through
+the compulsory service of many slaves, for thousands of tons of
+granite blocks had been transported up the precipitous kopje to a
+height of no less than two hundred feet, which a careful examination
+of the rocks on the hill proves must mostly have been quarried from
+granite about twelve miles distant. And all this in spite of the fact
+that Nature alone had made the hill already impregnable, it being
+inaccessible on three sides and very difficult of ascent on the
+fourth. It is one of Rhodesia's mysteries, and one also of its
+fascinations; those mysteries and fascinations which so far have
+effectually baffled all efforts to find the clue and read the closed
+book. Who was it came for gold in those old, old days? Who was it
+built the line of forts to Solfala on the coast to guard the route
+along which the gold was undoubtedly carried, and of which remains may
+still be seen at regular intervals the whole distance? Where was the
+gold taken to from Solfala, and by whom?</p>
+
+<p>And no less strange perhaps is the absence of all clue to the
+burial-ground of this stalwart race; for only a stalwart people could
+have built those temple walls and those amazing fortifications. Where
+then are the bones of their dead? Strange and incomprehensible as it
+may seem, no excavations have yet unearthed human bones, or brought to
+light any spot that might be supposed to have been a burial-ground.</p>
+
+<p>To Peter Carew the mystery and the fascination had become such an
+ever-present companion in his thoughts, that it was not surprising a
+moment should come when he stood among the ramparts and found their
+interest for the time being crowded out. The surprising thing was the
+source of that crowding out. For it was not even the lengthy report
+for the Native Commission to which he was giving such infinite thought
+and pains that filled his mind; neither was it anything to do with the
+police force he had grown to care for as truly as his old regiment;
+nor any far-reaching, visionary dream for the welfare of the country.
+Chiefly it was a pair of grave blue-grey eyes, with a gleam in them as
+their owner said, "Will you take me if I promise not to ask any silly
+questions?" And he had said "Yes." Yet now he was here on the
+Acropolis Hill alone.</p>
+
+<p>He stared moodily at the broken walls and pondered within himself. Why
+had he not taken her? Or why, since he had chosen not to do so, could
+he not put the whole remembrance from his mind? Nay, why did he half
+begin to wish that he had not let himself be overruled by his own
+counsel of prudence? They would be going so soon now, and it might be
+long before he would again be given an opportunity to speak with any
+woman of Meryl's charm, or look into any face so full of attraction.
+And yet that was just what he wished; was actually the chief reason
+for his unsociable resolutions. His own inconsistency puzzled and
+worried him, and his eyes as he looked steadily to the horizon had a
+lurking cloud in them.</p>
+
+<p>Then quite suddenly and unexpectedly he had turned his gaze to the
+temple walls lying far below, and seen the figure seated idly on
+fallen masonry, lost in thought.</p>
+
+<p>Then she had not gone with Stanley and Diana? She had remained behind
+alone, nettled perhaps by his bearishness, and choosing to be
+independent, and still take her stroll to the temple without him.</p>
+
+<p>But it was not the thought of her possible censure that spurred him
+unexpectedly to a new decision. He had accustomed himself to be
+indifferent to that in most people. It was a perfectly simple and
+direct desire to join her. And because at heart he was a perfectly
+simple and direct man, he suddenly left off cogitating and started
+down the hill. Perhaps until that moment he had not truly known which
+way his desire lay. Perhaps in the first discovery he had purposely
+not chosen to give himself time to weigh and probe. Anyhow, he
+hesitated no more, until he stood at her side and looked into her
+eyes with that direct gaze that Meryl so unexpectedly found
+disconcerting. But the sensation passed rapidly, and in its place came
+a quiet content. Whether he had avoided her all day or not, at least
+he came now entirely of his own initiative, and for the time it was
+enough. She was too honest to pretend anything herself, and possessed
+too fine a nature to cover what might have held embarrassment by a
+coquettish taunt or feigned pique.</p>
+
+<p>"I had given you up," she said; "it seemed probable that you had
+spoken unthinkingly when you said you would come."</p>
+
+<p>"I have been working all day at my report," he replied simply.</p>
+
+<p>He seemed a little different somehow, and besides, he had come
+entirely of his own free will. She remembered it, and put away all
+sense of restraint, fought down and conquered the self-consciousness
+that sometimes seemed to grip her when he was taciturn and aloof.</p>
+
+<p>He had placed one foot on a low wall, and leaned back against a tree
+in a natural, unrestrained attitude, and quite naturally she seated
+herself on the wall before him.</p>
+
+<p>"You found it very engrossing?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is interesting work."</p>
+
+<p>"Has it any special object, or just a general one?"</p>
+
+<p>"A little of both. We want to benefit the natives as a whole and
+improve their conditions; and we want also to make some changes in the
+native administration of the country."</p>
+
+<p>"And you are fond of the natives? For you at least they are worth
+while?"</p>
+
+<p>"Emphatically so."</p>
+
+<p>"To any particular end?"</p>
+
+<p>His face grew grave and thoughtful, but the hardening stayed away
+still&mdash;the hardening that so often came when either she or Diana,
+sought to draw him. Only apparently to men would he speak of his work
+and his beliefs.</p>
+
+<p>"It is difficult to say. Probably nothing but time will show us the
+true solution of the problem of the black and the white race living
+together in one country. But meanwhile the black man is eminently
+worth while. With firm and just treatment he is capable of great
+development."</p>
+
+<p>He raised his eyes and looked out into the distance. "If only we could
+ensure it for him everywhere! Native commissioners and their clerks
+and the magistrates, all men of fine fibre, who honestly care about
+the natives under them and the welfare of the country. So much could
+be done if ... if ..." He smiled a little grimly. "We are so apt to
+expect the impossible," he finished. "How should numbers of men of
+fine fibre ever reach Rhodesia at all? In so many cases we must just
+take what we can get."</p>
+
+<p>"But the standard will improve as the country grows?"</p>
+
+<p>"O yes; it is improving steadily. All the signs are hopeful, if we can
+but light upon what is truly the best method of administering the
+native laws, and get good men to carry the work out."</p>
+
+<p>And still the heavenly sense of unrestrained mental kinship lingered.
+Happy, yet fearful, Meryl ventured a word of appreciation.</p>
+
+<p>"It must make you glad to feel you are doing such a useful work for a
+young country. It seems as if ... as if ... it is just what a man
+might ask to be doing."</p>
+
+<p>He drew himself up with a slightly taut movement, and she divined he
+did not wish for any personal praise; yet, because a tinge of red
+showed under the bronze, she was glad she had seized the opportunity
+to offer a tribute that might at some odd moment heal a passing sense
+of uselessness and appreciation.</p>
+
+<p>She stood up also, and they moved slowly round the ruins together,
+while he explained to her much that he had read and gathered and
+surmised in his leisure hours, not only about the temple itself, but
+about all the ancient remains and the mysterious people who had dwelt
+there long ago. Told as he told it, the listener could only find it
+enthralling, for the man's heart was in his subject; and where another
+might have rhapsodised or sentimentalised, he only stated certain
+remarkable facts, and gave her the simple reasons for and against
+certain deductions, that she might decide her own view for herself.</p>
+
+<p>"But you?..." she questioned at last. "In spite of the scientific men
+who have scoffed, and their followers who have thrown cold water upon
+all enthusiastic belief in the antiquity of the ruins, you are quite
+satisfied that they are really of a very great age, are you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Absolutely."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you tell me why chiefly?" She smiled a little. "I believe it
+absolutely myself, but I am afraid it is partly a sentimental belief.
+Already I love them, and it makes me jealous for them. I feel I cannot
+bear anyone to throw doubt upon their antiquity."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not easy to explain in a few words, without a great many facts
+and a lot of detail, but I can tell you one or two salient points. For
+one thing, Zimbabwe was evidently connected with a gold industry on a
+very large scale. Mr. Telford Edwards, a well-known and able mining
+engineer in Rhodesia, measured up, about fourteen years ago, the
+length, breadth, and depth of most of the then known old workings in
+Rhodesia, and calculated the cubic contents of what had been taken
+out. And taking the assay value in each old working to be per ton the
+same as it is in the reef in each case now, he estimated that at the
+present value of gold more than one hundred million pounds' worth had
+been taken out. Even two hundred years ago gold was worth very much
+more than it is now; so that it is inconceivable that such an amount
+had been produced within the last two thousand years without any
+mention of it anywhere. Such a production of gold would have upset the
+markets of the world."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said eagerly as he paused; "please go on."</p>
+
+<p>He did so, but without withdrawing his gaze from the distance.
+"Another point is that the workings are so widely dispersed and so
+numerous, requiring such an enormous amount of time and labour, that
+it seems only reasonable to believe that the gold-mining went on for
+many hundreds of years, probably before the age of writing at all. I
+am not prepared to agree offhand that Zimbabwe is probably the ancient
+Havilah of the Scriptures, but I see no very good reason why it should
+not be. On the other hand, the ancient workings and fortifications and
+temples may have been the work of Ph&oelig;nicians or Mongols several
+thousand years ago. Certainly against Mr. McIver's theory, that the
+Temple was the work of Bantus a few hundred years ago, I think we may
+put the fact that an admirable drainage system has been
+unearthed;&mdash;drainage systems of any kind being more or less unknown to
+black races of a low order. In the meantime, we can but await fresh
+clues, which may put us upon the track of proofs, and hope that the
+day is not very far distant when much of the mystery will be cleared."</p>
+
+<p>"O, I hope so," she said; "and thank you so much for telling me all
+that you have. I shall think of it often when I am back in 'the cities
+of the plain,'" and she smiled a little wistfully.</p>
+
+<p>He did not answer, and she wondered what deep thoughts at the back of
+his brain made him always so grave. She felt instinctively he had not
+always worn this serious, preoccupied air, and her heart grew tender
+anew at the thought of that "something" which had hurt him long ago.</p>
+
+<p>Had he ever told anyone? she wondered. Would he ever tell anyone?...
+or would he go quietly on through his life, self-contained,
+self-dependent, aloof? Well, it was good to have met him and known
+him; a simple, strong soul going quietly about its appointed service
+is always good to have known. Perhaps the recollection of the meeting
+later would help her to do likewise, and in the maze of her life learn
+at least to do the simple, strong thing at the moment.</p>
+
+<p>They were moving towards the western entrance now, and she wondered if
+he would accompany her back to the tents, and perhaps stay a little,
+as Stanley did evening after evening. But just as they approached the
+opening voices were heard, and a moment later Diana and Stanley stood
+in the wide aperture. Diana's winsome face was lit with whimsical
+mischievousness, but it fell somewhat when she beheld Carew.</p>
+
+<p>"O goodness!" she remarked comically. "Who would have thought of
+finding you here?"</p>
+
+<p>Stanley and Meryl laughed at her apparent discomfiture, and even Carew
+relaxed as he replied, "You don't seem entirely pleased."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no, I'm not; but if you are just leaving it doesn't matter."</p>
+
+<p>"I think I shall stay; I scent some vandalism."</p>
+
+<p>"O well," airily, "if you will have it, we were just coming to dig for
+corpses;" and she tossed her head with an independent air.</p>
+
+<p>"It is strictly forbidden to dig for anything on pain of various dire
+penalties," Carew told her.</p>
+
+<p>"I know it is, and that is just exactly why it interferes with my
+plans to find <i>you</i> here."</p>
+
+<p>"I see. And what about Mr. Stanley, who is also a representative of
+the Government that made the laws?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Stanley is only a trooper, and I am Diana Pym. It is not his
+place to interfere with my actions. It would only be mine to shield
+him if he was persuaded to help me and got into trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"And what in the world do you want with a corpse, Di?" asked Meryl.</p>
+
+<p>"Why gold, of course! Mr. Stanley has been telling me a perfectly
+thrilling theory about corpses with a lot of antique gold ornaments on
+them being buried in the ruins; and he knows where one or two are,
+because a gold-diviner showed him with his divining-rod, and he marked
+the places in case he wanted to remember later; and to-day is when he
+did want to remember later, and he's just strolled round with me to
+point out the spots; and if that isn't a long enough sentence for you,
+you must add some more yourself," drawing a long breath.</p>
+
+<p>The Kid, enjoying himself hugely, hastened to add for Carew's benefit,
+"It's only just a joke. Miss Pym wanted me to show her where our
+visitor of the other day said he had divined gold."</p>
+
+<p>"It's not a joke at all," declared Diana defiantly. "It's the key to
+the whole mystery. While all you scientific folks are arguing this,
+that, and the other, I want to look and see. Besides, if there are
+antique gold ornaments, perhaps a few thousand years old, I want some.
+I'm not specially in love with your old broken walls, but I'm ready to
+be in love with your jewellery, worn a few thousand years ago."</p>
+
+<p>"You Philistine!" exclaimed Meryl. "If you can't appreciate the ruins,
+you certainly ought not to be allowed to possess a single treasure
+taken from them."</p>
+
+<p>"O rot!... What's the use of decayed old walls anyway? You and Major
+Carew can have the heaps of stones. We don't want to rob you of so
+much as a pebble. But we do badly want to dig down and look for a
+corpse."</p>
+
+<p>"And when did you propose to begin?" asked Carew.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I suppose a moonlight night would be best, when you're rolled
+up in your den or else when you've gone off to a distant kraal."</p>
+
+<p>"You would see a ghost in about half an hour," from Meryl, "and fly
+for your life."</p>
+
+<p>"O, are there ghosts?" looking suddenly dubious. "Did your diviner
+divine any ghosts while he was about it?..." turning to Stanley. "You
+never told me that. Of course, I shouldn't much like to be handling a
+corpse, and feel its ghost put a cold, clammy hand on my shoulder.
+What a horrible idea! Do you think there are any?"</p>
+
+<p>"There might be;" and The Kid's eyes twinkled. "Of course, I supposed
+you would imagine we ran risks of that sort."</p>
+
+<p>"Ugh!..." with a cold shudder. "I believe I can see one now. It must
+have overheard me saying I coveted those gold ornaments. Come away
+quickly. I want ... I want ... now don't look shocked, Meryl; I want a
+whisky and soda!..."</p>
+
+<p>They followed her out from the gathering gloom of the walls into the
+quick-coming darkness, and as she and Stanley pressed on ahead, Carew
+and Meryl could only follow. As they did so they spoke little. It was
+as though some bond of sympathy between them had slipped into being of
+itself outside their consciousness altogether, and with a blessed
+sense of quiet understanding neither attempted to make conversation;
+and neither questioned as yet whence came this unsought bond, this
+link forged as by a power outside themselves. The time for probing was
+near, but it lingered yet a little.</p>
+
+<p>As they approached the tents and joined the other two waiting to make
+their adieux, Diana's voice again broke in upon their quiet,
+dispelling its curious sense of unreality.</p>
+
+<p>"It wasn't you I was afraid of, Major Carew," she called lightly.
+"Baboons and owls and bears I dare tackle any day; but a ghost three
+thousand years old!... ugh!... I give it up!... You will not need to
+add to that precious native report another one, concerning the daring
+theft of a corpse from the ancient ruins of Zimbabwe by a well-known
+young lady from Johannesburg."</p>
+
+<p>He smiled into her laughing eyes in a manner that surprised her, and
+made his face extraordinarily attractive in a way she had not yet seen
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"And what would have happened to Stanley, do you suppose?... I'm
+afraid the police force might have considered it necessary to dispense
+with his services."</p>
+
+<p>"O, that wouldn't have mattered in Rhodesia in the least! He'd have
+opened a butcher's shop, or come on with us as our butler, or gone and
+dug a hole in a kopje and called it gold-mining. No one would have
+thought any the worse of him, and I'd have felt indebted to him for
+life. We'd both have had a run for our money, anyhow!..." and she
+laughed gaily as she turned away.</p>
+
+<p>But in their tent, alone together, she suddenly made the epigrammatic
+remark, "Dangerous, very dangerous indeed; like most bears. Mind you
+don't get badly clawed, Meryl!..." and then with her usual lightness
+ran off into another subject.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV</h2>
+
+<h2>CAREW RIDES AWAY</h2>
+
+<p>With the coming of the dark, velvety southern night, resplendent with
+brilliant southern stars, it would seem the time for probing was at
+hand. By the tents on the hill-side Mr. Pym, the engineer, Meryl, and
+Diana sat outside in the starlight, rather a silent party, listening
+to the intermittent sound of tom-toms coming from some kraal near by.</p>
+
+<p>Then Mr. Pym alluded somewhat suddenly to their departure, and Meryl
+made the discovery that it was a topic she had been dreading all the
+evening. Diana, on the other hand, seemed relieved.</p>
+
+<p>"I have one more journey to make," he told them, "and then I propose
+to start at once for Enkeldorn and Salisbury. Unfortunately, I am
+afraid this journey will take two and possibly three days."</p>
+
+<p>"Then take us with you," said Diana at once.</p>
+
+<p>"It is an unhealthy district or I would. I do not think it would harm
+you, but I am afraid for Meryl." There was a slight pause, then he
+added, "As we returned to-day we stayed for a cup of tea at the
+mission station with Mr. and Mrs. Grenville. I happened to mention my
+journey, and Mrs. Grenville said she would be delighted if you would
+both go and spend the two or three days with her."</p>
+
+<p>"But I want to come with you," Diana cried; and leaning towards him
+added confidently, "Uncle, you will have to take me; don't make a
+fuss."</p>
+
+<p>"Why shall I have to take you?" with amusement in his small, keen
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Because I have made up my mind to go," was the prompt rejoinder; and
+he gave an amused chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>"And what do you say, Meryl? Will you spend two or three days with
+Mrs. Grenville?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to, if Di really wants to go; otherwise we could quite
+well have remained on here, couldn't we?" There was a note of anxiety
+in her voice that she was unable to entirely hide. Only three more
+days, and they to be spent several miles away!</p>
+
+<p>"I do not particularly want to leave you here as long as that. I would
+rather you visited Mrs. Grenville, and I think it would be an
+interesting change. She invited you both."</p>
+
+<p>"It was very kind of her," said Diana, "but I am quite decided about
+wanting to go with you. I suppose we could both come?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think I would as soon go to Mrs. Grenville"; and Meryl sat very
+still, gazing at a distant star.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think?" said Mr. Pym to his engineer. "Will it be all
+right for my niece to accompany us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, certainly, if she takes quinine regularly. It is a
+beautiful neighbourhood. She can either ride her mule or be carried in
+a machila."</p>
+
+<p>Diana clapped her hands, feeling her point was won easily, and then
+added, "Couldn't we take Mr. Stanley with us? He would so love the
+shooting, and he is such good company."</p>
+
+<p>"As I came past to-night I called in and asked both him and Major
+Carew. Stanley accepted at once."</p>
+
+<p>There was a slight movement where Meryl sat, but she did not speak;
+and her father, almost as if with intent, kept his eyes turned away.</p>
+
+<p>"What did Major Carew say?" asked Diana.</p>
+
+<p>"He was uncertain. He thought he might be obliged to go to Edwardstown
+on business, and he left the question open."</p>
+
+<p>Diana laughed. "He wanted to make quite certain sure that there were
+to be no ladies in the party."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know why he should suppose there were likely to be."</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly not, but he is a cautious man. Anyhow, when you tell him I
+am going he will make ready to start to Edwardstown on business."</p>
+
+<p>So they sat on under the stars, each busy with thoughts. Henry Pym's
+were a trifle anxious. So little ever escaped his clear eyes that it
+was not in the least surprising he had seen whither Meryl's mind was
+trending, almost before she knew of it herself. And much as he admired
+Major Carew, he feared, with the clear sight of a great love, that
+indefinable something that stood as a barrier between the man and his
+outlook upon certain phases of life. Whatever it was, his studied
+avoidance of social intercourse, and his turning his back so
+resolutely upon England and all his people there, suggested to the
+astute man of the world that he had taken out of his life's plan all
+thought of marriage, and was not very likely to turn from his purpose.
+Hence the shadow of anxiety in the father's eyes, for his deep
+knowledge of Meryl told him further that she would neither love
+lightly nor forget easily.</p>
+
+<p>And still the girl herself sat on and made no sign. The joy of the
+evening hour was still too new. Under the stars at present she asked
+nothing better than to live through it again and again in her memory.
+For whereas a woman is often fearful to anticipate a joy for dread of
+a disappointment, afterwards, when the realisation is sure and sweet
+and all her own, she will draw delight from it for many a silent hour
+in quiet contentment.</p>
+
+<p>And down at the police camp the two troopers and the officer sat
+likewise under the stars. Stanley was very full of his trip, for Carew
+had readily given him the two or three days' leave; and in the
+direction whither they journeyed were roan and sable and water-buck
+and probably lions to rejoice the heart of a game young British South
+African policeman with a bloodthirsty desire to kill. Moore, in his
+quaint, Irish way, chaffed him a good deal, as was his wont; for
+though one had received his education at the Bedford Grammar School
+and was a clergyman's son, and the other at a board-school and was the
+son of a small innkeeper, in the Rhodesia police force all troopers
+are equals, and there is a frank camaraderie which is very creditable
+to its members. Carew himself showed very little difference, and in
+the same spirit the homely Moore had received a cup of tea from
+Diana's dainty hands, poured out for him by Meryl.</p>
+
+<p>Only, as they twitted each other in slow, easy tones, neither of them
+attempted to include Carew, who sat a little apart in the darkness
+smoking his beloved pipe; and when they rose to turn in, he merely
+acknowledged their pleasant "Good night, sir," with a short "Good
+night" in reply, and made no movement himself. Even when the lights
+at the hill-side tents went out he still sat on, alone with the night
+and the stars. Later, because he knew he should not sleep, he started
+off up the valley towards the store, feeling a need for action.</p>
+
+<p>And all the time, under the covering darkness, his face seemed to grow
+graver and graver. He was too wise not to know when danger threatened,
+and too direct not to face it squarely at once. And the danger that
+seemed to threaten him now was the likelihood that if he saw much of
+Meryl Pym he would grow to love her, and perhaps she would reciprocate
+his love, and for them both there would be only a great pain. That it
+could by any possibility be anything else did not enter his
+cogitations. According to his own ideas he could not marry, and least
+of all could he marry the only child of a millionaire. And it seemed
+to him further that if he cut off all intercourse at once the danger
+would be averted. He was quite satisfied in his own mind that the
+evident attraction had not had time to sink very far down. In two or
+three days she would go away again and he would go on with his work,
+and it would all be the same as if they had never met. Manifestly the
+chief consideration now was to avoid any further friendliness
+whatever, except the merest courtesy which had obtained at the
+beginning. If possible, he decided it would be better not to meet any
+more at all. When a man is strong in one thing, he is usually strong
+in others; and the quiet strength that had enabled him to break away
+from an old life of leisure and ease and excitement, and build up
+another life for himself on entirely different lines in a new country,
+helped him now quietly to make his decision and try to take the
+simple, direct course, out of a threatening danger.</p>
+
+<p>And yet it was not entirely easy; the simple, direct way very seldom
+is. Byways are apt to have softer grass for the feet, deeper shade
+from the sun, smoother banks to rest upon. The direct, straightforward
+way often goes on mercilessly up the steep hill, having sharp flints
+in its pathway, cold winds, dry dust, untempered glare. But the man
+who dares it with steady eyes usually arrives first at the goal,
+tempered metal ringing true, while he who dallies in the pleasant
+byways may find his armour has grown rusty and his powers lax.</p>
+
+<p>As he walked quietly back to the police camp Peter Carew looked
+straight before him to the dim horizon, and in his eyes there was an
+expression that few, if any, had ever been permitted to behold. For
+the hidden sorrow that was his was his alone, and he had never sought
+nor asked the sympathy of a fellow-creature. In the starlight he
+looked back into the eyes of his dead love, and it was between him and
+her only the sorrow might be shared. As he had loved her memory all
+these years, he would love her still, though in the great loneliness
+of his heart he might be drawn to that one other woman who so
+strangely resembled her and so deeply attracted him.</p>
+
+<p>But Meryl was not for him, the penniless policeman, and he knew it.</p>
+
+<p>The hour spent together in the temple ruins had been too sweet, too
+dangerously sweet, and therefore he would run no further risk. He
+would not go with Mr. Pym, because that might forge a link of
+friendship it would be difficult to break; and he would not remain at
+the camp, because that might involve considerable intercourse if Meryl
+and Diana stayed behind at the hill-side home alone. He would instead
+retire to Segundi on the pretext of meeting the Resident Commissioner
+expected there, and stay until the millionaire's party had departed
+from Zimbabwe for good. It would be as well to start early, he could
+easily manage it; and if he saw no prospect of saying good-bye to Mr.
+Pym in person, he would write him a short note giving some sort of
+explanation.</p>
+
+<p>So it happened the next morning, before anyone at the hill-side camp
+was dressed, a Black Watch boy presented a note to Mr. Pym's boy, and
+a little distance off on the road Major Carew waited on his horse for
+a message.</p>
+
+<p>And in his tent, still in a sleeping-suit, Mr. Pym read the note, and
+looked hard for a moment at the sunshine beyond the open flap, as if
+seeking out there to read, not what was said in the little letter, but
+what was <i>not</i> said.</p>
+
+<p>Then he stood up, slipped on some shoes, and went outside into the
+fragrant morning air. Directly he saw Carew on his horse, he took the
+little path through the scrub and rocks and went towards him. Carew
+alighted, and came a short distance along the path.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pym spoke first. The other had already done his speaking in the
+note.</p>
+
+<p>"This is very sudden. I hoped you would have accompanied us to Susi."
+He looked up hard into the soldier's bronzed face, though without
+seeming to do so. To any other man the steadiness of Carew's eyes
+might have been disconcerting.</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly expected to be able to. Mr. Jardine was almost certain to be
+at Segundi one day this week, and I knew I should have to meet him."</p>
+
+<p>"How long will you be away?"</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly a week."</p>
+
+<p>Henry Pym was a little taken aback, but he did not show it. The cool
+brain that had manufactured the income of a millionaire was fully
+alert now, not so much because he did not wish to be taken unawares,
+but because Carew interested him beyond most men, and he wanted to try
+and grasp the working of his mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Then we may not see you again before we start for Salisbury?"</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly not. Will you kindly say good-bye to the ladies for me,
+should I be prevented doing so in person?"</p>
+
+<p>"They will be disappointed not to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry also." A little smile of grim humour played suddenly about
+his lips. "You must tell your niece The Bear sent her a farewell
+growl, and he hopes she will find more amiable Rhodesians at her
+future camping-places."</p>
+
+<p>"I think she is not one to care much about the average type of amiable
+cavalier. She will miss The Bear's growl a good deal. But we shall see
+you again shortly, I hope," he hastened to add. "Any time if you care
+to come to Johannesburg we shall be delighted if you will visit us at
+Hill Court."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you. If I come that way, I shall remember."</p>
+
+<p>Then he held out his hand. Mr. Pym grasped it with unwonted warmth.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, sir," said the soldier simply.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, Carew; I have been glad to meet you," answered the
+millionaire. And then as the horseman rode away without one backward
+look, he walked slowly along the little path to the tents.</p>
+
+<p>At breakfast he broke the news quite simply, but once more he did not
+look at Meryl. He told them Major Carew had been called away to
+Segundi, and would not return before they had departed north.</p>
+
+<p>"Gone?..." echoed Diana blankly. "Do you mean he has gone already and
+without saying good-bye?"</p>
+
+<p>He felt Meryl's eyes upon him with a strained expression, and he
+turned lightly to Diana to give her time to grasp the news.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but he left you a message. He passed before you were up, and I
+went out to speak to him. He asked me to make his farewells to both of
+you, and particularly to tell you that The Bear sent you a growl, and
+he hopes you will find more amiable Rhodesians at your other
+camping-places."</p>
+
+<p>But Diana was in no mood for light messages; rather unaccountably, she
+received it with impatience.</p>
+
+<p>"O, he is simply odious!" she exclaimed. "I have no patience with him.
+Why can't he behave like an ordinary man just once in a way? Going off
+at sunrise, and never stopping to say good-bye! It is downright
+rudeness, and there is no reason why he should conclude he can be as
+rude as he likes with impunity. You don't seem to mind his
+bearishness, Meryl? but I hope you have spirit enough to resent his
+casual departure."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl was rather pale, but she managed to reply lightly, "I can't see
+why you seem so surprised. He is only acting as he has done all along.
+It is his affair, whether he keeps it up to the last, or suddenly
+changes altogether and becomes the polite, conventional society man.
+Personally, it would have surprised me far more to see the change."</p>
+
+<p>"O, you're just shielding him," with impatient disdain; "I suppose
+because he happens to be rather good to look at. But I call it rude;
+just plain, unvarnished rudeness to go off like that for some
+trumped-up reason and never say good-bye to you and me. I hope I
+<i>shall</i> meet more amiable Rhodesians elsewhere, and I should like to
+have a chance to tell him so." Then she rattled off into another
+subject, leaving neither Meryl nor her uncle any necessity to help the
+conversation, for which, in their secret hearts, they were deeply
+grateful.</p>
+
+<p>And perhaps Diana's clever little head made an effort which had no
+appearance of an effort; for like the two brothers who had been
+respectively her father and her uncle, very little transpiring in her
+immediate circle ever escaped her notice.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI</h2>
+
+<h2>"THE SHIP OF FOOLS"</h2>
+
+<p>Meryl had not been long with the Grenvilles before Ailsa's sympathetic
+nature divined that some shadow seemed to be brooding upon the girl's
+spirit. She was so pensive and silent, with sad eyes turned often to
+some far horizon full of wistful thought. And then perhaps suddenly
+she would make an effort and be unusually gay, but the gaiety was not
+spontaneous nor the laughter frank.</p>
+
+<p>In truth, it had been a weary two days and nights for Meryl, since the
+early morning when her father and Diana, with the engineer and
+Stanley, rode away, after escorting her to the Mission Station and
+leaving her there to await their return. It was as though the very
+abruptness of Carew's departure had crystallised all her wavering,
+uncertain thoughts, and told her bluntly what he was to her. Before
+she had been half dreaming; now she knew.</p>
+
+<p>And it seemed to her that she knew also, beyond any questioning, that
+he had no feeling whatever for her beyond the merest friendliness; and
+since they would probably never meet again, she must, if possible,
+conquer her own foolish heart, and resolutely withdraw the love she
+had given unasked. It seemed to her, at any rate, the strongest thing
+to do, and while she made the effort she would turn a smiling face to
+the world and let no one suspect. If she failed&mdash;well, that would
+still be her own affair and no one need know. So she rallied herself
+often and talked gaily, encouraging an interest in all Mr. Grenville's
+plans and hopes that she did not always feel. What she liked best was
+to sit silently before the large sitting-room hut, with her hands on
+her knees, gazing at the wonderful prospect, while Ailsa sewed beside
+her and talked quietly. Ailsa who knew him so well, and loved him so
+well, and appeared to be the only woman friend he possessed. Ailsa
+also who loved this far country so well, the country he had adopted
+for his own land, and seemed quite content, as he, to give the best
+years of her life, in her small measure, to its welfare.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl thought much of the lives of these three quiet workers in the
+wilderness, and mused a little sadly upon what seemed but gilded
+pleasure-seeking emptiness to which she would presently go back.</p>
+
+<p>It was in one of these thoughtful moods she asked Ailsa with plain
+directness how she thought a millionaire might best benefit Rhodesia,
+supposing he were willing to make an effort in that direction. Having
+asked, she added with a light touch, "I imagine you are hardly ready
+yet for libraries and public parks and orphanages?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," Ailsa answered; "but we want settlers badly. Think what it would
+mean to the country if just one rich man or company, instead of
+acquiring large tracts of land and holding it until the price mounts
+to a high figure, were to make a genuine effort to get a white
+population upon it as quickly as possible, even though it meant small
+or no profits. It is too much to expect from any company naturally,
+but there are individuals holding up their land, and therefore holding
+back the country, who might show a more generous spirit. I could name
+a well-known man who owns immense tracts, one of them two hundred
+thousand acres not far from a town, and there it lies in idleness,
+awaiting a land boom. Not long ago it was given out through the
+newspapers that he had a great scheme in hand for getting settlers,
+but nothing has come of it yet, and no one has much hope that it ever
+will."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if my father owns land here? Do you happen to know?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think he does."</p>
+
+<p>"And it is lying idle?" divining that her companion knew more than she
+implied.</p>
+
+<p>"As far as any outsider knows, it is."</p>
+
+<p>"I see." Meryl got up and moved down the rustic verandah, standing a
+moment at the far end and looking across the country with grave eyes.
+Then she came back. "Has anyone ever thought of a Rhodes Scholarship,
+that might take the form of grants of land and be won by competition,
+I wonder? Would a scheme like that work, do you think?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have often thought that it would. Besides bringing the settler, it
+would more or less ensure a desirable one, if he had to prove himself
+a useful, hard-working youth of good sound education. But, of course,
+it would mean a big outlay. A man might inaugurate such a scheme to be
+carried out by his will, but he would hardly be likely to do it in his
+lifetime."</p>
+
+<p>"Still, I suppose something of the kind might prove workable if the
+owner of the land were content to forego a large profit, and let
+settlers have farms or plots on exceptional terms, if they could prove
+themselves capable, useful men?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that is very much what we want. The owner of the land a patriot,
+keeping an eye on the scheme himself, and helping it forward for love
+of the country, not holding it back and keeping it idle for the sake
+of his own already well-filled pocket."</p>
+
+<p>"I will sound my father about his possessions," the girl said simply,
+looking to the far blue hills.</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa watched her a moment covertly, and then asked with a little
+wonder in her voice, "The country seems to have taken hold of you very
+quickly. You speak as one who already loves it."</p>
+
+<p>"I love all South Africa. I have always been happier out here than in
+England. In some way it seems more thoroughly my own land."</p>
+
+<p>"Why is that, do you think?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly know, unless it is the remembrance that all we have we owe
+to Africa. I believe my father was penniless when he came out here."</p>
+
+<p>"It has been the same with many, but they do not remember. It is more
+usual to come here for gain, and go away to spend it in more luxurious
+countries."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps, but it has never seemed to me to be fair. My father is not
+like that. He loves Africa as I do, but he is a very hard-working man,
+and perhaps some things do not occur to him. I think he is up here now
+to see the country, as well as acquire fresh mining properties, and
+all the time he seems so busy and preoccupied, he is probably thinking
+out development schemes of general benefit."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so," and Ailsa spoke very earnestly. "Your father is a fine
+man; one has only to talk to him to perceive that quickly, and it
+would be a good day for Rhodesia if he began to take a genuinely
+practical interest in her welfare. I know he has talked much of it to
+Major Carew, and no one could tell him more of our hopes and needs."</p>
+
+<p>They were silent a few moments, and then Ailsa added with a touch of
+emotion, "You know, when one thinks of the service some men give so
+quietly and unquestioningly to the far-off lands, it seems, after all,
+but a small thing for rich men who have benefited by them to give of
+their riches. Yet how few ever do! There are more men ready to risk
+their lives than to put their hands in their pockets. But then that is
+just perhaps because they are fools, and fools never make any money to
+give; have nothing, in fact, except their lives to offer."</p>
+
+<p>She smiled with a little twist to her lips, playing fitfully with a
+thread in her fingers. Evidently it was a subject that moved her
+deeply. "Of course, you know the verse from 'The Ship of Fools':</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p><span class="i3">'We are those fools who could not rest</span>
+<span class="i3">In the dull earth we left behind,</span>
+<span class="i3">And burned with passion for the West,</span>
+<span class="i3">And drank strange frenzy from its wind.</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="i3">The world where wise men live at ease</span>
+<span class="i3">Fades from our unregretful eyes,</span>
+<span class="i3">And blind, across uncharted seas,</span>
+<span class="i3">We stagger on our enterprise.'</span></p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Those are the men who appeal to me; the men to whom gain is the
+secondary consideration; who come blindly out just as much to give as
+to take. My husband is one, Major Carew is another, Stanley under
+Carew's influence will become a third. Think of them all, all over the
+world; guarding the frontiers, making the paths, exploring the
+danger-zones!</p>
+
+<p>"Think of the little band now gone into the sleeping-sickness belt to
+investigate the disease, and try to learn how best to cope with it!
+How little reward will they get! how little acclaim! But that is just
+a side issue. They did not go for reward. Disaster shook a
+threatening hand at a splendid young country, and instantly some from
+The Ship of Fools were ready to risk their lives in going to the
+rescue. God bless them for it, and bring them safely back! But in any
+case one knows they will be content, if but the work is carried
+forward and the new pathways rendered safe.</p>
+
+<p>"Those types of men are the heroes of to-day, because the spread of
+the Empire, and the welfare and progress of the colonies, grows every
+year a more important factor to England; yet many a good football
+player, and many a popular actor, will win an honoured name, while the
+man who died at the outposts in some dangerous investigation work will
+pass away unknown and unheard of. But they do not mind, that is the
+splendid thing. They are just fools, fools, fools</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p><span class="i3">'Who burned with passion for the West,</span>
+<span class="i3">And drank strange frenzy from its wind.</span>
+<span class="i3">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*</span>
+
+<span class="i3">And blind, across uncharted seas,</span>
+<span class="i3">They stagger to their enterprise.'</span></p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"How many threw up everything at home and came out in the time of the
+Boer War! Think of the men who carried the railways across Canada and
+America, fighting for the pathway, step by step! Think of them in the
+awful climate of West Africa, laughing and playing and singing one
+evening and dead the next! Think of them struggling up here in the
+early days, and undaunted by the horrors of the Matabele rebellions,
+going steadily on with their railways, making their homes! Think of
+them in India! Ah! what The Ship of Fools has achieved in India is
+beyond telling. Only one doesn't feel it in the same way at home. One
+has to come out oneself, and see the path-finders at their work, to
+realise all it means. It does one good just to hear them grumble. How
+shall I explain? It makes you understand that they are the sort of
+heroes who hate to be thought heroic; so they grouse and swear and
+grumble; and talk about a God-forsaken country and a God-forsaken
+existence, and wonder what in the name of all that is wonderful they
+are here for. And perhaps they go off home vowing never to return;
+until the 'strange frenzy' catches them again, and back comes the dear
+Ship of Fools, with every berth taken and the stoutest grumblers
+hurrying to be the first ashore. Fools or heroes, it is much the same.
+I think I have read somewhere that a man couldn't be a hero unless he
+were also a fool."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl got up, and moved behind her companion's chair that she might
+not see the glisten in her eyes, for the longing for that one
+Fool-Hero who had brought such sudden desolation in her heart. Placing
+her hands on the back of it, she leaned over her affectionately and
+said, "It doesn't carry men only, that ship of yours: some of the
+fools are women. O, I know, I know; you are one of the chief among
+them and I envy you." In a whisper, "God knows, I envy you."</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa reached a hand back and laid it over the girl's. "It is very
+sweet of you to say so, but I mayn't accept it. Seeing I have a
+husband like Billy, I should be a very real fool in the most literal
+sense if I stayed away. No, the women-heroes in this land are those
+who face it with a careless, selfish husband, or perhaps in a home
+having no love, and who win through their little day and make no
+plaint. God help them!"</p>
+
+<p>"And you mustn't envy me," she added after a moment, "for presently,
+you will be doing far more than I can ever hope to do. Because it is
+in your heart it will find a way, and then your money will give you a
+great power and influence. Be hopeful, you sweet child," with a little
+playful pat. "Your eyes are over-sad for twenty-four, and sometimes
+when you smile it goes no further than your lips."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl brushed her hand quickly across her eyes, and tried to laugh
+with an attempt at lightness.</p>
+
+<p>"O yes, I will. When I get back home I'll sign cheques, and more
+cheques, it is so easy for me. And I'll persuade father to plan out a
+scheme to bring settlers on the land; land scholarships for
+public-school boys, or something of that sort; and I'll try and
+comfort myself with the thought that in this way he is giving back for
+what he has received. I think I'll take a stroll now it is cooler. The
+others will no doubt come back to-morrow, and this may be my last
+evening in this part of the world. I know you want to worry your
+cook-boy and your head about the dinner, so I'll just go a little way
+alone."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," Ailsa answered cheerily, guessing that she wished to take
+the stroll in solitude; but as she moved away towards her kitchen she
+said to herself, "Poor little girl! you will comfort yourself you are
+helping your father to fulfil his trusts, and at the back of it all
+quietly, silently, you will be breaking your heart for a man of iron
+who unbends to none."</p>
+
+<p>And along the rocky pathway, that was a short cut to Edwardstown and
+led along a low ledge of kopjes commanding a lovely view of the valley
+which lay between the Mission Station and Zimbabwe's lofty northern
+mountain, Meryl walked slowly, with a sense of desolation she could
+neither gauge nor dispel; and over and over through her mind as she
+looked to the far kopjes passed the lines of England's strong
+woman-poet, Emily Bront&euml;:</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p><span class="i3">"What have those lonely mountains worth revealing?</span>
+<span class="i3">More glory and more grief than I can tell:</span>
+<span class="i3">The earth that wakes <i>one</i> human heart to feeling</span>
+<span class="i3">Can centre both the worlds of Heaven and Hell."</span>
+</p></div></div>
+
+<p>What have those lonely mountains worth revealing? was the dumb,
+inarticulate cry in her heart. Ah! what?... what?... And it seemed as
+if all the loneliness in the world were brooding over the blue kopje
+and over the spot where the ancient ruins lay, and creeping into her
+heart and her life for ever.</p>
+
+<p>Would he ever come again, that grim soldier-policeman, who just once
+or twice had shown her a glimpse of the strong man's heart behind the
+barrier, and the strong man's everlasting charm?... Or was it indeed
+all finished for ever? Just an episode that came and went and had no
+sequel, except in that brooding sense of a great loneliness upon the
+distant hills and upon the path of her life. She told herself again
+that it must be so; that evidently the momentary softness had been
+only passing moods; that she counted for nothing at all to him, not
+even a friend it was worth while saying "good-bye" to.</p>
+
+<p>With the deep sadness still in her face she turned, because a step was
+approaching round a tall boulder beside her. And a moment later she
+was looking full and deep into Peter Carew's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"You?..." she said. "<i>You?</i> ..." as if she could not believe her own
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>He said nothing. Suddenly speech seemed to have gone from him, but an
+expression in his face that was new to her quickened her pulses with a
+strange glad quickening.</p>
+
+<p>After a moment he spoke, and it was as though his whole expression and
+figure stiffened.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not expect to find you here," he said. "I was told you had gone
+with your father."</p>
+
+<p>"Not I; Diana only." And her eyes fell, and a faint colour dyed her
+cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>There was a moment's awkward pause: she remembering his unceremonious
+departure, wondering at his unceremonious return; he nonplussed at the
+trick Fate had played him, bringing him again, in spite of his
+decision, into the sphere of her beauty and her quiet charm.</p>
+
+<p>"I was going to the Grenvilles'," he told her at last.</p>
+
+<p>And suddenly a tiny smile played about the corners of Meryl's mouth.
+"I thought you could not possibly return from Segundi for a week?"</p>
+
+<p>She looked away as she said it, so she could not see the swift
+contraction of his face and the swift gleam in his eyes. For one
+moment, of all things in heaven and earth, he felt suddenly that he
+wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her&mdash;roughly perhaps; yes,
+roughly and masterfully, for daring to aim her little shaft at him.
+Instead he replied gravely, "I had to come, because Mr. Jardine wanted
+Grenville's opinion on a particular native question, and it was a
+difficult matter to explain in a letter."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I mustn't hinder you." And she stood aside. "Of course you are
+thinking of starting back to-night and are in a great hurry?"</p>
+
+<p>And then for once the man's armour failed him. "No, I am not going
+back to-night, and I am not in any special hurry. If you were going on
+to the top of the kopje, may I come with you?"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII</h2>
+
+<h2>AN EVENING CONVERSATION</h2>
+
+<p>As they climbed slowly up the zigzag path, neither of them troubled to
+make conversation. All in a moment it had come back&mdash;mysteriously,
+unaccountably&mdash;the sense of understanding, the quiet kinship of
+minds&mdash;for her, the sudden utter content at his nearness. While he was
+there beside her, by his own seeking, what did the future matter?&mdash;the
+future might wait. It is generally so with women. In the "afterwards,"
+the deepest pain is usually theirs, because it is not given them to
+break away and drown the ache and the longing in action and change;
+but in the present, if he, the loved, is with her, she can forget so
+much in that blessed sense of nearness. The man's ache, perhaps,
+spreads more uniformly over both presence and absence, for in each,
+for him, there is the very human craving to possess.</p>
+
+<p>So they reached the summit, and stood a moment gazing at the prospect
+outspread. A sunset in a novel has become too banal for repetition; it
+seems, indeed, almost the last word in literary mediocrity; and yet at
+the evening hour in Rhodesia, in September, when the rains are nearly
+due, and great masses of cloud begin to gather on the horizon, there
+is again and again a pageant of wonder and colouring to steep man's
+senses afresh at every renewal, as if it was the first time of
+beholding. Nothing banal, nothing mediocre in the actual
+phenomenon&mdash;just a riot of colouring, a riot of splendour, a riot of
+revelation. It is not a glory in the west spreading a little way
+overhead. It is an all around, north, south, east, and west, colouring
+beyond all telling&mdash;something aloof, overpowering, incomprehensible,
+with the remote majestic splendour of the Rockies, or the Sahara, or
+the Victoria Falls.</p>
+
+<p>Neither Carew nor Meryl spoke. They were of those who know that the
+highest appreciation of all is in silence. But to herself Meryl
+whispered:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Lord, Thy glory fills the heavens."</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>At last he turned and glanced at the little book in her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"You read Omar?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. And you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I like Adam Lindsay Gordon better. Omar is apt to undermine a strong
+purpose. Gordon inspires one."</p>
+
+<p>"Doesn't Omar help one to see things as they <i>are</i>, and dare to be
+strong in spite of it, while Gordon avoids many essentials, and writes
+chiefly of how we would have things be?"</p>
+
+<p>"But surely the inspiration is the chief thing. The man who inspires
+is better than the man who reveals, and in revealing unnerves." She
+was silent, and he added, "I suppose it is the difference between the
+&aelig;sthetic and the practical, and so they appeal to the &aelig;sthetic or the
+practical side of man."</p>
+
+<p>She wondered if it were possible such as he should have an &aelig;sthetic
+side, and presently said:</p>
+
+<p>"You are all practical, I should imagine."</p>
+
+<p>He glanced at her half humorously. "I wonder why you say that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, except that one does not usually associate &aelig;stheticism
+and strength." Another man might have asked her if she was satisfied
+he <i>was</i> strong, but Carew only looked to the horizon. He was asking
+it of himself instead.</p>
+
+<p>And he asked it, because he was leaning there beside her, alone on the
+kopje top. Suddenly yielding to an impulse he did not seek to analyse,
+he said quietly, "I have never been a great reader of poetry, but long
+ago I was engaged to be married, to some one who cared very much for
+it. Omar was one of her favourites, and sixteen years ago he was very
+little known compared with to-day."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl felt the colour ebbing from her face, and averted her eyes.
+Without any telling, she knew that this woman he had loved sixteen
+years ago was the cause of that mysterious shadow on his life to-day.
+When she felt she had complete control of her voice, she asked, "And
+you were never able to be married?"</p>
+
+<p>"She died." There was a pause, before he added, "You remind me of her
+more than anyone I have ever known." And for both their sakes he
+finished, "That is one reason why I have been glad to talk to you one
+day, and found it perhaps too painful the next."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl felt suddenly as if an icy hand had closed on her heart. His
+meaning to her was so obvious. But she managed to say naturally, "I am
+afraid it has been a great sorrow to you. Was she ill for long?"</p>
+
+<p>"She died suddenly. There was a tragedy. Afterwards I came out here."</p>
+
+<p>"And you have never been back?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I have never been back."</p>
+
+<p>"But you will go?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think not. When I came away it was like closing a book and writing
+'Finis.' I do not want to reopen the book for many reasons."</p>
+
+<p>"But your people?" she ventured, longing to hear more, yet fearful of
+staying his unexpected confidence.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no people," and his voice was suddenly stern.</p>
+
+<p>"But your home?..." bravely; "your country?..."</p>
+
+<p>"My home is here. My country is here. I am a Rhodesian."</p>
+
+<p>Still with her face averted, she looked to the far kopjes lost in
+thought. She seemed to be realising slowly all that his words meant;
+feeling throughout her consciousness the utter exclusion of herself
+from any plan of life he might formulate. It was as she had seen
+before. His work, the country were everything to him&mdash;would continue
+to be everything. Any unusual softness he had shown to her, any
+unexpected pleasure in her company, was just for the sake of a certain
+memory he held very precious, for the sake of what the book contained,
+upon which he had written "Finis."</p>
+
+<p>Of course, she might have known. What should such a man as he be drawn
+to except in friendly intercourse in a girl as young and simple and
+undeveloped as herself? What a madness it had been, what a
+foolishness! and yet how it hurt, how it hurt!</p>
+
+<p>With a sudden blind sense of ineradicable pain, she breathed over to
+herself one verse of the "Immortal Persian" that is not contained in
+many editions:</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p><span class="i3">"Better, oh better, cancel from the scroll</span>
+<span class="i3">Of universe one luckless human soul,</span>
+<span class="i3">Than drop by drop enlarge the flood that rolls</span>
+<span class="i3">Hoarser with anguish as the ages roll."</span></p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>What pain there had evidently been for him! What pain for her now&mdash;and
+to what end....</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p><span class="i3">"Tis all a chequer-board of nights and days</span>
+<span class="i3">Where Destiny with men for pieces plays;</span>
+<span class="i3">Hither and thither moves, and mates and slays,</span>
+<span class="i3">And one by one back and closet lays."</span></p></div></div>
+
+
+<p>She stood up suddenly and brushed her hands across her eyes. This was
+a weakness, and she knew it. He must not know, he must not guess.</p>
+
+<p>But he saw enough to cause him to say suddenly, with quick concern,
+"You are not well. Something is troubling you."</p>
+
+<p>"O no," and she gave a little laugh that he could not but know was
+forced. "I've been rather bothered with a headache to-day. Shall we go
+back?" She had been carrying the large grey hat slung over her arm,
+but now she tied it on, pulling it down over her face, so that he
+could see nothing but the small, firm chin and sensitive mobile mouth.
+And neither could she see that, under or through the rigidity, his
+face wore now a troubled aspect, and his eyes looked to the horizon
+seeing nothing. Why had he come back? he was asking. Why was he
+hovering in the grip of it again, that strong need of the human,
+however resolute, for sympathy, for companionship, for understanding?
+For now, as they stood together alone on the kopje, all the ache of
+the last sixteen years seemed to be merged into one great longing for
+her. And then in his heart he laughed harshly. He, the British South
+African policeman, not even a regular soldier; and she, the only
+child, and sole heiress, of a millionaire father who adored her. He,
+with his tragedy in the background, that he could not speak of, in his
+forty-third year. She young, beautiful, fresh, with all the world at
+her feet. Ah, of course, he had been a fool to run any risk of another
+encounter; and he was sore with the fate that had led him thither in
+ignorance.</p>
+
+<p>And Meryl, walking a little stumblingly over the rough pathway, was
+glad of the big shady hat that hid her eyes and gave her time to pull
+herself together. Of course, that other woman he had loved sixteen
+years ago had been one of his own people&mdash;one of those whom the great
+Fourtenay family of Devon regarded as an equal. Whereas she was just
+Meryl Pym, and though many needy peers chose rich wives from across
+the sea, anyone might know Peter Carew was not of these, and would
+sooner shun such riches than seek them.</p>
+
+<p>So they walked back, mostly in silence, only no longer the silence of
+quiet, contented understanding, but rather a silence which she showed
+no inclination to break, and he felt baffled, and worried, and
+anxious. And at dinner, though Meryl made one of her spasmodic efforts
+and contrived to be gay, he remained somewhat preoccupied and
+taciturn. And Ailsa looked from one to the other secretly, and
+wondered what had been said before they reached the Mission Station;
+and felt again that womanlike desire to shake the man for the very
+resoluteness she most admired in him.</p>
+
+<p>When she said good night to Meryl she could not refrain, from just one
+little delve into the perplexing situation. "If you and Major Carew
+met at six o'clock and did not get back until seven, you must have had
+quite a long chat together. Such a new thing for him! I don't think
+even I, his trusted friend, can boast of such an incident."</p>
+
+<p>"We just stayed to watch the sunset," and Meryl turned away on some
+slight pretext. "He certainly was a little more communicative than
+usual. Did you know he was once engaged to someone who died?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," in slow surprise, "I had never heard of it. But then, he never
+speaks of himself, and I did not know his branch of the family at all.
+We lived near London about that time, and seldom went into Devonshire.
+Still, I wonder Billy did not know. Probably he heard it, and took no
+notice. That would be so like Billy. He was perhaps scheming some new
+move for his boys, as he used to call his parishioners."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he would rather I had not mentioned it," Meryl said.</p>
+
+<p>"It will be safe with me, dear. I shall only speak of it to Billy. How
+terrible it must have been! It is Impossible not to feel it has
+shadowed all his life. And for her!&mdash;he must have been a very
+striking, attractive man in those days. One hears rumours without
+attaching much interest to them at the time, but looking back now, I
+remember my father alluding once or twice to the two brothers as if
+they were very well-known men. But that would be when I was but a
+schoolgirl, and soon afterwards I went abroad for a year with an
+aunt." She lingered a moment longer. "I am glad he told you. It was
+nice of him. And he tells so little. It was a great compliment. Good
+night, dearie. Sleep well."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl sat on the little bed, in the round wattle and daub hut, and
+pressed her fingers against her eyes to still their throbbing. Then
+she looked round at her surroundings, and a little wry smile twisted
+her lips. A rough floor of ant-heap composition and cow-dung hardened
+to cement, with some native reed matting laid down; a small stretcher
+bed; a packing-case for a washhand-stand, and enamel ware. Another
+packing-case for a dressing-table, and a little cheap glass nailed to
+the wall. Walls of baked mud, which had fallen in places, laying bare
+the wattle stems, and a door made from packing-cases which fitted
+badly, and was fastened only by a string and a nail. For ceiling long,
+thin wattle stems converging upwards, and outside a thatch of dried
+grass. And against this in her mind she placed the Johannesburg
+bedroom, with its costly appointments, its beautiful windows opening
+to a wide, flower-decked verandah, which commanded a lovely view of
+distant hills; its lavish display of wealth and luxury. And she smiled
+that little wry smile, because for the sake of just one man, a mere
+soldier-policeman, this room might have been a paradise, and the other
+a grave. In truth she had learnt much from her sojourn in the
+wilderness&mdash;much beyond the life and aspect of a far country.</p>
+
+<p>Then she crept to bed feeling tired and disheartened, but finding a
+little comfort in the thought that she would see him in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>But at sunrise Carew aroused Grenville and said good-bye, and rode
+away before breakfast.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII</h2>
+
+<h2>THE CHARTER FLATS</h2>
+
+<p>Later in the day the party arrived back from Susi, and in the cool of
+the afternoon a last good-bye was said to the mission station, and
+they all returned to the Zimbabwe camp for their last night.</p>
+
+<p>It had been casually mentioned that Carew had paid a flying visit the
+previous evening and gone again early that morning, but very little
+was said about the circumstance. Stanley was already beginning to look
+and feel disconsolate over the approaching exodus, and Diana was very
+full of the fact that she had shot a duyker. "I didn't really aim at
+him, you know," she told Grenville na&iuml;vely; "I just held up the gun
+and pulled the trigger. I couldn't believe my own eyes when I saw the
+buck lying dead. All the same I did shoot him, and I've got his horns,
+and they will occupy the place of honour when I get back in my own
+private sanctum. I shall not tell the Jo'burg folk about not aiming;
+why should I? If I describe the buck going at full speed, and how I
+bowled him over with one shot, it won't be any more of a lie, if as
+much, as most of you colonists tell when you get home to
+civilisation."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not," agreed Grenville gravely; "but why not make it a lion
+while you are about it, or even a rhinoceros?"</p>
+
+<p>The Kid began to giggle. "And let it be just charging you," he
+suggested joyfully. "And first you must take a snapshot of it
+charging, and then you must fire into its mouth and blow its brains
+out."</p>
+
+<p>"And you might have its horns polished and mounted and its tail
+stuffed," added Grenville.</p>
+
+<p>"Silly idiots," scornfully. "You're both jealous. If you could have
+<i>seen</i> the things The Kid <i>missed</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>"The Kid generally misses," chimed in Ailsa cheerfully. "He gets so
+excited, he quivers all over, and the wild beast, or whatever it is,
+just lollops away, throwing a grin over his shoulder at him."</p>
+
+<p>"If you don't mind," threatened Stanley, "I'll give away your hippo
+story."</p>
+
+<p>"It has increased," said Ailsa's big, schoolboy husband, chuckling to
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible!..." ejaculated The Kid. "Surely it had already reached
+the limit of human ingenuity?"</p>
+
+<p>They both spluttered, and Ailsa threw a newspaper at them, but Diana
+demanded to be told the story.</p>
+
+<p>"O, it's only about a hippo in the Zambesi, above the Victoria Falls,"
+began Stanley; "a perfectly harmless hippo really, but it had the
+impudence to look at the canoe in which Mrs. Grenville was travelling
+back to the hotel in the dusk."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought it bumped the canoe up and down on its back," said the
+missionary, still chuckling.</p>
+
+<p>"That came later"; and Stanley addressed himself gravely to Diana.
+"But at one time the story really did stop at the hippo chasing them
+on to an island and off it again, and opening and shutting its mouth
+at them."</p>
+
+<p>"If you had been there you would have been terrified, and had
+hysterics or something," Ailsa flung at him.</p>
+
+<p>"I certainly should at the later period of the story," he assured her.</p>
+
+<p>"When it played catch-ball with them?" suggested the missionary.
+"Threw them all into the air and caught them again in the canoe."</p>
+
+<p>"That wasn't so bad, since it <i>did</i> catch them," said Stanley. "My
+horror would have been when it climbed the tree after them!..."</p>
+
+<p>"That is the part that has increased," put in the schoolboy husband,
+beginning to shake again. "It now jumps after them from one tree to
+another," and then they both spluttered insanely, and Diana joined in
+because it was so infectious, and Ailsa called them all ridiculous
+children who ought to be given a sweetie and tucked up in bed.</p>
+
+<p>A little later the cavalcade got under way, and Grenville and his wife
+stood waving to them somewhat sorrowfully from their wilderness home.</p>
+
+<p>"They are dear people," Ailsa said; and added, "O, Billy, if Major
+Carew would but come out of his shell and love Meryl!... I am sure she
+cares for him ... and she is so sweet ... and he&mdash;O, he is just like a
+figure of stone."</p>
+
+<p>Grenville pinched her ear affectionately. "Little matchmaker! No one
+by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature; and no one by just
+wishing it, I am inclined to think, can influence the little god Cupid
+whither he will aim his arrow. Perhaps, perhaps not; that is all there
+is to say ever."</p>
+
+<p>The next morning after a very early breakfast, the travellers started
+on their way to Enkeldorn <i>en route</i> for Salisbury. And at the top of
+the valley, whither they walked to save the mules, both girls stood
+and turned for a long last look at the grey walls of the ancient
+temple, lying in a soft haze of morning mists. It seemed to Meryl it
+had never held a deeper fascination, a stronger allurement. Just those
+old, old walls, and the soft enfolding mists which must have enfolded
+them even so for perhaps three thousand years. The red of sunrise was
+still in the sky, for Mr. Pym was an early starter, and it tinged the
+mist with a soft flush where the sun's rays had not yet lit a clearer
+light.</p>
+
+<p>"It was good to come," said Diana simply. "I have to thank you for
+it."</p>
+
+<p>But Meryl only smiled in response. She had nothing to say. She felt
+she was leaving behind with the ruins the best memory her life would
+ever hold. Then they climbed into the ambulance waiting for them, said
+"good-bye" charmingly to the lonely dwellers at the store and hotel,
+with whom they had had some pleasant chats, drinking tea and admiring
+the lovely view from their delightful huts, and went clattering away
+down the road, their faces turned to the north.</p>
+
+<p>And in the valley they left behind there was desolation.</p>
+
+<p>Carew arrived back at his quarters, grim and taciturn, in the evening,
+to find Stanley looking a veritable image of disconsolate hopelessness
+in spite of Moore's persistent droll badinage.</p>
+
+<p>"O, what did they want to come for," he groaned, "if they had to go
+away again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Faith!..." said the astute Irishman. "Did ye ask either of them to
+share your little wooden hut?..."</p>
+
+<p>But The Kid paid no attention. As Carew stood a moment beside him,
+filling a pipe, with a cold, expressionless face, the youngster
+glanced up with a momentary gleam, and remarked, "Eh, sir? But women
+are the devil, aren't they?"</p>
+
+<p>Carew said nothing; but with a low chuckle Moore ejaculated, "Come,
+give the divil a chance; we find him very accommodating sometimes in
+auld Erin."</p>
+
+<p>Stanley got up and stretched himself. "Days and weeks of desolation
+now," he moaned; "and we were so happy and content before. Moore, old
+chap"&mdash;giving that harmless individual a smack on the back that nearly
+knocked him over&mdash;"yours was the wise choice when we spoke of gifts
+from heaven. I said, 'Give me millionairesses,' and you, with the
+wisdom of the ages, said, 'Give me whisky.' I'll take a little now and
+hope for the best."</p>
+
+<p>And still Carew said nothing. The pipe was filled and he slowly lit
+it. Then unexpectedly he tapped it with light significance. "This is
+the best friend of all," he said, and went away into his hut.</p>
+
+<p>Stanley glanced after him a moment with a curious expression.
+"Gad!..." he murmured. "Was our bronze image a bit hit too? He looks
+fierce enough and stern enough to be resenting a dent."</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime the travellers reached the Charter Flats, and decided
+to camp there for the night. They had travelled for some time along
+the sandy tracts, enjoying the sense of space all around and the wide
+horizons, and both Mr. Pym and the girls were loth to hurry away. It
+is customary to dread these wide sandy tracts, and either hurry across
+them or avoid them; but to these city-dwellers their vast calm held a
+deep allurement; for though only scrub and sand stretched from horizon
+to horizon, with occasional little strips of stunted trees, the clear
+southern atmosphere lent a lovely effect of light and shade and
+colour. Many large patches here and there were blackened with veldt
+fires, but these in the distance formed delicate shadings that
+enhanced the charm of a strip of yellow sand or young green grass or
+purple-shadowed wilderness. It was like a world that contained only a
+colour scheme; no dwellings, no humans, no landmarks, no hills and
+valleys, no roads: just delicate shadings and haze as far as the eye
+could see, with no clear line between earth and heaven. They might
+have been looking over the edge of the world into a delicately tinted
+space, so boundless it seemed, so unfathomable, so remote. They
+pitched their camp on a little rising ground, near a slow meandering
+stream that crept lazily across the miniature desert. And when the
+dusk came down the effect was more unusual still, for the flats are on
+high ground, and the heavens seem to stoop down all round, hanging a
+dark curtain, decorated with brilliant stars, on every side. Across
+all the world no sign of human life, no sound; only vast emptiness
+everywhere&mdash;above, around, below; and for companions, worlds and suns
+and solar systems.</p>
+
+<p>It is a scene in which a man may seem to get very close to his God;
+not a remote, incomprehensible Deity, dwelling vaguely beyond the
+stars, but a Presence that is in the breathing silence and the velvety
+deeps at hand. And a man may meet himself there also; not the aping,
+grinning, chattering mask of a personality custom more or less compels
+him to wear in the crowd, but the hidden, mysterious being, conscious
+of a soul beyond his ken, that in such quiet hours desires eternally
+some goal, some good, afar off. The indestructible, incomprehensible,
+infinite hunger, that lies as a germ in every human heart and is man's
+best attribute, in that it raises him for ever incontestably above the
+beasts that perish, and stands serene and steadfast as the Rock of
+Ages, the one barrier past which the materialists and the scientists
+cannot go: the divine spark within the human, which no theory can
+account for and no learning of sage or cynic obliterate.</p>
+
+<p>The travellers sat round a glowing fire, for the night air was keen
+and cold; and much that is inevitably disturbing in the friction of
+daily being and daily doing seemed to fall away from them and cease to
+exist for that one wonderful night. And the next day, when the small
+black attendant brought their early tea and opened wide the tent-flap
+to a brilliant morning, yet another picture awaited them. This time it
+was a world decked with enormous diamonds. Tall, sparse grasses leant
+over and whispered to each other outside the tent, and every ear and
+every seed was hung with a lovely brilliant dewdrop. Out beyond was
+that same vague, remote, fathomless horizon, painted now with
+wonderful rose tints, where the rising sun caught the lingering mists
+and merged the dark streaks of blackened veldt into the general scheme
+with a softness of shading beyond all description. Meryl lay still,
+gazing with her soul in her eyes, but after a time Diana sat up.</p>
+
+<p>"It makes me ache almost like the Victoria Falls did. I wonder why God
+painted such lovely scenes where no one ever came, or scarcely ever,
+to see them?"</p>
+
+<p>She was silent a moment, then ran on again, "We fight and sweat and
+struggle for diamonds, and God hangs them on the dry grass, in the
+wilderness. Meryl, I wonder if we shall ever see anything quite like
+this again? And they told us to avoid the Charter Flats!... I suppose
+God feels about it something as we do. He knows most people like
+Brighton parades and Durban sea-fronts, so He lets them arrange their
+own sights; and for Himself, in far wonderful places, He paints scene
+pictures, and plants lovely gardens, and fills them with birds and
+flowers and sunshine, and splashes down upon the world, in some remote
+corner, a glorious colour scheme, just for his own delight."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl raised herself on her elbow, with a little tender smile. "And I
+suppose He said to Himself, 'I will let Diana and Meryl Pym see one of
+my secret, treasured places'?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, exactly. And though I don't hold with saying grace before meals,
+because, since God made us, it seems the least He can do to enable us
+to obtain food to keep us alive, I will say a grace this morning to
+Him for letting me see His colour scheme on the Charter Flats at
+sunset and sunrise."</p>
+
+<p>A little later they had a fragrant breakfast of liver from a buck the
+engineer had shot about daybreak; and that is a delicacy known only to
+those who fare forth across the veldt, and have a bright wood fire
+burning in readiness for the spoils of the hunt directly they are
+brought in.</p>
+
+<p>Then they started away again across the flats, once more moving in a
+vague world of soft shadings, with only the long sandy road
+stretching away into space behind them and before. And sometimes,
+before the sun mounted too high, they found themselves moving across a
+space of gold and bronze, where grass that had not been burnt shone
+like amber in the morning glory; and again presently a space of
+loveliest emerald-green, where the grass had been burnt early and the
+new blades were already sending up joyous blades into the sunlight.
+And sometimes a Kaffir-boom tree added a splash of brilliant scarlet,
+painted upon a canvas of soft, hazy shadings; and sometimes the veldt
+showed them a little piece of her flower-carpet&mdash;the carpet that was
+to spread broadcast presently&mdash;of delicate-tinted lovely flowers in
+reckless profusion upon a ground of rich terra-cotta soil.</p>
+
+<p>Neither girl talked. It was not a scene to talk in. It did not call
+for raptures and exclamations; only for dreaming and absorbing. It
+seemed as if it might have been the spot where God rested upon the
+seventh day, so utter and absolute and complete was the sense of
+detachment from all the exigencies of being and doing.</p>
+
+<p>Two verses of a poem by Arthur Symons repeated themselves in pleasant
+rhythm in Meryl's mind:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><p>
+<span class="i3">"I leave the lonely city street,</span>
+<span class="i3">The awful silence of the crowd;</span>
+<span class="i3">The rhythm of the roads I beat.</span>
+<span class="i3">My blood leaps up, I shout aloud,</span>
+<span class="i3">My heart keeps measure with my feet.</span></p>
+<p>
+<span class="i3">"A bird sings something in my ear,</span>
+<span class="i3">The wind sings in my blood a song</span>
+<span class="i3">'Tis good at times for a man to hear;</span>
+<span class="i3">The road winds onward white and long,</span>
+<span class="i3">And the best of earth is here!"</span>
+</p></div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX</h2>
+
+<h2>THE CONVENTIONALITIES ONCE MORE</h2>
+
+<p>Later in the day they reached Enkeldorn and once more pitched their
+tent beside the police camp; but the place is not inviting, and they
+were glad to leave early the following morning; for Enkeldorn is the
+centre round which many Dutch people congregate to farm small farms,
+in what it must be confessed is often the most slovenly and lazy
+fashion conceivable. And some of them speak quite openly of how they
+hate the English, and look forward to a day when they will be strong
+enough to turn them out of the country.</p>
+
+<p>But before that day can come, before union with a South Africa in
+which there is Dutch predominance, it is to be hoped England will send
+out more and yet more strong, vigorous young settlers, to put brains
+and heart and energy into the virgin soil, waiting only for the
+craftsman's hand; and so ensure for ever, in union or out of it, an
+unswerving predominance of Cecil Rhodes's countrymen: holding his high
+aims and hopes and splendid Imperialism in Cecil Rhodes's land.</p>
+
+<p>Two days later the party arrived in Salisbury, and not a little to
+their regret, the fashionable garments that had travelled thither by
+train to await their arrival had to be duly unpacked and worn. Diana
+glanced at herself disconsolately the first afternoon, dressed in an
+elegant summer frock, awaiting tea in a drawing-room, and one or two
+lady callers known to Mr. Pym who were likely shortly to arrive.
+Meryl, seeming lovelier than ever, though perhaps a trifle frailer, as
+if some sadness in her mind weighed upon her waking and sleeping
+hours, stood at the window, looking over the pretty, well-kept town.</p>
+
+<p>"Why are we here? This is not the wilderness," Diana said grumblingly;
+"this is suburban mediocrity. It was not fair to bring me all this way
+from home, to have to dress up and look pleasant, and talk banalities
+to people I have never seen before and probably shall never see
+again."</p>
+
+<p>"You are so inconsistent, Di," Meryl said, with a little affectionate
+laugh. "When we arrived at Zimbabwe you said you did not want only old
+ruins, you wanted a man. Judging by the number of cyclists in
+flannels, carrying tennis racquets or golf clubs, who have passed this
+window in the last half-hour, you will find more men, ready no doubt
+to hang upon your lightest smile, than you will know what to do with."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want them," with an impish pettiness. "I hate young men in
+flannels. I hate houses. I hate afternoon frocks. I hate clean hands.
+I hate having to be polite. I want The Kid, giggling insanely at his
+own silly jokes. I want The Bear's den and The Bear inside it. I want
+to have grubby hands and old shoes and a red face, and eat things in
+my fingers, and forget I have heaps and heaps of money for the simple
+reason that it is no earthly use if I have."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl smiled softly and wistfully. "I wonder what they are doing?... I
+think they will miss us. It is extraordinary how Zimbabwe gets into
+one's heart. I have never seen anything anywhere that appealed to me
+quite like those old walls, with their untold story and their patience
+of the ages. The Sphinx in Egypt may be older, but we know how it came
+to be there and who built it. One of Zimbabwe's fascinations seems to
+be the absence of all knowledge about it, of all why and wherefore."
+She broke off as a Cape cart drove up to the door. "Here is someone
+coming to call. I think it is Mrs. Cluer, by father's description."</p>
+
+<p>"Then bother Mrs. Cluer!" snapped the peevish one. "In this country I
+wonder if people say they are 'out' or 'asleep' when they do not want
+to be found 'at home'?"</p>
+
+<p>But Mrs. Cluer knew both Major Carew and Stanley, so the conversation
+was not quite so uninteresting as Diana had anticipated. She was,
+moreover, a woman of exceptional charm, and at any other time they
+would both have lost their hearts to her.</p>
+
+<p>"You probably did not see much of Major Carew," she said. "He is the
+most unsociable man in the country. One can get him to a man's
+bridge-party, but not much else; and most of us have given up trying.
+I expect it is partly his own doing that he is down there. He always
+manages to get work that takes him out on the veldt, if possible."</p>
+
+<p>"He appears to like it," Meryl commented; "and Mr. Stanley and his
+companion are very fond of him, in spite of his unsociable ways."</p>
+
+<p>"O, all the men are fond of him," she told them, evidently glad of an
+opportunity to sing his praises. "He never gives himself any airs with
+them for one thing, and he's just a man all through, living a clean,
+sportsman's life; and whether they do the same themselves or not, they
+all look up to him and admire him for it, without being afraid he will
+come down like a sledgehammer upon their failings. One knows the tone
+of the whole police force is better for having an officer like Major
+Carew, and it is a thousand pities there are not more like him. And
+Cecil Stanley is just the dearest boy in the world. Every one in
+Salisbury was fond of him. He is so good at games and dancing, and
+always so jolly and boyish and natural. We miss him badly, but I
+believe he likes being down there better than in the town."</p>
+
+<p>"I think he does; he seemed perfectly happy."</p>
+
+<p>They went on to speak of the gaiety of Salisbury; its golf and tennis
+and polo and dancing; and their visitor urged them to stay for a
+fancy-dress ball, when four hundred guests all in costume were
+expected. But neither of them were in the mood for balls, and the only
+attraction they cared about was an early-morning gallop with the
+hounds after jackal. Nothing could solace them for the careless, happy
+days they had left, and as soon as Mr. Pym had transacted his
+business, they persuaded him to take them out to Lomagundi with him,
+rather than be left behind in the town.</p>
+
+<p>"They seem to be rather touchy ladies here, and so superior," Diana
+urged, when he demurred; "and you know I am never safe for two minutes
+with that type. I should be driven into saying appalling things, and
+our reputation might be ruined for ever."</p>
+
+<p>In the end, as usual, they won him round, and departed one morning
+gleefully in the little toy train that runs out across the Gwebi Flats
+to the Eldorado Gold Mine. And to Diana's joy, they had a luggage-van
+fitted up as an impromptu saloon for them, and were able to spin along
+with both doors wide open, enjoying the air and the country. The
+Eldorado is the show mine of Rhodesia, having a native compound equal
+to any in South Africa, and charming bungalows for the staff, and an
+airy, comfortable hospital. But mines were not likely to hold much
+interest to lady travellers from Johannesburg, and all their eagerness
+was to go out to Sinoia to see the limestone caves, where, like an
+exquisite jewel in a massive setting, an underground lake, of
+wonderful colouring, lies in lonely loveliness.</p>
+
+<p>Or perhaps it were better likened to a butterfly, with its wings
+closed, and only the more or less drab outside showing. The veldt,
+somewhat uniform and colourless, with its surrounding hills, is the
+butterfly with its wings closed. Enter the wide hole in the ground,
+beside the hidden lake, and descend the rough natural staircase of
+rocky boulders, to where the sun through an opening in the ground
+above shines down on to the translucent water, and there lies the
+butterfly with its wings open, and all their exquisite design and
+colouring and blending unfolded to the eye.</p>
+
+<p>"You have some rare treasures in this far Rhodesia," Meryl said to
+their guide and host as they reluctantly left the hidden jewel behind;
+"treasures that your children and your children's children will be
+very proud of some day."</p>
+
+<p>"If they have time," he answered a trifle cynically. "Not many
+Rhodesians to-day have time to care for any but the treasures that
+they can work for and grasp and carry away. The time for natural
+beauties to be appreciated is not yet. Why, we do not even pay a
+native half-a-crown a week to keep the caves free from the baboons and
+bats that defile them. I am afraid, at present, Rhodesia lives almost
+entirely for to-day," he continued. "The spirit ready to sacrifice
+itself for the good of future generations has yet to be developed." He
+was a clever-looking man, with quiet, thoughtful eyes, and he and
+Meryl had talked much together during her short stay. "The nobility of
+the bee is not found much among humans. In all the annals of the race,
+is there anything to compare with their service to the coming swarm?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only that we do not know it is the result of calm reasoning," she
+answered. "The bee perhaps comes into existence, permeated through and
+through with this one idea, and lives solely to fulfil it. The service
+humanity asks of humanity is something even higher, surely&mdash;a
+willing, conscious sacrifice of present ease to future good. The
+spirit of heroes and fools"; and she smiled a little sadly,
+remembering Ailsa Grenville's verse and her enthusiasm for the dear
+Ship of Fools. "But you have some fine men out here," she added. "I
+think your future looks exceedingly hopeful."</p>
+
+<p>A few days later they started on their return to Bulawayo, and the
+tour was practically ended. There was nothing more now but dusty
+railway journeys and elegant garments and conventionalities.</p>
+
+<p>"No more grubby hands and red faces and 'anyhow' clothes that did not
+matter," was Diana's constant lament. Meryl said nothing. What was
+there to say? But the pain that dwelt in her eyes sometimes, when she
+thought no one was looking, sent deep stabs to her father's heart.
+With all his money, and all his power and influence, what could he do
+in this one thing that seemed to matter beyond all other things?
+Nothing except to look quietly on, and hope the wound was not too deep
+for healing. That, and to humour her in anything she asked. Which was
+partly why some of the long hours of the hot, dusty journey were spent
+in discussing plans for the settlement of young men upon his land, on
+exceptionally easy terms. He was not quite sure that the country was
+ripe for such a scheme yet; but Meryl's great wish for it, and obvious
+pleasure in the discussions, took him to lengths he might otherwise
+have avoided.</p>
+
+<p>So they came to Bulawayo, and as they stepped out on to the platform,
+Meryl saw suddenly among the other passengers a tall form in khaki
+that caused her to draw in her breath with a little catch, while her
+eyes grew strained and anxious. Diana was still in the saloon, only
+half dressed, and her father was talking aside to someone who had come
+to the station to meet him. She was quite alone, rooted momentarily to
+the spot, waiting for the tall man to turn in her direction, if he
+chanced to look that way at all before hurrying off.</p>
+
+<p>Then someone accosted him, and she saw the strong, self-contained
+face, as he turned to the speaker. A moment's suspense followed; then
+the man who had accosted him went towards the station entrance, and
+Carew came slowly in her direction, with his helmet low over his eyes.
+Thus he did not see her until they were face to face, and in the
+first moment of recognition she saw him start, as one taken in swift
+surprise. Then a slow colour crept up under the sunburn on his cheeks,
+and something came into his eyes that she had never seen there before.</p>
+
+<p>But he only came forward with a formal air and saluted her solemnly.
+"I joined the train in the night," he said. "I had no idea you would
+be coming to Bulawayo so soon."</p>
+
+<p>It was all very ordinary, very sedate, and a little wooden, but Meryl
+paid no heed to that, paid no heed to the obvious conclusion he had
+taken no chance journey hoping to see her again. For what his lips
+could not say, and his manner would not, his eyes had revealed to her
+in that first swift moment of surprise. She knew that whatever came
+between them in the future, whatever was between them now, Peter Carew
+was not indifferent to her.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX</h2>
+
+<h2>FAREWELL</h2>
+
+<p>"Did I hear the growl of a bear?" sang out a voice from behind a drawn
+blind of the saloon coach beside which they were standing.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid you did," said Carew, addressing the blind.</p>
+
+<p>"O, joy! joy! Growl again, growl again&mdash;like the Christmas bells. How
+would it go?... 'Growl out, wild bear'&mdash;I forget the rest, but it's a
+silly song I learnt to sing when I was young. Don't go away; I shall
+be dressed directly. If these God-forsaken railways had not such a
+mania for landing you at your destination when all respectable people
+are snug in bed!..." and sundry sounds suggested the impatient speaker
+was flinging things about. Then a face with bright eyes appeared over
+the blind, which was a wooden shutter, and could be lowered to a
+discreet distance. "Hullo!... I simply had to take a look at you. I've
+been pining for a glimpse of The Kid's smile and your scowl. It's been
+deadly since we left Zimbabwe. Ugh!... how I hate civilisation!"</p>
+
+<p>Carew looked at her with his rare, slow smile. "Is that why you keep
+the whole train waiting in the station, and the station-master,
+conductor, and guard in a state of ferment, because they cannot clear
+the line until you are dressed?"</p>
+
+<p>"Rude man!" came back the quick retort. "You haven't yet said, How do
+you do?"</p>
+
+<p>"How do you do, Miss Diana Pym?" gravely. "I hope I see you well! And
+how did you leave Salisbury?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do very nicely, thank you, Major Carew. You cannot see me very well
+through a wooden shutter, I imagine. And how is your old heap of
+stones?" ... with which she vanished again to the interior. "Tell the
+conductor I've come to the last curl and the last hook and eye," she
+called, and a few minutes later stepped out on to the platform, a
+vision of fresh daintiness. "I'm rather glad," she remarked to Carew,
+with a twinkle, "that you will have an opportunity of seeing us in our
+best clothes"; then running on, "I see you look as fierce and
+awe-inspiring as ever; but having learnt, in Rhodesia, to keep quite
+calm with cockchafers and beetles running about in my bed, I am not
+likely to be afraid of a bear."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to the Grand Hotel?" Mr. Pym asked him, having joined
+them while Diana was finishing her toilet, "because there is plenty of
+room in our motor."</p>
+
+<p>Carew thanked him, and they all moved away together. At the hotel,
+however, he vanished, and it was only after a little adroit persuasion
+later that Mr. Pym got him to accept an invitation to dine with them
+in their private room in the evening.</p>
+
+<p>And after accepting, Carew went about the work that had brought him to
+Bulawayo with an uneasy mind. The fortnight that had elapsed since the
+evening he found Meryl unexpectedly at the Grenvilles' had been a
+somewhat disturbed one for him. For many years now his life had flown
+so evenly in all big essentials. Little worries, little disturbances,
+disappointments, were inevitable for a man whose heart was so
+thoroughly in his work, and for whom the conditions of work were often
+so trying. But these had only ruffled the surface; underneath the
+smooth river flowed along strong and self-contained. After the
+upheaval that had been as a volcanic eruption upon smiling
+sunshine-flooded fields in his life, and the black desolation that
+followed, there had succeeded a long quiet period of calm action that,
+if it held nothing which could be termed joy, held nothing either that
+was sorrow except his buried memories. And he had been well content
+that it should be so; well content to contemplate just that and
+nothing else to the journey's end.</p>
+
+<p>And now, suddenly, had come this vague unrest. He sought for its
+source and its reason, and could not find a satisfactory answer. For
+though it dated from the coming of the millionaire and his party, he
+would not admit himself capable of the folly of falling in love with
+Meryl. To him it was such inexcusable foolishness, in view of many
+things. Rather he chose to believe it was a voice from the old life,
+reawakened in his heart, and calling to him across the years. When he
+smoked his pipe outside the huts, and pondered deeply some knotty
+point in his report and in the work of the Native Commission, he found
+himself suddenly remembering that it was September. And away in his
+beloved Devon they would be out after the partridges&mdash;striding
+through the heather and across the stubble-fields, ranging over the
+purple moors with purple horizons all round, and in the distance a
+strip of turquoise, which was the sea. He could almost hear the
+whir ... rr of wings and the shots on some far hill-side. And he knew
+that, though the shooting in a wild, vast country like Rhodesia is a far
+finer and more sportsmanlike affair than shooting driven birds in
+England, he yet felt, and would ever feel, that intense British love
+of the soil that had reared him, and the moors where he fired his
+first gun and shot his first bird. And, of course, upon the heels of
+the shooting came the hunting, which had once been the joy of his
+life, ever after he first put his pony at a stiff fence, entirely on
+his own, and sailed gloriously over, in spite of an anxious groom
+shouting caution to the winds.</p>
+
+<p>And then all the woodcraft and fieldcraft he had learnt from his
+uncle's keepers and his uncle's farmer tenants. He remembered how it
+had been part of his education as a youngster, and how in pursuit of
+knowledge he had been up early and late and in the middle of the
+night, picking up information about the woodland creatures from anyone
+who could teach him or finding things out for himself. There was the
+poacher who had shown him, for love of the sport, if sport it could be
+called, how he got the pheasants silently off the boughs in the
+night&mdash;taking them from their roosting-places and never a sound. He
+had given that poacher a bright half-crown, he remembered, and his
+firm lips twitched a little over the recollection. He had not seen the
+humour then of paying the man who was stealing his uncle's
+pheasants&mdash;the pheasants that would some day be his. He wondered if
+the boys in England now, the future landowners, were taught woodlore
+as he had been taught it, because it was good for an English gentleman
+to know all the scents and signs and sounds of his estate.</p>
+
+<p>And after all, he was no landowner at all. By his own act, instead,
+merely an officer in the British South Africa Police, with a few
+hundreds a year income, and nothing but a meagre pension ahead.</p>
+
+<p>Ah well! he had had a good deal besides for what he had lost, and it
+had been a good life enough, dependent solely on himself, and far
+removed from the caprices of a rich uncle. He regretted nothing at
+this stage of what had transpired after the upheaval came. Of course,
+his brother was now owner of the estates that might have been his, and
+was married, and had children; whereas he was a soldier-policeman
+looking forward to a meagre pension.</p>
+
+<p>Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered. It was only that, seeing so
+much more of the Pyms socially than he had been wont to see of anyone,
+old memories had been awakened. He hoped they would soon go to sleep
+again, for, in passing, they had taken some of the restfulness out of
+Rhodesia's far horizons, and fretted the flow of the strong, silent
+river, with a vague discontent. Sometimes between him and those far
+horizons there was a face now&mdash;sometimes a voice&mdash;sometimes just a dim
+presence&mdash;the voice and the face and the presence of Meryl Pym. And it
+was a thing to be fought down and crushed and conquered&mdash;a weakness
+that was well-nigh a foolishness&mdash;a folly such as stern men trample
+underfoot.</p>
+
+<p>So when Mr. Pym asked him to dine with them privately, he made some
+excuse, and only yielded under pressure. And when he joined them he
+was in one of his gravest moods, as if he had barricaded himself round
+with impenetrable reserve. There were two other guests, so Diana did
+not twit him openly; she only murmured in an aside, for his ear alone,
+"I'm so sorry it's a party, and we shall feel obliged to be polite.
+This civilisation is becoming a positive burden."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl was a little late, and she wore a beautiful gown, of a classic
+cut, with exquisite classic embroideries and a filigree band on her
+lovely hair. It was the first time he had seen her in evening dress,
+and he took one keen, sweeping glance and then looked away. He had
+rather the attitude of a soldier on parade, to whom the colonel had
+said "eyes front." Only he was his own colonel, obeying his own laws
+and restrictions. And Meryl only dared to take a fleeting glance also,
+for fear her eyes might betray her. And though he looked as striking
+as a man may, in immaculate evening dress, with his strong, clear-cut
+features, and inches that dwarfed most men, with the inconsistency of
+a woman she decided she liked him best in khaki that had seen hard
+service, and that look of being all of a piece, because his hands and
+face were so brown. He sat on her left, while Lord Elmsleigh, who was
+passing through from the Victoria Falls, sat on her right; and though
+she chatted lightly to his lordship, she was conscious every second of
+the hour of the big, silent, rather grim soldier-policeman. He spoke
+very little. Just an opinion now and then when he was asked for it, or
+the corroboration or correction of a statement, when someone looked to
+him questioningly. The millionaire, chatting in his quiet, weighty way
+to his two other guests, noted everything. He knew that Carew and
+Meryl scarcely once looked at each other, or addressed each other
+direct, and with a deep sense of regret he had again that feeling of
+being brought up against some barrier where neither his money nor
+power nor influence could be of any avail. And at the same time he
+knew in his heart that he had never met any man to whom he would
+sooner entrust Meryl and the fortune that must be hers. For though
+their very silence together revealed to his astute brain that neither
+was indifferent to the other, he could not but see also that
+undercurrent of grim determination in Carew. True, he was almost
+always silent, but Henry Pym perceived that his silence to-day was not
+quite of that of yesterday. Something had gone out of it&mdash;some quiet,
+grave, unquestioning content. In the keen, direct, steel-blue eyes now
+there was a shadow lurking behind, that might have been of some old
+memory, or might have been of some new pain, but which vaguely hurt
+the millionaire host.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl's eyes were less smiling than her lips, turning a little
+unsteadily this way and that, with a restlessness that added a touch
+of vivacity to her quiet beauty. But that, he knew, was the thing we
+baldly name pluck. It was not to-night he need fear what he should see
+in her eyes, nor perhaps to-morrow. It was any day, any hour, any
+moment in the weeks to come, when she believed no one was observing
+her.</p>
+
+<p>So the evening passed, and the last rubber of bridge was played, and
+the first move made towards departure.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we have your company for a day or two? I must stay here over
+to-morrow!" Mr. Pym said to Carew.</p>
+
+<p>"I leave early in the morning," was the quiet reply. "I only came here
+to see Mr. Ireson, and now I go to Salisbury."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl, with her face turned away, blanched a little in the shadow.
+This was the end then. This casual, conventional good-bye at a
+dinner-party. To-morrow he would go east before they were up; and the
+next day she would go back to Johannesburg, and later England. She
+turned quickly to make a gay remark. Something in her heart tightened.
+She felt suddenly appalled at the future, and was afraid she might
+show it.</p>
+
+<p>But the evening had still one little unexpected treat in store for
+her. Lord Elmsleigh had a big-game trophy in his room that he wanted
+to show Mr. Pym and their other guests&mdash;something that he had shot in
+the Kafue valley. And in consequence, while Diana and Carew and Meryl
+were standing together by the open window that led on to the wide
+balcony, he took them both off with him.</p>
+
+<p>And then Diana said to Carew, "As you are going to-morrow, I will give
+you those snapshots to-night. I have them in my room," and she went
+away, pulling the door to after her.</p>
+
+<p>So Carew and Meryl were left alone by the window, looking out into the
+pulsing southern night. Meryl, quite suddenly, felt a little dizzy,
+and she drew back into the corner, leaning against the woodwork,
+feeling glad of some support. Carew remained upright and rigid, with
+something in that very rigidity that suggested a special need to keep
+himself well in hand. If he had stopped to think about it, he might
+have felt that Fate was treating him a little unkindly. So far he had
+done the strong thing every time, and gone quietly away from danger;
+not because he was a coward, but because he knew it is sometimes far
+more cowardly to skate on thin ice, and hope it will be all right,
+than to remain in safety on the bank. For Meryl's sake as well as his
+own he had chosen to remain on the bank. And yet here, for the third
+time, was Fate deliberately bringing the danger zone to him, in spite
+of his efforts to avoid it. But he did not stop to cogitate either one
+way or the other. Sufficient for him that he knew himself in the
+danger zone, and therefore it behoved him to be very wary. Not by act
+or word, if he could help it, must he let Meryl see how she had
+disturbed his peace. And there, again, it would seem, Fate had played
+with him. A subtler man would have perceived that an added rigidity
+was not entirely the safeguard he needed now. Meryl already knew him
+too well for that. Had he talked and laughed a little, she might have
+been puzzled and baffled. But Carew was not subtle. He was simply
+sincere. And so he just stood very rigid and silent; not perceiving
+that in the circumstances that it was hardly the best way to baffle
+the eyes of love. Meryl knew instinctively he was putting some special
+restraint on himself, and the knowledge made her quietly glad,
+underneath the sudden pain of the knowledge that it was farewell.
+Back, in her vantage of shadow, she looked at him. And she saw, not
+for the first time, but perhaps more fully, that inner force in this
+man, which told any who had eyes to see and understanding to perceive,
+that nothing would turn him from a set purpose, if he were persuaded
+it was a right one; and whatever woman's arts she might possess, they
+would be as the waves against a granite rock. They might play round
+him, and sprinkle foam on him, and soften his aspect, but they would
+not <i>move</i> him. So, with an inner strength not unlike his own, she
+accepted his decree. For some reason, or set of reasons, love might
+not come into being between them. He was determined that it should
+not. Very well, she would hide her hurt and face her future without
+it.</p>
+
+<p>And if she chose to cherish his image, hidden deep down in her heart,
+that was her affair. A laughing, mocking world need never know.</p>
+
+<p>She broke the silence first:</p>
+
+<p>"If you are going early to-morrow, we shall not meet again."</p>
+
+<p>"No." He looked at her a moment, about to say something else; then
+changed his mind, and looked out of the window in silence. Leaning up
+against the lintel, in the softened light, her outline and features
+and deep, true eyes made too fair a picture for him to trust himself
+to look upon.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you will be coming to Johannesburg presently?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think not."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor England?..." with a little wistful smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Nor England."</p>
+
+<p>"You speak almost as if you never expected to go there again?"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall never go there again."</p>
+
+<p>There was a pause; then she continued:</p>
+
+<p>"Yet you are so absolutely an Englishman, and they say"&mdash;with another
+little smile&mdash;"an Englishman always wants to go home to be buried."</p>
+
+<p>"I am more a Rhodesian."</p>
+
+<p>"And you feel like Cecil Rhodes?... We went out to the Matopos this
+afternoon. It was a big thought, that of his, to be buried there. It
+gives you people in the north something that we of the south have
+not&mdash;your own special great man, lying in your midst. What a country
+you will be some day! I envy you your share of the building."</p>
+
+<p>"The south is a great country <i>now</i>. It is not a small thing to be
+building there."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but we have two races, and it spells division and weakens our
+enthusiasm."</p>
+
+<p>"Help to bridge over the gap. Help to make it spell union. That were a
+work that any man might be proud to give his life to."</p>
+
+<p>And at that slowly she became taut and rigid almost as he, with wide
+eyes gazing into the night. He had struck a hidden chord; struck it
+full and strong.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean," she said a little breathlessly, "that though my
+sympathies are so much with the north, my work, any usefulness I may
+attain to, ought to be given to the south?... that ... that ...
+perhaps it belongs to it?..."</p>
+
+<p>He was silent a moment, weighing his words.</p>
+
+<p>"I think," he said, "that you in the south are passing through a
+critical stage, and there must be much need for strong women as well
+as strong men. Dutch Predominance is the cry now, but the scales turn
+easily, and it may be English Predominance to-morrow. No country can
+make real headway, and consolidate its greatness, while there is this
+changing and interchanging of power. There must be no predominance but
+that of the country's good; and to that end Dutch and English <i>must</i>
+be merged into South African. It is the duty of every true patriot to
+look this way and that, and see how it can best be achieved; and to be
+ready to sink all personal aims and triumphs for the furtherance of
+the great end."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it possible," she asked slowly, "when it seems one side only is
+honest in its protestations?"</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot be sure about that. Seek out the strongest and best men of
+both sides, and help them to gain the power and hold it. Your own side
+is not without blame. At the first big election after the country was
+settling down again, you could not even stand together. At the polls
+there were three parties, where there should have been only two.
+Englishmen opposed Englishmen, mostly over a question of small
+differences, and for personal pride of place. South Africa has never
+yet recovered from that mistake. You must not hold two hands out to
+the Boers&mdash;the hands of differing Englishmen&mdash;but <i>one hand</i>, that is
+absolutely reliable and sincere."</p>
+
+<p>"It is what I have heard my father say, and others also, but progress
+is very slow. There is much racial hatred rampant still."</p>
+
+<p>"It will yield gradually. The fittest must prevail in the end; but
+obviously that fittest will prove to be neither Dutch nor English, but
+South African."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you think it will prevail?" She was white now, and her eyes
+were gazing very straight out into the night.</p>
+
+<p>"By intermarriage chiefly. It is almost the only solution to the
+problem. Speaking one tongue, owning one country, will never help it,
+as Dutch and English interests united upon one hearth. That is why you
+must be patient, and just go steadily on, avoiding dissension as much
+as possible, while trying to raise the tone of both races on every
+side."</p>
+
+<p>There was a little tremor in her voice as she said, "And are we to
+take it just meekly when Englishmen are ousted for Dutchmen and loyal
+service ignored?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think you can only be patient at present. The strong part will lie
+with you, though the others seem to triumph. If the party in power
+find the country is at a standstill, and not progressing as they want
+it to, they will end by rearranging the public posts, and the
+Englishmen will come back because they are the fittest. As a race, you
+know, we are inclined to be domineering and somewhat overbearing. We
+certainly have ourselves to thank for some of the trouble. Probably
+while the Dutchman is 'top dog' he is having his fling, and we are
+learning a little wholesome wisdom. When the reaction comes the
+country will be the gainer."</p>
+
+<p>"And in the meantime intermarriage?" she questioned slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"In the meantime intermarriage," he said, with quiet emphasis.</p>
+
+<p>But he little dreamt that at the cross-roads he was pointing her to a
+path of tears.</p>
+
+<p>They heard Diana returning, and he moved restlessly.</p>
+
+<p>"If I do not see you again"&mdash;with a hesitating voice unlike
+himself&mdash;"I hope you will be very happy.... Meeting you has been a
+great and unexpected pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," was all she could trust herself to say.</p>
+
+<p>And then Diana came into the room.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later the other men returned, and they all said good-bye. And
+when Carew shook hands with Meryl, he noticed that her hand was as
+cold as ice and her cheeks as white as snow, and that she scarcely
+raised her eyes to his face.</p>
+
+<p>And wondering and fearing, he walked away into the darkness, with the
+sense of a new shadow walking beside him&mdash;a shadow that had come to
+stay, in spite of all his resolutions and strong endeavours, the
+shadow of his love for the woman he had just left in silence and never
+thought to see again.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a>XXI</h2>
+
+<h2>A "HOARDING HUSTLING"</h2>
+
+<p>There was probably no family in Johannesburg better known or better
+loved than that of Henry Pym, the millionaire. Even Aunt Emily was
+something of a favourite, in spite of her peculiarities, perhaps a
+little for the sake of the delightful entertaining that took place at
+Hill Court. Diana was adored for her spirits, and Meryl was regarded
+somewhat as a treasure Johannesburg had a right to be proud of.
+Certain it was that if eventually she followed the example of her
+American cousins and enriched an English peerage with her wealth, she
+would hold her own amidst the loveliest and most charming of England's
+peeresses. At the same time, though many perhaps hoped that she would
+lead the way for the young South African heiresses, not many had much
+belief that she would lead it in the particular fashion they hoped;
+for there was ever that uncertain elusive quality about Meryl, that
+suggestion of the visionary and dreamer, that betold a nature not very
+likely to follow in any beaten path, or give overmuch value to the
+advantages of a high alliance from a worldly point of view. It was
+probable she would see things in quite a different light to the
+majority and act for herself. Nevertheless Johannesburg hoped for the
+best, and would have been pleased to number a peeress among her
+daughters; if it were only to show the world, for one thing, that some
+of South Africa's heiresses were every whit as refined and clever and
+charming as America's, whatever may have been implied to the contrary
+by scathing comments on Johannesburg's millionaires which have
+appeared from time to time in varied guise.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pym himself, however, was not among those who nursed such high
+hopes. When he took the Piccadilly mansion the preceding spring, and
+transferred his household to London for the season, he meant to
+entertain lavishly, and give the girls every possible opportunity to
+see the world of the highest London society, knowing full well he
+could do this because his friends numbered many among England's high
+names. That he should take them into the wilds of Rhodesia instead had
+certainly been the very last thought in his mind. On the other hand,
+as we have said, it did not greatly perturb him. He was inclined to
+think they might gain as much from their pioneer pilgrimage as from a
+rush of continuous gaiety. What exactly they <i>had</i> gained it would
+have been difficult to gauge; nothing perhaps that Aunt Emily would
+detect, fussing and exclaiming round them upon their first arrival.</p>
+
+<p>Diana, in a mood for merriment, and possibly to cover a certain
+invisible shadow that rested as a dim cloud upon the party, rouged her
+face to a brilliant red with an alarmingly fiery nose end. When she
+lifted her veil and confronted her aunt with a perfectly unconcerned
+smile, that lady raised her hands in horror and bemoaning. "O, my
+dear!... my dear!... your complexion is ruined. How could you be so
+careless? How could Meryl let you?... It will take weeks of care to
+undo the mischief."</p>
+
+<p>"O, don't make a fuss, aunty! Complexions don't matter
+tuppence-halfpenny in Rhodesia. You surely didn't imagine I was going
+to carry a sun-umbrella about, did you?"</p>
+
+<p>"But my dear child!..." still in great distress. "It is a dreadful
+thing to say, but you really look as if ... as if ..." but there her
+courage forsook her, and she could not name the dreadful possibility.</p>
+
+<p>"As if I had been drinking!" finished Diana cheerfully. "Yes, it's a
+little awkward, but perhaps if I don't lurch or look foolish ..." Then
+she encountered the astonished eyes of a young footman, who had come
+in with some small paraphernalia from the motor, and unable to keep
+her face, turned hurriedly away.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm rather afraid James is going to have a fit," she remarked to
+Meryl. "I hope it won't incapacitate him for the rest of the day," and
+she chuckled to herself. Meryl had not yet raised her veil, and the
+anxiety on Aunt Emily's face, which she vainly strove to hide, was
+delighting Diana more than ever. "Better not take your veil off
+downstairs, Meryl. Aunt Emily has had rather a shock from my face; I
+don't think she could bear any more."</p>
+
+<p>But the poor lady's concern was too pitiful to Meryl, and she threw
+her veil far back, saying, "She is a wicked creature, aunty. Her face
+only wants washing"; and then Aunt Emily, reassured and comforted,
+joined in the general laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"But soap and water won't remedy all the defects," Diana told her.
+"I've acquired a violent dislike to houses and rooms and tableclothes
+and clean hands, and all the absurd paraphernalia of civilised
+existence. Of course, I suppose I shall become rational again in time,
+but at present I thought of having a tent on the lawn and becoming a
+hermit."</p>
+
+<p>"How is everyone, Aunty?" Meryl asked, as the poor lady seemed again
+somewhat overcome. "Have you had hosts of visitors while you were all
+alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, people have been very kind, and I have not had much time to be
+dull; and everyone is delighted you are back again. Mr. van Hert has
+called twice this week to know which day you would arrive."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl's lips contracted a little, but Diana murmured, "Oho!... Dutch
+Willie! ready to be on the doorstep, of course, in spite of the
+hullabaloo you've been causing in the country, unrestrained by my
+caustic criticisms."</p>
+
+<p>"I expect he thought he would make hay while the sun shone," Meryl
+told her, "and air his pet theories while they were not in danger of
+being stamped on."</p>
+
+<p>Then they both went upstairs, and Meryl stood awhile at the wide
+window, looking over the lovely garden; and though she still answered
+kindly to her aunt's flow of chatter, the good lady having followed
+them to their room, her heart was far away among distant kopjes, where
+mysterious grey walls basked in the sunlight with the silence and the
+patience of the ages.</p>
+
+<p>For the next two or three days a continuous stream of visitors passed
+up and down the drive, and invitations poured in, and the girls found
+themselves quickly in a very vortex of social life.</p>
+
+<p>William van Hert did not come until the third day, and then he chose
+as late an hour as he well could, hoping to escape the throng. This he
+succeeded in doing, but Diana he could not escape. If it had been his
+hope to see Meryl alone he was entirely frustrated. Diana's small,
+practical head perceived the wisdom of avoiding all haste in what
+these two might have to say to each other, and van Hert had to bow to
+her decision. Still further, he had to undergo a small fire of chaff
+with an edge to it, concerning some of his political doings and
+sayings during their absence. But this from Diana he could always
+take. Whether she knew it or not, and whether she cared or not, at the
+time she probably wielded a more direct influence over van Hert than
+anyone else living. Certainly a more direct influence than Meryl and
+her father, for whereas his liking for them only tempered his rashness
+and indiscretions, Diana aimed shafts straight at any of his rabid
+policies in a manner that caused him secretly to reconsider. Yet all
+his devotion was drawn to Meryl in her fairness and quiet strength,
+and the hope of his heart was still to win her.</p>
+
+<p>As it happened, it was a very white-faced, silent Meryl who sat on the
+deep verandah that afternoon of his first call, and was content
+chiefly to listen to Diana waging her usual war. That astute young
+person had much to say, in her own slangy phraseology, concerning
+certain utterances of the Dutch extremists, openly derogatory to the
+English, and seemingly opposed to any spirit of racial conciliation.</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you try and teach your people to play the game?" she asked
+him, with a fine scorn. "Do you hear any of our eminent men haranguing
+about 'keeping down the Dutch' and 'steam-rollering the Dutch,' and
+without any hesitation openly speaking of themselves as a separate and
+superior race? Whatever our men think, they are at least sportsmen
+enough just now to keep it to themselves, for the sake of the hopes
+and aims of the country. But you apparently allow your following to
+say anything, and either pretend not to hear or take no notice. Listen
+to this, said by a predicant of the Dutch Reformed Church...." She
+picked up a pamphlet, lying near, and read aloud: "'We are a nation
+with our own taal, traditions, and history. We must now stand shoulder
+to shoulder and hand in hand for the rights of <i>our</i> people.... May
+God give <i>our</i> people strength to be unanimous!' Unanimous in what?...
+Why, forcing the issue of the language question according to their own
+ends, and retrenching English teachers, and generally looking upon
+themselves as the superior, chosen people whom God meant to reign
+alone in South Africa."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear young lady," he remonstrated, "can you blame me for the
+unwise, indiscreet utterances of every Dutch predicant who opens his
+mouth?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course I do. You are a leader, and you ought to protest
+openly against any such utterance; but naturally, if you only consider
+it unwise and indiscreet, you don't regret the purport of the words at
+all, merely their being uttered at perhaps the wrong time. Well, that
+sort of spirit isn't 'cricket,' as we understand it; and your
+attitude, in professing to hold out a hand to the English section,
+while the other is making secret signs to the Dutch, is what we call
+trying to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds; and that is an
+experiment being attempted by far too many of your colleagues just
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"I am doing nothing of the kind," he repudiated indignantly. "I am
+standing by my countrymen, that they may maintain the dignity of their
+nation and not be trampled under foot by the English."</p>
+
+<p>"O fiddlesticks! No one wants to trample you under foot. We mostly
+want to raise you. We want to broaden your outlook and widen your
+views. But you know perfectly well that that means a great united
+country, for the back-veldters might learn at last where strength lay;
+and then your precious taal, traditions, and history will have to take
+their proper place in the general scheme, and that will be on a plane
+of equality and not blatantly on top."</p>
+
+<p>Again he protested with outspread hands. "But we have a great country
+now through union. You overlook the most important fact."</p>
+
+<p>"We should have had," she corrected, "if the Bond in Cape Colony, and
+Het Volk in the Transvaal, and the Unie in the Orange River Colony had
+not chanced to be powerful enough to work almost entirely in the
+interests of a Dutch South Africa all the time they were waving a
+flag, and cheering the colours, and delivering orations on the beauty
+of Union and their love for the great Mother Country, meaning the
+Liberal Government, who mostly, it would seem, told them to do as they
+like and please themselves and not make a fuss, so long as they called
+it Union."</p>
+
+<p>He turned to Meryl with a deprecating air, as if asking for her
+support, and she smiled rather a tired smile and said, "It is only
+that she has had to bottle it all up for a long time, as you were not
+at hand. The next time you come she will be ready to smile on you."</p>
+
+<p>"But I hope in the meantime you do not endorse the slander?..."</p>
+
+<p>"I have plenty of hope to balance a certain amount of doubt; and if it
+is any pleasure to you to know it, Diana never troubles to cross
+swords with a man she has not considerable regard for."</p>
+
+<p>He flushed and looked gratified, and Diana remarked coolly, "O, I've
+lots of regard for you. I'm only sorry that a man who might be
+brilliant is content to be mediocre because of his prejudices. Now
+when we were in Rhodesia ..." and she paused, regarding him with the
+bright, piquant eyes of a small bird.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what about Rhodesia? You didn't find much brilliance there, I
+imagine? Brilliance does not thrive on bully beef and existence in a
+mud hut."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither does 'back-veldt' obtuseness and narrow-minded bigotry and
+indiscreet loquacity, Meinheer van Hert."</p>
+
+<p>He could not help laughing at the droll way she made the statement.
+"Well, what does thrive?"</p>
+
+<p>"Silence," thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"But that did not appeal to you?" with significance.</p>
+
+<p>"Not perhaps so much as the growl," was her enigmatic reply.</p>
+
+<p>"And did you like this wild, wilderness land of silence?"</p>
+
+<p>She regarded him with half-grave, half-mocking eyes. "Well, we
+understood why <i>you</i> want to have a finger in Rhodesia's pie, you and
+your various active organisations working in the interests of a Dutch
+South Africa. Any child could see what such a country would be worth
+to you. But you won't succeed, my friend. They've got a few strong men
+up there who believe in 'to-morrow' more than 'to-day,' and are not
+afraid to forego present honours for future progress. You won't bribe
+them, and you won't hoodwink them, and you won't get them. They may
+not have much weight or power or money to back them, but there's
+something in the atmosphere up there, something in the very air, that
+would tell anyone with a grain of perspicacity they could be dangerous
+if they liked. I shouldn't rouse the sleeping lion in Rhodesia if I
+were you, Meinheer, you and your colleagues, with coercion or anything
+else&mdash;that way lie explosives."</p>
+
+<p>At that moment Mr. Pym joined them, and the conversation at once
+became general, though van Hert laughingly told his host he had been
+undergoing a regular hoarding hustling. Then he told them of a few
+happenings since they went away, and because he was as glad as he
+could be to see them back again, all his natural versatility came
+uppermost, and one could easily perceive why he was a leader of men,
+and likely to remain so.</p>
+
+<p>"If only one could make him see straight," said Diana, when they spoke
+of it afterwards, "instead of with the warped vision of a one-idea'd
+fanatic."</p>
+
+<p>Later she tried to draw Meryl a little concerning her attitude towards
+him, but Meryl would only maintain an unrevealing silence, and Diana
+was baffled and troubled. She felt vaguely that some new thought was
+forming in Meryl's mind, some thought that held danger, but she could
+not grasp in what direction it tended.</p>
+
+<p>And van Hert smoked his pipe with a very thoughtful air that evening,
+pondering deeply. Meryl had neither encouraged him nor repulsed him,
+and she seemed just the same and yet different; and once more that
+half-formed dread came back to his memory that through Rhodesia he
+might lose her.</p>
+
+<p>And then he thought he would put the uncertainty at an end quickly and
+learn his fate as soon as possible; for he was treading on rather thin
+ice in his public capacity just now, and a strong coalition against
+him, which was rumoured in the air, might place him in an unpleasant
+position.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, Mr. Pym's support and Meryl's charm might prove
+weapons which would see him safely through, and help him to mould his
+position anew on broader lines.</p>
+
+<p>But for another three weeks Diana successfully baffled his intention,
+influenced by that vague fear she could not fathom, and a futile,
+helpless desire to ward off some pending destiny. And in the meantime
+she puzzled her small head daily concerning the invulnerable silence
+and aloofness of Peter Carew, and the blue shadows deepening under
+Meryl's eyes, though she strove hourly to be ever her old self and
+show no sign.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a>XXII</h2>
+
+<h2>MERYL'S DECISION</h2>
+
+<p>Although van Hert had no opportunity to reopen the subject of his
+hopes to Meryl during those three weeks, she knew quite well that he
+had in no wise changed to her. His every look showed it, and an
+intangible something in his manner whenever he addressed her. And all
+the time, though her heart was given hopelessly elsewhere, she felt
+herself in the grip of circumstances that might determine her action
+against her inclination.</p>
+
+<p>It would be difficult to relate just what passed in her mind through
+those three weeks, while outwardly she moved in the whirl of social
+happenings dependent upon their return with all her usual charm and
+dignity. Certainly she was rather quieter than usual, but as Diana
+talked and laughed faster, possibly with intent, the change was not
+noticed. She was specially quieter when van Hert was there, and Diana
+was specially talkative; entertaining him, rallying him, teazing him,
+in a way that, at any rate, brought out his best side, and in a sense
+buffeted the bigot good-naturedly into the attractive companion. And
+it seemed to show Diana at her best too, for behind all her flippancy
+there was undoubtedly a purpose and a depth which she would not for a
+moment have admitted, but which nevertheless was sincere and true.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, I don't really care either way," she would tell him
+mockingly. "You may have a Dutch South Africa and welcome, if you
+won't interfere with my personal schemes and general affairs. I've
+nothing modern about me, in the sense of wanting to reconstruct the
+world generally and be a Joan of Arc to my retrenched compatriots. But
+when some of you talkers get up and express high-flown sentiments of
+brotherhood and union for the benefit of the public Press one moment,
+and swerve right down and wink at such sentiments as steamroller the
+English or the finances or the language question the next, it is time
+you had a little wholesome plain speaking. Anyhow, who <i>did</i> vote the
+money for the new Government buildings?..."</p>
+
+<p>But whether Diana cared or not, one thing was certain: the utterances
+of that well-known minister William van Hert were showing gradually a
+higher and broader tone, and an atmosphere of conciliation was
+beginning to spread over his hitherto rabid sectarianism.</p>
+
+<p>And van Hert himself found it went well with his feelings to exchange
+wordy battles with Diana and keep his dreams for Meryl. The younger
+girl invigorated and enthused him, while the elder, curiously enough,
+appealed more to his senses. He wanted her fairness, as a strong, dark
+man often feels himself drawn to a woman who is frail and fair. And
+yet even while he wanted her he was a little afraid of her, a little
+baffled, a little uncertain of himself.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the three weeks passed, and the moment of the inevitable decision
+came near.</p>
+
+<p>And all the time Meryl felt herself rather as one who stood upon a
+difficult, stony place, with the forbidden land behind her and the
+clear call of a great need before. She believed that she would never
+see Carew again; that definitely and forever he had cut the threads of
+deep sympathy both had known existed. It was his dictum and she could
+only abide by it. What then should she do with her life? To what end
+turn this existence, blessed by fortune with wealth and the power
+wealth brings, though suddenly swept bare of joy?</p>
+
+<p>And ever and again back to her mind came Carew's words that last
+evening at Bulawayo: "Help to bridge over the gap. Help to make
+division become union. That were a work that any man might be proud to
+give his life to."</p>
+
+<p>And every day, more and more fully, she recognised that whatever she
+had to give she owed to South Africa. She gradually thought herself
+into a state in which she existed for herself and her own inclinations
+no more, but only for that sacred claim upon her.</p>
+
+<p>For the spirit of noble deeds, the spirit that carried Joan of Arc to
+the rescue of her country and to martyrdom, is not dead in the world,
+though no modern historian may depict a woman in armour leading allied
+armies on the battlefield. In quieter guise, in hidden corners, in
+unsung self-forgetfulness, women still answer to the divine call that
+sounds in their hearts, more inspiringly perhaps than in a man's; and
+for the everlasting good of the human race let us hope it will never
+cease to sound.</p>
+
+<p>Lamartine has said: "Nature has given woman two painful but heavenly
+gifts which distinguish her from the condition of men, and often raise
+her above it: pity and enthusiasm. Through pity she sacrifices
+herself; enthusiasm ennobles her. Self-sacrifice and enthusiasm! What
+else is there in heroism? Women have more heart and imagination than
+men. Enthusiasm arises from the imagination, self-sacrifice springs
+from the heart. They are therefore by nature more heroic than heroes."</p>
+
+<p>Enthusiasm and a divine spirit of self-sacrifice held a very deep part
+in Meryl's heart, though never for a moment would the thought of
+heroism have occurred to her. Where Diana, out of her mocking, but
+staunch and loyal heart, amused herself dashing cold water and playful
+satire upon all heroics, Meryl said nothing at all, but at a critical
+moment both were equally capable of <i>acting</i>.</p>
+
+<p>And it did not require much thought on Meryl's part to see now where
+this spirit of enthusiasm and self-sacrifice seemed to call her. South
+Africa was at the cross-roads; she was at the period of her most
+urgent need for great women as well as great men. The only question
+that seemed to arise was, what did she specially want of the women
+ready to serve her?</p>
+
+<p>In her own case Meryl found an answer from the lips of Carew himself.
+"Intermarriage," he had said; "that is the real solution to this great
+barrier of racialism. The same hopes united upon the same hearth." And
+it did not need much thought to perceive that should she, the admired
+and beloved heiress, fondly expected to marry an English nobleman and
+blossom into a peeress, marry instead a Dutchman and devote herself
+absolutely to South Africa, she would give a tremendous impetus to
+this question of intermarriage which was to consolidate the great
+South African Union. She saw herself giving this impetus, because it
+seemed to be the service life asked of her, and following it up by a
+wise and steadying influence upon the man who was likely always to be
+in the forefront of South Africa's politics.</p>
+
+<p>And yet, sometimes in the silence of the night, how her spirit
+shuddered and shrank from it, lying bare and desolate and bleeding
+under the hopeless, unconquerable ache for that strong Englishman in
+the north&mdash;that soldier-policeman for whom she would willingly have
+foregone all pride of place, all luxury of wealth, all satisfaction of
+achievement! Yet this he would never know, seeing her, as he ever
+must, framed in a vast fortune from which she could not extricate
+herself. She thought if she might choose, she would remain quietly
+with her father for ever, doing good, as he, by stealth and without
+ostentation, feeding her heart on a memory that would never die; but
+here the spirit of self-sacrifice intervened, and gave her no hope of
+rest but in fulfilment of what she believed life asked of her.</p>
+
+<p>And so the day of decision came, and all unconsciously Diana struck
+the final note. In the morning, glancing through various papers,
+magazines, and pamphlets with an extraordinary skill to glean any
+little essential point without wading through column upon column of
+matter, she came upon a paragraph that aroused her instant
+indignation.</p>
+
+<p>"O listen to this!" she cried. "If they are not at it again! Somewhere
+or other General Grets has been making a speech, and here is part of
+his noble sentiment: 'I earnestly appeal to parents to prevent their
+children marrying any of the English race. They must not let this
+colony become a bastard race the same as the Cape Colony. If God had
+wanted us to be one race, He would not have made a distinction between
+English and Dutch.' Well, I wonder what Dutch Willie will have to say
+to that?" and she smiled grimly to herself in anticipation of some
+satisfaction to come. "This man Grets is certainly one of his
+supporters. If he comes this afternoon I shall have a nice little bomb
+ready for him!"</p>
+
+<p>But instead of waiting for his usual late hour, van Hert came early,
+and asked to see Miss Meryl Pym alone; and when Diana returned from a
+game of golf ready for the fray, she was presented to van Hert as her
+future cousin.</p>
+
+<p>For once even she was nonplussed and at a loss for words. "O well, it
+would be silly to pretend to be surprised, wouldn't it?" she said
+rather lamely, and crossed to the tea-table to pour out her own cup of
+tea. "And it is superfluous to hope you'll be happy and prosperous and
+all that; so I'll just say, my dear future-in-law, I think you're a
+devilish lucky man!..." And Diana snapped it out as if an
+unaccountable sensation demanded an explosive of some sort.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear!... my dear!..." cried Aunt Emily in outraged horror. "Do try
+to remember where you are and who you are! If you indulge in such
+vulgar, disgraceful language on the golf course, you certainly cannot
+expect to repeat it in the drawing-room." But Diana paid no heed. She
+had already observed that Meryl, though blushing faintly, avoided
+meeting her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"And what about this brilliant speech of General Grets' reported this
+morning? Will your party allow you to consummate the match, do you
+think?..." with biting sarcasm.</p>
+
+<p>But van Hert only laughed good-temperedly. "Could it in any way better
+be given the lie?" he asked, and before that irrefutable logic Diana
+was silent.</p>
+
+<p>Neither could she see her way to raising any reasonable objections,
+when a little, later the engagement was announced broadcast with
+considerable beating of big drums, but she flung a few sarcasms about
+with some violence.</p>
+
+<p>She flung one or two at her uncle, being at a loss to understand his
+taking the engagement so quietly; but if she had been present at the
+interview between him and Meryl before the final sanction was given,
+she would have seen that he too could hardly act otherwise. In truth,
+Meryl perplexed them both in those first few days, for she was so calm
+and quiet and self-contained they both felt a little dumb before her.
+It was as if, having finally made up her mind, she was determined to
+avoid all paths that might weaken her and take her stand alone. She
+was far more quiet and composed than either her father or Diana. These
+did not say much, but they showed perhaps the more. Henry Pym's hair
+whitened perceptibly, as if from some stern mental trouble, and Diana
+was uncertain, peevish, and difficult to please. Only once the subject
+was alluded to between them.</p>
+
+<p>"I confess the news took me rather by surprise," her uncle admitted in
+reply to some sally of hers, "and I was a little at a loss to follow
+her actions."</p>
+
+<p>"Actions?..." sniffed Diana. "What actions?... None were needed; it is
+the result of meditation."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean?..." questioningly.</p>
+
+<p>"Heroics and martyrdom," she snapped, and flung out of the room,
+leaving him perplexed and grave.</p>
+
+<p>"If I thought so," he said in his heart, "if I were sure of it, I
+would forbid the banns myself."</p>
+
+<p>He moved to the window, and stood for a long time looking silently and
+sadly to the far blue hills. He was thinking that, though he had given
+his life almost to be all in all to Meryl since she was left
+motherless, there was one part now he could not play.</p>
+
+<p>"A mother would have seen through anything and known what to do," he
+finished, and sighed heavily.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXIII" id="XXIII"></a>XXIII</h2>
+
+<h2>CAREW'S STORY</h2>
+
+<p>The news reached Carew through a newspaper. He was back in Salisbury
+now, attending the renewed sitting of the Commission, giving
+invaluable assistance. Whatever he said was instantly listened to. The
+chief members of the Commission, men of note and weight, wondered a
+little over this distinguished-looking man, merely a
+soldier-policeman, who knew such an extraordinary amount about the
+black races in Rhodesia; but if they sought enlightenment they were
+disappointed. No one knew anything about Major Carew, except that he
+was once in the Blues and now in the British South Africa police, and
+that the natives were more or less his hobby.</p>
+
+<p>But there was one morning when he was more silent than usual; when he
+seemed a little <i>distrait</i> and very difficult to approach. And the
+moment the sitting was over he declined, somewhat curtly, an
+invitation to dinner that evening, and rode out across the veldt
+alone. That was the morning the daily newspaper contained the news
+that the only child of Henry Pym, the well-known millionaire, was
+engaged to be married to Mr. William van Hert, the eminent politician.</p>
+
+<p>And Carew's comment was to ride out across the veldt alone.</p>
+
+<p>The news was undoubtedly a shock to him. Of course, he had known she
+would marry, but, more or less unconsciously, he had pictured her with
+an English home and a permanent place in English society.</p>
+
+<p>The reality,&mdash;what actually had happened,&mdash;had not entered his head at
+all. Of course he knew van Hert by name; everyone did. And because of
+his reputation for anti-English views Carew both marvelled and at the
+same time gleaned a probable motive. And the result of his cogitations
+was that added sternness which always came into his face when he was
+seriously troubled.</p>
+
+<p>Yet what use to fret and trouble now? She had gone out of his life for
+ever, and with her his last chance of glad renewing. Henceforth he
+must go back to his quiet life of service which asked and gave nothing
+else, and to the companionship of those old memories which sometimes
+awakened from their sleep.</p>
+
+<p>He rode far across the veldt, and for the first time for many a long
+year turned back the leaves of the closed book. And the reason he did
+this was the remembrance of Meryl's face, as she leaned up against the
+lintel of the window that last evening at Bulawayo, when they both
+felt it was a final parting. Something that had been in the depths of
+her eyes, and which she had been powerless to hide, although she made
+no other sign. It was a remembrance that called that added sternness
+to his face: the sternness of deep trouble suppressed. For he knew no
+woman of Meryl's nature would look as she had looked that evening and
+love another man in a month. Therefore it was probably for some
+altruistic motive and not love that she had consented to marry van
+Hert; no shallow, selfish motive he knew well enough, but perhaps some
+call she had found the courage to answer.</p>
+
+<p>But if it was also a sacrifice, an offering of herself and her
+happiness upon some altar of need, ought he to let her fulfil it?
+Between her and the husband he had pictured for her he could not allow
+himself to stand; between her and van Hert, whom he was convinced she
+did not love, was another matter. Yet he knew in his heart that he
+could not save her now; the die was cast, both of them must abide by
+it. And in any case, how could he tell her his story? How could he go
+to her with that story and empty-handed as well; she the heiress of
+great wealth, and he without even a name and position?</p>
+
+<p>Away out in the kopjes he rode his horse slowly up a steep hill-side,
+and on the top dismounted and sat upon a boulder, looking over a vast
+tract of lovely country to infinite blue distances. As ever in moments
+of stress, he had chosen the height, with wide horizons, fresh-blowing
+winds, far spaces of sunlight; and in the flickering shade of the
+thinly foliaged trees he took off his helmet, baring his head to the
+breeze. And it could be seen that the grey about the temples had been
+increasing, while the strong lines on the face had deepened already,
+as if it had gone hardly with him of late.</p>
+
+<p>He sat very still; so still that a little squirrel ran down almost to
+his feet to investigate the strange figure, and little birds chirped
+all kinds of personalities about him to each other close at hand. He
+was taking a journey into a far land&mdash;the far land of the buried past.
+He was thinking of that story he would have had to tell Meryl Pym. Of
+Joan's sad life, sad love, sad death. Of how long ago she had lain
+dead upon the heather, as far as anyone could tell, slain by his hand.</p>
+
+<p>He went back to it now, page by page; it seemed in some sort of
+penance that he must give. The first pages dealt with those two gay
+young brothers in the Blues; the elder, Peter, the recognised heir to
+the rich bachelor uncle, who now made life gay for them with an
+allowance of two thousand a year each; but he was an autocrat and
+something of a tyrant, the old uncle, and his will had to be law. He
+did not mind their sowing of wild oats if they were what he called
+gentlemanly wild oats, and merely got them talked about as gay young
+dogs, and he was always generous with an extra cheque if they got into
+difficulties; but he would not have foolhardy, quixotic affairs at
+all. There he put his foot down. When the younger brother, Geoffrey, a
+youth of small, mean aims and temperament, led the pretty daughter of
+one of the keepers into trouble, he told his uncle he was going to
+give her a fixed sum out of his own allowance yearly while she was
+unmarried, and something always for the child.</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense," said the old gentleman tartly; "the girl shouldn't have
+been such a fool. I will pay one hundred pounds into the bank for her,
+and she shall not have another penny." Geoffrey thought himself well
+out of the scrape, but before the incident closed there were words
+between the brothers that neither ever forgot. Peter took a different
+view of the matter entirely; he knew the girl, and he knew that she
+was gentle and confiding, and that Geoffrey had won her round with
+promises. So he called his brother a cur, and a few other things with
+strong adjectives, and because he knew he was in the wrong Geoffrey
+never forgave him. He went further, and hated him from that time
+onward.</p>
+
+<p>But the incident was destined to bear fruit of a far more searching
+nature. Because he heard the girl was very ill and quietly fretting
+herself to death, Peter went one day to see her, prepared to make any
+amends in his power for his brother's sin. And beside the sofa where
+the girl lay he met Joan Whitby. And such are the vagaries of human
+nature, with its beginning on that day, the gay, light heart, the
+fickle fancies, light loves, wild escapades of the devil-may-care
+young sportsman, all vanished away into thin air before a love that
+filled his whole being. Lovelier, gayer, cleverer women, ready enough
+to meet the heir of Richard Fourtenay-Carew halfway, had left him only
+gay and careless. Joan Whitby, shy, distrustful, reserved, won the
+prize unsought. She had run away from him, avoided any spot where they
+might meet, hidden if she saw him in the distance, tried to hurry past
+if they met unawares; more than that she could not do, because she was
+the governess at the agent's house, and she and her charge must often
+cross the park. But Captain Peter Fourtenay-Carew was a hot-headed,
+determined young man, and having lost his heart to Joan's grey eyes
+and delicate, lovely face, he was not very likely to be abashed by the
+fact that she hid from him; rather it whetted his determination to win
+her. And in the end, because Joan perceived he was an honest gentleman
+and that he truly loved her, and because with all her pure, strong
+soul she truly loved him, she left off running away and came shyly
+through the wood to meet him. And of course Geoffrey, the jealous,
+spiteful brother, discovered their secret, and carried the tale to his
+uncle in violent, indignant guise, precipitating anger for his own
+ends, where a little discretion might have found a compromise. Mr.
+Carew's lips curled a little cruelly as he remarked he would easily
+nip that peccadillo in the bud. He would have no penniless, unknown
+governess reigning at Dartwood Hall, having already quite other views
+for his future successor. Then he informed his agent the young lady
+holding the post of governess in his house must be sent away at once,
+with a quarter's wages which he would be pleased to remit. To Peter he
+said nothing; he merely waited for an indignant scene, easily to be
+squashed with cold and cursory logic concerning allowances and future
+inheritance if his wishes were disregarded. But it was just there that
+he misjudged this gay, handsome nephew of his, possessed also of a
+fund of spirit and strong character which his uncle had not had the
+perspicacity to perceive.</p>
+
+<p>The interview duly transpired, but there was no indignation at all. If
+he had looked for melodrama he was disappointed; the melodramatic did
+not appeal to Peter Fourtenay-Carew. He merely told his uncle quite
+quietly and respectfully that he intended to marry Joan Whitby.
+Richard Carew condescended to reason a little before he resorted to
+that cold, cursory logic, but he might just as well have saved himself
+both. Peter stood in the library window, looking across the grand old
+park, and heard, apparently unmoved, that all those rich acres and
+woodlands and well-stocked waters and preserves would pass from him to
+his brother, if he chose to remain obdurate and marry the poor
+governess, instead of the lady of high lineage his uncle had already
+selected for him.</p>
+
+<p>What he said was, "Do you wish me also to lose my career and leave the
+Blues?"</p>
+
+<p>For the moment his uncle had been too angry to reply. "Get out," he
+had said roughly. "You can't be yourself this morning. I will not
+believe you seriously contemplate losing anything."</p>
+
+<p>Peter had turned back from the window, and stood a moment looking
+squarely into his uncle's face. "I am going to marry Joan," he said,
+"and as you have brought me up to be perfectly useless, except in a
+crack regiment, I only want to know if you will continue my allowance
+long enough to give me time to find out what I can be useful at," then
+he had walked quietly out of the room.</p>
+
+<p>And Richard Carew, distrusting his own ears and far more upset than he
+would ever for a moment admit, remembered that he had seen just that
+look on the face of Peter's mother when he had had to break to her
+that her husband had been killed in the hunting-field&mdash;a look of
+desperate finality and unswerving resolve. Within the year he had
+stood beside her grave also, and taken the two baby boys home to his
+own house.</p>
+
+<p>Then Geoffrey had come to him, and because he was clever and
+unscrupulous he fanned the flame easily to white-heat. Finally the
+uncle had decreed, "I will give him a week to think it over, and in
+the event of his remaining obdurate I will offer him one thousand a
+year for five years, and at the end of that time the allowance to be
+renewed or decreased, or stopped, according to my pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the week Peter's reply was "I am going to marry Joan on
+the 25th by special licence, in London. If you will not receive us
+together, I should be glad if my man might pack my clothes and bring
+them to me, with a few other belongings."</p>
+
+<p>And Richard Carew's answer to that had been a lawyer's letter,
+politely enquiring of Captain Peter Fourtenay-Carew to what address he
+wished the allowance sent, which was to be his for five years. Peter,
+not yet too angry to be cautious, asked if the five thousand pounds
+might be invested for him in entirety, and made arrangements at once
+to exchange into a far cheaper regiment, aware that as a soldier he
+might still keep a home for his wife, whereas any experiment in the
+untried fields of labour might swallow up all he had. In due course
+the solicitor replied that the request would be granted. But ere the
+wedding was solemnised the unlooked-for hand of fate dealt him a
+pitiless blow. He had many friends in the neighbourhood of his uncle's
+estate, friends who were glad and willing to receive Joan for his sake
+and her own; and in an unhappy hour he received a pressing invitation
+to meet her at the house of one of them, and have a week with the
+pheasants before he had to rejoin his regiment. It was a bitter cold
+month that year, and every sportsman's temper was a little on edge at
+having to face December blasts in October. And one day when they were
+out in a preserve that adjoined Richard Carew's, he and his friend
+heard shots and voices over the dividing hedge; and it brought up the
+subject of young Geoffrey's cold-blooded delight in his good fortune
+at becoming his uncle's heir, and unthinkingly the friend commenced to
+repeat a report of something he had said in the local club when a
+little the worse for drink. Then he had stopped short abruptly, trying
+to turn away the subject, but with a sudden dangerous light in his
+eyes Peter had demanded to be told; and because the other man's heart
+was sore for his friend, and he wanted to give Peter an excuse to
+cross swords with his brother, he told how Geoffrey had implied his
+relations with Joan had been exactly the same as his own, Geoffrey's,
+with the keeper's daughter in the beginning, but that he had not been
+clever enough to get clear of the affair as he had done, and that now
+he was nicely sold for his high-flown superiority.</p>
+
+<p>And then the wrath in Peter's face had been a terrible thing to see.
+It was as if his very nature reeled. He ground his teeth together, and
+his eyes had a red look as he muttered savagely, "God damn him; he
+shall pay for this!" He was standing with his face towards his uncle's
+preserve, and even as he cursed there was a sound of shots, and a
+second later a hare dashed out and fled past them.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely knowing what he did in the blind white-heat of his passion,
+but possessed suddenly with an awful desire to kill, he swung
+completely round and fired at it. And just at that moment Joan and
+their hostess were coming up behind, hidden by the brushwood and
+shrubs, to go with them to the luncheon-place,&mdash;and Joan fell, shot
+through the heart. In the first awful moment no one seemed able to
+grasp the appalling fact. Peter threw himself down on his knees beside
+her, and was like a man struck dazed and speechless. He had a feeling
+that it was some horrible dream or hallucination, and presently this
+bewildering dazed sense would pass away and he would find the horror
+had not been real. Then across his torment he heard a voice that stung
+him alive with dreadful venom. His uncle and his brother had climbed
+the fence and had come to see what had happened, hearing from a scared
+keeper that someone was shot. Peter looked up and saw them. It was a
+dreadful moment for the three to meet. His friend, Maitland, seeing
+the unnatural ferocity in his eyes, tried to draw him away. Even
+Richard Carew, the uncle, looked a little alarmed. But Peter in his
+madness took a step forward. "You cur, you libelled her," he hissed at
+his brother, and cursed him bitterly. And then Geoffrey lost his head
+too. An ugly sneer distorted his face as he answered, "Well, anyhow,
+you won't get your inheritance back now, just through a casual shot.
+Lady Lilton is going to marry me, and ..." But he had no time to
+finish, for Peter suddenly hurled himself upon him, and struggled
+fiercely to get his hands at his throat.</p>
+
+<p>The scene was terrible. Those who were present never forgot it, and by
+the time a keeper and Maitland managed to separate them Geoffrey was
+too much hurt to stand alone. They left him lying on the ground, while
+Richard Carew forced a little brandy between his clenched teeth, and
+Maitland dragged Peter away to where his wife and a keeper were
+watching with horror in their eyes beside Joan's lifeless form. For a
+moment they feared he had lost his reason, and then some dreadful
+tension in his brain seemed to snap suddenly and they saw he was
+himself again. Without a word to either of them he stooped down and
+lifted the still form in his arms, and carried her unaided back to
+the Maitlands' house.</p>
+
+<p>He did not lose hold of himself again, but for weeks suffered a mind
+agony that might well have permanently turned the brain of a weaker
+man. Night after night the Maitlands heard him leave the house, after
+all had gone to bed; and they knew that he went out to tramp the moors
+till morning, for it was only from utter physical exhaustion he ever
+slept. No word came from the Hall, but rumour said the younger brother
+was injured so that he would not walk for months. Richard Carew's only
+action was to lavish hush-money, and keep as much as possible out of
+the papers. One mistake he made. Through his solicitor he informed his
+nephew he was willing to give him his former income, that he might
+remain in his old regiment. In answer to that Peter wrote to the
+lawyer: "I am leaving England for ever, and I shall cease to remember
+from this moment that I have the misfortune to be related to Richard
+and Geoffrey Fourtenay-Carew. No letters will reach me. I leave no
+address," and then he signed himself "Peter Carew" without the
+Fourtenay, and used the second name no more. And immediately
+afterwards he joined one of the early pioneer bands setting out for
+Rhodesia, possessing nothing in the world but a little money gained by
+the sale of his personal possessions and a memory that would shadow
+his whole life.</p>
+
+<p>Sitting alone on the kopje-top, he leaned his elbows on his knees and
+buried his face in his hands, and it was as though the waters of
+bitterness overflowed him.</p>
+
+<p>No, of course he could never tell Meryl such a story as that. For
+sixteen years his path had lain alone and his bitterness been shared
+with none. It must go on so now to the end. When he could bear it the
+memory of Joan's dear face still came to him as in infinite love and
+compassion; but he seldom dared allow himself even that; it was better
+to have nothing in his life&mdash;no past, present, nor future except his
+work.</p>
+
+<p>He got up and stood for a moment leaning against his horse, resting
+his arms on the saddle and gazing far away. Then he rode slowly home
+under the stars, and by the time he reached the police camp his face
+was only rigid and mask-like.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXIV" id="XXIV"></a>XXIV</h2>
+
+<h2>A RAIN-WASHED MORNING AND A DISCUSSION</h2>
+
+<p>It was the first rain-washed morning of the wet season when Ailsa
+Grenville heard the news, through a letter from Diana.</p>
+
+<p>And the first rain-washed morning is an epoch in the Rhodesian year;
+therefore it cannot be dismissed with a curt announcement.</p>
+
+<p>All night long the vigorous, boisterous spring-cleaning had been in
+progress. Ailsa, snug in her little bed, with the rain slashing and
+banging and pounding on the corrugated-iron roof, and the trees
+swishing and swaying, and the wind rushing around like a mad thing,
+apparently from all four corners of the earth at once, had laughed
+softly to herself at the commotion Mother Nature was making upon the
+dusty, dishevelled, rubbish-strewn land. It was as if, having been
+very busy elsewhere for three months, she meant to stand no nonsense
+now, but get the whole country furbished up in one night. What a time
+they were having, those dusty, untidy-looking trees! Bucket after
+bucket, millions of buckets as big as a house, full of delicious
+rain-water, flung at their heads! And the dusty, disgraceful roads
+swept bare, with gallons upon gallons of water driving their refuse
+hither and thither, all of it, as if mightily ashamed of itself,
+scrambling along in masses; and, of course, in its haste choking up
+the drains, and becoming a serious hindrance until a veritable
+water-spout was necessary to clear the course.</p>
+
+<p>And then the dead branches and twigs that the trees had been too lazy
+to shed; short shrift for them on the first spring-cleaning night.
+Down they came, helter-skelter, and no notice taken of the tree's
+groaning, or its crackling cries of protest.</p>
+
+<p>And the little river-beds and stream-beds, carelessly left to get
+filled up with dead leaves and rank grass, such a turning out for them
+as the resistless water was driven in sweeping streams along their
+bosoms! And woe betide any carelessly thatched or unsightly roofs! Off
+they went, away with the general medley. The coming summer would have
+none of them. And the granite, which had allowed dust and dirt and
+dead grasses to accumulate upon it, how it got its face scrubbed and
+washed that first night, and the wind shrieking with glee all the
+time, dashing the sheets of rain against it with its whole might!</p>
+
+<p>But, of course, one could tell that everything liked it. The laughter
+in the trees and the wind was quite distinct, and the little rivers
+were fairly shouting with joy. It was not their fault that all that
+piece of the earth had grown so dusty and untidy; it was Mother
+Nature's own fault for being so long coming with those big buckets of
+hers. How could any land, however willing, look spruce and green and
+clean with no rain for four months? No wonder there was such a
+commotion, and it was such a noisy, vigorous business, when at last
+the rain did come! Every tree and every blade and every flower had a
+special little life-plan of its own to carry out, if only it could get
+enough moisture, to say nothing of all the myriad insects and birds
+and animals, who were too lackadaisical, after the long, dry heat, to
+thoroughly begin their summer preparations until the rain came. The
+activity among the humans, with their gold-mines and farms and
+fanciful erections, would be nothing, would not be worth mentioning,
+compared with the activity going on in the hidden world all around
+them on the morrow. Even the flowers had been chary of wearing their
+best dresses in such a dusty, untidy world.</p>
+
+<p>But wait till to-morrow, and then see them! Far, far outvying any
+assembly of Ascot frocks or Lords' cricket week or Henley Sunday. The
+boisterous rain was a little severe on the dainty blossoms, but one
+may be sure they bore it with the pluckiest patience, whispering to
+each other gleefully about the lovely frocks they were going to wear
+the next day. And there would be such eager, joyful cogitations in the
+bosoms of all the little males anxious to be off on their spring
+courting affairs. How could any self-respecting young cock bird or
+male insect go and pay his addresses in a dusty, dirty, faded coat? Of
+course, it wasn't to be thought of. The other chap, who waited, would
+get all the running. But to-morrow there would be no further need to
+wait at all. Plumage and coats would be spring-cleaned, and
+expectations for the coming summer of the highest. Well-filled
+storehouses, leaf-cosy nests, glorious hunting-grounds. Never mind
+these boisterous winds and the violent way they hurl the rain about;
+sit tight and make lovely plans for to-morrow.</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa, snug in her little bed, thought happily about the earth and its
+glad renewing, and woke up her precious Billy to say, "Are you awake,
+Billy? Can you hear it?... We shan't know our little world to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>And Billy, who was sometimes of a very prosaic turn of mind, answered,
+with a grunt, "Just in time to save that top patch of mealies and the
+bed of onions, by Jove!..." and then rolled over and went to sleep
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"Bother your onions and mealies," said his adoring wife. "The world
+wasn't made for you to grow vegetables in!..."</p>
+
+<p>But the next morning they climbed a kopje together, just for the joy
+of it, and laughed softly, and exclaimed in hushed voices at all the
+wonder outspread.</p>
+
+<p>Such a glorious new heaven and new earth! In the heaven a rain-washed
+sky, resplendent with armaments of fairy cloud-vessels sailing across
+deepest, loveliest blue. On the earth every leaf and every blade
+flashing light, as if it had a little sun of its own; every flower in
+its loveliest court dress; the very stones gay with beautiful shades
+of lichen; the granite kopjes in the distance, with their faces so
+thoroughly scrubbed, gleaming with the dazzling brightness of
+new-fallen snow. Dark, rich soil where the plough had been, renewed
+with the richness of velvet. Sullen, colourless veldt, radiant in a
+few short hours with the first outposts of its coming spring glory.
+Far, blue hills, bluer and intenser than ever in the rain-washed
+atmosphere. Little cock birds and male insects away off soon after
+sunrise about those courting affairs that had been delayed. A whole
+world rejoicing; a whole world singing Te Deums of praise and
+thanksgiving in its own dear, happy, overflowing way.</p>
+
+<p>No wonder the big fellow in the well-worn khaki, with his vigorous
+enthusiasms and wide sympathies, thought a little regretfully of the
+hide-bound, clause-bound, doctrine-bound, sober-minded black cloth he
+had felt himself obliged to put off. Would humanity ever sing again
+as the sons of the morning? Ever burst into Te Deums of overflowing
+thanksgiving to the Giver of all good, such as echoed and re-echoed
+from a long-parched earth on its first rain-washed morning.</p>
+
+<p>Well, he could but try to keep the long face and depressing atmosphere
+and thin air of superiority safely out of his own little sphere, and
+while he taught the natives to be active, useful members of society,
+try to help all the settlers about him, hard cases or otherwise, to be
+honest, fearless, clean-living men, whether they achieved it to the
+accompaniment of good round oaths and a Sunday morning spent in bed,
+or on their knees between consecrated walls in the accepted way. Of
+course, he liked them to come to his little stone tabernacle with its
+thatched roof, and he made his service just as attractive as ever he
+could on their behalf; but if they were too lazy or too busy to
+come&mdash;well, it didn't follow they couldn't be honest, clean-living
+fellows without it; so then he went to them, and sat over their camp
+fire, and told them a good story or two, and in the end there wasn't a
+camp within twelve miles where the "bloomin' sky pilot" wasn't one of
+the most welcome guests.</p>
+
+<p>But to do them justice, they mostly liked going to his little
+tabernacle, for it was always a pleasant meeting-place, and men in
+exile, even "hard cases," like to sing a good old-fashioned hymn just
+once in a way; to say nothing of the big home-made cake, full of
+plums, which was usually ready to be handed round afterwards on the
+"sky pilot's" verandah, and which he teasingly informed Ailsa was her
+way of bribing his congregation to come to church, rather than suffer
+the ignominy of hearing him preach to empty benches.</p>
+
+<p>But that was as it might be; anyhow, if a settler within reach chanced
+to be ill, he might be sure he would get a jelly or soup or milk, even
+if he had never put a foot inside the little wilderness church. And if
+Billy could not take it The Kid or Moore had to, for Ailsa ruled her
+little sphere with a rod of iron, and the two troopers had long been
+her willing slaves.</p>
+
+<p>But though she had cut herself adrift from the pleasant world of her
+girlhood, and won a real satisfaction out of life that would be death
+to most women, she had never lost her sympathies with all that went
+on in that existence, where</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+<span class="i3">Life treads on life</span>
+<span class="i3">And heart on heart;</span>
+<span class="i3">We press too close in church and mart</span>
+<span class="i3">To keep a dream or grave apart.</span>
+</p></div></div>
+
+<p>And when they came back from their ramble on that joyous morning,
+Diana's letter caused a shadow to come over all the sunlight, and a
+quick anxious ache to grow up in her heart. After baldly stating the
+news of Meryl's engagement her cousin wrote:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Was it you, or was it that bearish policeman, who suggested to such a
+dreamer as Meryl the desirability of a martyr's crown?... She is far
+better suited to love in a cottage and babies, but just because that
+is the case and it is easy to obtain, she chooses to break her heart
+on some vague altar of sacrifice. I have no patience with these
+high-falutin ideas myself, nor with the cottage and babies either, for
+the matter of that; but I suppose a few people had to be practical and
+selfish and commonplace, to keep the world going round without violent
+bumps and jerks. Don't send Meryl congratulations; send her an In
+Memoriam card. Believe me, it is better suited to the auspicious
+occasion."</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa showed the letter to her husband, feeling that it was the worst
+news she had had for many years. "What does it mean, Billy?... What
+can have influenced her?... My sweet Meryl! What is it?... What can it
+be?... that keeps Major Carew so aloof? It was easy to see how they
+attracted each other."</p>
+
+<p>"He is a proud man," her husband said, gravely. "It is not easy for a
+proud man with nothing to choose a wife with a large fortune."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but there is something more," she cried, "it cannot be only that.
+What has kept him so reserved in every particular all these years?"</p>
+
+<p>But Grenville could not help her, and all the afternoon she worried
+and fretted in silence.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening she said to him anxiously, after again discussing the
+news, "Mrs. Fleetwood has often asked me to visit her in Salisbury.
+Shall I go now? Perhaps if I could get Major Carew to talk?..."</p>
+
+<p>"You will never get him to talk," with quiet conviction.</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, my husband, I feel I must try. We have so much, you and
+I. One can but make the effort."</p>
+
+<p>She got up from her chair and went round to him, and climbed on to his
+knee and hid her face, because she was troubled and unhappy.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me something I can do to help them, Billy?" she pleaded.</p>
+
+<p>He fondled her hair in silence a moment, and then, because he thought
+it might comfort her afterwards to know she had tried, he said, "There
+is no harm in your going to Mrs. Fleetwood's. I think the change would
+do you good."</p>
+
+<p>And Ailsa went to bed a little comforted that at least he sanctioned
+her journey.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXV" id="XXV"></a>XXV</h2>
+
+<h2>AILSA LEARNS CAREW'S SECRET</h2>
+
+<p>Ailsa had to journey to Selukwe in the post-cart, and she found it
+very trying; all the more so because her tender heart, which loved all
+animals, suffered agonies of compassion for the poor underfed,
+overworked mules, some with sores, urged pitilessly along by their
+black driver. She wished vainly that she was the happy possessor of a
+fortune, and might at once finance in Rhodesia the Society for the
+Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, for which funds are so urgently
+needed. At Selukwe she had some little time to wait at the hotel
+before taking the train, and she went round to the posting-stables to
+interview any white man she could find who might be in a responsible
+position towards the post-cart mules on the subject of their
+condition. The man, of course, complained of the roads, which were in
+a hopeless condition, and beyond satisfying in a measure her own sense
+of compassion, she knew she had done little good. But while she talked
+to the white man at the stables, a thin, scholarly looking,
+grey-haired gentleman chanced to overhear their discourse, and raising
+his hat to her with grave courtesy, expressed his admiration of her
+action.</p>
+
+<p>"But can nothing be done, do you think?" she asked him dolefully.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid not. You see, the Government do not particularly wish that
+route used, and so they have allowed the road to lapse. Let us hope
+there will very shortly be a railway, at any rate, to Edwardstown, and
+that then visitors will be encouraged to go and see your wonderful
+Zimbabwe ruins, instead of discouraged by the discomforts of the way."</p>
+
+<p>They moved towards the hotel together, and Ailsa asked, "Have you seen
+them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only for a few short hours, which were all I could spare from some
+research work I was doing elsewhere in Rhodesia. I was tremendously
+impressed by the little I had time to see, and look forward to a long
+sojourn there presently."</p>
+
+<p>They talked on, their conversation drifting from one subject to
+another, and then he discovered her name was Grenville, and she that
+his was Delcombe, and they greeted each other anew as both hailing
+from lovely Devon. After that he proudly assumed the r&ocirc;le of escort,
+and waited upon her hand and foot. As it chanced, he also was
+journeying to Salisbury, so they became travelling companions, and the
+chance acquaintanceship ripened rapidly. In the evening they dined
+together in the restaurant-car and sat long over their meal; and then
+it was that Ailsa chanced to mention the name of Major Carew.</p>
+
+<p>Henry Delcombe at once remarked, "There was a Major Carew at the
+Zimbabwe police camp, I think, when I visited the ruins, but I did not
+see him. I should like to have done. I understood from the young
+trooper there that he is some relation to the Fourtenay-Carews?" and
+he paused interrogatively.</p>
+
+<p>"It was the man I am speaking of. He <i>is</i> a Fourtenay-Carew."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!..." and Ailsa saw instantly the swift interest in her companion's
+eyes; a wave as of thought-telepathy that this man probably held the
+key to Peter Carew's past. Delcombe read in her sparkling eyes that
+her interest in the soldier-policeman was no casual one, but of the
+warmest friendship.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you know him before he came out here?" she ventured.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew his father well; I lived near to them in Devon. I was doing
+some research work, and I had a quiet little home in a lovely valley
+close to the little place that was then this man's home, and quite
+near also to Dartwood Hall, where the elder brother, Richard
+Fourtenay-Carew, lived. They are not a rich family at all, you know.
+Dartwood Hall and estates and money came to Richard Carew through a
+very eccentric godmother, who brought him up, and he could do as he
+liked with it all. His younger brother, Peter Fourtenay-Carew, and his
+wife had, I think, only a very small income between them besides his
+pay as a captain. They rented a pretty little place in Devonshire
+close to Dartwood Hall, and came there for the hunting whenever he was
+able. The brothers were good friends, and he always had the run of
+the Dartwood stables. They were an interesting pair, but it was the
+younger whom I regarded as a friend, and that was why I was anxious to
+find out if I had stumbled across his son. As you may have heard,
+Captain Fourtenay-Carew, the father, was killed in the hunting-field
+and his wife died within the year. The two boys, then quite babies,
+were adopted by Richard Carew and brought up as his own sons."</p>
+
+<p>He paused and studied Ailsa's face gravely. She was almost breathless
+with interest, and he seemed a little taken aback by it. She saw the
+question in his eyes, and hastened to add frankly, "I cannot tell you
+how interested I am to hear this. My husband and I think there is no
+one in the world like Major Carew; in fact, in some vague, distant way
+I believe we are related. But he never speaks of his past life at all.
+For some reason he seems to regard it as a closed book; he even
+persists in calling himself a Rhodesian, and resolutely ignores the
+fact that he is anything else as well."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!..." and the thin, scholarly face of her companion looked as if he
+were obtaining a clue he wanted. There was a pause, and each seemed to
+be weighing something in his and her mind. Then Ailsa spoke: "I
+conclude he has some reason for his extreme reticence, and I hope I
+should be one of the last to pry into anyone's secrets; but for a
+reason I can hardly explain, I should be very glad to know something
+now that might possibly help me to do a special service for him. I
+shall see him in Salisbury."</p>
+
+<p>"What I know is no secret in a general sense," said Delcombe, speaking
+with grave deliberation; "but the facts of it were cleverly hushed up
+by his uncle, and you will easily understand that Major Carew would
+never speak of it now. My own interest in the matter is because of my
+regard for his father, and, I think I may say, admiration for himself.
+Anyone seeing the two brothers together as I did&mdash;that is, the younger
+men&mdash;must have felt deeply drawn to the elder and repulsed by the
+younger. A finer young fellow than Peter Fourtenay-Carew never
+stepped. The other brother was good-looking also, but he was cunning
+and crafty and little liked. Yet, such are the mysterious ways of
+Providence, the younger brother, by an unlooked-for turn of events,
+became the possessor of wealth and place and influence, and the elder
+went out from his country penniless, exiled, and alone. As far as I
+can judge, no one in England has ever heard of him since. I don't
+think it is even known where he is. A few of us knew that he came out
+to South Africa, and journeyed to Rhodesia with one of the pioneer
+columns, but that is quite sixteen years ago, and events at home move
+quickly, and his utter silence lost him the warm places he might have
+held in most hearts, or, at any rate, left them in abeyance. I only
+came out to Rhodesia a few months ago, and I have been much on the
+veldt, studying ancient relics; but I have kept my ears open. I heard
+of the man you are speaking of at the police camp at Zimbabwe, but the
+young trooper, Mr. Stanley, was not communicative. With a very
+praiseworthy <i>esprit de corps</i>, he declined to be drawn into any
+discussion whatever concerning his officer. I heard after I left that
+he, Major Carew, was a very reserved, taciturn man, but it was
+generally credited he had once held a captaincy in the Blues; that and
+a personal description persuaded me he was my old friend's son."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," Ailsa said, "there can be no doubt about it. I suppose you knew
+that he was going to be married just before he came away, and
+something rather dreadful happened?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah; he has revealed that much, has he?" in some surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Not to me; to a great friend of mine."</p>
+
+<p>"I see."</p>
+
+<p>He seemed perplexed, uncertain evidently, how much to tell her. Ailsa
+understood, and was a little at a loss how to act herself.</p>
+
+<p>"I should not have mentioned the fact to anyone else," she said, "as
+he evidently wishes to keep all personal matters entirely to himself;
+but, of course, you were very likely to know it. I also learnt from my
+husband that he was the elder brother and originally his uncle's heir,
+but something happened to cause Mr. Carew to change his mind."</p>
+
+<p>Then Mr. Delcombe said thoughtfully, "I think there is no reason why I
+should not tell you a little more about him. I have always felt
+exceedingly sorry for his determined exile, and the isolation from all
+his old friends and old delights. I know that he dearly loved Devon,
+and one feels it is time now that he came back to try and pick up the
+threads. You and your husband appear to be his only friends, and as a
+distant connection you might be able to approach him upon a subject
+where a stranger, or shall we say a forgotten friend, would be
+diffident." He paused, then added, "I wonder if he has the remotest
+idea that, owing to several deaths, he is now the next heir to the
+Marquis of Toxeter?"</p>
+
+<p>A sudden joy seemed to sweep Ailsa through and through, and her eyes
+shone, and she clasped and unclasped her hands with excitement as she
+breathed, "O, is that <i>really</i> true? It seems too good; too much like
+a story-book."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is a fact. Major Carew's family was a younger branch, and
+sixteen years ago it would never have entered anyone's head that the
+marquisate might fall to them. Time makes many changes, and three
+heirs have died in succession. The present marquis is old and has no
+children, therefore the next heir was Richard Fourtenay-Carew, also
+childless, and after him Major Carew's father. Richard Carew died very
+shortly after this man left England, and young Geoffrey Carew then
+succeeded to all his possessions. I believe something was left to
+Major Carew, but he refused to touch it. It is since then that (his
+uncle being dead) he has become the heir of the present marquis, and I
+think it highly probable he has no notion of the fact whatever."</p>
+
+<p>"I am almost certain he has not," Ailsa intercepted, "for I think he
+would have mentioned it to my husband."</p>
+
+<p>"Unfortunately there is very little money with the title, but he is
+not a man to trouble much about that; and, of course, the present
+marquis may live some time. But I have thought sometimes if he <i>knew</i>
+it might wipe out a little of the past bitterness. His brother robbed
+him of so much, but in the end it would seem Nature is making things
+even again. Geoffrey would give half his wealth to have the title, and
+I have reason to believe that it is a great bitterness to him to know
+that his brother, who cares nothing at all about it probably, must
+inevitably inherit it if he outlives the present owner."</p>
+
+<p>"And you will tell him?..." eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps. Or it may be that you!..." He hesitated, and looked at her
+thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>And then Ailsa said impulsively, "Let me give you trust for trust. I
+am taking this journey now chiefly on Major Carew's account. There is
+trouble in the air. I cannot tell you the facts; I scarcely know them.
+But he has lived his isolated, reserved life so long, I feel it has
+perhaps warped his view a little, and if he could be persuaded to open
+his heart to a friend he might see things in a clearer light, and save
+himself and a dear friend of mine great unhappiness." She paused, then
+added sadly, "But I am so much in the dark concerning him I hardly
+know how to win his confidence. There appears to have been this
+something before he left England, something rather terrible, that has
+shadowed all his life."</p>
+
+<p>"There was; I will tell you in confidence. Richard Carew hushed it all
+up, but there were a few of us who <i>knew</i>. His quarrel with his uncle
+was because he insisted upon marrying a poor governess, a most lovely
+and charming lady, instead of the bride his uncle had chosen. He was
+disinherited, and his allowance so curtailed that he would have to
+leave his regiment; but none of that troubled him in the least. He
+adored his fianc&eacute;e, and was supremely happy, as anyone could see. Then
+the tragedy fell. I cannot tell you all the details, probably no one
+knows them except his friends the Maitlands and his brother, and uncle
+who is now dead. He was out shooting with Maitland, and the other two
+were near at hand; and Maitland had repeated something to him his
+brother had said, which was a deadly insult to Miss Whitby. He was in
+a blind fury, and scarcely knew what he was doing, when he swung round
+and fired at a hare behind him...." There was a moment's intense pause
+before he finished in a low voice&mdash;"and the shot killed the poor girl
+he was to have married in a week."</p>
+
+<p>"O, how terrible!..." Ailsa gasped, and went white to the lips. "How
+terrible! Poor man! O, poor man!" Tears came into her eyes, and she
+turned away to hide them, and for some moments both were silent.</p>
+
+<p>Then Delcombe continued, "It is no wonder that he has been always
+reserved and silent. I suppose in a way it killed the part of him that
+could be anything else. He just went right away to a strange country,
+dropped the double name they had always been proud of, and cut himself
+adrift altogether from everything connected with his old life. It is
+no doubt his intention to remain apart, and take up the old threads no
+more. But I loved his father, and I loved him in my old-fashioned way
+which he was not likely to perceive; and when the Royal Geographical
+Society offered me a chance of a trip to Rhodesia I took it gladly.
+One of my first thoughts, when the decision was finally made and I was
+appointed, was, 'Perhaps I shall come across Peter Carew's son.'"</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa rested her elbow on the table and leaned her head on her hand,
+still with the glisten of tears in her eyes. "It makes one feel there
+is surely a Providence," she told him softly, "for my chance meeting
+with you may save him, and that other, from everlasting regret."</p>
+
+<p>A little later, when they went to their separate compartments for the
+night, she thanked him again. "You have made me feel quite
+broken-hearted for our dear soldier-policeman. Think what his memories
+must have been all these years! But perhaps his dark day is finished.
+I am very hopeful now. God bless you for remaining so staunch a friend
+to him and giving me your confidence!"</p>
+
+<p>And in Johannesburg that night Meryl said simply and quietly to van
+Hert, "I will marry you as soon as you wish. As you say, there is
+nothing to wait for, and, afterwards, there is much that we can do
+together."</p>
+
+<p>"In a fortnight?" he urged, and she assented.</p>
+
+<p>But Diana insisted otherwise. "It is simply indecent haste," she
+exclaimed, "and nothing in this world will persuade me to decide upon
+my bridesmaid's frock and have it ready in less than three weeks, and
+it may be a month."</p>
+
+<p>And Meryl&mdash;a quiet, white-faced Meryl nowadays, with little enough
+enthusiasm for frocks and wedding-presents&mdash;let her have her way.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXVI" id="XXVI"></a>XXVI</h2>
+
+<h2>"HOW CAN I GO TO HER!..."</h2>
+
+<p>The first meeting between Ailsa and Carew was a very difficult one for
+the woman. Directly she saw him she realised that he had drawn back
+into his shell further than ever, and the increased greyness on his
+temples spoke for itself of anxious, troubled hours. At first he had
+been difficult to entrap. In reply to her note came just a vague
+regret that he was exceptionally busy, and often out on the veldt,
+with a hope that he would see her before she left. One or two other
+attempts failed entirely to procure the interview, and she was almost
+at her wits' end. Finally, she had to resort to strong measures, and
+gain her end by subterfuge. Carew went to the house of a man friend by
+invitation, and was shown into his friend's den to find Ailsa awaiting
+him alone. The expression on his face told her instantly that he felt
+himself trapped, and resented it. But she could be very disarming when
+she liked, and she had tact enough to follow the straight course most
+likely to appeal to him now that she had gained her interview.</p>
+
+<p>"You must not be angry with me," she said, with engaging frankness. "I
+simply had to see you."</p>
+
+<p>He stood very upright, with a cold, unresponsive face, and waited for
+her to proceed.</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you sit down? You make it difficult for me when you
+are ... so ... so ... distant and unbending."</p>
+
+<p>He moved away to the window, and stood looking out, with his back to
+the room. "Will you tell me what it is you have to say?" he asked very
+quietly. He knew perfectly well it had to do with Meryl, and he did
+not want her to see his secret in his face. In fact, he did not wish
+to speak of the subject at all.</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa stood silently a moment, looking at his back, and then she said
+very quietly, "I have heard the story of your past life. I ... I ...
+know it all."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment there was such a stillness in the room that one could
+almost hear heart beats. The figure in the window never moved.</p>
+
+<p>"Who told you?..." he asked at last.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Henry Delcombe, the scientist, who was a great friend of your
+father's."</p>
+
+<p>Another silence. At last&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Is he in Rhodesia now?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is here, in Salisbury. He will not tell anyone else," she added.
+"He told me because ... because ... he perceived that Billy and I
+cared for you very much, and for your happiness." She moved a little
+nearer to him, and continued gently, "I felt almost as if I could
+break my heart with sympathy for you,&mdash;and that you should have borne
+such memories all these years, <i>alone</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"I have put them behind me," he said, speaking almost harshly. "The
+past is dead. What does it matter who and what I was before?... To-day
+I am a Rhodesian, and my work is <i>here</i>. I shall remain here now until
+I die."</p>
+
+<p>"You may not be able to do that," and her voice had suddenly a ring in
+it that seemed to arrest him.</p>
+
+<p>"Why may I not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because presently&mdash;very soon perhaps&mdash;you will have to answer to a
+call that requires you in England."</p>
+
+<p>He half turned to her, waiting silently and unmoved, with grave eyes
+fixed on the distance.</p>
+
+<p>She came a step nearer. "Mr. Delcombe told me also, that because of
+many changes that have taken place in the sixteen years since you cut
+yourself adrift from home, you are now heir to the marquisate of
+Toxeter. When the present marquis dies you will succeed him."</p>
+
+<p>It seemed at first as if he heard without understanding. Once more
+there was a silence in which one might hear heart beats.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you let me congratulate you?" Ailsa asked a little timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"I think he must have been dreaming," he said in slow comment.</p>
+
+<p>"No; there is no doubt about it whatever. He will tell you himself if
+you will let him. He wants to see you very much."</p>
+
+<p>And still he was only silent, gazing, gazing to the far distance. If
+it was true, how was it he had never heard?... Could it possibly all
+have transpired during the times he had been away shooting in the far
+north, or out on the veldt, away from newspapers for months?</p>
+
+<p>"There is something else I want to speak about," and her voice
+trembled somewhat. "This news concerning your future will make it a
+little easier. You know, of course, that Meryl Pym has become engaged
+to Mr. van Hert, the well-known Dutch politician?"</p>
+
+<p>Instantly he stiffened. "I saw it in a newspaper."</p>
+
+<p>She came close up to him suddenly. "O, Major Carew"&mdash;and there was an
+infinite pleading in her voice&mdash;"Billy and I thought you cared for
+her, and we believed she cared for you. Don't let her wreck her whole
+life now.... Don't stand by and let her marry a man she does not love.
+Go to her before it is too late!"</p>
+
+<p>Under his iron control his face seemed to work strangely. She saw the
+swift compression of his lips, the swift pain in his eyes, the strong
+hunger he could not entirely hide.</p>
+
+<p>"It is impossible," and the usual steadiness of his voice was shaken.
+"You say you know my story!... How can I go to her and tell her that
+once I killed the woman I loved?... How can I speak to her of love&mdash;I,
+the policeman, she the heiress?... How can I tell her that story which
+was told to you?... The story of damnable hate and passion, when I
+tried to strangle my own brother. I tell you she would shrink away in
+horror. She must shrink. Why did you speak to me about it at all! Your
+thoughts are folly and madness. <i>I</i> offer love to Meryl Pym?... My
+God! I have some decency&mdash;some pride left." And the pain and
+bitterness in his voice shocked and stabbed her.</p>
+
+<p>But in spite of her inward shrinking she answered him boldly, drawing
+on a courage lent her by love and sincerity.</p>
+
+<p>"And I say that if you love her truly, you ought to be able to trust
+her with your story. It is not noble and spirited of you to stand
+aside as you perhaps think. It is cowardly. Pride is generally
+cowardly. For the sake of your pride, of your own personal feelings,
+you will let her go on with this marriage and never say a word and
+never move a finger to save her from shipwrecking her whole life.
+First you will let your own sad past come between you; then you will
+let her hateful gold drive you away; then you will talk of yourself
+as just a policeman. And in any case&mdash;you must know it as well as I
+know it&mdash;none of these things would estrange Meryl Pym from the man
+she loved. There is nothing whatever between you except your pride,
+and you think that demands a renunciation from you, careless or no
+whether it brings heart-break for her."</p>
+
+<p>He had grown deathly white now, with dark hollows round his eyes, and
+she could almost see how his teeth were clenched behind the firm lips.
+She had taken him entirely by surprise in her outburst, and her news
+concerning himself; and he discovered she had swept his secret from
+him concerning his love for Meryl, almost before he knew what he was
+speaking of.</p>
+
+<p>"There might be something in what you say if Miss Pym cared for me in
+return. That she does is the merest supposition."</p>
+
+<p>"And how do you know that with such sureness?" she cried. "No, no,
+Major Carew; in your heart you know otherwise. But you just let her go
+away without a word, without a hope, and one or two of us know what
+this hasty engagement means. Diana calls it martyrdom. She wrote me to
+send Meryl an <i>in memoriam</i> card instead of congratulations, for it
+was more in accord with the occasion."</p>
+
+<p>His face worked visibly, in spite of his stern suppression, but he
+still stood rigid and upright, looking away from her&mdash;out over the far
+shadowy veldt, seeing nothing.</p>
+
+<p>In the pulsing silence that followed he beheld again that terrible
+October scene, when his love lay dead upon the heather. Could he ask
+any other woman to share that with him?... let the burden of such a
+memory faintly touch her life?... He knew that at the inquest it had
+been decided no one could possibly say who fired the shot. His uncle
+and brother were both shooting at the time, in the same direction; but
+though his friend Maitland had insisted upon a verdict of accidentally
+shot by someone unknown, and Richard Carew had resolutely supported
+him, in his own heart he had stood condemned. Yet if penance were
+required, what had he not given?... Exile, loneliness, nonentity for
+all the best years of his life; and her image, the beloved face of his
+lost Joan, the only woman's presence in his life. And yet now, as he
+stood gazing, gazing to the far blue hills, it seemed that her face
+and Meryl's were strangely blended. From the very first their eyes
+had been as the eyes of one woman, infinitely comprehending,
+infinitely true. Was it possible that Ailsa's accusation was true? One
+woman had been sacrificed more or less to his mad, insensate fury
+against his brother. Was the other perhaps to be sacrificed to his
+rigid, indomitable pride? One picture seemed to stamp itself upon his
+brain with ever-increasing strength and clearness: the picture of
+Meryl, leaning up against the window lintel that last evening at
+Bulawayo, white as a frail, exquisite lily, with the anguish in her
+deep eyes that she could not entirely hide. That, and the iron control
+he had needed to put upon himself, making him seem grim and unfeeling
+for fear one instant's weakness should make his longing arms enfold
+her. Well, he had played his man's part as well as he could; ridden
+away from her, disappointed her, openly avoided her, only in the end
+to love her with the deep, wise, understanding, all-embracing love of
+a man past his first youth, and with a wide knowledge of human nature.</p>
+
+<p>And this engagement of hers to van Hert! What might it not result
+from?... What hopelessness, what despair, what heroic resolve to play
+her little part in the country's good, and win some satisfaction
+perhaps, since she might not have happiness!</p>
+
+<p>Standing silently at the window it all seemed to pass through his mind
+with piercing clearness, and Ailsa's spirited attack rang still in his
+ears: "First you will let your sad story come between you, then her
+hateful gold, then your lowly position, answering to the call of your
+own pride, careless whether it wreck her life's happiness or no."</p>
+
+<p>Yes, she was quite right, it <i>was</i> his pride. Even now the thought of
+the gold was hateful to him.</p>
+
+<p>Still, if some day he would indeed be the Marquis of Toxeter!... if he
+could at least offer her a high position!... if it was no longer a
+question of going to her empty-handed....</p>
+
+<p>The silence continued, and in the background Ailsa waited and watched.
+She could read nothing from the tall figure in the window, except that
+his thoughts were far away and he was probing deeply. She leaned back
+in a low chair, feeling suddenly very tired and overwrought. She had
+come all the way from far Zimbabwe for this interview, just to say to
+this man, before it was too late, the spirited things she had said.
+And now?...</p>
+
+<p>She looked round the den of the man who was her friend, and his, and
+had helped her to win the interview, noting each trivial detail, each
+attempt at decoration and hominess, each cunning substitute such as
+every Rhodesian contrives out of his ingenuity for some trifle not
+easily procured in that far land. And all the time she was tensely
+painfully aware of that strong man in the window, and of the issues
+that hung upon his decision. How, in the event of his deciding to
+approach Meryl, the recognised fianc&eacute; was to be treated, was beyond
+her. She was too tired to probe further. She only cared that Meryl's
+happiness should be saved. Her own had been so nearly lost, she had
+seen so much unspeakable bitterness arise out of one great mistake,
+made once by many women at the altar, and she only waited to know if
+she had lost or won.</p>
+
+<p>At last the silent figure moved. At the window Carew turned and came
+towards her. She watched him with all her soul in her eyes, unable to
+rise from her chair for very tension.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you going to do?..." she asked, hoarsely.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you tell me where I can find Henry Delcombe?" he said.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXVII" id="XXVII"></a>XXVII</h2>
+
+<h2>DIANA BEGINS TO GROW PERPLEXED</h2>
+
+<p>In the meantime the household at Hill Court was a restless, uneasy,
+depressed one. No person in it, except Meryl, seemed undisturbed by
+the unsatisfactory atmosphere. She by taking thought, had, contrary to
+the old dictum, added to her stature; but it was the stature of her
+mind. The spirit that takes a woman through the troubled waters at
+hand, with all her consciousness set upon the great goal ahead, upheld
+her now; and in the presence of onlookers gave her a grave serenity,
+not in any way akin to joy, but baffling to those who would fain have
+seen her show a stronger feeling either of gladness or regret.</p>
+
+<p>It baffled even van Hert himself. To him she seemed so strangely the
+same, yet different, from the woman he had loved before the Rhodesian
+tour. In all his work, his plans, his schemes, she was as earnest and
+interested as he could possibly wish; but that fairness his dark
+strength had coveted seemed to elude him at every turn. When he kissed
+her, he felt vaguely that she suffered his caress; on one or two
+occasions it almost seemed as if she went further and shuddered, and
+yet she never actually repulsed him. And then the dainty, light humour
+that had been hers as well as Diana's!... What had become of it?... It
+seemed now as if Diana had absorbed it all, for Meryl was nearly
+always quiet, while the younger girl was almost boisterous. And yet
+even in Diana there was a note that puzzled him. She was so jumpy and
+uncertain. Childishly gay one moment, and cuttingly brilliant the
+next. He was glad she was there. After the first week of the
+engagement he found himself quite willing to further Meryl's obvious
+wish for her company upon every occasion. So if she rose to leave them
+alone they deterred her with vague requests and excuses; and when they
+went in public together, Diana was always with them. And when she was
+snappy, they laughed at her and did not mind. Diana snappy was better
+than no Diana at all.</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Emily thought otherwise, and was deeply grateful to them in her
+heart whenever they took her refractory niece safely out of her way.
+Her escapades were apt to be so wild nowadays, and her language so
+horrifying; and whenever the poor lady remonstrated, she was always
+told that it was the result of the Rhodesian trip.</p>
+
+<p>"It will take me quite a year to get over it," Diana informed her.
+"You can't eat rats, and sleep with a frog in your bed, and go
+unwashed for weeks on end, without suffering from it in some way. God
+bless my soul!... is it likely?..."</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the second week, anyone watching with keen insight might
+have seen a still more significant change creeping over the three most
+noticeable inmates of the house; for Mr. Pym was only silent and grave
+and retiring, going early to his study and feigning to be much
+occupied. And Aunt Emily had acquired a habit of going to sleep after
+dinner during her solitariness, which Diana wickedly called a
+dispensation from Heaven to bless the household of Henry Pym.</p>
+
+<p>So the lovers and Diana were left to themselves, and usually sat upon
+the deep verandah. And it became apparent presently that all the
+talking was done by Diana and van Hert; Meryl was merely a silent
+listener. Perhaps she was not even a listener; one could not tell. She
+sat so still, with wistful eyes looking out beyond the stars. But
+Diana, on the other hand, exceeded herself; and in doing so she made
+van Hert exceed himself also. She was brilliant, mischievous,
+reckless, serious, satirical, nonsensical, all in a breath. She drove
+him hither and thither; led him on one moment, and withered him with
+her satire the next. It was obvious the man very soon left off
+treating her with any careless levity; if he did he was outwitted in
+no time; torn to shreds, and cast to the four winds on merry logic
+that had ever the sting of satire behind its laughing lightness. Very
+quickly he was on his guard, with thrust and parry; keen, watchful,
+alert&mdash;the politician to whom South Africa listened. And finally there
+came a day when, after unfolding a plan to Meryl, he added, "That is
+my idea, but I thought I would consult your cousin first." It seemed
+to strike him that it was a little odd, and he added, "She is
+extraordinarily observant. She may see some weak point we have
+overlooked."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, consult Diana," Meryl had replied at once; "she knows a lot
+about statistics of that kind. She has often had arguments with father
+over them."</p>
+
+<p>So in the evening van Hert came in eager haste to have his talk with
+Diana. And Diana had taken herself off to a dinner-party and was not
+forthcoming. So the lovers sat on the verandah alone, and after a
+little they began to feel at a loss for anything to say, and wished
+devoutly that Diana would return.</p>
+
+<p>As she was likely to be late, van Hert got up and spoke of departing.
+He said he had a measure to study carefully, ready for the reopening
+of Parliament at Cape Town. And while he was still explaining, Diana
+returned. She had made an excuse and left the party early.</p>
+
+<p>"It was so dull," she said. "I have no patience with people who let me
+bite them, and do not try to bite back. I bit them all, more or less,
+in the end, and left them bathing each other's sores, so to speak, and
+exclaiming with bated breath at my cleverness. Fools and blockheads!
+just because I've got a banking account that would buy half of them
+up, and never miss it. As if I didn't know, when I'm in that mood, I'm
+a cattish little spitfire!..."</p>
+
+<p>"So you came home to worry us?..." and the pleasure in his face was
+suddenly illuminating.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you have the pluck to hit back," and she looked at him with a
+flash of her eyes that made his senses reel a little. She threw her
+costly evening-cloak on to a chair, and pushed it a little aside with
+her foot, with a graceful action that displayed a dainty slipper and
+ankle, in no wise lost upon him. "I always hit back myself," she
+continued. "I've no sympathy with the 'other cheek' theory. I hit
+twice as hard as the attacker if possible. If Aunt Emily were here, I
+should say I give a dickens of a smack; but as she isn't, it is not
+worth while." She came forward with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.
+"Poor dear Aunt Emily! I sometimes have her conscience very much on my
+mind; but there ... I can bear it." And her comical enunciation in the
+poor lady's exact tones set both Meryl and van Hert off laughing.</p>
+
+<p>The laughter was coming back to her own eyes too. When she entered
+they had been clouded, and her lips pouting. If they only knew it,
+she had been bored to tears at the party; bored utterly and
+completely, longing to be back on the verandah fighting a wordy, keen,
+good-tempered battle with van Hert; and she felt sure he would have
+gone when she returned. She had noticed he never stayed late when she
+was absent. But she was just in time. He had not gone, was only just
+going, and she perceived the face of each was tired and depressed.</p>
+
+<p>"What have you been doing?" she rallied them. "You looked as if you
+had been intending to read the marriage service through together, and
+had read the funeral one by mistake; or possibly because it appealed
+to you more!... You both seemed doleful enough for anything."</p>
+
+<p>"We missed you," Meryl said, simply. "William wanted to ask you about
+a new measure he is planning."</p>
+
+<p>Van Hert said nothing, but he was looking at her unconsciously, with a
+light in his eyes that staggered her. Other men had looked at her with
+admiration, but this man had an expression that seemed to envelop her
+with himself. She felt throughout her pulses that he was all fire and
+eagerness and intensity, a strong, wilful, obstinate, fierce, virile
+personality that reached out mute, unconscious arms to her
+level-headed coolness. The fire in his eyes was only smouldering as
+yet, but it seemed to tell her that he was a fine-toned, brilliant
+instrument that she, and perhaps she only, could play upon as she
+liked, bringing forth both thundering chords and enveloping sweetness.</p>
+
+<p>And in the sudden silence that had fallen upon the verandah, Diana
+knew that she liked to play, would always like to play, that with this
+man at least boredom would never fret her restless soul.</p>
+
+<p>Then she plunged into words with him, and they sparred delightedly,
+and that work he had spoken of as awaiting him at home was left to
+take care of itself.</p>
+
+<p>Later, Diana went outside on the verandah of her room and Meryl's and
+looked at the stars. The tables had turned utterly, but it was
+doubtful if either of them perceived it. Meryl went quietly to bed
+with only a few words, and either slept, or feigned sleep. Diana
+loitered on the verandah, and looked at the stars. She hardly knew
+why, only some strange half-consciousness was springing up inside her
+that made her restless. Somehow van Hert seemed to be gaining a hold
+over her. She could not gauge how, nor why, nor wherefore; but as she
+thought of his fine dark eyes in the starlight, with that luminous,
+glad expression when he looked at her, she had a sense of violent
+antipathy one moment, and of a gladness that made her blush secretly
+the next.</p>
+
+<p>But within three days the date of the wedding was fixed, and all the
+papers paragraphed it far and wide.</p>
+
+<p>It appeared in Salisbury the day after Ailsa had had her talk with
+Carew, and it came as a shock to both of them. It left just three
+weeks for action, and no more. What was to be done? Ailsa tried to get
+another interview with Carew at once, and found he had had to ride to
+some place twenty miles distant, and might not be back until the
+morrow. So, in distress, she sought Henry Delcombe. What he had to
+tell her was faintly reassuring. Carew had gone to see him after he
+left Ailsa, and had asked for proofs of his heirship to the marquisate
+of Toxeter. Delcombe had been able to satisfy him, and he had been
+gravely friendly, but that was all. At last, in desperation, Ailsa
+decided to write to Diana. The mail left that morning, and would reach
+Johannesburg in three days. Diana was full of resource, and she might
+think of a plan. Ailsa decided to tell her as much as she could
+without betraying any confidence. She said no word of the tragedy.
+That only concerned Meryl, and if she were to hear it at all, she must
+hear it from him. Neither did she mention his changed position; that
+also he should tell himself. She contented herself with letting Diana
+know that he had admitted he loved Meryl.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime she waited anxiously for Carew to return, but heard no
+word of him until the Sunday afternoon. In reply to an urgent little
+note he came to see her. She had wondered if he would be changed at
+all; if his new position would shed a ray of gladness in his steady
+eyes. But he seemed exactly the same, and she could read nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see the announcement yesterday?" she asked. "There is so
+little time. I had to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"I did."</p>
+
+<p>"And what are you going to do?"</p>
+
+<p>He looked down at the carpet, lost in thought. "I hardly know," he
+said.</p>
+
+<p>"O, won't you at least go to Johannesburg?..." she pleaded. "See Meryl
+once. If you fail her now, perhaps you will never forgive yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"On the other hand, I may only disturb her mind. How do you know she
+has not cared for this man for a long time? In any case, what right
+have I to cross <i>his</i> path now?"</p>
+
+<p>"O, your logic!..." she cried. "The way you men think this and that
+and the other, when a woman just <i>knows</i>! Go and see her. Go and make
+sure of things for yourself."</p>
+
+<p>But he shook his head in doubt and perplexity. To him it seemed almost
+like stealing to go and attempt to take from this other man what he
+had won fairly and openly; and though Ailsa tried other arguments, she
+could not move him. Only one half-hope she extracted from him.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps," he said, "I will write to Mr. Pym and ask his advice."</p>
+
+<p>Then he went back to the hours of desperate mental stress, that were
+steadily increasing the grey about his temples. To Ailsa he might have
+seemed cold and self-contained as ever, but if she could have known
+it, all his being was torn with conflict. With the hourly growing ache
+and longing to throw everything to the winds and to try to carry Meryl
+off while there was yet time there was the fear lest a wrong step on
+his part should shatter for her some newly found content.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXVIII" id="XXVIII"></a>XXVIII</h2>
+
+<h2>DIANA'S PERPLEXITIES INCREASE</h2>
+
+<p>The two days after Diana came home early from her dinner-party were
+chiefly noticeable for the fact that for the first time since the
+engagement van Hert remained away from Hill Court. No one knew why,
+and the excuse he sent was of the vaguest. Diana asked her own heart
+and was troubled. When he came on the third day, he walked into the
+drawing-room to look for Meryl, and found Diana reading in the window
+alone. They discovered each other suddenly, and it was almost as if he
+gave a guilty start; and he looked unusually pale, with haggard eyes,
+as if he had slept badly of late. Diana saw it all, but gave no sign.</p>
+
+<p>"You are something of a stranger, Meinheer van Hert," she said
+lightly. "My sword had almost time to rust."</p>
+
+<p>"It would never do that. The best of swords is none the worse for an
+occasional rest; unless"&mdash;with a somewhat tired gleam of humour&mdash;"you
+have been keeping it bright at the expense of poor Aunt Emily."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it has had a real rest. I am saving it again for the best
+swordsman worthy of it."</p>
+
+<p>His eyes came suddenly to her face, and she realised at once that
+until that moment he had scarcely looked at her; and in that second's
+flash she saw something in them that hurt: a swift, deep trouble that
+he was struggling to hide. He looked away again quickly, noting the
+lovely shades of the room, the masses of violets, the general airiness
+and elegance.</p>
+
+<p>"Is Meryl at home?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I will go and tell her you are here."</p>
+
+<p>Diana went upstairs very slowly, lost in thought. And when she had
+told Meryl, she stood a long time at the window, thinking still.
+Presently Meryl came back. "William came to ask me to definitely fix
+the date of the wedding. We decided on the fifth; that will give us
+just a week before he must go to Cape Town." Then, as if she did not
+expect Diana to make any comment, she added, "The invitations must go
+out to-night."</p>
+
+<p>That evening van Hert came as usual, but, simply because he was gayer
+than usual, Diana perceived that his gaiety was forced; and she saw
+also that he shunned meeting her eyes, looking anywhere, nowhere,
+rather than into her face.</p>
+
+<p>The next day she rode in a direction where she and Meryl often met and
+joined him for a gallop. Meryl had suggested coming as usual, but
+Diana had contrived to put her off. She wanted if possible, without
+quite knowing why, to see van Hert alone; and as it happened, Fortune
+favoured her, for he appeared up a side road suddenly, and had no time
+to escape her, even had he wished. So they rode together, and he tried
+to talk to her as usual. When they came to a spot where they often
+dismounted, and sat to enjoy the lovely view of distant hills, Diana
+prepared to get off her horse. She saw him hesitate, and then he
+muttered something about an important engagement.</p>
+
+<p>"O, nonsense!..." with a gay, airy smile. "If I'm not in a hurry, you
+can't be. I only want to sit for about fifteen minutes."</p>
+
+<p>So they gave their horses' reins to the smart black groom, who always
+rode with the girls, and sat on the rustic bench where the three had
+several times sat together.</p>
+
+<p>And suddenly, Diana, giving rein to her impulsive temperament, said,
+"What is your opinion of a man who marries one woman and loves
+another?"</p>
+
+<p>She saw him start and stiffen, but he tried to parry the thrust. "What
+a question to ask a fianc&eacute; of a few weeks, on the eve of becoming a
+bridegroom!..."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that's why! I thought you would have formed many opinions on
+the subject of love and marriage."</p>
+
+<p>"And why do you want to know?"</p>
+
+<p>"O, just a fancy! I know men sometimes do that kind of thing.
+Personally I think it is rather cowardly."</p>
+
+<p>"Why cowardly?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Because it shows a man hasn't the pluck to own he has made a mistake.
+He would rather go on with it, and pretend everything is all right."</p>
+
+<p>She saw him bite his lip, and felt more thoroughly that he would not
+meet her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"It is hard on the other woman, the one he <i>does</i> love, too. It might
+make her very happy to be told. One joy is better than two miseries
+any day, even if his lordship did have to own to a mistake and look
+rather silly!..." with a little laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I shall know more about it when I am married," trying to
+speak carelessly. "You must ask me later."</p>
+
+<p>"Probably I shall not want to know then; my fancies are always
+varying. What should <i>you</i> do, for instance, if you suddenly found you
+cared for someone else more than Meryl?"</p>
+
+<p>She was watching him closely, and she saw the swift, tell-tale blood
+rush to his face.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I don't know," he answered, with a forced, unnatural laugh.
+"It is rather a remote probability now."</p>
+
+<p>"O, one never knows!..." Diana spoke with assumed lightness, and
+looked away to the hills, feeling a little unnerved by the sudden,
+swift palpitating in her blood. "Shall we go on now?" rising and
+turning her back to him. "I mustn't keep you any longer from that
+important engagement."</p>
+
+<p>She might have added that she had learnt what she came out to learn;
+but instead she put her horse to a smart gallop, and rode back without
+scarcely speaking, flinging him a gay good-bye over her shoulder when
+their roads separated.</p>
+
+<p>When she reached home she found Meryl surrounded by dressmakers, and
+trying hard to assume an interest in the proceedings; but Diana's
+clear eyes saw the effort as plainly as if it had been written across
+her forehead. She saw that she looked ill, too; ill and worn and
+joyless, as if something had damped for ever her natural fount of
+gaiety. And withal she was so sweet-tempered and considerate, studying
+everybody else's feelings in this wedding of hers; everyone's
+apparently except her own. Diana wanted to shake her one moment, and
+howl round her neck the next. Instead of doing either she was a little
+more snappy than usual.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you have your dress fitted now?" Meryl asked her. "Madame has it
+all ready."</p>
+
+<p>"No," shortly. "I haven't time this morning; and besides, one can't be
+fitted just after a ride. I'm going to have a hot bath and a
+cigarette," and she flung out of the room, leaving Meryl a little
+perplexed and Madame considerably perturbed.</p>
+
+<p>In her own apartment she tossed things about, and was very irritable
+with her maid. Later, she went out into the garden to a shady nook
+where she was not likely to be disturbed, because she wanted to think.
+But thinking was no easy matter. On every side were perplexities.</p>
+
+<p>"It's just the devil's own mess," she summed up at last, unable to
+think of any other sufficiently strong description. "Meryl doesn't
+want to marry van Hert, and van Hert doesn't want to marry Meryl; they
+both want to marry someone else; and yet they both mean to go on to
+the bitter end, because of some rotten-cotton notion about serving
+South Africa. O! I've no patience with these heroic attitudes! They
+are not suited to commonplace everyday life. If they'd a little more
+sound common sense, and a little less of the noble and lofty soul
+spirit, they would perceive they will only do more harm than good by
+going against nature and trying to force inclinations. But the absurd
+thing is, that neither has yet had the perspicacity to perceive the
+other's unwilling frame of mind. That exactly bears out my point.
+These heroic attitudes do not suit the exigencies of everyday life. If
+they weren't both so bent on doing the noble thing, they would
+perceive they are merely making fools of themselves, and incidentally
+straining my powers of resource beyond all reason. Of course it can't
+go on; but what in the name of all that's wonderful can I do to stop
+it?... Send for The Bear, and compel him to make the best of the awful
+fact that Meryl possesses a fortune, and console dear Dutch Willie
+myself, I suppose!..." And she smiled grimly. Then her face softened,
+and tears unexpectedly gleamed in her eyes. She brushed them away,
+apostrophising herself impatiently. Then she swallowed down a sob,
+murmuring, "I can't bear the thought of Meryl, standing with that
+smile on her lips and that expression in her eyes, to be fitted for
+her wedding-dress. It makes one want to tear the whole world to
+pieces, and sink South Africa in the nethermost ocean. No wonder uncle
+shuts himself in his study so much nowadays. He must be just as hard
+put to it as I am to know what to do." A step disturbed her
+cogitations at that moment, and Aunt Emily came into view.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, my dear, I thought I saw you come down the garden. There is a
+letter for you with a Rhodesian stamp. I thought you might like to
+have it." And she handed it to her, at the same time sitting down on
+the garden-seat beside her.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you seen Meryl's dress," she enquired, with an expression that
+had suddenly grown sentimental. "The dear child. To think of her in
+her wedding-dress, so soon to be a bride!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that's a commonplace enough event! Girls like Meryl usually do
+become brides, and later on they wear shrouds, and have a nice little
+coffin all to themselves. There really isn't very much difference!..."</p>
+
+<p>"O, my dear!... What a dreadful remark to make! I am sure it is
+unlucky to speak like that."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I hope it will be unlucky enough to postpone the wedding
+indefinitely."</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Emily turned and looked at her niece as if she thought she had
+taken leave of her senses, but that was not by any means a new
+expression upon the face of Henry Pym's sister confronting Henry Pym's
+niece.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, Diana!..." she expostulated. "I think it is hardly a subject
+for jesting. Marriage is a very serious thing. I hope God will bless
+dear Meryl with great happiness. I confess, at first, I was
+disappointed that she chose a Dutch husband; but Mr. van Hert has very
+good Huguenot blood in his veins, and he is undoubtedly a very
+charming man; and then, of course, her children will only be half
+Dutch."</p>
+
+<p>"Her children ought to be bear cubs!" snapped Diana, wishing her aunt
+would go away and leave her to read her letter in peace.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment Aunt Emily was too horrified to reply, and then Diana
+added, "Don't trouble to expostulate any more. I'm not really mad,
+only eccentric. I never could see why people make such a silly fuss
+about weddings; anyhow, they are all the same and all commonplace.
+When I marry, I shall give all my friends the shock of their lives,
+something to talk about for a year, and then for once in my life I
+shall be a public benefactor. I see Helen looking about on the terrace
+as if she wanted you. Shall I ask her?..."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I will go in to her"; and she got up and walked towards the
+house, still wearing a shocked expression.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if Helen will have the sense to manufacture some request?"
+thought Diana, glancing after her. "As if I could see the terrace from
+here!..."</p>
+
+<p>Then she opened her letter.</p>
+
+<p>When she had read it through once, she turned back to the beginning
+and read it through again. And all the time she was so rigidly still,
+that a little bird hopped close up to her foot to investigate.</p>
+
+<p>Then she laid the letter down and looked out across the garden. Five
+minutes later she got to her feet.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment of crisis Diana was the type who courageously follows an
+inspiration, without overmuch weighing and sifting. She had faith in
+her own keen woman's instinct and she knew there were times when
+sharp, decisive action is better than lengthy, minute attention to all
+the laws of war, and far-reaching considerations of what might or
+might not result.</p>
+
+<p>A gate at the far end of the garden led out to the main road, and not
+very far down was a post office. Diana went straight to it, and sent a
+wire, with prepaid reply, directed to Major Carew, which ran:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Can you come at once? Urgently wanted. Go to
+Carlton and send message on arrival to me.</p>
+
+<p>
+"<span class="smcap">Diana Pym."</span>
+</p></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXIX" id="XXIX"></a>XXIX</h2>
+
+<h2>A USEFUL BLUNDER</h2>
+
+<p>The railway journey from Salisbury to Johannesburg takes three and
+sometimes four days; so that whether Carew responded to her urgent
+message or not, Diana had rather a long time to possess her soul in
+patience and make up her mind what course to take next. She was in two
+minds whether to take her uncle into her confidence or not, but
+decided men were always apt to bungle, and she had better trust
+entirely to her own guidance. Beyond a doubt the situation required
+the most delicate and skilful handling. First of all, she felt she
+must convey to van Hert some suggestion that would prepare him for the
+shock of what might be expected to follow upon Carew's arrival,
+supposing he came. Meryl she did not worry greatly about. She might be
+expected to be swept off her feet and go with the tide, by the very
+suddenness of it all. The two men presented the obstacles. Carew would
+have to be inveigled with the greatest finesse into an interview with
+Meryl, without ever letting him perceive a woman was leading him. In
+her heart Diana was a little afraid of the steady, unbending face. He
+was not likely to prove pliable; he might even refuse to come. Nothing
+she could say could alter the fact that he was a policeman and Meryl
+was burdened with a fortune, and that was the only barrier Diana was
+aware of. She laughed a little to herself as she wondered whether it
+would help matters if Mr. Pym made a will disinheriting Meryl, and
+dividing his money between her and charities. She could easily give it
+back to Meryl later. Then she sighed. "More heroics!... and they tell
+us it is a base world. Here am I driven out of my senses nearly,
+positively suffocated with high-mindedness, because three delightful
+people can't come down from their unlivable altitude and exhibit a
+little practical common sense."</p>
+
+<p>Then, of course, there was van Hert's pride to consider. What in the
+world, at this time of all others, was to be made of an English girl
+jilting a prominent Dutch politician a week before the wedding day!
+"It's almost enough to cause another war!" sighed poor Diana. "I'm
+really beginning to wish I had let them all go their own foolish ways.
+If I don't mind I shall end in becoming a heroine myself, and that's
+really too alarming!..."</p>
+
+<p>However, the bull having been taken by the horns, it was wiser to keep
+a firm hold of them; though more than once Diana felt herself very
+entirely in sympathy with Mark Twain when he says, "It is better to
+take hold by the tail, because then you can let go when you like."</p>
+
+<p>Obviously van Hert must be tackled first, but she waited until the
+morning after sending her wire, hoping for a reply. It came early, and
+fortune favoured her in that she received her orange-coloured envelope
+unknown to anyone. She carried it upstairs and opened it with a
+beating, anxious heart. It contained only two words, and was not
+signed:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Arrive Saturday."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment she felt a little dazed. He was coming then, the stern
+soldier-policeman. What in the world was she to say to him?...</p>
+
+<p>Then a flood of gladness began to well up in her heart. After all, it
+meant before all things, that a day of great joy might be at hand for
+Meryl. Did anything else really matter?... If she personally came
+through the transaction a little battered&mdash;well, it wouldn't really
+matter, if Meryl and The Bear were safely off the rocks. Rather than
+let any shadowy good for South Africa come between them now she would
+marry van Hert herself, and at that she gave a little low laugh. In
+the meantime she had three days to think out a plan and convey to van
+Hert some sort of preparation.</p>
+
+<p>When he came that Wednesday evening it was easily seen that he was
+feverish. His eyes were unnaturally bright and his face flushed, and
+at dinner he only played with his food and ate nothing. He talked and
+laughed gaily, but with intermittent shivering which he tried hard to
+hide. Everyone saw it, and Meryl grew concerned. He tried to laugh it
+off, but was not successful. Finally Mr. Pym advised him to go home to
+bed. And then Aunt Emily made the crowning blunder of her life, and
+like some other big blunders now historical, it proved a blessing in
+disguise.</p>
+
+<p>She glanced at Diana with a scared face and exclaimed in perturbation,
+"Now if the wedding is put off it will be your fault, Diana. I told
+you it must bring ill-luck to speak about it as you did."</p>
+
+<p>There was an awkward pause, and in spite of herself Diana flushed
+scarlet.</p>
+
+<p>"What did Diana say?" van Hert asked of Aunt Emily, half grave and
+half casual.</p>
+
+<p>The poor lady, having quickly discovered she had made an unfortunate
+remark and become considerably flurried, made matters worse by
+stammering guiltily, "O, it was nothing much; she was only talking at
+random. She ... she ..."&mdash;distressfully discovering van Hert's eyes
+still fixed upon her&mdash;"said something about hoping the wedding would
+be postponed, and I said it was unlucky."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment the constraint was painful. Meryl had grown as white as
+the tablecloth, and Mr. Pym looked thoroughly worried. Diana, however,
+had quickly recovered herself, and was now the most composed of any.
+She gave a little sniff and glanced defiantly at van Hert. His eyes
+roved round the table and finally fixed themselves upon hers. She did
+not waver, but looked steadily back at him. He gave a self-conscious,
+constrained laugh. "I presume you had your reasons?" he said.</p>
+
+<p>She narrowed her eyes a little as she replied with a directness
+probably he alone understood, "Yes, I suppose I had. It was yesterday,
+Tuesday. Tuesday is often a queer day with me."</p>
+
+<p>And he knew she was referring to their conversation during the
+morning's ride.</p>
+
+<p>Then Meryl got up to relieve the tension, and because she began to
+feel a little uncertain of herself.</p>
+
+<p>"Di often has queer days, but they have nothing to do with your
+feverishness, William. Jackson had better go back with you, and we
+will telephone Dr. Smythe to look in and see how you are." She went
+away to order the motor, and van Hert seized an opportunity to speak
+to Diana unheard.</p>
+
+<p>"I know what you are alluding to," he said, gravely. "We cannot very
+well leave it like this. Will you ride the same way to-morrow?"</p>
+
+<p>"But if you have fever?" hesitatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"In the war I fought all day long with fever on me. Surely I can ride!
+You will be there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>When van Hert arrived at the meeting-place next morning, he wore an
+overcoat and looked as if he ought to be in bed, and Diana's heart
+smote her. But she comforted herself with the thought that his fever
+was very much of the mind, and her medicine, if drastic, might still
+do him more good than any physician's.</p>
+
+<p>They rode side by side to the seat they had sat upon before, and
+without saying much he helped her to alight and gave the reins of both
+horses to the black groom.</p>
+
+<p>Once seated, however, he turned to her and said, gravely, "Of course,
+that remark of yours had to do with our conversation the last time we
+sat here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," agreed Diana, calmly. The intricacies of the task she had
+set herself were beginning to interest more than scare her, and she
+was not afraid as to her skill in handling van Hert.</p>
+
+<p>"May I ask in what exact particular?"</p>
+
+<p>"Merely that you are the man about to marry a woman you do not love."</p>
+
+<p>He opened his lips to expostulate and deny, but she rested a little
+hand on his arm a moment and interrupted. "No, do not trouble to deny
+it. I should not have dared to say such a thing without being sure of
+my ground. Your face told me on Tuesday."</p>
+
+<p>He was silent, feeling himself unaccountably in the grip of something
+he could no longer thwart.</p>
+
+<p>"Now listen to me. When Meryl went to Rhodesia you <i>did</i> love her. I
+think she was all the world to you. So she was when she came back, <i>at
+first</i>. You were in haste to win her, and she consented to be engaged
+to you. Afterwards...." She paused.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, afterwards?..." in a strained, unnatural voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Afterwards you found in some vague way she was changed. You had won
+her, but you did not possess her. Something had happened. You seemed
+to have seized the substance and found it shadow. I seem to be talking
+like a book, but we will let that pass! Instead of trying to find out
+whether this really was the case, you attempted to hurry forward the
+wedding. That, I think, was weak of you."</p>
+
+<p>"And something had happened?..." he asked, hoarsely. "What?..."</p>
+
+<p>Diana spread out her hands with a little French gesture. "It is
+sometimes just as poignant to say, '<i>Cherchez l'homme</i>' as, '<i>Cherchez
+la femme</i>.'"</p>
+
+<p>"You mean?..."</p>
+
+<p>"That what had happened was another man."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!..." in quick surprise; and after a short, tense silence, "Then
+why in the world?..." But again she stayed him with a little arresting
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>"You wonder why she engaged herself to you?... When you have the clue
+it is quite simple. The other man loves her, but he has not told her
+so. I do not know that he ever will. He is a proud, obstinate
+Englishman, and has no position and no money. Apparently he is ready
+to let Meryl wreck her life, rather than bless his with herself and
+her fortune. Some men are like that. It is a mixture of pride and
+heroics very difficult for a well-meaning cousin like myself to cope
+with. I think it may even turn my hair grey yet." Again she spread out
+her hands. "Can you not see the rest?... You yourself led up to it.
+You urged your united service to South Africa (though why poor South
+Africa should be dragged in, I don't know), and she, having as she
+thought lost all hope of simple, personal happiness, decided to give
+herself to you and to her country. Now do you understand?"</p>
+
+<p>He was silent for a considerable time, thinking deeply; and then, with
+one of his quick versatile changes, he turned and pounced upon her
+with the question, "Granting all is as you say, what I want to know
+is, how have you discovered it?" He looked hard into her face with
+keen, searching eyes. "How did <i>you</i> know that <i>I</i> had changed?"</p>
+
+<p>He had taken her a little unawares, and suddenly she felt the hot,
+tell-tale blood mounting higher and higher up her face. She moved
+restlessly, impatiently, as if his gaze were intolerable, and then
+replied a trifle lamely, "You must have heard the English proverb,
+'Lookers-on see most of the game.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I wonder at what particular point you saw first?..."</p>
+
+<p>"In any case it is beside the question," she declared, anxious to get
+the conversation away from herself. "As I asked you on Tuesday, I ask
+you again, 'What do you think of a man who marries a woman when he
+does not love her?'"</p>
+
+<p>"That is not the question you asked me."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes it is," a trifle shortly. Diana was beginning to feel rather like
+a swimmer out of his depth.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon, it is not; but we will let it pass for the moment.
+Granting that what you have told me is true, what do you expect me to
+do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tell Meryl the truth."</p>
+
+<p>"And what is the truth?" He was gazing hard at her again, and Diana
+began to wish she could run away and hide. She knew that her changing
+colour and averted eyes were telling him something he badly wanted to
+know.</p>
+
+<p>"O, you're very dense!" she cried, seeking to cover her discomfort.
+"Tell her you have discovered it is all a mistake; that you do not
+think she loves you better than all the world; and that you feel
+yourself wedded to your work, and ... and ... that kind of thing. Of
+course it won't be nice, but surely you can see it is a far <i>braver</i>
+thing to do, than just to go on because you are afraid of what the
+world will say?"</p>
+
+<p>"And suppose Meryl wishes to hold to her promise and give herself to
+her country?"</p>
+
+<p>"She can still do that, only in some other way."</p>
+
+<p>"And what do you think South Africa will say?"</p>
+
+<p>"O, that's quite beyond me!..." with a little comical grimace, "but,
+of course, at any cost, you must avert another war!..." They both
+smiled, and she added more seriously, "You can announce that you
+discovered in time you were not very well suited to each other, and
+mutually agreed to break off the engagement."</p>
+
+<p>Again he was silent for a long time, lost in thought. At last, "And
+when do you think I should say this to Meryl?"</p>
+
+<p>"It will not be any easier through waiting. Why not to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>Again he was silent, and something in the air, some secret, veiled
+magnetism, told Diana whither his thoughts were tending, and her
+cheeks grew hot in spite of herself.</p>
+
+<p>"If I speak to Meryl to-night, and she decrees that the engagement
+shall end, will you promise to ride this way to-morrow morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"What for?" trying to speak with nonchalance.</p>
+
+<p>"To answer the question I asked you just now."</p>
+
+<p>"Which question? I have forgotten it."</p>
+
+<p>"I will ask it again to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"But why all this mystery?... Ask me now. I will answer it if I can."</p>
+
+<p>"I would rather wait until to-morrow. Come, you have said all you
+wanted to say to me. Let me have my turn now." And she knew that his
+eyes, sharpened by love, were reading things she had scarcely yet
+admitted to herself.</p>
+
+<p>She got up suddenly, feeling a little breathless. She began to have
+again that alarming sensation of being mastered; as if he had some
+hold upon her, against which it was her instinct to fight, not because
+of any antipathy to him, but because, like all women of her
+independent character and fearlessness, she dreaded the mere thought
+of losing her liberty or yielding her independence. And at the same
+time she knew that the thought which held a dread held a charm also.
+Diana would never lose her grit and personality, she would never
+submit for a moment to any overshadowing, but deep in her heart she
+knew she was true woman enough to like to be conquered by the right
+man. Her instinct was to contradict van Hert in anything just then and
+deny any wish, but she was glad he quietly insisted upon her granting
+his request, and that when they finally rode away it was an understood
+thing she would come again the next morning.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXX" id="XXX"></a>XXX</h2>
+
+<h2>DIANA IS RESTLESS</h2>
+
+<p>It would be most difficult, indeed well-nigh impossible, for any
+chronicler to describe the state of Diana's feelings that afternoon;
+and very certain that under no circumstances would she have attempted
+to describe them herself. The swift coming into life of the love
+between her and van Hert was like the man who said he had not been
+born, he just happened. One could imagine Diana calmly stating their
+love had no explanation, it just happened. Perhaps it had been there
+longer than either of them knew; perhaps it took form suddenly when
+each realised the unsubstantial nature of the engagement to Meryl.
+Diana had always had a special liking for van Hert, and had said so
+openly; but as he had for some time been presented in her mind as her
+cousin's lover, there had been no reason why the liking should grow to
+anything warmer, and probably it never would have. But when she
+thoroughly realised how unsatisfactory a basis he was about to build
+his wedded happiness upon, a certain resentment on his behalf took
+shape in her mind, as well as troubled anxiety for Meryl. From this it
+was not a very far step to a warmer feeling still, and as we have
+seen, the old gaieties ceased to attract her if he was not a partaker.
+And then, knowing well that Meryl's heart was given elsewhere, she
+spent no anxious moments as to whether this warmer feeling of hers
+were unfair to her cousin. It was as though it was just held in
+abeyance waiting for something to happen; and when the something had
+happened, she swam out fearlessly into the deep water. With van Hert
+it had necessarily been different. He knew nothing of Carew, and only
+felt vaguely that Meryl had changed; nothing tangible that he could
+take hold of, and yet a something that was as an invisible barrier
+between their closer knowledge of each other. Puzzled and baffled, he
+turned with eagerness to Diana's frank camaraderie, to awake suddenly
+one evening to the fact that, unknown to him, his heart had slipped
+out of his and Meryl's keeping into hers. Yet even then he tried to
+deny the change even to himself; he would not believe he could so
+suddenly transfer his affection. It was not until later, seeing the
+whole from the vantage-ground of distance, that he realised his
+affections had not been transferred. His affection for Meryl still
+existed; he admired her profoundly as before. What had died was his
+desire, starved by the growing sense that she chiefly suffered his
+caress. But he had not the moral courage to go to her frankly and tell
+her this; and rather than face the consequences he attempted to stifle
+this strong longing for Diana and put himself beyond the reach of it.
+Fortunately for all three, that practical common sense of Diana's,
+which she was pleased to call selfish commonplaceness, dared swift,
+unconventional measures, careless of consequences, rather than to sit
+still and let the mistake pass beyond recall.</p>
+
+<p>But at the beginning she had not given much thought to her own
+personal feelings in the matter, and it was only after the ride with
+van Hert she found these suddenly confronting her in their full
+significance. And because the turn of events was becoming a little
+overwhelming, she spent the hours between parting with him and his
+coming interview with Meryl in a whirl of emotion wholly new to her.</p>
+
+<p>Once or twice Meryl asked her if anything was the matter, she was so
+extraordinarily restless, but she only laughed it off and tried to
+steady her feelings.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening, when they left the dinner-table after dessert, she
+mysteriously vanished; but later, swept with an inexplicable wave of
+longing and uncertain dread, she crept down to the dining-room to try
+and discover what had happened. It was growing in her consciousness
+with illuminating clearness that her own happiness depended upon what
+decision Meryl made.</p>
+
+<p>At last there was a movement in the drawing-room as of someone
+stepping in from the verandah, and she waited breathlessly for a
+glimpse of Meryl's face. She and van Hert came out into the hall
+together, and Diana saw that her cousin looked extraordinarily frail
+and white and rather exhausted. Van Hert was very gentle to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I see your father to-night?" he asked, and she answered, "No, I
+will tell him myself. I expect he will see you to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Good night," and Meryl held out her hand.</p>
+
+<p>Diana saw him hesitate; and then, with a movement that had in it the
+graceful courtesy of the Huguenot and the reverence of a fine spirit,
+he bent very low before her and kissed her hand. Afterwards he went
+quietly away, and Meryl stood alone in the hall. For one moment she
+waited, as if listening to his departing footsteps, and then very
+slowly turned and walked to her father's study.</p>
+
+<p>Diana slipped out and went upstairs, but presently her restlessness
+again caused her to descend. She could not settle to anything until
+she knew the truth and how Meryl took it. Thus she was again in the
+dining-room when the study door opened and Meryl came out. Her father
+came with her to the threshold, and it was evident that she had been
+crying. Diana saw her raise a white, tear-stained face, and saw Henry
+Pym kiss his child with ineffable tenderness. Then Meryl went slowly
+upstairs, and Mr. Pym went back into his study and closed the door.</p>
+
+<p>But something in his face, at her last glimpse of it, went swiftly to
+Diana's loyal, devoted heart; and because she loved him as if he were
+her own father, an impulse carried her straight across the hall with
+noiseless feet to the study door. Without knocking, she opened it
+softly and crept in. Henry Pym was seated at his writing-table, with
+his face hidden in his hand; and she saw, perhaps more poignantly than
+ever before, how the last few weeks had whitened his hair.</p>
+
+<p>As she softly closed the door and crossed the room he looked up. Diana
+warm-hearted to a degree when she deeply loved, slipped on to her
+knees beside him, and taking the hand hanging limply at his side in
+both hers, raised it to her lips.</p>
+
+<p>Henry Pym looked down into her eyes, and for the first time guessed
+from whence the solution had come.</p>
+
+<p>"You saved her?..." he said a little huskily.</p>
+
+<p>Diana nestled up against him. "I saved <i>them</i>," she corrected. "Van
+Hert is a fine man; he deserves a wife who gives him her whole heart,
+just as truly as Meryl deserves a husband who has no thought for
+anyone else in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you knew he cared for someone else?"</p>
+
+<p>"Did he tell her so?" She lowered her head that he might not see her
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Did he say whom?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps Meryl knew?"</p>
+
+<p>"She did not say."</p>
+
+<p>She kissed his hand again, and asked in low tones, "Why was she crying
+when she came out of the study? She ... she ... is not sorry about
+things?..."</p>
+
+<p>"No; she is glad. She sees she made a mistake."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why was she crying?"</p>
+
+<p>She saw him flinch, and read in his face all the pain in his heart.
+Evidently he knew of that hidden sorrow shadowing his child's life;
+evidently her sorrow was his sorrow. The wedding he so dreaded was
+safely prevented, but would the happiness come back?... the happiness
+that had been in that household before they went to Rhodesia? Could
+all his love and hope and tenderness bring back joy to the eyes that
+were his heaven and his earth?</p>
+
+<p>"Dearie," murmured Diana again, "was she crying because of that big
+soldier-policeman up north?"</p>
+
+<p>He did not reply, and suddenly she knelt upright, and took his sad,
+careworn face in her hands and nestled her soft cheek against it.</p>
+
+<p>"Because he's coming on Saturday, dearie. Hush! don't breathe a word;
+it is my secret; only I had to tell you because of what I saw in your
+face just now. He is coming because he loves her."</p>
+
+<p>Then slowly a great tear gathered in Henry Pym's eyes and fell
+unheeded upon Diana's hand. He held her fast and made no attempt to
+speak. And Diana hid her face because there were great tears in her
+eyes also.</p>
+
+<p>After a moment she got up, and shook the hair back from her face, and
+rallied him tenderly.</p>
+
+<p>"You see, Meryl must 'mother' something in the way of a country: it is
+her tremendous Imperial instinct; so I thought she had better 'mother'
+Rhodesia." And with a last tender kiss she went softly away and left
+him.</p>
+
+<p>In their own room she found Meryl had sent the maid away, and was
+waiting for her in the dark, standing in the window with her form
+dimly outlined against a moonlit sky.</p>
+
+<p>She went up to her at once and slipped her arm through that of the
+silent figure. Meryl pressed it, but for a moment or two did not
+speak. Diana did not speak either; for once in her life she had
+nothing to say.</p>
+
+<p>At last Meryl said, as if answering some thought deep in her own mind,
+"William told me to-night that there was someone else he loved. Di
+darling, I think there is only one woman it could be."</p>
+
+<p>And still Diana was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"I gathered also that something had been said between you and him;
+something that resulted in ... what has happened to-night...."</p>
+
+<p>"But you are not angry?..." Diana whispered.</p>
+
+<p>"O no. Every moment now I see more clearly what I ought to have seen
+before. I am afraid I have only been foolish, and ... and ... I wanted
+so to do what seemed the best," with a little break in her voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you did; we all know that," said Diana loyally. "But I saw
+the mistake quickest, and I couldn't just sit still and do nothing; I
+am not made that way."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl pressed her arm affectionately.</p>
+
+<p>"Di," she whispered, "I want it all to come right as quickly as
+possible. I won't ask you any questions. Of course, I know it is you
+William cares for, and it seems so perfectly natural now that it
+should be. If you care for him, don't delay anything on my account. It
+would make me glad to hear that you were engaged to him to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>Diana pressed the hand in hers. She felt strangely bashful with Meryl
+to-night; unable to say anything at all. In her heart she was a little
+shy with herself too. When she started out with a more or less light
+spirit to change the course of two lives, she had hardly realised how
+great a mountain she would be moving.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you love him, Di?..." Meryl asked her softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," and Diana felt a little breathless as she made the admission.</p>
+
+<p>"God bless you! I'm very glad." And Meryl took the girl's face in her
+two hands and kissed her.</p>
+
+<p>Then they went quietly to bed, and Diana knew she had said no word of
+Carew's coming because she was afraid to.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXXI" id="XXXI"></a>XXXI</h2>
+
+<h2>THE SOLUTION IS SEALED</h2>
+
+<p>It was a rather sobered Diana who rode out the next morning to meet
+William van Hert, and when she saw him she felt suddenly conscious of
+herself in a way she had never done before and hoped she never would
+again. The glow in his eyes made it difficult for her to meet them,
+and they dismounted and went almost in silence to their usual seat.</p>
+
+<p>"You know, of course, what happened last night," he said, with
+ill-suppressed eagerness. "It has seemed like weeks and months since;
+every hour a week. I have not slept all night with longing for the
+morning."</p>
+
+<p>He was looking at his very best: another man almost since they last
+sat there; not good-looking, no one would ever call van Hert
+good-looking, but muscular and lean, with an air of virility and force
+always alluring. A man destined to be a leader in some way; one who
+must carry others along with him, if only because of his enthusiasm
+and fervour. The main point was, that he should carry them in a
+useful, practical direction. And hitherto there had been no special
+reason to hope this would be the case; it seemed more probable that,
+for the sake of making a noise in the world and gaining a following,
+he would identify himself with policies which the older and wiser men
+left alone; not from any indifference to the influence he was likely
+to wield, but because he was so full of warmth and intensity it must
+find an outlet. Some men are like that, especially politicians. They
+seem to be obsessed with the idea that they must make a hit somehow at
+once and come to the front <i>now</i>. And so they are apt to seize upon
+the first available policy likely to prove a good solid tub to stand
+and shout on; whether it is a durable tub, or one certain to be to
+their credit, is something of a side issue. The main point is a tub
+big enough and strong enough to bear them while they make the
+commotion and gain the hearing they are bent upon. And this spirit,
+like most spirits, may have its uses; it is not entirely to be
+deprecated. It may bring home very forcibly to the electors a weak
+spot that had otherwise been overlooked. In listening to the shouter,
+they may perceive how very entirely he is wrong; and, none the less,
+make the useful discovery that he is a good shouter. This then becomes
+the critical point. Having gained his hearing, will he condescend to
+moderate his views and listen to a little wisdom from older and more
+experienced men; or will he be obtuse enough to continue to stamp and
+shout on his tub, for fear people will call him a turncoat, or a few,
+who really do not matter, will leave off listening to him if he grows
+less noisy? And it is then perhaps a great politician is marred or
+made. Perhaps it often depends very much upon the main influence that
+held sway when the moment came to leave off shouting. That moment had
+come for van Hert, and he had the perspicacity to perceive it; though
+whether he would have acted upon his wiser judgment, left entirely to
+himself, it is impossible to say. It is, on the whole, pleasanter to
+think that, just because he was a clever, capable, sincere man and
+South Africa had need of such, the God of nations placed the matter
+beyond all doubt by sending the right influence across his path.</p>
+
+<p>Diana's mocking spirit loved to make game of heroics and big matters,
+but it was an affectation and nothing more: as Meryl and Henry Pym had
+long ago perceived, not van Hert himself nor Meryl cared more at heart
+for the great questions of the day affecting South Africa, and through
+her the Empire itself, since every year shows more clearly how
+tremendously England's colonies must matter to the mother country. The
+older and wiser men were already beginning to shake their heads over
+the grave and difficult problem of the white races and the black; over
+the tremendous increase of the latter in comparison, which threatened
+to swamp the white man out of South Africa altogether. One thing was
+obvious to all thinkers, the white races <i>must</i> combine. Union must
+indeed be Union and not an empty name. The Englishman and the Dutchman
+<i>must</i> join hands and sink differences, not only for the common good,
+but the common safety. So when Diana's practical spirit perceived how
+great and real an attraction van Hert had for her, she did not try to
+put it from her and struggle against it because he was a Dutchman. The
+moment she was sure, and the course was clear, she let herself go
+fearlessly; not as an act of sacrifice at all, she was far too
+practical to have much faith in a sacrifice such as Meryl had
+conceived, but because she loved the man and believed in him, and had
+no shadow of doubt as to his courage and sincerity if he were but
+influenced to move in the right direction.</p>
+
+<p>Well, he had stood on his tub and done his shouting right well; and
+now he had a goodly following and was the object of not a little
+execration, which is a usual thing for tub-shouters, and does not
+matter very much. What mattered was whether he possessed the genius to
+keep his followers and carry them along with him, after moderating his
+views and coming into line with the older and wiser men. Diana
+believed that he did, and as to be believed in is a very strong aid to
+all men, there was very little doubt that eventually the God of
+nations would prove to have given South Africa a fine statesman, even
+if he were built up upon a rabid politician. And if the instrument
+used was a woman, has not a great nation itself been built up through
+such instrumentality?</p>
+
+<p>And here one pauses a moment to think the old question, how often is a
+woman at the back of a man's greatness or a country's or any greatness
+whatsoever? Only these women do not need to do any shouting, because,
+as a rule, they only want to be heard by <i>one</i>. And when the result is
+a fine edifice, they are still content to go unnamed and unsung if
+that <i>one</i> be lauded generously. For God made women in the beginning,
+the best women of all, to want love and be content with love, and care
+very little about fame. And so they go quietly on their way, creating
+great results, moving mountains, and saying very little about it. It
+is that old heroic spirit Lamartine wrote about. And there is a spark
+of it in the soul of every woman waging her solitary fight on the
+outposts of the Empire, whether she put new life and hope and spirit
+into a miner's cabin, or a farmer's little wattle-and-daub home, or in
+the heart of any servant of the Empire. What the colonies owe to their
+women is so little talked about, partly perhaps because words are all
+too inadequate to express it, and also perhaps because if the <i>one</i> is
+there to listen and the <i>one</i> to love, many women want no recognition.</p>
+
+<p>But all this time it only remains to be said that Diana believed in
+van Hert and believed in his work for her country, and that was why
+she had been able to give her love so frankly and absolutely, and was
+not in the least deterred by those mutterings of execration which
+there is very little doubt she intended shortly to put an end to for
+good and all; for if she had entertained any doubts as to how much he
+loved her and was ready to do for her, they must have been swept away
+utterly out of sight after the first moment of their meeting this
+morning. What he had fought to keep out of his face before was now
+flooding through it. Never at any moment, even when he first loved
+Meryl, had he looked at her as he now looked at Diana. In every pulse
+of her being she felt he loved her, not perhaps with the calm, strong
+love of her own countrymen, but with a fierceness and intensity,
+inherited maybe from some French ancestor, that appealed to her love
+of vigour. She at least had level-headedness enough for the two.</p>
+
+<p>But it would hardly have been Diana to sit demurely and listen to his
+outpouring, now that he might speak and she might hear. It was far
+more natural that the very certainty of everything should make her
+feel contrary and want to tantalise him; particularly when, after his
+first question had been answered with a quiet affirmative, he plunged
+into the subject filling his heart without any preliminary, and with
+all that quick enthusiasm of his bursting its bounds.</p>
+
+<p>"Then we need not say any more about it. Why should we?... There is
+only you and I now. It seems for the moment as if there were no one
+else in the entire universe. But I want the answer to that other
+question of mine"; and he leaned near to her, with his whole attitude
+a sort of inspired interrogation.</p>
+
+<p>"What question?..." A shade of lightness had crept into Diana's voice;
+the shadow of a smile into her eyes. She felt on the verge of being a
+little unnerved, and a feigned or real inconsequence was ever her
+refuge.</p>
+
+<p>"The question you were not willing to answer yesterday, and which I
+told you I should ask again to-day. You said that you had asked me
+what I thought of a man who married a woman when he did not love her.
+And I said that was not what you had asked. Do you remember the
+original question, or must I tell you what it was?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't remember anything about it. I'm afraid I'm rather given to
+asking questions."</p>
+
+<p>"That means I must tell you. Diana, what you asked me was, what did I
+think of a man who married one woman and loved another? Now, I want to
+know how and when you discovered that I loved another?..."</p>
+
+<p>"It was the obvious conclusion"&mdash;studying the toe of her smart
+riding-boot with exaggerated interest. "Otherwise you must have loved
+Meryl; you could not help it."</p>
+
+<p>"I see." The smile dawned in his eyes now. "And was it equally obvious
+who the other woman was?"</p>
+
+<p>She glanced away to hide her tell-tale mouth. "It might have been if
+it had interested me."</p>
+
+<p>"But, of course, it didn't?..." and he laughed a low, happy laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Not in the least. Why should it?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, why?..." and his hand suddenly closed over hers, and at the
+strong, possessive touch the magnetism of the man made her blood race
+through her veins. She tried to draw her hand away, but he only held
+it more tightly, and his face was very engaging as he said, "I've a
+good mind not to tell you who the other woman is as you are not
+interested."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I shall conclude she will not have anything to do with you,"
+came the quick retort. And then her fascinating mouth twitched at the
+corners in a way that threatened to undo van Hert entirely. He looked
+away with a half-fierce expression. "If you don't want me to crush you
+in my arms out here in a public road, don't do that."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't do what?..." innocently; and then they both laughed.</p>
+
+<p>When they were serious again his voice sounded a deeper and more
+forceful note. "Dearest," he said, still imprisoning her hand, "it
+seems superfluous for me to tell you how much I love that other woman,
+as superfluous as to name her. I seem as if I had neither a thought
+nor an idea nor a feeling that does not love her."</p>
+
+<p>"Then let us hope she is not a stiff-necked Britisher," quoth Diana,
+still as if a little afraid to be serious.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!..." and he raised her hand to his lips. "I believe you will make
+me love the whole race."</p>
+
+<p>"That would complicate matters exceedingly for you," with a
+mischievous taunt in her eyes. "You seem to have hated them so very
+satisfactorily up to now. What shall you say to your colleagues the
+next time they are expecting you at one of their fiery denunciation
+meetings?... I have married a wife, an English one, therefore I cannot
+come?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I have married her?..." and he looked hard into her face,
+blissfully indifferent to her shafts.</p>
+
+<p>"Married whom?..." she asked, provokingly.</p>
+
+<p>He clenched his teeth together. "I feel as if I could shake you!..."
+and he glanced round to see if anyone were in sight.</p>
+
+<p>"O, if you're going to be that sort of a tyrant!..." Diana began. But
+she got no further. No one was in sight, not even the boy with the
+horses. And van Hert just gathered her into his arms and crushed her
+for the sheer joy of it until she cried for mercy. "Say you will be
+good and treat me with proper respect," he demanded before he released
+her, and Diana was compelled to promise.</p>
+
+<p>"But I won't marry you," she added, wickedly, the moment she was free.
+And then to save herself from a second undignified surrender she had
+to capitulate quickly, and add, "At least, not before next week."</p>
+
+<p>Then she raised her eyes, shining with happiness, to his. "Meinheer
+van Hert, if my memory serves me rightly, you have not yet asked me
+the most important question of all."</p>
+
+<p>He raised her hand again to his lips, with a movement of reverence,
+and said, very simply, "Diana, I love you with all my heart and soul
+and strength; will you do me the honour to become my wife?"</p>
+
+<p>And there was a little warm glisten in her eyes as she answered, "Yes,
+dear; I am ready to take the long trek with you."</p>
+
+<p>A little later she went home with an air of quiet radiance that told
+Meryl all she needed to know the moment she set eyes on her, and her
+embrace was full of warmest affection.</p>
+
+<p>Only Aunt Emily seemed thoroughly perplexed, and not able to entirely
+grasp the happy aspect of affairs when she heard it all for the first
+time.</p>
+
+<p>"How extraordinary!..." she exclaimed; and then, with an air full of
+mournful reproach, she looked at Diana and added, "I told you
+something dreadful would happen, my dear, if you spoke of the wedding
+so strangely."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, aunty, so you did! and it was very clever of you," Diana
+replied. "But, of course, you ought to have warned me before I said
+it. Now, you see, I've got caught in the net myself. Ah well!..." she
+finished comically, "I can bear it."</p>
+
+<p>And Meryl's low laughter, as she hastened to soothe poor Aunt Emily's
+wounded feelings, had a happier note than it had known for many a day.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I quite understand," continued the perplexed lady. "It
+reminds me of a story I once heard about the aunt of a friend of my
+father's, that is to say, the aunt of a friend of your
+grandfather's...."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I remember," said the incorrigible; "but she didn't do it in the
+end, you know. And, anyhow, the great question just now is, having
+taken over the bridegroom, ought I to take over the wedding presents
+as well?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, they must all be sent back," Aunt Emily replied, with
+great gravity. "Dear me, what a pity!... What a pity!... And he is
+really quite a nice man, although he is Dutch."</p>
+
+<p>"O, do you really think so?..." Diana asked, and went laughing out of
+the room.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXXII" id="XXXII"></a>XXXII</h2>
+
+<h2>A CHAPTER OF SURPRISES</h2>
+
+<p>In Diana's happy state of mind there was not the slightest doubt her
+interview with Carew, when it came off, would be the reverse of
+conventional.</p>
+
+<p>He arrived at the Carlton the day after it had been notified to the
+papers that the engagement between Miss Pym and William van Hert was
+broken off by mutual agreement. The new engagement was looked upon
+only as a secret understanding at present, and no announcement was to
+be made for some weeks.</p>
+
+<p>Carew saw the news in a paper he got at Kimberley, so that when he
+stepped out upon Johannesburg station, from a difficult, perplexing,
+somewhat equivocal situation he found himself suddenly and
+unexpectedly with a clear course.</p>
+
+<p>He had responded to Diana's urgent summons with alacrity, although it
+left him entirely in the dark as to what had transpired; his action
+had in fact something of the daring which had led to the sending of
+the telegram. Wearied out physically and mentally with the struggle,
+he seized swiftly the chance of a solution the message suggested, and
+trusting to Diana's resourcefulness let himself go with the tide. It
+was as though after sixteen years some spirit of the past suddenly
+re-entered him; some of that old reckless, dare-devil spirit that had
+distinguished him in his regiment long ago.</p>
+
+<p>Without doubt the news that he would some day inherit the Marquisate
+of Toxeter, if he outlived the present owner, had worked a wonderful
+change in him. He still hated Meryl's fortune, when he dared to let
+himself think of a future they might possibly share, but at least he
+could now offer her a position that might one day be among the highest
+in England. And all that it meant to him after his long exile and
+lonely life, apart from all the friends and delights of his youth, lit
+a new light in his eyes. And when he saw the paragraph in the paper,
+and realised Diana had indeed not sent for him for nothing, he seemed
+to let many years slip from his shoulders. Only a week earlier he had
+felt middle-aged, and looked every year of his forty-two. The man who
+strode down the platform on Johannesburg station, drawing all eyes
+after his upright, distinguished form, looked at the very prime of
+manhood, and the grey on his temples only enhanced whatever it was
+that caused those eyes to turn in his direction.</p>
+
+<p>Diana, waiting for his message in no small trepidation, went off at
+once to the hotel. Nothing was to be gained by hanging back, and she
+felt more sure of herself generally if she dashed headlong into a
+delicate situation.</p>
+
+<p>So she walked boldly up to the door of his private sitting-room, gave
+a little sharp knock, and entered.</p>
+
+<p>He was standing with his back to the door, looking idly from the
+window, but when he heard the door open he turned round and faced her.</p>
+
+<p>Diana closed the door and walked into the room, glancing about her.</p>
+
+<p>"What a nice den!..." she said. "I'm sure you could only growl
+prettily here."</p>
+
+<p>He came towards her with outstretched hand, and she was instantly
+struck with the change in his eyes. The steadiness was still there,
+the expression of unflinching purpose, but behind it all was that new
+light now: the light she had never seen in Carew's eyes before.</p>
+
+<p>"You look very well," she told him, warming swiftly to their old
+friendship and forgetting her moments of trepidation. "You ... really
+... you almost look as if you might have come into a kingdom!..."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I have," with a humorous gleam.</p>
+
+<p>"Umh!... I'd be very sorry for the subjects; they would be ruled with
+a rod of iron."</p>
+
+<p>He pulled a chair forward, a large cosy one, such as he knew her soul
+loved, and she sank down into it. He still stood upright, watching her
+with kindly eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Well!..." he began. "You sent me a very curt summons."</p>
+
+<p>Diana coloured a little, not quite clear where to begin.</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you sit down? You seem so far away up there. I feel a little
+lost somehow, you are so ... so ... Perhaps if you were to growl I
+should feel more at home with you!..." she finished.</p>
+
+<p>He smiled and took the chair beside her.</p>
+
+<p>"I never did growl really. It was all your imagination."</p>
+
+<p>"O, was it?..." emphatically. "Why, thunder in the distance was dulcet
+music beside it!..."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he said again, "about that summons?..."</p>
+
+<p>"It's just this way," began Diana. "I had a letter from Mrs.
+Grenville...." She watched him keenly, and saw that he grasped at once
+something of what the letter had contained.</p>
+
+<p>"And she told you?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Not very much, but enough, in my mind"&mdash;with a sudden flash&mdash;"to
+justify my summons."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I quite understand." He was grave again now, with a
+line between the straight brows.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, don't get too serious or you will frighten me. I suppose I'd
+better be quite direct. You and I don't either of us care for much
+beating about the bush and subterfuge, do we?"</p>
+
+<p>He signified his agreement, and she ran on.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew that Meryl cared for you; I have known it a long time. Yet she
+was going to marry van Hert. And van Hert cared ... well, he cared for
+someone else too, yet he was going to marry Meryl. It was just a silly
+muddle altogether, do you see?... Honestly, I was at my wits' end-to
+know how to prevent them making fools of themselves. Then came Mrs.
+Grenville's letter. Mrs. Grenville had seen you. She had discovered
+that you cared for Meryl, and she told me so. I didn't stop to think
+then. I saw in a moment it was your business to help me help them out
+of the tangle. So I just sent you a telegram and asked you to come at
+once."</p>
+
+<p>"And now I am here?"</p>
+
+<p>Diana began to look roguish. "I just wanted to suggest," she said,
+demurely, "whether it wouldn't simplify things all round if Mr. Pym
+disinherited Meryl, and divided all the silly money between me and
+charities!..."</p>
+
+<p>He could not help smiling, but there was something more than mere
+friendship in his eyes as he looked at her. He understood perfectly
+that she had strained every nerve to bring him and Meryl together.</p>
+
+<p>"And in the meantime," he commented, "I gather from the newspaper the
+knot disentangled itself, and everything is smoothed out."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I shouldn't exactly say there were no wounded left on the
+battlefield!..." with a low laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"I see; and you think it is for me to attend to the wounded?"</p>
+
+<p>"To <i>one</i> of them," with significance; and then suddenly her
+unmanageable mouth began to twitch. Carew divined something lay beyond
+the remark.</p>
+
+<p>"And what about the other one?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," with a little air of coyness, "I rather thought of attending
+to his hurt myself."</p>
+
+<p>He watched her keenly for a moment, and at last she raised a pair of
+laughing eyes to his face.</p>
+
+<p>"The only thing that's worrying me is that I may unintentionally find
+myself a heroine."</p>
+
+<p>His low laugh was full of amusement, and his eyes grew kindlier still.</p>
+
+<p>"You are evidently a most resourceful young woman. Have you made up
+your mind how you propose to heal him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," with feigned gravity. "I thought on the whole it would simplify
+matters if I took Meryl's place at the wedding."</p>
+
+<p>He stared at her with undisguised astonishment. "You mean?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Just exactly what I say. I've taken over the prospective bridegroom,
+and incidentally I thought of taking over the wedding presents as
+well...." And then she threw her head back and laughed whole-heartedly
+at his incredulous face.</p>
+
+<p>"You have given me a great surprise," he said. "I suppose you are in
+earnest?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your surprise is nothing to what is coming upon my friends. Just
+think of it!... I can hardly think of anything else. I do so love
+giving people shocks. Do you remember our first meeting in the ruins,
+when I sat quite still and watched you until you looked up?... That
+was your shock!... You were frightfully disgusted with me, but I
+didn't mind, I'd had my bit of amusement and no one was hurt; any
+other silly girl would have coughed or walked away. Goodness!... how
+black you looked!..." And again she laughed mirthfully.</p>
+
+<p>He began to tell her he hoped she would be very happy, but she stayed
+him and suddenly sobered.</p>
+
+<p>"Not now. We haven't much time left, and we must plan something. Meryl
+will come here and call for me soon in the motor. She knows I have
+come to see a friend, but she does not know whom. She will not come in
+herself, because she is shy about being seen just now. What shall we
+do? When will you see her?"</p>
+
+<p>He got up, and walked to the window with a grave face, and for some
+time he did not speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you still worrying about that absurd money? My dear good man, she
+isn't stuffed with it, and she doesn't care tuppence about it. Isn't
+it enough that you know she could love you as a Rhodesian
+soldier-policeman? Why torture yourself unnecessarily?"</p>
+
+<p>"If I were only a Rhodesian policeman I should not have come."</p>
+
+<p>She looked at him with quick curiosity. Then something had happened!
+There really was some great change in him. He smiled into her
+questioning eyes. "Then Mrs. Grenville did not tell you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me what?..." with swift eagerness. "O, do be quick, I love
+surprises. Have you found a gold-mine up there?... or the corpses in
+the temple hung with gold ornaments?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither."</p>
+
+<p>She took his arm and gave it a little shake.</p>
+
+<p>"Then what? O, do tell me quickly!..."</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't very much, but it gives me courage to hope, where a
+policeman might consider himself called upon only to renounce. And,"
+he added, quietly, "I owe the knowledge of it to Mrs. Grenville."</p>
+
+<p>"It must be a legacy?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Not exactly. It is only that when the present Marquis of Toxeter dies
+I shall succeed."</p>
+
+<p>"O, my goodness!..." comically. "Am I going to be own cousin to a
+marchioness?..."</p>
+
+<p>"That is as your cousin decrees." Then with a little smile he added,
+"So the shocks are not all given by you, you see."</p>
+
+<p>At that moment a knock sounded on the door, and in reply to Carew's
+"Come in," a hall-porter informed them that Miss Pym was waiting in
+the motor.</p>
+
+<p>"And we haven't decided what to do," said Diana, in dismay.</p>
+
+<p>He was thoughtful a moment, then told her he would endeavour to find
+Mr. Pym at his office and come to Hill Court later.</p>
+
+<p>So Diana went downstairs alone. But on the way, with that mixture of
+restlessness and level-headedness that was so characteristic of her,
+she decided Carew's plan was much too prosaic and dull, and speedily
+commenced to think out a better one. After which she accosted Meryl
+with the words, "I want to introduce you to my friend. It won't keep
+us long. She has a sitting-room upstairs, but she has a cold, and
+could not come down to you."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl looked unwilling, but finally yielded to persuasion and
+alighted. Outside the door of Carew's room, Diana was so afraid her
+face would betray her, she had to pretend to sneeze, in order to hide
+it with her handkerchief. Quite suddenly it had occurred to her
+humour-loving mind, that if shocks were the order of the hour, Carew
+and Meryl were going to have the biggest all to themselves for that
+day at least. Then she opened his door and half pushed Meryl in in
+front of her. They saw only a broad back at the window first, then he
+half turned. The next instant the door closed softly, and Meryl found
+herself alone in the room, face to face with Peter Carew.</p>
+
+<p>There were a few tense seconds in which they each seemed trying to
+realise the other; and then she understood. She went slowly towards
+him, seeing with unerring tuition all the love in his eyes, and
+without knowing it held out both hands.</p>
+
+<p>And across the long years, that self that he had thought for ever dead
+seemed to reawaken by leaps and bounds. He would always be somewhat
+quiet perhaps, a little grave, but the spirit of vigour and reckless
+daring was in him still, if sobered by sixteen years and all that the
+years had brought. He did not stop to explain. Quite suddenly it all
+seemed unnecessary. Between these two the hours of probing were ended.
+He took her outstretched hands in his and drew her into his arms.</p>
+
+<p>It was some time before he told her of his changed position; there was
+so much else to tell first. And when at last it was said she paid
+little heed.</p>
+
+<p>She only looked at him a trifle anxiously, saying, "But, of course,
+you could never give up Rhodesia? You wouldn't let any claim come
+before hers?"</p>
+
+<p>He kissed the finger-tips of the hand imprisoned in his, and murmured,
+"Bless you; it would have gone hard with me if you had wanted me to
+leave Rhodesia for good."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall never do that," softly. "It was the Rhodesian policeman I
+loved first. The other does not greatly matter, except that perhaps it
+brought us together." Then with one of her rare flashes of humour she
+added, "I'm not sure that we shall even have time for a honeymoon. We
+may have to go up there any time about this settlement scheme of
+father's and mine. As Diana is going to help William van Hert to run
+South Africa generally, we must get to work quickly with Rhodesia...."
+And her smile was a very happy one.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="FINIS" id="FINIS"></a>FINIS</h2>
+
+<p>And so in the end Diana had her little jest, and gave Johannesburg its
+shock and its nine days' wonder, and was certainly the most surprising
+bride of the year; though, of course, afterwards most people said they
+were not surprised at all, and had expected it all along.</p>
+
+<p>Before the wedding a sufficiently characteristic letter found its way
+to a certain mission station in Rhodesia to delight the hearts of its
+contented occupants. After duly relating all that had transpired and
+how the problem had been solved, it added: "And now the only
+difficulty seems to be how to relieve Meryl of her superfluous
+fortune, in order that she and The Bear may live upon love and air,
+and how to save me from appearing in the guise of a heroine!..."</p>
+
+<p>To her old friend Stanley she wrote gaily of the perfectly splendid
+surprise she had succeeded in administering to about half the
+English-speaking population of South Africa.</p>
+
+<p>And Stanley wrote back, with many regretful qualms tugging at his
+heart: "The astonishment of South Africa is a mere detail. When the
+news reached Zimbabwe, bones that have lain buried for three thousand
+years rattled in their grave-clothes, and antiquities of the ages
+crumbled to dust. In the morning, over our coffee, Moore and I ask of
+the four winds and of the liquid butter and of the unyielding bread,
+'Which did he actually marry in the end, and what became of whom?'" ...</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h3>PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD.,
+
+BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E. 1, AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3>Hutchinson's 1/- Net Novels.</h3>
+
+<h5><i>Bound in <span class="underline">Cloth</span>, with pictorial wrappers.</i></h5>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<div class="table">
+<table style="margin:auto;"  cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="0">
+
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE CAP OF YOUTH</b></td><td align='left'>Madame Albanesi</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE SUNLIT HILLS</b></td><td align='left'>Madame Albanesi</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>ODDSFISH</b></td><td align='left'>Robert Hugh Benson</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>INITIATION</b></td><td align='left'>Robert Hugh Benson</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>LONELINESS</b></td><td align='left'>Robert Hugh Benson</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>AN AVERAGE MAN</b></td><td align='left'>Robert Hugh Benson</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>COME RACK! COME ROPE!</b></td><td align='left'>Robert Hugh Benson</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE COWARD</b></td><td align='left'>Robert Hugh Benson</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE RETURN OF RICHARD CARR</b></td><td align='left'>Winifred Boggs</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE WOOD END</b></td><td align='left'>J. E. Buckrose</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>MEAVE</b></td><td align='left'>Dorothea Conyers</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE STRAYINGS OF SANDY</b></td><td align='left'>Dorothea Conyers</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE SCRATCH PACK</b></td><td align='left'>Dorothea Conyers</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>TWO IMPOSTORS AND TINKER</b></td><td align='left'>Dorothea Conyers</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>A RASH EXPERIMENT</b></td><td align='left'>Mrs. B. M. Croker</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>WHAT SHE OVERHEARD</b></td><td align='left'>Mrs. B. M. Croker</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>IN OLD MADRAS</b></td><td align='left'>Mrs. B. M. Croker</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE SERPENT'S TOOTH</b></td><td align='left'>Mrs. B. M. Croker</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>SANDY'S LOVE AFFAIR</b></td><td align='left'>S. R. Crockett</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>TWILIGHT</b></td><td align='left'>Frank Danby</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>LILAMANI</b></td><td align='left'>Maud Diver</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>A DOUBLE THREAD</b></td><td align='left'>Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>WE OF THE NEVER NEVER</b></td><td align='left'>&AElig;neas Gunn</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>BIRD'S FOUNTAIN</b></td><td align='left'>Baroness von Hutten</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>SHARROW</b></td><td align='left'>Baroness von Hutten</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>MARIA</b></td><td align='left'>Baroness von Hutten</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE LORDSHIP OF LOVE</b></td><td align='left'>Baroness von Hutten</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE GREEN PATCH</b></td><td align='left'>Baroness von Hutten</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>PAUL KELVER</b></td><td align='left'>Jerome K. Jerome</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>"GOOD OLD ANNA"</b></td><td align='left'>Mrs. Belloc Lowndes</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE DEVIL'S GARDEN</b></td><td align='left'>W. B. Maxwell</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>A BRIDE OF THE PLAINS</b></td><td align='left'>Baroness Orczy</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>PETTICOAT GOVERNMENT</b></td><td align='left'>Baroness Orczy</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE ELUSIVE PIMPERNEL</b></td><td align='left'>Baroness Orczy</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>A TRUE WOMAN</b></td><td align='left'>Baroness Orczy</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>MEADOWSWEET</b></td><td align='left'>Baroness Orczy</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE MONEY MASTER</b></td><td align='left'>Sir Gilbert Parker</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><b>MABEL BARNES-GRUNDY</b> has rapidly come to the front as one of our most
+successful novelists. Her stories excel in wit, humour, observation
+and characterisation. The complete and uniform edition of her novels,
+as under, will be published at short intervals, <b>at the popular price
+of 1/-.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;By</p>
+
+<h6>Mabel Barnes-Grundy</h6>
+
+<p><i>Each bound in <span class="underline">cloth</span>, with most attractive picture wrapper in colours,
+<b>1/-</b> net.</i></p>
+
+<div class="table">
+<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;">An Undressed Heroine</span></p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Marguerite's Wonderful Year</span></p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Hilary on Her Own</span></p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">Two in a Tent&mdash;and Jane</span></p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 5em;">The Third Miss Wenderby</span></p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;">Patricia Plays a Part</span></p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 7em;">Candytuft&mdash;I mean Veronica</span></p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 8em;">The Vacillations of Hazel</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Like Gertrude Page's Shilling Novels, <span class="underline">Mabel Barnes-Grundy's Shilling
+Novels for 1917 will be the outstanding success of the year</span>.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 33%;' />
+
+<h3>London: HUTCHINSON &amp; CO., Paternoster Row.</h3>
+
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RHODESIAN ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..55794aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #27950 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27950)
diff --git a/old/27950-8.txt b/old/27950-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e3d7af9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10615 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Rhodesian, by Gertrude Page
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Rhodesian
+
+
+Author: Gertrude Page
+
+
+
+Release Date: January 31, 2009  [eBook #27950]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RHODESIAN***
+
+
+E-text prepared by David Clarke, Erica Hills, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+   Inconsistent spelling, particularly names of characters in
+   the original text, has been retained, as has variable
+   punctuation.
+
+   The table of contents has been added for the convenience of
+   readers.
+
+   In the advertisements at the end, text enclosed by equal signs
+   was in bold face in the original (=bold=) and text enclosed by
+   plus signs was underscored (+underscored+).
+
+
+
+
+
+THE RHODESIAN
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GERTRUDE PAGE'S NOVELS.
+
+  _In cloth gilt, 6s._
+
+SOME THERE ARE----.
+
+FOLLOW AFTER.
+
+WHERE THE STRANGE ROADS GO DOWN.
+
+WINDING PATHS.
+
+  _In cloth gilt, 3s. 6d._
+
+TWO LOVERS AND A LIGHTHOUSE.
+
+  _Also in cloth gilt, 2s. 6d. net._
+
+JILL'S RHODESIAN PHILOSOPHY.
+
+  _In cloth, uniform with this volume, 1s. net_.
+
+PADDY THE NEXT BEST THING.
+
+LOVE IN THE WILDERNESS.
+
+THE GREAT SPLENDOUR.
+
+THE EDGE O' BEYOND.
+
+THE SILENT RANCHER.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE RHODESIAN
+
+by
+
+GERTRUDE PAGE
+
+Author of "The Edge o' Beyond," "The Silent Rancher," etc.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+London: Hurst & Blackett, Ltd. Paternoster House, E.C.
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+
+        I  THE POLICE STATION
+       II  THE MISSION STATION
+      III  TWO HEIRESSES
+       IV  THE RHODESIAN PROJECT
+        V  WILLIAM VAN HERT
+       VI  THE JOURNEY
+      VII  CAREW IS DISTURBED
+     VIII   TWO UNEXPECTED MEETINGS
+       IX   THE BEAR
+        X  A MINING CAMP
+       XI  AN EVENING RIDE
+      XII  THE MISSION STATION
+     XIII  A DECISION THAT FAILED
+      XIV  THE ANCIENT RUINS
+       XV  CAREW RIDES AWAY
+      XVI  "THE SHIP OF FOOLS"
+     XVII  AN EVENING CONVERSATION
+    XVIII  THE CHARTER FLATS
+      XIX  THE CONVENTIONALITIES ONCE MORE
+       XX  FAREWELL
+      XXI  A "HOARDING HUSTLING"
+     XXII  MERYL'S DECISION
+    XXIII  CAREW'S STORY
+     XXIV  A RAIN-WASHED MORNING AND A DISCUSSION
+      XXV  AILSA LEARNS CAREW'S SECRET
+     XXVI  "HOW CAN I GO TO HER!..."
+    XXVII  DIANA BEGINS TO GROW PERPLEXED
+   XXVIII  DIANA'S PERPLEXITIES INCREASE
+     XXIX  A USEFUL BLUNDER
+      XXX  DIANA IS RESTLESS
+     XXXI  THE SOLUTION IS SEALED
+    XXXII  A CHAPTER OF SURPRISES
+           FINIS
+
+
+
+
+TO THE PATHFINDERS
+
+
+    "Fate lies hid,
+  But not the deeds that true men dared and did."
+
+
+
+
+THE RHODESIAN.
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+THE POLICE CAMP
+
+
+The velvety darkness of a southern night, with its sense of rich,
+luscious, breathing intensity, lay over that romantic spot in Southern
+Rhodesia where the grey walls of the Zimbabwe ruins, with a sublime,
+imperturbable indifference, continue to baffle the ingenuity and
+ravish the curiosity of all who would read their story. Scientists,
+archæologists, tourists come and go, but the stern old walls, guarded
+by the sentinel hills, give back no answer to eager questioning, eager
+delving, eager surmise.
+
+But in the meantime the Valley of Ruins no longer lies alone and
+unheeded in the sunlight; and no longer do the hills look down upon
+rich plains left solely to the idle pleasure of a careless black
+people. The forerunners of to-day's great civilising army have marched
+into the valley, and beside the ancient walls there is now a police
+camp of the British South Africa Police, presided over by two robust
+young troopers.
+
+In the velvety darkness on the night in question there is a single
+bright light pouring through the open doorway of a dwelling-hut.
+Through the enfolding silence breaks the bizarre music of an
+indifferent gramophone, recklessly mocking the sublime grandeur of
+the age-old antiquities. Laughter and gay music and devil-may-care
+colonists awaking echoes that have been more or less silent to
+civilisation for how many thousand years?
+
+But on this particular evening it is as though some shadow had fallen
+upon the little camp. Nothing tangible--nothing that changed the
+general habits or surroundings--but a vague regret and introspective
+sadness upon the faces of two young men, usually full of careless
+content. Cecil Stanley, the more refined, a gentleman by birth and
+education, lounged low in his chair, with his hands behind his head
+and his feet on the table, and ever and anon his eyes looked with
+pained regret into the surrounding depths of night. Patrick Moore,
+with a grave face, cleaned his gun in a deeper silence than usual,
+proceeding with an occupation that was his joy on many evenings,
+whether the gun needed cleaning or not, rather as if it eased his mind
+to have his hands busy.
+
+"I wonder if the Major will come through to-night?" he remarked, as if
+the silence were growing over-oppressive.
+
+"Sure to," laconically. "The moon will be up directly, and he can't be
+very far away."
+
+"I suppose he won't have heard?"
+
+"Not likely to have done. Gad! I feel as if I'd give anything to have
+had a chance to stand three hours in that queue. It will hit him hard.
+If it's bad for us, who have at least known all along, it will be
+worse for him, hearing it suddenly at this late hour. Those newspapers
+to-day have made me feel like a kid on his first day at
+boarding-school. I'd like to cry if I weren't ashamed to."
+
+"I liked that professor," said Moore, changing the subject. "Decent
+old Johnny, wasn't he? Jolly nice of him to bring all those papers in
+case he came across anyone glad of them."
+
+"Quite a good old bird. That's a rum theory of his about the corpses
+in the temple being buried deeper than anyone has yet dug, and hung
+with valuable ornaments. Wouldn't it be a jolly lark to dig down for
+one and have a look at it!..."
+
+He gave a low, half-hearted chuckle over his gruesome suggestion, and
+lazily getting to his feet, selected another tune for his gramophone.
+
+Moore, busy still with his gun, gave a corresponding chuckle, and
+remarked:
+
+"Begorra, lad!... if we could get a few out one at a time on moonlight
+nights, and fill up the blooming holes again, we shouldn't want any
+blasted machinery for our gold mine, except a pickaxe and a shovel."
+
+"We'd want a bit of pluck, though. The ghosts of the corpses might
+come dancing round to have their say in the matter."
+
+"We'd chance the ghosties. Shure! if they've been hanging round for
+three or four thousand years, they'd maybe like a new sensation by
+this time."
+
+Stanley put on "The Stars and Stripes," wound up the gramophone, and
+slid into his lounge chair again.
+
+Moore glanced up as the music started.
+
+"What!... that thing again!... I'm beginning to feel like those old
+ghosts about it. The same moth-eaten tune for three or four thousand
+years. I'd like a new sensation."
+
+"It can't be much staler than cleaning that old gun."
+
+"Shure, she's a daisy." The Irishman looked tenderly at his treasure.
+"An' she just loves me to be fondlin' her like."
+
+"If it weren't for the Major I don't know what is to prevent us
+proving the old man's theory," said Stanley, evidently harping again
+on his corpses.
+
+"Him, and the bloomin' Company! The old gentlemen sittin' on the Board
+in London suddenly find that the Yankees have been snaffling a lot of
+valuable trinkets and things from the ruins while they took forty
+winks, and then they up and says no one's to look for anything more at
+all; not even a _boney fidey_ Rhodesian, sweating in the police camp
+outside the walls."
+
+"Still, it would be a rare lark to find a corpse with gold ornaments
+on it, and say nothing at all."
+
+"And what should you be doing with the old corpse when you've taken
+the gold?"
+
+"Oh! put him in the soup!" And Stanley slid lower in his chair, with
+another chuckle.
+
+The gramophone ran down with a horrible grind, but its owner only
+looked at it dully and took no notice.
+
+"Shall I wind up again?" Moore asked.
+
+"No, let it rip. It sounds all wrong to-night. Everything is all
+wrong. The whole world gone awry. It's like being on another planet to
+be out here in this wilderness at such a time. I don't believe I've
+ever felt exiled before, but, begad! I do to-night. Let's turn in.
+Probably he won't come now."
+
+Moore carried his gun into one of the huts and stood it carefully
+beside his little stretcher-bed. Stanley took the gramophone into
+another hut, and planked it down somewhat roughly on a table,
+evidently made by an amateur. Without going outside again, he shouted
+"Good night," and after that no sound broke the silence, except sundry
+mutterings from the Irishman, who had discovered an enormous frog
+under his bed, and his beloved pointer pup inside the blankets
+serenely sleeping.
+
+All the next morning Stanley hung about the camp as one who waited,
+but it was not until three o'clock that Major Carew rode slowly up to
+the huts. As he dismounted, briefly acknowledging Stanley's salute,
+there was a characteristic absence of all superfluous words. The
+latter waited until the soldier-servant had led away the mule and
+another boy relieved the officer of his water-bottle, which he always
+carried himself, and then he looked hard at the thin, brown, resolute
+face, with an expression in his eyes that made Carew ask shortly:
+
+"Any news?"
+
+"Bad news from England. I suppose you haven't heard?"
+
+"I haven't heard anything."
+
+For one pulsing second the two men stood and looked at each other; and
+to a looker-on it might have appeared that, however laconic and
+indifferent their attitude, their relationship was not solely that of
+officer and subordinate. The elder man, in his gruff way, was the
+friend of the man under him. The younger had acquired a respect that
+held something deeper than casual liking, and his face showed it now
+as he hesitated before breaking his news. Then he said, very simply:
+
+"The King is dead."
+
+A quick, incredulous expression filled Carew's eyes.
+
+"The King?..." he repeated. "Not ... surely not ..." He paused,
+leaving his sentence unfinished.
+
+"Yes. King Edward. After a few days' illness."
+
+The man's mouth grew rigid. He stood like a figure of bronze, staring
+with unseeing eyes to the far horizon. Stanley drew in his breath a
+little sharply. Yes, he had been right, the news had hit Carew very
+hard.
+
+"When?..." came at last, abruptly.
+
+"A fortnight ago. Just after you left. The funeral took place
+yesterday."
+
+Carew made no comment. Evidently it was true. Little else mattered.
+Nearly all through this trek of his round those distant kraals his
+King had been lying dead, and he had not known it. Such a man as he is
+not stunned by tidings; but he recedes still further into his shell,
+if possible. There is no comment, no discussion, just a grim silence
+sealing a deep pain that cannot express itself.
+
+He stayed a moment longer, while Stanley told him a few details, and
+then he went away into his hut and shut his door to the sunlight--one
+of those exiles for whom the news had, as it were, an added sorrow,
+because during the first shock he had remained in ignorance, and had
+thus been prevented joining in the loyal homage of grief that had been
+offered by his countrymen from the four corners of the earth.
+
+It was thus with many of the far-off Empire-builders. They heard so
+late, so unpreparedly, so suddenly; and in the first shock, an exile
+which had been a calmly accepted condition, became almost a menace,
+seemed swiftly to develop a force. The men in the far places _felt_
+their aloofness; knew that their souls were beating vainly against
+prison bars, for the longing to annihilate space and stand beside the
+beloved dead. That quiet band of men whom we sometimes call "The
+Pathfinders," and who go away across the world to bring the wilderness
+into line; to smooth the rough, link the severed, subdue the untamed,
+and carry prosperity to the waste places. The men who cope with
+strange, deadly diseases; who fight fever swamps, and compel them to
+carry a railroad across their reluctant bosoms, though the swamps in
+turn exact a heavy toll of human life; who make the paths that the
+women and children will presently pass over, though no such
+soul-stirring cry urges their exhausting efforts.
+
+But it is not usual to laud these men, who win their colours at the
+dull, prosaic work of path-finding, as it is to laud those who
+encounter shot and shell in the lurid atmosphere of battle, and one
+feels they do not ask it. Yet now and then they must surely be glad to
+know that thoughtful women and thoughtful men follow their work and
+bless them in silence, sending across the world to them a homage of
+praise that is, perhaps, richer than the plaudits of the crowd. And
+not to them only, but also to the mothers who bid them go, accepting
+their hard part of lonely, anxious waiting without complaint.
+
+And if they fall by the wayside, unrecognised, unknown, but having
+carried the path forward, maybe a mile, maybe a yard, maybe an inch,
+how great a thing is that compared to the small happenings that of
+necessity make up most men's lives!
+
+In the sultry midday heat Carew sat alone in his hut, and certain
+memories, that for fifteen years he had tried to crush out of his
+mind, crowded back upon him with overwhelming force in the grip of his
+sudden sorrow. For that sad event which had plunged a great nation
+into grief had been to him a personal loss. In the silence and shadow
+he mourned deeply, not only the idol of his youth and dear object of
+his heart's best loyalty, but the memory of a friend.
+
+For long ago, or so it seemed, there had been a moment when a royal
+hand had clasped his, and a royal voice--the royalty all lost in the
+friend--had said, "Perhaps you are right. It is best to begin again.
+But do not imagine your life is over and its aims purposeless. Out
+there you will find renewing. Some day come back and tell me about
+it."
+
+That was fifteen years ago, but he had never gone back. Never sought
+the second hand-clasp that would have been his. Never unfolded to
+those interested ears his personal experiences with the pioneer column
+that led the way to do the path-finding in Rhodesia. In the hush of
+the afternoon, with his head bowed on his arms, the years between
+seemed to pass out of mind, and that which once had been to stand
+alone, awaking within him an infinite regret.
+
+He saw again certain lovely park-lands--the woods and hills and
+dales--of a rich inheritance that should have been his. He saw
+himself, the gay guardsman. He saw the dear face of the woman for whom
+he had chosen to cross that arbitrary will which would brook no
+disobedience, and sought to intimidate him with disinheritance.
+Through his mind passed in slurred detail the sordid story which had
+given him a brother's hate in return for a quixotic championing of the
+weak--a hate which proved to have power enough behind it to draw a
+devastating hand across the promise of his future.
+
+Lastly--and here in the silence it was as though his head sank deeper
+in its pain--he saw that woman's dear face, as he had last seen it,
+lying white upon the heather--_dead_.
+
+Ah, the memories were terribly alive to-day; not even fifteen years in
+a new life, with new interests, had done anything but draw a thin
+curtain of silence over the unforgettable pain. Would anything ever
+ease it in reality? Had he for a moment believed that it would? Or had
+he always known, that just as surely as his hand had held the gun
+which killed her, so to his last breath the tragedy would cast a
+shadow over the whole of his life?
+
+He might look out upon the world with quiet eyes and firm lips and
+fearless mien, but the gnawing ache would surely go with him to his
+grave.
+
+And because of it he knew that he had grown somewhat churlish; that
+men who did not understand his unsociable ways and extreme reticence
+looked at him askance. But what of it? How little such things
+mattered! The tragedy was his and the silence was his, and he had
+never asked anyone to share either.
+
+Only to-day, for just this one afternoon, fifteen years was as
+yesterday, and he seemed to realise thoroughly for the first time all
+that royal hand-clasp had meant, before he went to his voluntary exile
+in a far wilderness.
+
+But after a time, when it grew cool enough to walk, he came out into
+the sunshine and started off towards the steep rock pathway that leads
+to the summit of the Acropolis Hill, following an impulse to seek
+comfort in the fresh hopefulness of a height, and to lessen the pain
+in his heart by looking out across a world still living and loving and
+striving. So he climbed on up the winding pathway, enfolded with
+mystery and romance concerning the feet that trod it in the far-off
+centuries, and made his way between the mighty natural boulders out on
+to the high platform, where eyes, all those long centuries ago, must
+have looked out even as his, across the lovely land.
+
+Was it as lovely then?... Could it have been less so?...
+
+How the quiet beauty soothed and caressed him! Surely there were
+moments when the wilderness, tamed at last, like a lovely, wayward
+mistress become entrancingly docile, fondles the hand, and ravishes
+the senses of the strong man who conquered it.
+
+Is this one of the rich rewards Life holds in the palm of her hand for
+the path-finders?... This glorious sense of ownership. This winsome
+soothing of shy gratitude when the fierce first resistance to conquest
+is overpast. A man may call England his country because he was born
+there, and his father before him; but, perhaps, after all, that is a
+small thing compared to standing upon a high eminence, and looking
+across a quiet world which is your country because of all you yourself
+have given to it of hope and faith and steadfast purpose.
+
+In some such spirit soothing came to the quiet man on the top of the
+Acropolis Hill, whispering to him that, after all, this was _his_
+country, and if the beloved dead did indeed seem so far away in fact,
+in spirit he was perhaps nearer to his Empire-builders than he had
+ever been before.
+
+He turned his head at last, and his eyes rested upon the circular
+wall, four hundred feet below, that enclosed the temple ruins. Then
+for a moment a wave of depression swept over him, blotting out the
+landscape loveliness. Was it all, then, vanity, this building and
+striving?... The making of walls and fortifications for another race,
+centuries afterwards, to look upon with cold wonder and curiosity?
+Three thousand years ago perhaps another man had stood even there and
+mourned his king that was dead. And so soon ... so soon ... he also
+died, and the massive walls became ruins, and the dynasty, or empire,
+or era, passed away into oblivion. How soon might a similar fate
+overtake his own great Empire!... and the beloved King, Edward the
+Peacemaker, be perhaps but a legend to some strange new race.
+
+And then it was as though the land to which he had given so much rose
+up to give in her turn the might of hope and renewing. His eyes
+wandered again to the distant mountains and over the fertile plain
+lying between, and all the outspread richness called to him that at
+least there was no ruin here, no hopelessness, no decay.
+
+Progress spoke to him from the rolling plains and from the mysterious
+kopjes, and his blood warmed to that glad sense of possession--if not
+in fact, at least in the fancy born of what he had given. For it is
+when we give, and not when we take, we become the truest possessors,
+rich owners of so much that neither wealth, nor birth, nor striving
+can buy.
+
+In the quiet evening hour the stars were just beginning to light their
+brilliant lamps, and a glow like a rose-flush in the west marked the
+passage of the departed sun. Carew prepared to make the steep descent.
+And as he looked out across this country, that seemed so intensely his
+country, he felt himself heir of all the ages, the strong product of
+long eons of careful development, too rich in those vague splendours
+of the human and the divine not to realise the weak futility of musing
+sadly upon dead dynasties and bygone races.
+
+On the northernmost point, ere the path drops suddenly on its way to
+the valley, he stood still once more and gazed steadily to the north
+where England lay.
+
+Then, thinking deep thoughts of love and loyalty of the King who had
+been his friend, and the friend who had been his King, he gravely gave
+the salute.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE MISSION STATION
+
+
+Although only stationed for a short time at the Zimbabwe camp, Carew
+had chosen always to conduct his own _ménage_, and take his meals in
+solitary state apart from Stanley and Moore. This was in every case
+typical of the man, who rarely sought company, and was often quiet to
+taciturnity when he had it. He had not come to the wilderness for
+adventure, or for the companionship of the men he might find there; he
+had come because he wanted to forget. Not even to seek renewing and
+fresh hopes, but only to crowd out of his life the memory of that
+upheaval and tragedy that, it seemed, had placed a stern hand upon
+mere joy for evermore. And he believed he would achieve this best with
+the vigorous, interesting occupation of helping a young country
+struggle through to fulfilment.
+
+It was not until after the dinner-hour that he again showed himself,
+and then he came outside his hut, filling his pipe, and stood for a
+moment beside Stanley and Moore without saying anything.
+
+"Did you have a successful trip, sir?" Stanley asked.
+
+"Quite," dryly.
+
+The young trooper watched him a moment, and then added:
+
+"Did you have trouble with M'Basch?"
+
+"He tried to make trouble. He is a dangerous native."
+
+"And you gave him a lesson?"
+
+"I burnt his kraal."
+
+"Whew!..." and Stanley gave a low whistle. The man was courageous
+indeed who dare resort to such a step, now that it was necessary to
+pamper the natives if one wanted no trouble at headquarters.
+
+Carew took no notice of the significant rejoinder, but his firm mouth,
+if anything, grew a little firmer.
+
+"I gave him due warning, but he thought I dare not carry out my
+threat. He was mistaken. Never make a threat that you can't carry out.
+It matters more than anything with natives. He will not give trouble
+again at present."
+
+"But they may say a good deal at headquarters if he carries his story
+there!"
+
+"I had to risk that. But he is so entirely in the wrong, and so
+clearly aware of it, I don't think he will venture to say anything. I
+have three cases of diabolical cruelty against him, besides stealing
+and law-breaking generally."
+
+Stanley watched him with eyes of admiration. To him the man's strength
+was ever a source of delight, now that his unsociable ways were no
+longer a puzzle.
+
+"We had a scientific man here yesterday to view the ruins," he
+continued, as Carew still lingered while he lit his pipe. "He has a
+remarkable theory for divining corpses by the gold ornaments buried on
+them. He thinks there are probably several in the temple, deeper than
+anyone has yet dug."
+
+Carew did not look very interested. His eyes had still the
+retrospective, pained expression that had come into them instantly,
+when he grasped the import of Stanley's sad tidings.
+
+"Where did he come from?" he asked, half turning away.
+
+"I don't know. He was only here for a few hours. We gave him some tea,
+and he left us some interesting papers, if you would care to have
+them. He seemed rather interested in you!..." and Stanley looked
+keenly into his face.
+
+"In what way?" Carew pulled hard at his beloved pipe and spoke with
+studied carelessness.
+
+"Your name cropped up about something, and he wanted to know if you
+were a Fourtenay-Carew."
+
+The officer started very slightly, but made no comment, and Stanley
+added, "He particularly wanted to know if you were a Devonshire man. I
+said you were."
+
+"I _was_ a Devonshire man," Carew corrected; "I _am_ a Rhodesian."
+
+Then he turned and with a short good night went back into his hut.
+
+The next morning, directly his official work was finished, he started
+to ride over to the mission station, where some far-off connections of
+his, William and Ailsa Grenville, found by chance in the wilderness,
+lived the simple life with a contentment that surprised all who beheld
+them.
+
+It was the first visit he had been able to pay for some weeks, and
+almost before he dismounted a woman stepped out from the large rustic
+building, with its thatched roof, and came towards him with eagerness
+and sorrow strangely blended in her eyes.
+
+"Ah, how long you have been coming! I have watched for you ever since
+we heard the sad news. Billy and I so wanted someone from _home_ to
+talk to."
+
+"I could not help it. I have been right away into the Ingigi district.
+How are you?"
+
+He did not give her his hand because the formalities had long been
+dropped between them, but as he walked beside her to the building his
+face seemed a shade softer.
+
+"We are both well. We are splendid. But we have felt very cut off
+these two weeks. England seemed so terribly far away. The evening we
+heard, Billy and I just sat hand in hand under the stars, dabbing the
+tears away. Don't smile, it was the only thing to do, and we longed so
+to be in London." As she talked she passed into the cool shade of the
+hut and busied herself preparing a lemon squash for him, not needing
+to ask if it were his choice. "We were miserable for days. I'm sure
+all of you were too."
+
+"I did not hear until I came back yesterday."
+
+"Ah ... I was afraid so. Of course, that made it worse."
+
+She brought him the lemon squash and stood leaning against the table
+beside him while he drank it, with the gladness of seeing him still in
+her eyes, though they were grave now with sympathy. It was evident
+their friendship had in it a wide understanding.
+
+She was silent a few moments, and then added simply, "I suppose you
+knew him personally?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+He did not tell her more, and she did not ask him. There was one
+subject that no deepening of friendship had ever made it possible to
+approach, and that was the story of his past. She knew only, from her
+husband, who was extremely vague on the subject, that he had once held
+a commission in the Blues, and been, not only a well-known society
+man, but the heir of a rich old uncle. And then suddenly something had
+happened, and his brother became the heir, and England had known him
+no more. Even William Grenville himself was in the dark as to the
+cause of the lost inheritance, as he had been abroad at the time, and
+had never had much intercourse with Carew's branch of the family. He
+was supposed to be in disgrace himself, because his soul was too
+honest to allow him to continue in a comfortable country living, after
+his convictions lost faith in the tenets of the English Church; but if
+it were so it never troubled him, and he loved his wilderness home
+dearly. Ailsa had her story also, but she too, it was evident, had
+found a solution that held satisfaction.
+
+After giving Carew his drink she moved away and picked up some
+needlework, seating herself near the open door, with sympathy in her
+face and in her silence.
+
+"We had a splendid service," she told him. "We did all we possibly
+could to show our loyalty. But how little it seemed! The far countries
+hurt at a time like this."
+
+He assented in silence, looking out over the lovely landscape as if it
+were a sight his soul loved, and she bent lower over her needlework.
+
+"Tell me about your Ingigi trip, unless you would rather wait for
+Billy. He will be in directly, and he will want to hear everything."
+
+He glanced towards her a moment, noting half indifferently that she
+looked unusually pretty to-day; but he only said a few generalities
+about his work, with his eyes again on the landscape. Ailsa sewed on,
+not in the least dismayed. It was good enough to have him there,
+whether he were communicative or not, and she was glad she chanced to
+have put on her new, pretty dress from home. For, of course, all women
+liked to look fair in the eyes of Peter Carew, quite indifferent to
+the fact that in all probability he scarcely saw them.
+
+But Ailsa Grenville could not have looked other than fair to any man,
+though to some she looked so much more besides. Her frank grey eyes,
+full of expression, her low, broad forehead and chestnut hair, were so
+full of beauty that they seemed to counteract entirely a nose that was
+a little too small and a mouth a little too large. One felt that
+nature had intended to make her a beautiful woman, and then changed
+her mind and allowed a flaw in her beauty, possibly to give her more
+character and an attraction of a different order. To the lonely men
+within reach of the mission station she was goddess and angel
+combined, and knowing it was one of the joys of her uneventful life.
+
+Thus they sat on together in the doorway, speaking quietly of the loss
+they had chosen to make their own, in an intimate sense perhaps only
+possible to far-off Empire-builders. And while they talked the
+missionary himself appeared, and all his face lit up when he saw
+Carew.
+
+"By Jove! I'm glad to see you," he exclaimed, tossing his khaki helmet
+carelessly aside. "We hoped you would come soon. Ailsa was sure you
+would."
+
+He sat on the edge of the table, swinging one putteed leg, a fine,
+athletic, big fellow, with a khaki shirt open at the throat, and
+sleeves rolled up above his elbows, and a brown attractive face with
+honest eyes. "How are the others?... Going strong?... We had them all
+here for our funeral service: the Macaulays, White, Richards, Henley,
+the three prospectors out Chini way, everyone within reach. And
+afterwards we gave them a feed. A homely one, with cakes and jam, as
+Englishy as possible. By gad, Carew! how a loss like this makes you
+think of home and country; and how we Britishers in the colonies ought
+to hang together through thick and thin! If we all felt it more, it
+would be a great thing for the dear old Mother Country. She'll want
+her boys in the colonies to stand by her stoutly, if she is to go on
+holding her own, I'm thinking."
+
+He got up and strode about the hut, his hands in his pockets and his
+pipe in his mouth. "Hang it all!... since I came out here to try and
+do a little useful development among the blacks, I've grown more and
+more to feel that helping the settlers to live clean lives and pull
+together and care about the Old Country, is every bit as important, in
+fact far more so, than teaching Christianity to the heathen."
+
+He stood in the doorway, blocking the view with his immense bulk, a
+rarely attractive man, with boyish enthusiasm in his eyes, and
+fearless honesty in his whole aspect, and just that touch of the
+fanatic which helped him to soar above disappointments and keep his
+charming wife devoted and content with him out there in the
+wilderness.
+
+From his post in the doorway he swung round suddenly, and was about to
+launch upon one of his enthusiastic tirades on the natives or settlers
+or both, when Ailsa stayed him lightly, declaring that lunch was
+ready, and they all proceeded to the dining-room hut.
+
+Afterwards they lazed in a wide verandah, commanding one of the
+loveliest views in Rhodesia, and talked a little of the West Country,
+because the ache was still with each one to be at home at that sad
+time.
+
+When Carew, later, prepared to depart homewards, she gave a large plum
+cake carefully into the hands of his black soldier-servant, telling
+him, Carew, that it was for The Kid and Patrick, and not to let The
+Kid overeat himself, and tell him to come over and see her at once.
+
+"He is rather interested in the subject of corpses just now," Carew
+said, with something approaching a gleam in his eye, "but I don't
+encourage him, because, for two pins, I believe he would dig up the
+entire temple, if the spirit took him."
+
+"The scoundrel!..." with an affectionate laugh. "Tell him if he dares
+to touch one stone of my temple he shall never, never have a cake
+again."
+
+"Oh, I only surmise it from the expression in his eyes when he told
+me, rather wistfully, that some scientific visitor had described to
+him how the corpses, if found, would certainly be decked with valuable
+gold ornaments."
+
+Then he mounted and saluted her gravely as he rode away.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+TWO HEIRESSES
+
+
+In a Piccadilly mansion, about the same time that Major Carew returned
+from his long trek, two girls sat in a wide window-seat and looked
+somewhat disconsolately across the fresh spring green of the park.
+Both were the daughters of South African millionaires. Both were
+motherless, and one an orphan. They were also cousins, and the same
+roof usually was their home.
+
+Two months previously the father of the one and guardian of the other
+had brought them to England, that they might duly "come out" the
+ensuing season in London society. Their presentation at Court had
+taken place in April, followed by a splendid ball at the stately
+mansion taken for their stay, and both girls had looked eagerly
+forward to the festivities ahead.
+
+And now, a few weeks later, they found themselves suddenly dressed in
+black, with nearly all the expected gaieties cancelled, and this
+overshadowing loss weighing upon their spirits. Added to this the
+death of first one mother and then the other, followed by a period of
+ill-health to the guardian and father, had postponed that "coming out"
+long past the ordinary age for such functions; Diana, the orphan,
+being now twenty-two, and Meryl two years older.
+
+Meryl was the graver of the two; graver indeed than is at all usual at
+twenty-four, but with a quiet fund of humour and a romantic
+dreaminess, and withal a certain elusive quality that made her always
+interesting, and pleasantly something of a mystery. Diana was a
+sparkling, practical, outspoken young woman, much adored of young men
+whom she treated with scant courtesy, and with a great deal of common
+sense in her pretty head. The girls' influence upon each other, which
+was cemented by a very deep affection, was wholly beneficial; for
+whereas Diana awakened Meryl from too much dreaminess, Meryl's quiet
+dignity had a softening effect upon Diana's too great exuberance of
+spirits and occasional boyish lack of refinement, which was more the
+result of a boisterous capacity for enjoyment than inbred.
+
+Meryl, as became the dreamer, had been profoundly touched by the event
+which had called forth that swift grief; and whereas Diana could not
+refrain from bemoaning all she must necessarily lose through the
+season of mourning, Meryl thought chiefly of how they could get away
+quickly into the country and replace the lost gaieties with quiet
+delight.
+
+She had already spoken to her father about her wish to leave town, but
+he had been much occupied of late, and not yet had time thoroughly to
+discuss the question. And meanwhile she and Diana waited a little
+disconsolately to see what the days brought forth. Diana was disposed
+for a trip to Switzerland, or Norway, or even Iceland, but she wanted
+to go in a party, and not just they two and a chaperon. Meryl was not
+enthusiastic and it nettled her a little, so that, on the wide
+window-seat, there was a cloud on her face as she drummed idly with
+her fingers and watched the traffic go by.
+
+"If you would only say what you _do_ want," she asserted impatiently,
+"instead of just mooning about and making no plans whatever."
+
+But the fact was, Meryl could not quite make up her mind what she did
+want. In some vague way a kind of upheaval had been taking place in
+her heart, and left her high and dry upon the rocks of uncertainty and
+dim dissatisfaction. New thoughts, new questions, new desires had
+risen in her during that sad month of May, and she felt as one seeking
+vainly she knew not what. She looked beyond the trees of the Green
+Park to the far skies with wistful eyes, and asked herself deep
+questions concerning many things, born of the thoughts that arose in
+her mind when she stood amid a people mourning tenderly a dearly loved
+sovereign, and beheld how in hearts all over the world he had won love
+and admiration, in that, to the best of his endeavour, he had
+splendidly fulfilled his high trust.
+
+And a high trust was hers. How could she not know it, when she was
+sole heiress to her father's millions; and yet, what was she doing,
+or preparing to do, in fulfilment of that trust? That it was no less
+so with Diana did not weigh with her. Diana was different. When she
+was allowed a free hand with her fortune she would buy yachts and
+houses and diamonds, and scatter it right and left, which was good in
+its way; but it would never satisfy her, Meryl, the visionary and
+dreamer, who looked with grave eyes to the far skies, and asked vague
+questions.
+
+Presently, with an impatient little kick at a footstool, Diana broke
+the silence. "_Do_ you know what you want? Have you any ideas at all,
+or are you just a blank?"
+
+Meryl smiled charmingly. "I'm not exactly a blank, but something of a
+confusion. I confess crowded Swiss hotels do not sound alluring. I
+like Iceland better, but it seems rather ... well ... purposeless."
+
+"And what in the world do you want it to be? Do you want to go a
+journey to convert heathen, or preach Christian Science, or explore
+untrodden country? If so, you had better take Aunt Emily and go alone.
+I'm hoping for a little life and amusement."
+
+"We always have that. I want something bigger for a change."
+
+"O, now you're getting to high altitudes. Meryl, do come down and be
+rational. I just feel as if I could shake you." She got up and roamed
+round the room, then returned to the window-seat and leaned out of the
+window watching some workmen who were painting the balcony below them.
+Meryl sat on silently, still seeking some sort of a solution to
+something she could not name.
+
+"There's such a good-looking workman," Diana remarked presently, "I'm
+sure he's an artist. I wish he would look up, but he is too shy."
+
+"Too wise, perhaps. Why are you sure he is an artist?"
+
+"O, well, because he looks like it. He has a Grecian head, and his
+hair curls adorably, and I'm certain his eyes are blue. He'll be just
+underneath the window soon, and if he doesn't look up then I shall
+drop something to make him."
+
+"Come away to lunch and don't be a goose. The gong sounded quite five
+minutes ago."
+
+Diana withdrew her head reluctantly.
+
+"Who wants to eat cutlets when they can watch a Grecian profile!"
+
+"Perhaps you would sooner drop one on his head to make him look up?"
+
+"I would; much sooner. Do you think they've brought their lunch with
+them, or shall we send them some?"
+
+"I expect they've got their dinners in red pocket-handkerchiefs,
+hidden away somewhere at the back."
+
+"Except my Greek"--with a little smile--"and I'm sure his is in a
+Liberty silk square."
+
+They sat down to lunch in the big, oppressive dining-room alone, as
+their chaperon, Aunt Emily, was laid up with a headache, and Mr. Henry
+Pym, Meryl's father, was usually in the City at midday. And after
+lunch, for the sake of something to do, they ordered the motor and
+drove out to Ranelagh to see the polo.
+
+Then came dinner, and with it in quiet, unsuspected guise the news
+that would presently change their lives. Henry Pym, a small, dark man,
+with the keen eyes and quiet manner that so often go with success,
+told them that because there would be practically no London season at
+all that year he had decided to go back to Africa, and he would take a
+country house for them anywhere they liked and leave them there for
+the summer with Aunt Emily.
+
+Aunt Emily nodded her head with an approving air. A quiet country
+house instead of a season's racketing was quite to her taste, and she
+felt dear Henry, as ever, was showing the marked common sense for
+which she humbly worshipped him afar off. Meryl looked at her father
+inquiringly and with a thoughtful air. Diana remarked, rather
+disgustedly, "O, uncle, what rot! Why should we be condemned to some
+dull little hole of an English village, just because there is to be no
+London season?"
+
+"My dear Diana," remonstrated the lady who was supposed to fill the
+post of mother and chaperon to both girls, and was therefore in duty
+bound to express disapproval of Diana's English, "you surely do not
+imagine your uncle admires that unladylike mode of speech!"
+
+"But he understands it," said the incorrigible, "and that is far more
+important."
+
+There was a decided gleam in the millionaire's eyes as he inquired,
+"And what do you want to do instead, Di?"
+
+"Oh, yacht, or travel, or go in an aeroplane, or anything. I simply
+can't sit down in an English village until further notice."
+
+Then Meryl spoke:
+
+"Why can't we go back with you to South Africa, father?"
+
+"Because I'm going to take a trip north. I'm going up to Rhodesia
+about some mining claims."
+
+"And couldn't we go there with you?"
+
+"Not very well. I'm not going to the towns, except for a day or two. I
+shall have to do a lot of trekking in the wild, outlying parts. You
+couldn't manage that."
+
+"Of course not," murmured Aunt Emily. "How dreadful that you should
+have to go, Henry! Why, there are lions and elephants and things, and
+the natives are savages; surely no mines are worth running such
+risks?"
+
+"Not quite as bad as all that, Emily, but hardly the place for you and
+the girls. Would you all like to go to Norway?"
+
+"And fish?..." from Diana, with a sudden light in her eyes.
+
+"You could have a yacht and take a party," he continued, "and come
+back when you are all tired of it. I'll ask Sir Robert to let me have
+the 'Skylark,' because his captain is so reliable. What do you say,
+Meryl?... Shall you like that?..."
+
+"I wish you could come," was her rather evasive answer, and she gazed
+at the table decorations as if pondering something in her mind.
+
+"Well, you can think it over," said the millionaire quietly, "and if
+there is something you would like better tell me." He was peeling a
+pear in a slow, methodical fashion, and his face quickly seemed to
+assume the expression of one whose thoughts were already elsewhere;
+but not before, with a quick, characteristic movement, he had glanced
+keenly and surreptitiously into Meryl's face and read her indecision.
+Something was on her mind. He knew it quite well; and his busy brain,
+under its mask of complacent thoughtfulness, probed into the question.
+
+Ever since the day of the King's funeral she had worn that thoughtful
+air and baffled him a little with her wistful indecision. And though
+he said nothing, he thought about it in his leisured moments; for
+dearer than all his wealth and his power and his success was his only
+child.
+
+That night, trying still to probe the unrest in her heart, Meryl
+stepped out on to their balcony and looked at the stars. Straight
+before her, outlined in a misty moonlight that was almost overpowered
+by the glare of the city's lights, were the tall towers of
+Westminster. Down below the traffic passed ceaselessly to and fro.
+From all sides came the mysterious hum of a great city's life. And as
+she leaned listening, and gazing at the far-off stars that seemed such
+mere pin-pricks above the glare, there came to her a thought of the
+majestic stars that hung over Africa and the majesty of silence upon
+the African veldt. And then gradually there stirred in her a warm
+remembrance of Africa, and of how she had always loved it, and a
+swift, unaccountable feeling of kinship with all the Britishers
+scattered far and wide who called some colony "home."
+
+True, she was English born and English educated; but so also was she
+South African, for quite half her life had been passed in
+Johannesburg, and it was there that her actual home existed. And so,
+by slow imperceptible degrees, out of nowhere and without explanation,
+crept into her mind the sudden realisation of Africa's claim upon her.
+She remembered that it was there her father had amassed his wealth.
+There had been won for her all the smooth, luxurious ways of her life;
+and, but a step further, as it were, stood out the answer to her
+questioning doubts. Whatever trust is yours in the future, whatever
+life asks of you in return for all she has given, it must be for
+Africa. Her heart warmed and swelled swiftly, and her eyes glowed in
+the misty darkness. She felt in her blood that Africa was calling.
+Africa, so sunny, so gay, so breezy, so lovable, and withal with so
+great a need of strong women as well as strong men, to help her to win
+through to the great future that should be hers.
+
+She leaned lower, and it was as though her gaze looked beyond the
+darkness to some unseen horizon. She saw the veldt with its far blue
+mountains, that called to men again and again with such resolute
+calling. Overhead, in her fancy, she saw the luminous Southern Cross.
+All around were the wide, boundless horizons, the swift, scented
+winds. In her spirit she was back again in the sun-soaked land,
+breathing the sun-soaked atmosphere, looking far to the "never, never"
+country that called from the clear distance.
+
+And it was her Africa,--hers, hers, hers.
+
+What did she want with an English village? What to her was a yachting
+cruise in Norway? These might be won some day as restful leisure hours
+in a strenuous life; but without the just winning, what had they to do
+with her?
+
+Africa needed strong women as well as strong men; and, strong or weak,
+Africa was calling--calling.
+
+She had come to London for the season because it was what all the
+other rich men's daughters did; but was she honestly grieved that
+their plans had all to be changed? Surely, now she was free, she could
+find something to do that would fill her hours afterward with gladder
+remembrance than just a season's triumphs.
+
+But what?...
+
+She leaned on in the starlight, chin sunk in hands, thinking,
+dreaming.
+
+And so presently, still by those imperceptible degrees, through which
+works the hand of Fate, her thoughts came at last to the dinner-table
+conversation.
+
+As in a flash, she remembered Rhodesia; and, remembering, it was as
+though the romance of the land reached out strong arms to enfold her.
+
+Here in very truth was a young country, offering a wide field to all
+who sought work, adventure, achievement. Her thoughts ran on
+exultantly. She was rich, she was free, she was young, she was strong;
+why dawdle and dream among the fiords of Norway? Why scale Swiss
+mountains? Let that come later, when she had earned a playtime. In the
+first vigorous years of her youth, let her go out to the sunny land
+that was her home and give it of her best. Let her go north and see a
+young country struggling towards fruition, and perhaps win the joy
+and privilege, generally reserved for men, of helping it forward. All
+in a moment her decision was made. If she could anyhow win her
+father's consent, she would go with him on his trip to Rhodesia.
+
+She stood up, tall and slim, and the subdued light glowed more deeply
+in her eyes. The eyes of the visionary, who sees great things and
+dreams great dreams, and, alas! how often, breaks a heart that of its
+very fineness could only do or die.
+
+Yet better, how much better, to hope and dare and die upon the
+heights, than linger content in the warm, snug valley of little joys
+and little sorrows!
+
+And then across her dreams broke the sound of a sleepy voice from the
+room behind her.
+
+"If you stay out there any longer, Meryl, you will grow wings and fly
+away. Do be rational enough to come in and go to bed."
+
+"I thought you were asleep, Di. I'm sure I haven't been keeping you
+awake."
+
+"No, but you are doing so now; and, besides, it's so imbecile to stand
+out there and stare at the stars."
+
+"I've been thinking hard, Di." She came in and sat on the little gilt
+bedstead, with its dainty hangings, and looked lovingly at the pretty
+head on the lace-decked pillow.
+
+"That's nothing new. If you _hadn't_ been thinking hard it would be
+worth while mentioning it," and there was half a pout and half a smile
+on the winsome mouth.
+
+"But there was more object than usual to-night. Listen. If I persuade
+father to take me up to Rhodesia with him, will you come too?..."
+
+"O, golly!... to be eaten by lions, and tigers, and savages, and
+elephants, and things!..."
+
+"Well, there wouldn't be much apiece if they all had a bite."
+
+Diana sat up and shook the hair out of her eyes, looking very much
+like a small imp of ten, instead of a finished young lady of
+twenty-two. "There's just a chance they would eat Aunt Emily first,"
+said she, "and as that is a consummation devoutly to be wished, I
+think we'll go...."
+
+They both laughed, but Meryl soon grew serious again. "I'm awfully in
+earnest, Di. Who cares about Norway when they might go to Rhodesia!
+You'll perhaps fall overboard and be eaten by commonplace fishes if
+you go there."
+
+"What has given you the notion, Meryl? I thought only miners and
+farmers went to Rhodesia, except a few tourists to the Victoria Falls.
+Do you think there is anything to eat there except locusts and wild
+honey?"
+
+"Let's go and see. I ... I ... want to do some Empire work or
+something. I can't explain. But we've just got into such a maze of
+petty happenings and petty pleasures, and since the King died ..."
+
+"Of course!... you've been miles away ever since, dreaming and
+romancing and imperialising. But it won't last, and when you've landed
+us all high and dry in some Rhodesian wilderness we shall just hate
+each other and everything else, and be ready to murder you."
+
+"Nonsense. We shall explore all round, and study the natives and the
+animals, and make friends with the settlers; and it will all be just
+new and big and teeming with interest."
+
+"Not if you are chewing the mule harness, because you've had nothing
+to eat for days."
+
+"O yes, even that; why not?... We should love it all when we came
+safely back."
+
+"Well, I'll have the bridle, then. It won't, perhaps, be quite so
+greasy."
+
+"Now you're disgusting. Just put your head back on the pillow, and
+register a vow to see me through this craze, if you like to call it
+so, and I'll love you for ever. I like to think of it as Empire work.
+Come and do a little Empire work too."
+
+"But I don't want to. I'm bored to tears with the Empire. We hear a
+great deal too much of it nowadays; that and Standard Bread. I don't
+know which is the worst"--making a wry face--"and, besides, if you
+really want to do Empire work, your plain duty is to marry Dutch
+Willie and cement the races."
+
+A cloud flitted for a moment across Meryl's fair face, which Diana was
+quick to see, and she snoozled down into her cosy bed with a little
+chuckle.
+
+"Got you there, my fair Imperialist! Dutch Willie, or let us call him
+William van Hert, will drop this wild anti-British policy of his like
+a hot brick, if you will only make up your mind to be Madam van Hert,
+and bless his hearth with a Dutch doll or two, having good English
+blood in their veins as well as eighteen-carat Dutch," and the
+chuckles grew more and more audible.
+
+But Meryl only got up slowly and moved away to her own little bed.
+
+"Well, I shall ask father to-morrow, and if you won't come I shall try
+to make him take me without you. I think he will."
+
+"O, no he won't. If you are really quite obdurate, I shall do a little
+Imperial work also. I shall come along to keep watch and ward, and see
+that you don't fail the Empire by losing your heart to some
+fascinating young Rhodesian settler and forget your own South Africa
+altogether. Dutch Willie is a lot the nicest Dutchman who ever
+belonged to that obtuse people, and I foresee it will be my lot to
+guide you to your high destiny on behalf of the two races."
+
+Meryl only smiled dreamily, as if she scarcely heard. Swiftly,
+mysteriously, unaccountably, as is her way, Rhodesia had caught her
+senses and filled all her horizon for the time being. She nestled down
+into her own pretty bed, with the unrest already fading from her eyes,
+and a new gladness in her heart, as of one renewed with a great
+purpose and comforted with a wide hope.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+THE RHODESIAN PROJECT
+
+
+Aunt Emily represented what Diana was pleased to call "the family
+skeleton in the flesh." She was Henry Pym's only sister, and there had
+been a time when she shared a pound a week with him in a tiny cottage
+in Cornwall, while he worked as a miner in order to teach himself all
+he could about mining. After that she had taken a situation as
+housekeeper, while he went out to South Africa to make his fortune.
+Later she had spent a year or two with him, sharing his struggles in
+the new country, and then he had married, and she was once more left
+to take care of herself; for at that stage Henry's finances would
+barely keep himself and his wife. Three years afterwards, when his
+genius for finance was bearing fruit, his wife died, and at
+twenty-seven he found himself a childless widower just becoming
+prosperous. He again offered his sister a home, but her recollections
+of Africa were none to draw her back thither, and she chose to
+continue life in the comfortable situation she had procured as
+companion to an invalid lady. So Henry devoted himself entirely to the
+science of money-making, and at thirty-five he was a rich man. He
+married a second time, choosing for his wife among the gentlest-born
+Johannesburg could offer, and winning the sweet woman who was Meryl's
+mother. About the same time his brother came out from England and
+joined him, and in fifteen years they were two of Johannesburg's
+wealthiest millionaires. A few years later both were widowers, and
+very shortly afterwards John Pym died, leaving his only daughter and
+all the wealth that would be hers to his brother's care. Thus the
+household became as we have seen it, for Henry, remembering gratefully
+how his sister had stood by him in his days of struggle, now insisted
+upon her sharing his luxurious homes and acting as chaperon to the
+two girls. That she was a little trying he knew perfectly, but his
+sense of fair play and kinship resolutely turned a deaf ear to the
+half-spoken pleas of the girls, that he would give her instead a cosy
+home of her own, and procure a younger and brighter chaperon for them;
+and she had now become a fixture.
+
+But what irritated Diana so was the fact that had the good lady
+consulted her own taste, she would infinitely have preferred the cosy,
+independent home; but just as Henry's sense of fair play offered her a
+place in his, so her sense of duty to the two motherless girls made
+her accept it in spite of her inclination.
+
+"If people would but consult their comfort instead of their duty,"
+quoth poor Diana, "how much nicer it would be all round! Uncle doesn't
+really want her here, and she doesn't really want to come, and we'd
+give our heads to be rid of her; but just because Old Man Duty loves
+to make people supremely uncomfortable, here we all are!" and her
+expressive gesture made further comment unnecessary.
+
+But, as a matter of fact, she made a very easy and good-natured
+chaperon, and it was only some of her irritating little ways that
+troubled them. Without being really deaf, she usually failed to hear
+any opening speech, and this Diana coped with very summarily. "Aunt
+Emily," she would begin. "Eh ... eh ... eh ... eh ... ah," and when
+Aunt Emily had duly enquired, "What did you say, my dear?" she would
+speak her sentence for the first time. Or, again, with reference to
+her propensity to get exceedingly worked up upon a subject of very
+little general interest, she would say, "The great point is, not to
+start her off, and not to give her a chance to start herself off. A
+little perspicacity will soon tell you what subject to nip in the bud,
+or when to talk as hard and fast as you can about something else."
+
+"And as for her mournfulness," declared the matter-of-fact young
+heiress, "well, that's genuinely funny. If I've got a bit of a hump
+myself, and I hear Aunt Emily, with a face of heroic resignation, say,
+'I can bear it,' I begin to feel quite chirpy at once."
+
+But when the Rhodesian project came seriously under discussion, they
+were all a good deal surprised to hear Aunt Emily take part in it as
+one who must inevitably be of the party. Henry Pym was a reserved,
+undemonstrative man, and when Meryl begged him to let them accompany
+him on his travels, though he said very little, he was secretly a good
+deal gratified and pleased. His own early hardships had taught him the
+inestimable value of learning self-dependence and plucky endurance,
+and it was not without some regret he viewed a future for the girls
+entirely of rose leaves. Yet how could it very well be otherwise?
+When, however, Meryl pleadingly asked him to take them to Rhodesia
+with him, he perceived that the trip might be beneficial in more ways
+than one.
+
+"You probably don't understand," he told her quietly, "that I am going
+on a business, prospecting trip. I am going right away from hotels and
+railways to see mines, and I don't intend to be bothered with anything
+elaborate in the way of an outfit. I suppose I shall take a tent, and
+travel in a travelling ambulance, but certainly nothing out of the way
+in food or equipment. You would have to do the same, and as you know
+absolutely nothing in the world about 'roughing it,' you probably
+wouldn't like it at all."
+
+"But that is just what we should like," Meryl urged. "That is one
+reason why we want to come."
+
+They were sitting in the smoke-room with him, as was often their habit
+in the evening, preferring it, as he did, to the stately drawing-room.
+
+Meryl sat on a footstool near him, watching his face anxiously, while
+Diana, with an open book on her knee, listened from the depths of an
+enormous arm-chair in which she had curled herself.
+
+"Shouldn't we ever need to wash?" she asked suddenly, in a sprightly
+voice that set them all laughing.
+
+"Well, it's a hot country, you know," said her uncle, "but it might be
+more or less optional."
+
+"Scrumptious!" and Diana snoozled lower into her chair.
+
+"Uncouth," remarked Aunt Emily, disapprovingly.
+
+"Or do you mean unclean?" enquired the sinner.
+
+"It is quite the maddest idea I ever heard of." Ignoring her, and
+growing more and more mournful, the poor lady heaved a deep sigh.
+
+"But need you be bothered with us?" enquired Meryl, diplomatically.
+"Wouldn't you rather have a nice quiet summer in England?"
+
+"And let you go alone?... How could I?... Your father will be much
+engaged with his business, and it would be most unseemly for two girls
+of your age to be left so much alone. I believe it is a dreadful
+country, but if you can face it, I think I can find the courage to
+come with you."
+
+"Think you can bear it, aunty?..." chirped the voice from the
+arm-chair, and Meryl frowned in a little aside at the snoozler.
+
+"If they decide to come at all, they would be all right with me out on
+the veldt," put in Mr. Pym. "If they are prepared to eat 'bully beef'
+and probably do their own washing-up."
+
+"How horrible!..." from the arm-chair. "It sounds worse than chewing
+mule harness."
+
+"What do you mean, Diana?" her aunt asked, nervously.
+
+"Oh, didn't you know there was nourishment in mule harness?... It's
+simply splendid stuff when you've had nothing else for days."
+
+The poor lady shuddered, and her brother chuckled, but Meryl
+interposed with, "Don't listen to her, Aunt Emily. It isn't likely we
+shall ever have had nothing for days."
+
+"I once heard of a man ..." began the spinster, putting down her work,
+and raising her head with the air they all knew so well, denoting a
+long rigmarole about some exceedingly uninteresting person, and Diana
+immediately chimed in with, "Shall you wear a knickerbocker suit,
+aunty, or just a commonplace divided skirt?"
+
+"Neither will be in the least necessary," was the decided answer. "I
+have met people from Rhodesia, and they dress quite ordinarily."
+
+"Oh, that's when they're in another country," insisted the
+incorrigible. "Up there you simply must wear knickers, or a divided
+skirt; it's ... it's ... such a high altitude ... and so ...
+windy!..."
+
+"Diana, be quiet," interrupted Meryl, now sitting on the arm of her
+father's chair. "If you don't mind we shall leave you behind."
+
+"Well, I don't know that I particularly want to go. It doesn't sound
+very inviting except about the washing."
+
+"I think you had all better take a week to decide in," said Henry Pym,
+finally. "I won't say anything about the yacht at present, and you can
+change your minds and have it if you like. And if your aunt chooses to
+stay quietly in England, I'll take a house for her anywhere she likes,
+and I'll look after you both myself. You can take care of each other
+when I have to be absent for a day."
+
+"Would you like us to go?" asked Diana, screwing her head round
+impishly. "Or are we going to be a ... a ... frightful nuisance?"
+
+"I'd like you to come, if you can make up your minds thoroughly to
+take the rough and the smooth together, and make the best of it. I
+think it will be an experience for you, and a wholesome change from
+too much luxury. But mind"--and his strong, dark face looked very
+determined--"I want no grumbling and no fretfulness. If you think
+you've any real, genuine pioneer spirit in you, _come_. If you're in
+doubt about it, stay behind, and go to Norway and have your gaiety."
+
+"I don't think I've very much," said Diana, "but Meryl has enough for
+two, I'm sure; and for the rest, I never grumble, and I'm only peevish
+with very young men. That, of course, I might work off on the
+niggers."
+
+"Has Meryl a lot of pioneer spirit?" asked her father, watching her
+with quiet, affectionate eyes.
+
+"Stacks of it. She wants to become an Empire-builder. I don't. I'm
+bored with the Empire. But I don't mind sampling just one dive into
+the wilderness, to see how I like primitive conditions. I don't know
+what Aunt Emily wants with the wilderness though, unless she has a
+secret fancy for niggers!..."
+
+"I think that is a little coarse of you, Diana. I have no fancy either
+for a wilderness or niggers; but if either you or Meryl were ill, or
+anything happened to you, I should never forgive myself had I
+remained comfortably at home."
+
+"Nothing will happen to us, aunty. I think you are rather unwise to
+think of coming," said Meryl.
+
+"If you go, I shall come as far as Bulawayo anyhow. Then I shall at
+least be within reach."
+
+"Well, think it over for a week," said Henry Pym again, getting up and
+moving towards his writing-table. "I don't like hurried decisions at
+any time. If you like to come and take pot-luck with me I shall be
+glad to have your company, but do not let that influence you. Come for
+your own sakes, and prepared for anything, or remain behind."
+
+They understood that he wished to be left to do some reading or
+writing, and after kissing him good night, went upstairs to their
+room.
+
+But Meryl's eyes had already a new glow of hopeful anticipation, and
+it was easy to see she did not intend to waste much time in making up
+a mind already entirely decided.
+
+Diana found her a little irritating.
+
+"Really, Meryl!" she said, "you look as ridiculously pleased as a cat
+with kittens. You are quite the most unaccountable creature in the
+world. What, in the name of fortune, _is_ the good of going to
+Rhodesia? Frankly, I'd rather stay in England."
+
+But Meryl only smiled happily, and made no comment.
+
+"Oh, put the light out," snapped Diana. "I really can't stand that
+superior, complacent air of yours any longer."
+
+For answer the elder girl crossed the room and gave her a hug.
+
+"Don't be cross, Di. You know you'll love the atmosphere of adventure
+when you are fairly started. Anyone can go to Norway."
+
+"Adventure! Stuff! Heat and flies and sand, that's all we're in for;
+and uncle in a prosaic, 'I told you so' mood."
+
+"We may see lions when we are trekking."
+
+Diana put her head on one side, like a small, bright-eyed bird. "We
+can see those in the Zoo, beloved."
+
+"Well, and you can see Norway on a cinematograph."
+
+Diana turned away with a low laugh.
+
+"Clean bowled. Good for you, O wise Hypatia! Well, we'll go to this
+heathen land and be horribly uncomfortable for a time, and then we'll
+come back and make things hum in London as they never hummed before.
+Where is Jeanne, I wonder? If I've got to do my own hair for two solid
+months I'll never touch a wisp of it until we go," and she rang the
+bell peremptorily.
+
+Later, for a few moments, Meryl again stood out on the balcony,
+enjoying the June night, and as she looked at the stars she smiled
+softly. She was going back to Africa, after all--her Africa, and
+perhaps Life would give her something big to do yet.
+
+And half unconsciously, though with a sense of pleasurable possession,
+she stood with her eyes to the south.
+
+And away in a distant land, on a high hill, strewn with ruins of an
+ancient, mysterious race, a man stood with his eyes to the north.
+
+A taciturn, difficult, unaccountable man, who baffled the people that
+would fain be friendly with him, and chilled any who showed him
+warmth, and yet was invariably liked and trusted by all who had the
+perspicacity to see beyond the rigid exterior.
+
+Even to-day, though he was mourning his sovereign, he had shown no
+softening of grief to those who beheld him. Rather, if anything, he
+had been more silent, more taciturn, more aloof than ever.
+
+Yet the enfolding night and the quiet stars saw what none others saw.
+They saw the ache in the steady eyes, the compression as of pain on
+the resolute lips, the swift, unusual hunger, sternly suppressed, for
+something that had once been in some old life and was now for ever
+ended.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+WILLIAM VAN HERT
+
+
+They, that is, the Pyms, stayed in Johannesburg before they started on
+their travels. Mr. Pym had built for himself a charming house in the
+Sachsenwald neighbourhood, architectured, of course, by Mr. Herbert
+Baker, and having a lovely view to far blue hills.
+
+Few people who have never seen Johannesburg have the smallest
+conception of the charm of its best suburbs, with their wonderful far
+vistas to a dream country of blue mountains on the horizon. To most it
+suggests little beyond dump-heaps of white powdered quartz, tall
+machinery, tall chimneys, with a town of tramways and offices and
+wealthy people all struggling together for more wealth.
+
+Yet in a few minutes one may leave all this behind, and drive along
+tree-lined roads and avenues to where, probably amidst swaying firs, a
+"stately home" of South Africa is picturesquely standing.
+
+Mr. Pym's house was not of the largest, for he had never been
+ostentatious of his wealth, and much of it was represented by large
+tracts of land, where he generously experimented for the benefit of
+the country. As with several rich South Africans, he had his stud farm
+and his agricultural farm; and both were kept up to a very high
+standard, without any particular consideration for profit and loss.
+But his house in the Sachsenwald neighbourhood had more of charm and
+comfort in it than display. The rooms were very high and airy and well
+ventilated, with artistic colour effects which the girls had achieved,
+and something of an Italian air about it.
+
+Along one side, widening into an embrasure at the middle, where doors
+from the drawing-room and dining-room stood open to it, ran a broad
+tessellated terrace; and from the terrace one looked out over a
+lovely garden, gorgeous with the flaming flowers of South Africa, yet
+softened by velvety turf such as is seldom seen "over there," and can
+only be attained by much consistent care and attention.
+
+It was here the girls loved best to sit: Diana because the prospect
+was fresh and breezy and wide, and, true to her namesake, she loved
+the smell of the firs and the earth; Meryl because of those far blue
+hills which made so fitting a background to the dreamland thoughts
+that filled her mind; and, moreover, Aunt Emily did not particularly
+love light and air, so she usually remained in her own sanctum, and
+Diana was able to enjoy, not one cigarette, but two or three, after
+each meal without the tiresome accompaniment of a disapproving eye.
+
+They reached Johannesburg in the latter half of July, and those people
+who had not already fled from the high winds and driving dust were
+hurriedly preparing to do so. In consequence, few friends were there
+to welcome them on their return, and their plans proceeded apace.
+Diana had a smart khaki knickerbocker suit made, and a wonderful
+broad-brimmed hat with a long feather to go with it. When they
+laughingly told her she was not journeying to an uncivilised country,
+and could not possibly wear such a garb in modern Rhodesia, she merely
+asserted she was going into the wilderness to please them, and in
+return they must put up with her in any sort of garb she chose. In the
+end Meryl was persuaded to have a knickerbocker garb also, though she
+insisted that she would never wear it. Aunt Emily bought yards and
+yards of green and blue muslin, in which she proposed to tie up her
+head. "You must have a particularly ugly helmet, and a pair of smoked
+spectacles, and a butterfly-net as well," said Diana, "and then you
+will look as if you belonged to the British Association."
+
+Her uncle, sitting back silently in his big arm-chair, with the quiet
+twinkle in his keen eyes, remarked, "And you will look like the
+principal boy at a pantomime."
+
+"How heavenly!..." said outspoken Diana, and Aunt Emily raised her
+hands in horror.
+
+It was on one of the last evenings before their final departure that
+William van Hert came from a quiet sea-side place above Durban to see
+them. He was taking a long rest there, after a strenuous parliamentary
+campaign, and only discovered through a belated newspaper that they
+had returned from England, and were contemplating a journey north. He
+immediately took a day's road journey to the nearest railway and
+departed for Johannesburg.
+
+Diana saw him arrive, and executed a remarkable spring into the air,
+finished off with a little kick. "Oh, golly!..." she breathed. "Here's
+Dutch Willy come flying to the arms of his ladylove!"
+
+Meryl looked up with swift, questioning eyes.
+
+"Impossible!... He is down at M'genda."
+
+"A little bird whispered, 'She, the fair one of many millions, has
+returned,' and straightway the thousand white arms of M'genda failed
+to hold him."
+
+"Don't be spiteful, Di. Mr. van Hert cares nothing for anyone's
+millions. You know it well."
+
+"I do; and for that reason he should be kept in a glass case. Still,
+he cares for a fair Englishwoman who has been--well, kind to him."
+
+"He is interesting. Was there any special kindness in letting him know
+that I had the perspicacity to see it?" And they went downstairs
+together to receive him.
+
+William van Hert was at that time one of the most disliked, one of the
+most attractive, and one of the most disturbing men in South Africa.
+Gifted with brains and polish, he was yet, at present, marred by
+bigotry, narrowness of vision, and an unreasonable antipathy to the
+advance of English ways and customs. Furthermore, having obtained for
+himself a considerable following, he was, unfortunately, powerful.
+When genuine efforts were being made to bury the hatchet over the
+racial question, this man had more than once dug it up again; but it
+was not entirely clear at present whether he was actuated by motives
+of misguided patriotism, or whether, like far greater men, he only
+wanted to make himself thoroughly heard in the world first, and when
+that object was satisfactorily attained, he would modify his tendency
+to rabid policies and prove himself a reliable statesman. In the
+meantime he was dangerous.
+
+In England there were many who quite seriously believed the racial
+feud was over. There were others who knew that it was still
+exceedingly bitter. There were others again who said very little, and
+perhaps professed to know very little, but in the quietness of their
+own thoughts pondered deeply and patriotically how a real and sincere
+union, and not a merely public newspaper one, was to be wrought
+between two fine races, so that in true harmony they might bring a
+country of great promise to its day of fulfilment. The men who saw any
+solution in making both languages compulsory were not men of true
+insight; neither were those who retrenched Englishmen in one
+direction, and created new posts for Dutchmen in others. One could but
+suppose these men were content to be patriots, not in a big sense to
+the whole country, but in a limited one to their own countrymen. To be
+patriots of South Africa herself, in her widest sense, seemed too much
+to ask of them. Yet, because of the fine qualities many of these men
+possessed, one could but hope that ere long what was good for South
+Africa would be good for each individual, whether in private life he
+called himself English or Dutch.
+
+That William van Hert was ever a welcome guest in the Pyms' household
+showed that he had many excellent qualities besides his undisputed
+personal attractiveness to counterbalance his obstinate bigotry.
+Otherwise Mr. Pym would not have shown him the friendliness he did;
+for in his quiet way Henry Pym possessed greatness, and everyone
+throughout the land knew that he was of those resolute, reliable few
+who would let all their wealth go before they would pander to any
+government or any party to save it. Meryl talked to him because she
+perceived there was a rough sincerity in the man underneath his
+bigotry, and hoped because he was powerful he would presently expand.
+
+Diana alone crossed swords with him, and though perhaps he did not
+know it, it was no small thing that she thought it worth while.
+
+He stayed to dine with them in a simple, homely manner, and his
+conversation at the table was sparkling and vivacious. He told them
+some excellent stories, concluding with one in very broad Dutch that
+they had great difficulty in following. And then Diana opened fire.
+
+"Such a monstrous, face-distorting language," she remarked coolly. "I
+wonder you don't forbid its use instead of urging it."
+
+The gleam came quickly to her uncle's eye, though he appeared to take
+no heed. It was left to Meryl to frown cautiously, and shake a wise
+head.
+
+"Don't frown at me, Meryl," said the incorrigible. "It's a hideous
+tongue, and he knows it, and what's the good of pretending anything
+else? I don't hold with pretence in anything."
+
+"It is the tongue of my country," van Hert told her, more amused than
+annoyed. "Every true patriot loves his mother tongue."
+
+"O, nonsense!" with a charming insolence. "Meryl and I both have Norse
+blood in us. If you go far enough back we probably are Norse. But
+where would be the sense in our professing to love our country by
+talking her tongue, when it served every reasonable purpose in the
+world better to talk English? You're so one idea'd, you Dutch folk, at
+least some of you," pointedly. "The language and the Bible and your
+early-morning coffee!"
+
+They could not help laughing at her, but van Hert indignantly
+repudiated her charge.
+
+"O well!..." she continued, airily. "You know perfectly well you do
+make a fetish of the Language Question; and that your back-veldt
+followers believe the Bible was written in Dutch for the Dutch race
+alone; and that you start having coffee at daybreak, with relays up to
+breakfast-time. And you don't expect your natives or your women to
+possess such a thing as an individual will. That is a luxury for the
+strong sex only!... It all means just one thing. Out in the back veldt
+you are years and years and years, positive, æons, behind the times;
+and you'd sooner represent a big dam to the progress of the world than
+yield one little silly, rotten cotton prejudice to help it forward. So
+there!..." And having delivered herself of this piece of oration Diana
+got up, pushed her chair back with a jerk, and finished, "I'm going
+out on the terrace. When I think of your back-veldters, and your
+back-veldt policy of suppressing all individualism and all advance, I
+need the company of a few worlds and solar systems to regain my
+equilibrium. No, don't expostulate," as he rose in his eagerness to
+confront her. "I seldom argue. It is not worth while. I merely
+'express an opinion,' having the good fortune to belong to a race in
+which women are permitted such an indulgence," and she threw a
+laughing glance back at him from the window before she stepped out.
+
+Meryl watched her with a swift look of deep affection in her eyes, and
+then glanced at her father. Henry Pym's face was expressionless, but
+his eyes seemed to reply to her unspoken question, and tell her that
+he, too, recognised a little more thoroughly that under the surface
+flippancy and light raillery there was depth. In the meantime, feeling
+she had not been quite fair to her opponent, to go off without
+allowing him to defend himself, he purposely discussed the language
+question a little more openly than was at all his wont with such
+prickly subjects, speaking a few quiet truths in a way that even a
+firebrand like van Hert could not possibly resent. When they joined
+Diana she was sitting on a table, swinging her feet, and singing a new
+music-hall ditty.
+
+"Touching that slander of yours," van Hert began, good-humouredly, for
+few could ever be seriously annoyed with Diana, "I should like to say
+..."
+
+"No, I forbid it," she interrupted. "Arguments bore me. Have you heard
+that little song before that I was singing? It's a ripping little
+ditty. Chain Aunt Emily to the drawing-room sofa and I'll sing it all
+through to you; but if she were to hear it she might faint, and that
+is so tiresome."
+
+He laughed, and sat on the table beside her, and the rabid sectarian
+politician, so given to raising storms and creating scenes in that
+most remarkable of parliaments, the South African Union Assembly,
+forgot his pet injustices and prejudices, and was quickly the
+versatile, virile, engaging social man. Meryl sat a little apart, with
+some dainty crochet-work in her delicate fingers, and though the
+visitor chatted with Diana, his eyes were almost always upon her.
+
+They had purposely put out the electric light after their coffee was
+served, preferring only the lights in the rooms behind them and the
+splendour of the night before. And in the dimness Meryl's fair skin
+gleamed unusually white beside her dusky hair, and the velvety,
+blue-grey eyes, when she looked up, had caught the dreaming darkness
+of the heavens. Only now and then she glanced round. Mostly she sat
+with her eyes on the shadowy darkness and her work in her lap. And the
+Dutchman, gazing, felt with a sort of fierce reluctance that there
+were no women in the world for calmness and strength quite like the
+Englishwomen, nor more delicately, entrancingly fair.
+
+Then, suddenly, Meryl heard her name and looked up.
+
+"Why in the world do you want to go to Rhodesia?" he had said; and
+Diana answered, "I don't know that we do want to go; but Meryl has
+suddenly developed into a violent Imperialist, and we go at her
+desire."
+
+"What to do?" and he asked the question a little sharply of the dark
+eyes now turned to theirs. Quite suddenly and unaccountably he
+resented their going; resented, at any rate, that she, Meryl, should
+go. There had been so much "Rhodesia" of late. Everyone seemed bitten
+with a kind of silly craze for the place. Now it was gold; now it was
+land; now it was union or no union; now it was annexation and "twenty
+pieces of silver"; such a lot of fuss about some square miles of
+wilderness, containing odd outcrops of gold-bearing reef.
+
+"There is nothing worth seeing in Rhodesia, except the Victoria
+Falls," he asserted; "and you can run up there and see all you want to
+and get back in a week!" And still he looked enquiringly at Meryl.
+
+"We want to see the people," she said, half turning. "The pioneers,
+who went first to investigate, the settlers who followed, the women
+who went forward with their husbands into the wilderness."
+
+He got off the table and came and leaned against a verandah-post
+beside her with folded arms, looking down. "But that is what you won't
+see; how should you? You will only see dusty, upstart towns, with
+horrible corrugated-iron hotels, where you will swelter in heat and
+flies and eat abominable tinned stuffs. It is a barren, comfortless
+land at present, with a possibility of being useful some day. They
+want money, energy, brains to develop it thoroughly; and they won't
+accept them when they are offered, because a few stiff-necked
+Englishmen happen to be in power. It is absurd to go there at present.
+You will only get typhoid and malaria, and be excruciatingly
+uncomfortable."
+
+"It sounds a pretty rotten sort of place! What do you and your
+colleagues want it for so badly, anyway?..." asked Diana, throwing her
+head back and narrowing her eyes as she looked at him with a shrewd
+questioning air.
+
+He coloured slightly under the sunburn on his cheeks. "We want a
+United South Africa. Why should one country stand aloof!"
+
+"Meinheer van Hert," said she, coming down from her table and taking a
+step forward to confront him, "for any man with your political views
+to talk about including Rhodesia in the Union solely for the sake of a
+United South Africa and for her own good, is the veriest cant. There's
+gold up there, and perhaps tin; and there's land for farming, and land
+for ranching, and hunting grounds, and a big river. In your United
+South Africa you want your people to be 'top dog' always, and as long
+as Rhodesia stands out there's a menace in the north. That's one
+reason why you want her! Rumour tells us there's a fine race of men up
+there, who don't mean to have any tongue but Cecil Rhodes's tongue
+taught in Cecil Rhodes's country, so it certainly is no place for you!
+You've got to learn more thoroughly what an Englishman means by
+'cricket' before your overtures will be considered; and we're all
+hoping you'll learn it quickly, because we want to be friends, good
+friends, just as soon as ever we can."
+
+He bit his lip and looked angry, but she was already laughing the
+moment's tension aside. "You didn't know I was a politician, did
+you?... As a matter of fact, I'm not!... I'm sick of the whole bag of
+tricks, and the Empire that fills Meryl with heaves and swells isn't
+half so much to me as winning a tennis tournament or a golf
+championship. But when you Hollanders are bursting with pride of place
+and achievement, and offering energy and brains to help Britishers
+along, I just feel as if you'd got to be told a few home-truths for
+your good. Now I'm going to liven the meeting with a little operatic
+music," and she tripped indoors to the piano. Van Hert shrugged his
+shoulders expressively, and then stood silently beside Meryl for some
+moments looking into the night. And as he stood he became conscious of
+a vague sort of dissatisfaction with himself. It was a sensation he
+knew only at rare moments, and those moments were chiefly at the Pyms'
+house. He admired the two cousins more than any women he knew; he
+admired Henry Pym; he loved the homyness of their household; and he
+had to remember that they were English. There must, of course, be many
+others like them. Were there many like them among his own countrymen?
+When Diana told him his people had yet to learn more thoroughly what
+was meant by "cricket" she had hit him hard. He would never have
+admitted it for one moment, but, nevertheless, when he was at the
+Pyms' house he _wondered_.... Densely, stubbornly patriotic to his own
+people and his own tongue he might be, but he had travelled enough to
+recognise certain traits in the English "old public-school boy" which
+it was good for a country there should be in her young men, and which
+were not noticeably present in his countrymen of the back veldt.
+
+Then his eyes rested on Meryl, and all his pulses throbbed with her
+nearness. He had known for many months now that he loved her, yet he
+had never actually told his love. At first there had been a
+disinclination to marry an Englishwoman because of the unbending,
+resolute policy he had identified himself with in the Union
+Parliament. No one spoke of anti-British and anti-Dutch nowadays. It
+was impolitic. But whereas certain men genuinely tried to ease the
+forced situation and meet with fairness and justice upon common
+ground, others still kept the flag of discord in their hands, though
+they hid it under the table, so to speak, and only produced it when,
+as they chose to assert, some pet foible of their countrymen was
+overruled or some indignity threatened.
+
+And of this section in Parliament van Hert was the leader. If he then
+married an Englishwoman, not even South African born, would he not be
+held up to ridicule by his colleagues? And then he would see Meryl
+again, and all his feelings would merge into one great longing for
+her; not for her money--she had been right when she said such a charge
+was unjust, indeed, he almost wished she had been poor--but her quiet
+dignity and calm strength and the exquisite fairness that held all his
+senses.
+
+And as he stood beside her now he hated more and more, without knowing
+why, that she should go to Rhodesia. Whatever he had said to the
+contrary, he knew that there was a romance about that far land that
+might fascinate her. He knew that up there there were some of the
+cream of England's men. "The second son's country," he had heard it
+called, and that meant very often the well-born, high-bred gentleman
+who was not afraid to work, who had never been pampered, and was full
+of the best sportsman's spirit. The man of all others to attract such
+a woman as Meryl Pym. The mere thought of it seemed to fill him with a
+growing alarm, and presently, almost before he knew it, he found
+himself pouring into her ears the story of his love.
+
+Meryl was startled and taken aback. She had known perhaps that he had
+a special liking for her; seen it often in his eyes when he gazed at
+her. But that he should speak now was a little sudden, and she wished
+Diana had not left them alone. She tried to meet his eyes, but
+something a little too ardent in them abashed her, and she looked out
+into the darkness, nervously twisting and untwisting the thread of her
+work.
+
+He saw that she was taken aback, and tried somewhat to curb the eager
+intensity that he felt was unnerving her.
+
+"You are going away up there, and I shall be very anxious about you,"
+he pleaded. "If you would only give me your promise before you go, and
+let me have the right to follow at once if you are ill or anything, it
+would make it so much easier."
+
+She stood up, agitated, still gazing wistfully into the night.
+
+"It is very sudden.... I did not know.... I hardly thought.... Have
+you ... have you ... remembered everything?..."
+
+"That you are English and I am Dutch?... What of it, Meryl?... I may
+call you Meryl, mayn't I?... Are we not both South Africans?..."
+
+He tried to take her hand and draw her to him, but she shrank away and
+he did not urge it.
+
+"Have you remembered it long enough?... Thought it out thoroughly?...
+It all seems somehow so sudden."
+
+"I have known long that I loved you. Does anything else really matter
+if you can love me in return?"
+
+"Ah!..." she breathed and stopped short.
+
+She had liked him long. She had always liked him. Away from his
+politics he was liked by most people. Huguenot blood was in his veins,
+and it showed itself in a French charm of manner that came to him
+naturally when he could get away from that bigoted, narrow obstinacy
+that marred him. She felt he was a man who might be led to many
+things, though driven to none. Because he attracted her she felt she
+half loved the Huguenot side of him already. If only the other side
+did not so insistently repel! Could it perhaps be overruled? Could she
+love him truly enough to hold his love for ever, and through it lead
+him to heights he might never even sight without her? Yet her eyes
+were wistful, gazing out there at the dreaming stars, and her face
+gleamed whiter and whiter.
+
+This was not the love that whispered to her when she looked to the far
+blue hills. This was not the consummation the high stars in far
+infinities told her vaguely might some day bless her life.
+
+And then he pleaded again in low-voiced eagerness, and in distress she
+turned to him. "I'm so sorry. I can't bear to think of perhaps making
+you unhappy. But ... but ... I'm afraid I don't love you in the way
+you want. I hadn't thought about it."
+
+"I have been too sudden." He drew himself up, and his eyes followed
+hers out to the darkness. And a touch of latent nobility seemed to
+come out in him; a quiet dignity like her own that appealed to her
+strongly. "I won't take your answer to-night. I shall come to you
+again when you come back. Perhaps then ... when you have thought
+about it ..." He broke off abruptly. "May I write to you?... Will you
+sometimes write to me?... Perhaps I could follow ..."
+
+They heard steps and voices coming towards them from the drawing-room
+where Diana had wearied of her operas, and in sudden haste he caught
+her hand and raised it to his lips.
+
+"I think I have to thank you for a good deal," he told her a trifle
+huskily. "Men of all nations are better for being admitted to the
+friendship of women like you. If there were anything I could do to
+serve you?..." and he waited for her to speak.
+
+"Serve South Africa," she breathed tensely. "I could ask no more of
+any man."
+
+His hand tightened upon hers.
+
+"Serve her with me. Together we could do so much."
+
+He saw her waver.
+
+"Let me tell you when I come back. Yes ... together we might do so
+much...."
+
+"When you come back ..." he said, and pressed her hand in
+understanding.
+
+Then Diana stepped out of the brightness of the drawing-room.
+
+"How can you two stay sleepily there, looking at the stars like two
+cats, when I am trying to lure you indoors with the latest comic-opera
+music! Meinheer van Hert, Mister Pym says, will you drink with
+him?..."
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE JOURNEY
+
+
+As he had three ladies with him Mr. Pym decided to take a private
+saloon-car, but no saloon in the world could prevent them being nearly
+smothered with the dust through Bechuanaland and Matabeleland in
+August, and while Aunt Emily rent the air with her complainings and
+sufferings, Diana chose to pass disparaging remarks upon the
+long-suffering British Empire, which she considered responsible for
+her journey north. Meryl said nothing, but there was often a wistful
+expression in her eyes as they sighted a lonely farmstead, or stood in
+a little wayside station with perhaps one corrugated-iron building,
+where some white-faced woman looked listlessly at the train. When she
+tried to voice her sympathy with their loneliness, however, Diana
+snapped her up a little impatiently.
+
+"My dear Meryl, you will look at things always in the sentimental
+light. A woman with a husband and child in this freshness and sunshine
+is at least better off than if she were in a city slum, and her man
+probably out of work, and her child dying for want of fresh air."
+
+"But that is not the only alternative!... And in any case to suffer in
+company is almost always easier than to suffer alone."
+
+"But they don't suffer, or, at any rate, they needn't necessarily.
+That is where you are so short-sighted. The average woman wants a
+husband and a child, and I don't see that it matters much whether she
+has them in the wilderness or in a city; the main thing is to have
+them."
+
+"Well, for my part," put in Aunt Emily in an aggrieved voice, "if I
+could only have a man in a cloud of dust I'd sooner never see the
+species again," which tickled Diana hugely and caused her to horrify
+her aunt by adding, "But what an advantage for him never to be able to
+see what you were doing! One could have such high jinks!..." Then,
+changing her voice subtly, she enquired, "Is it too much for you,
+aunty?... I mean the dust and the journey? because there must be such
+very much worse things ahead, and ..."
+
+"That will do, my dear. I can bear it," and her expression of mournful
+resignation tickled Diana more than ever. On the day before they
+reached Bulawayo, however, when hour after hour brought very little
+but scrub and sand, she and her aunt were very nervy and irritable,
+and only Meryl, with her dreams and ideals, continued quietly
+interested. When they reached Bulawayo matters did not improve much,
+because a sand-storm was blowing and it was almost impossible to go
+out. Mr. Pym packed them off to the Victoria Falls as soon as
+possible, and remained behind himself to complete the arrangements for
+his trip. On the further railway journey the dust was worse than ever,
+and utterly out of heart with everything Rhodesian, Aunt Emily retired
+to a suite of rooms at the hotel on their arrival and said she should
+stay there until the cool of the evening.
+
+So Diana and Meryl stood on Danger Point alone, when they took their
+first long look at the amazing cataract of waters. Neither spoke for
+many seconds, and then Diana breathed, "I'm glad Aunt Emily didn't
+come. She would have called it 'lovely' or 'sweet.'"
+
+Meryl laid a sympathetic hand on her arm and murmured, "And you?..."
+
+"One couldn't call it anything. It just _is_." And Meryl with her
+understanding heart pressed her arm in silence.
+
+They walked together through the rain forest, getting drenched with
+spray and hardly noticing it, until they came to the opening near the
+Devil's Cataract at the south end, and sat down to gaze at the
+splendour and wonder outspread.
+
+Then Diana spoke a little in something of an undertone, half to Meryl,
+half to the air:
+
+"A god did it. I don't know which--Jupiter or Pan, or Apollo or
+Hercules--and when they grew tired of the earth and went off to other
+planets, they just left it behind as a child might a castle he has
+built in the sand; and by and by some crabs crawled along and found
+the castle, and sat down and looked at it because it seemed to them
+so wonderful; and by and by some humans found the gods' waterfall,
+crawled up to it, and sat down and wondered. That's all there is to
+do. O, Meryl, I wish I were a goddess and not a worm. The waters are
+mocking us. Don't you hear them?... I just feel as if there were
+something about it all I can't bear."
+
+Meryl smiled a little tender smile. To her Diana in all her moods was
+adorable. In her shy, fierce, tense ones, as now, she was best of all.
+
+"What does it say to you, Meryl?..." the girl went on. "Do you feel as
+if you hated it and worshipped it both together? Hated its remote
+magnificence and devilish cruelty, and worshipped it because you
+couldn't help yourself, either from fear or wonder? I don't know
+which, only I feel ... I feel ... as if I ought to throw over
+something I loved as a sacrifice of propitiation. And it goes on just
+the same--think of it--year after year, century after century, just
+calmly spilling magnificence on the desert air! I believe I'm
+frightened, Meryl. Tell me what it all says to you."
+
+Meryl looked dreamily along the glistening mighty cascades, and then
+spoke softly:
+
+"I feel I'm in the presence of one of the world's biggest things, and
+it is inspiring. You know that sentence of James Lane Allen's, 'When
+one has heard the big things calling, how they call and call, day and
+night, day and night!...' Here they call louder, that is my chief
+feeling. I look at this great natural wonder, and whatever there is in
+me most akin to it swells upward. I feel I must do great things or die
+... be great or not at all. And while I feel like this there is a
+sense of kinship, as if some spirit of the waters understands."
+
+"Perhaps that is why I am afraid," breathed Diana. "I don't care about
+greatness. I don't want to be great. It all seems so unreal. I like
+the sunshine, and flowers, and trees, and birds, and four-footed
+things. I don't want to be bothered with my fellow-creatures; they are
+a nuisance. If they are in difficulties, and can't find a way out for
+themselves, they might just as well go under."
+
+"You heartless little heathen!" affectionately.
+
+The girl brightened suddenly. "Why! it understands, Meryl!... The
+Spirit of the Waters heard me, and now it is laughing. It is great
+enough to understand and appreciate the feelings of both of us. Don't
+you hear the note of revelling now?... Why!... it's all revelling. The
+waters are shrieking with joy. They've come tearing down the Zambesi
+valley for the rapture of plunging over the precipice, and now they
+are just beside themselves with the excitement and delight of it.
+O!... they heard me say I don't care about my fellow-creatures, that
+they are just a nuisance, and they're shouting to me, 'Neither do we
+... neither do we!... Silly, wide-eyed, open-mouthed humans come and
+stare at us, and try to describe us, saying we are lovely and
+wonderful and pretty and such-like, and we just roar at them and their
+puniness and take our glorious plunge.' That is what the waters are
+saying to me now, Meryl. I feel as if I simply must plunge with them.
+Take me away. I can't bear any more to-day." And they went silently
+back through the lovely plantations to the hotel.
+
+But in the evening, in the moonlight, her mood changed again.
+
+"I feel a little like you to-night, Meryl. The big things do matter,
+of course. If I'm such a silly little goat I can't do anything big
+myself, I guess I'll help you whenever it's possible. And, of course,
+even humans matter a little, though I do like dogs and horses so much
+better; but there's something so calm and big and strong about the
+waters to-night, they are telling me all the time that the big things
+matter. O, Meryl, it's so lovely--so lovely--it hurts dreadfully...."
+
+And after a pause: "If it hadn't been for you I should never have
+taken the trouble to come and see it. I won't grouse at the dust any
+more."
+
+And later: "I'm glad there's no sign of a human habitation at hand,
+and that the wilderness is all round. They had to be splendidly
+isolated--magnificently alone--the god who did it understood that. One
+can think of the wide reaches of Africa afterwards, and the gem, like
+a priceless jewel, set in them. Deep silence, wide horizons, untrodden
+country on every hand, and this in the midst like a treasure tenderly
+enfolded."
+
+After three days they returned to Bulawayo, and found their pilot
+impatient to be off. He unfolded his plans, and the two girls listened
+eagerly when he said:
+
+"I am told there is every indication of gold in the Victoria district,
+and my engineer is anxious I should journey down there and see one or
+two properties. The railway does not extend beyond Selukwe, so if we
+go we must take a travelling ambulance and tents and sleep out in them
+for three or four weeks. I think there is a pretty good hotel in
+Edwardstown, where you could remain if you like while I travel round,
+and then we might all journey to Salisbury up the old pioneer route."
+
+The girls were delighted, but Aunt Emily's mournful resignation had
+reached its limit. She informed them, in a voice which implied, no
+matter how they pleaded with her, she should remain firm, that nothing
+would induce her to accompany them upon such a journey.
+
+Her brother said quietly, "Just as you like, Emily. I think I can take
+care of the girls. Will you stay in Bulawayo, or go back to
+Johannesburg?"
+
+Aunt Emily's face wore rather a reproachful expression as she replied,
+"I suppose I had better return to Johannesburg, and then if any of you
+get ill with malaria or typhoid, you must wire for me and I will come
+back."
+
+"You were very good to come so far," said Meryl gently, seeing the
+veiled disappointment that they could dispense with her so easily.
+
+"If it is any consolation," volunteered Diana, "you may be quite sure
+we are all going to be most horribly uncomfortable for the next month
+or two. The only illness I anticipate is an utter and complete
+weariness of life. I don't know which sounds the most dreadful: being
+bumped along dusty roads in an ambulance, and sleeping with snakes and
+toads under a tent; or being stifled in an odious little
+corrugated-iron hotel, living on poisonous tinned stuffs in a
+perpetual odour of stale roast nigger. If I am going to endure it for
+my country, I hope my country will give me the only fitting
+reward--the Victoria Cross."
+
+"Perhaps we needn't stay in the hotel," said Meryl hopefully. "We can
+probably camp out. Surely the wonderful old ruins are somewhere near
+Edwardstown, father? How splendid if we could camp beside them!..."
+
+"Quite near. We will certainly go and see them. They tell me there is
+a police camp there, and at this time of the year it is quite
+healthy."
+
+"But how glorious!..." cried Meryl. "I had no idea you were going in
+their direction."
+
+"I meant to if possible," her father said; and so the trip was decided
+upon.
+
+Three days later the cavalcade started off from Gwelo with great
+_éclat_. Two ambulances: one containing the two girls, a driver, a
+fore-looper, and a small black boy named Gelungwa, who was everything
+from ladies' maid to general adviser; and the other containing Mr.
+Pym, his engineer, driver, fore-looper, and the engineer's black
+cook-boy, who proved himself an invaluable asset.
+
+Each ambulance was drawn by eight mules, and carried its share of the
+paraphernalia necessary to a long sojourn in the wilderness, and being
+thoroughly well equipped, they had decided to dispense with any
+further railway service until they reached Salisbury.
+
+They started from Gwelo, with its wide, tree-lined roads, in the
+freshness of the morning, and leaving the surrounding bare,
+uninteresting common quickly behind, dived straightway into a track of
+Rhodesia that is like a vast, undulating park. The red road wound
+across a wide, breezy stretch of veldt to wooded hills and valleys,
+and beyond this was an enchanting vista of dreaming blue kopjes on a
+far horizon. Even Diana found nothing to grumble at. Like Meryl, her
+eyes rested often on that dreaming distance, and the unique charm of a
+journey into the unknown, independent of railways and hotels, held her
+senses. When two graceful buck sprang up in the grass near them, stood
+a moment to investigate, and then fled away, leaping and bounding to
+safety, she drew a deep breath of delight.
+
+"Di, it's going to be a glorious trip!" Meryl exclaimed in low-voiced
+ecstasy.
+
+Diana paused before she remarked in answer:
+
+"It seems so natural somehow, to be journeying out to an unknown
+bourne in this primitive fashion. I wonder if, in another existence, I
+was one of the wives or handmaidens in Abraham's caravanserai? Perhaps
+I was his favourite concubine!... How interesting!... I'm sure I've
+journeyed like this into a far land before."
+
+And again:
+
+"How jolly to have two drivers who don't understand a word we say,
+instead of a chauffeur who is all ears and an Aunt Emily who is all
+prejudices!"
+
+"Still," said Meryl, "you couldn't very well have a coachman in
+England wearing a sky-blue felt hat that was obviously meant for a
+lady, and with a large blue patch upon brown trousers."
+
+"He's just a dear," was Diana's laughing comment. "I love his awful
+solemnity. He's like a Hindoo idol. And what luck to have a side wind
+instead of a forward one!"
+
+At twelve they stayed in a welcome piece of shade for their first
+veldt meal. Lounge-chairs were untied for them to rest in, and an
+excellent little repast prepared by the cook-boy, while the small
+black imp waited upon them like a trained butler. Then they dozed
+through the hot midday hours, continuing their journey to those
+alluring blue distances after all were rested, until they reached the
+first night's camping place and pitched their tents near a rippling
+river--as Diana described it, "all mixed up with stars, and dreams,
+and niggers, and kopjes, and mules."
+
+For a week they journeyed on, each day seeming lovelier than the last,
+and the dreaming repose of a great content hovered over all of them.
+There was no need for haste and none was made. There was no pitiless
+urging of tired mules as in the post-cart; no shouting natives, no
+hurried pauses for a snatched rest. The mules jogged contentedly
+along, realising they were in good hands, and always through the
+midday hours everyone lazed. An early spring had brought many young
+leaves out, although it was still August, and these were often
+beautiful shades of red, bronze, orange, scarlet, gold, and
+emerald-green, beyond or through which blue kopjes took on a yet more
+dream-like, ethereal air. Sometimes the red road wound along through
+woods of loveliest colouring, carpeted already with spring flowers.
+Sometimes it ran out into open spaces where the trees stood back in
+line, revealing wonderful glimpses of the fascinating land to their
+eager gaze.
+
+Strange, fantastical, granite kopjes like mighty mausoleums adorned
+with ilex trees barred their path, and Diana was convinced some of
+the bones of her ancestors lay buried there, because she felt so
+weirdly at home with them.
+
+"This is my natural environment," she informed her uncle and the
+engineer. "I ought to be dwelling here in state, as the favourite wife
+of the greatest chief in the land."
+
+Meryl grew dreamier with every day, though sometimes her eyes were sad
+as she looked out over the country, as if she already loved it with a
+love that was akin to pain.
+
+Had he, that great Imperialist, looked at it with those calm eyes of
+his, and known just that sense of aching love?... When he journeyed
+out into its enchanting untrodden spaces, accompanied only by some
+kindred spirit, had the land risen up and enslaved and enfolded him,
+like some enchantress who bound men's souls for ever?... Had Rhodesia,
+in her sunny loveliness, been wife and child to the great man who went
+lonely to his grave?...
+
+As they drove along and the fascination increased, far outweighing any
+discomfort of glare and dust and jolting roads, Meryl felt herself
+engraving the sight and the sound and the freshness of it upon her
+soul, that she might have hidden pictures to gaze upon with closed
+eyes when the exigencies of life called her back into the throng.
+
+Her father was mostly silent as was his wont, planning and scheming
+with a brain that knew little other rest than following its natural
+bent, yet with that in his silence, and in his watchful eyes that made
+one feel he too loved the land for itself, as well as for what he
+could get out of it; and that when occasion came, like Alfred Beit and
+Cecil Rhodes, he would pay his debt a hundredfold.
+
+So they came at last to the wide, open veldt where Edwardstown was
+situated, and knew themselves in the district teeming with pioneer
+memories.
+
+Meryl and Diana descended reluctantly at the hotel, and looked round
+disparagingly at their little hot bedroom, thinking regretfully of
+their tent in the wilderness.
+
+"How awful," said Diana, "if we find ourselves never able to exist in
+an ordinary house again! We shall have to pitch two tents in Hyde
+Park. Ugh!... it positively smells of walls and doors and windows;
+how I hate them!"
+
+"We'll go on to Zimbabwe to-morrow and camp beside the ruins,"
+answered Meryl. "How splendid to be going there so soon!"
+
+"Ruins are not much in my line," quoth the outspoken. "Let's hope
+there'll be a man there as well."
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+CAREW IS DISTURBED
+
+
+The news that the millionaire Henry Pym with his daughter and a niece
+were journeying to Great Zimbabwe reached the police camp first
+through a letter from the Administration to Major Carew, requesting
+him to have the long, disfiguring dry grass burnt, and the
+surroundings of the temple tidied up a little, and to show every
+attention to the travellers. When he received the letter it was
+obvious at once that the information did not give him any pleasure. On
+the contrary, his expression as nearly approached a frown as he was
+likely to permit it on receiving orders from headquarters. He had
+opened the letter standing outside his hut, where it had been handed
+to him by the native runner, and Stanley was reading a newspaper near,
+while Moore affectionately handled an antediluvian gun he was thinking
+of buying from a prospector.
+
+Stanley glanced up, wondering what letters had come, and saw the
+hovering frown.
+
+"Any news, sir?" he asked frankly, for he was no longer in awe of his
+silent chief. As a matter of fact, he never had been to any degree.
+The Kid would have found it difficult to be in awe of anyone, but for
+a few days Carew had baffled him.
+
+"Henry Pym, you've probably heard of him, is likely to arrive here in
+a few days."
+
+Stanley opened his eyes a little. "What! the millionaire?... Good biz!
+We'll rook him at poker and bridge and shooting, and a few other
+things. It isn't right for him to have all that money. It would even
+things up a little if we could transfer some of it to poor, penniless
+policemen."
+
+"He is accompanied by his daughter and a niece," said Carew in even
+tones.
+
+"Lord love a holy duck!..." exclaimed the young policeman, and was
+fairly astonished on to his feet. "Coming here, sir?... Coming here to
+Zimbabwe?"
+
+"So the letter says. It also adds that they may wish to camp near, and
+they are to be shown every attention."
+
+"_They shall be_ ..." quoth The Kid, so comically that even Carew's
+lips relaxed. "I suppose the letter doesn't specify the attention?...
+Christopher Columbus!... Great Scott!... Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!...
+To think of two millionaires' daughters all at once in this benighted,
+thirsty land!... It fairly catches me in the breath," and he sat down
+again suddenly as if the news was too much for him.
+
+"By gad, Moore!... do you hear that?... a bloated millionaire and two
+millionairesses are about to descend upon us from the skies. Talk of
+manna and blessings coming down from heaven!... Give me
+millionairesses!..."
+
+The Irishman looked up with a knowing smile. "Shure!" said he, "give
+me whisky...."
+
+"Begorra, Pat!" laughed The Kid. "If you got the heiress you could
+swim in whisky." Then he looked again at Major Carew and observed the
+suggestion of a frown still on his face while he stood with the letter
+in his hand.
+
+"Heiresses are seemingly not much in your line, sir?" he suggested
+humorously. "You ... well, you don't quite look overjoyed!..."
+
+Carew in his quiet way had grown fond of the gay young trooper, and he
+showed no offence at the attitude of familiarity.
+
+"We shall have to consider a good camping-place for them, and probably
+give up two huts to the ladies. I gather they may be here in two or
+three days. Is the grass dry enough to burn to-night?"
+
+The Kid glanced round doubtfully. "Hardly; and the place won't look
+well all black."
+
+"That's why I thought we had better begin at once. If they are some
+days the ash will have had time to blow away. Arrange for a gang of
+boys to be ready at six o'clock, and we will light up and see what we
+can do."
+
+In the hut he tossed the letter down on to his table. "Confound
+it!..." he said under his breath. "Fancy women down here, staring and
+chattering, and prying! I suppose they will expect the entire police
+force in the neighbourhood to be at their disposal, and nothing else
+will matter at all." His face grew more and more gloomy. "If I had
+only started to M'rekwas yesterday, I could have been absent a
+fortnight, and by then they would have departed again." He stood a
+moment considering if he could start at once, and decided, as the
+letter was sent specially to him, he could hardly leave before
+carrying out his instructions.
+
+Stanley and the other trooper meanwhile made hurried preparations for
+a great fire. They lit up in the evening, having stationed boys at
+intervals to keep the flames within bounds, and themselves stood
+posted with their guns, hoping for a shot at wild pig or cheetah, or
+possibly a lion or leopard. Carew kept guard at the huts, with a few
+boys to beat off the flames that encroached to any danger points and
+watch for flying sparks that might ignite the thatch. It was a
+wonderful sight, and his eyes were full of appreciation as he watched
+it. The gathering darkness, the lurid flames lighting up with swift
+brightness the ancient ruins; the high Acropolis Hill on one side, the
+low granite-strewn kopjes on the other, and running between the Valley
+of Ruins, now a vale of fire.
+
+It crossed his mind that it was almost a pity they had not left the
+burning of the grass until the travellers arrived, that they might see
+the strange, fantastic sight. But he cogitated that the millionaires
+he had known hitherto had little appreciation for much beyond
+money-making, and no doubt they were merely taking a passing glimpse
+at the ruins; the man on some money-making quest, and the girls just
+to be able to say they had seen them. His eyes rested on the temple
+wall, and he felt suddenly absurdly resentful that these rich
+pleasure-seekers should come even there to gape and stare. He had
+grown to love the ruins dearly, until that moment he had scarcely
+known how dearly, and to him it seemed for the moment like showing
+some treasured personal relics to barbarians.
+
+There were so many other things for the pleasure-seekers. Let them go
+to the Falls, and Lake Nyassa, and the Himalayas, and those tourist
+treasures; but why come and chatter inane banalities about his ruins:
+his treasured, mysterious relic of perhaps the oldest civilisation
+the world has known?
+
+Of course, he knew perfectly that much controversy had raged round the
+question, and that one or two learned scientists had definitely stated
+their belief that the ruins were of comparatively recent date, and
+deduced more or less convincing proofs in support of their theory; but
+controversies and carefully worded reports were small things to the
+man who had dwelt beside the mysterious temples and fortifications,
+and learnt to love and treasure them. He had his proofs too and his
+deductions, and such as they were they satisfied him, in the face of
+all opposition, that the curious remains were indeed of great
+antiquity, quite probably the ancient Havilah of the Scriptures. To
+him every nook and every corner had its meaning and its history. In
+the play of his fancy he had seen the white-robed priests and acolytes
+in stately procession, amid the old, old walls; heard strains of
+far-off music when an ancient worship offered its votary of prayer and
+praise to that mysterious deity whom they believed in; heard perhaps a
+single lovely voice, or seen a single lovely convert kneel before the
+Sacred Enclosure. He had seen their strong men and their brave men and
+their great men marshalling a host of women and children and infirm
+citizens safely into the fastnesses of the Acropolis Hill, where, with
+a sufficient supply of food and water, three thousand people might be
+safely shielded for any length of time. He had seen them stand on the
+high battlements, and look out across the plain or into the rock-hewn
+kopjes for the hosts of the enemy. He had seen them, even when
+besieged upon that mighty hill, assembling together to worship in the
+temples they had laboriously raised upon the giant granite ledges.
+Were they fair, those women of that old, old day? Were they brave,
+were they mighty in stature, those men who evolved and achieved those
+wonderful defence works? Did they love the fair land that fed them
+with the love of home and country, or were they but sojourners for a
+while amid unfriendly, cruel tribes, that needed watchful eyes day and
+night? Led perhaps by a spirit of adventure, or by persecution
+elsewhere, or by the lust of gold, yet faithful always to the worship
+of their race, and building at infinite, incomprehensible pains those
+temples in the alien land. How they held him; how they fascinated; how
+they soothed with infinite soothing the bitter sorrow, the gaping,
+stinging wound that had driven him furiously away, all those years
+before, from the flesh-pots of a modern Babylon! Had he cared for it
+all very much then?... He wondered, looking full and deep into his
+hidden memories. Had the lights and the music, the song and dance, the
+laughing women and reckless men, the midnight orgies and morning
+headaches, really given him so much pleasure that he must needs fling
+it all aside with such bitter anger and harsh regret when the
+thunderbolt fell and the searching dart stabbed him awake? Outraged,
+hurt-maddened, he had flung away, as he believed, to outer darkness,
+and to a joyless, purposeless, colourless life. And he had found?...
+
+Ah!... when he looked at the ancient, mysterious ruins he had grown to
+love, and around upon a country that was life-hope and life-interest
+to him, he knew that it was the other life which had been purposeless,
+and all of one colour, and the self-chosen exile that had given him
+the things it is good to live and breathe and die for.
+
+And thinking of it all, with that shy softness which sometimes stole,
+as it were, stealthily into his strong face in moments of dreaming
+thought, he remembered with growing regret the advent of the party for
+which he was bidden to make preparations, and resented it yet more
+forcibly. Why need they come?... these women ... these spoiled,
+flattered, perhaps vulgar, heiresses. What did they want with ancient
+rites and wonderful relics of antiquities? What were they doing in
+Rhodesia at all, flaunting their finery and their possessions before
+the eyes of the hardy settlers and the plucky women who shared their
+difficulties and disappointments? In a young, struggling country what
+place was there for the idly, gracefully rich?
+
+In his goaded fancy he saw their elegant, costly garments, and he
+heard strident voices exclaiming shrilly at his treasure, perhaps
+calling it an interesting heap of stones. Was there still time to get
+away, he wondered? Could a sudden call be arranged?... a sudden need
+for hasty departure?...
+
+Let The Kid laugh the hours away with them, and take his fill of gay
+companionship; and let him return when the siege was over, and the
+soothing and the restfulness and the splendour had come back.
+
+Wondering still, and with the sore regretfulness growing, he looked
+round to make sure all was safe, and that no further danger need be
+feared from blowing sparks or creeping flames; and then went gravely
+into his hut to read.
+
+The next morning he told Stanley that he might be obliged to go east
+the following day on important business, and leave him to receive the
+travellers, and remained imperturbably grave and non-seeing when
+Stanley raised his eyebrows and regarded him with a little amused
+twinkle of understanding.
+
+But in the afternoon the party quite unexpectedly turned up, and
+somewhere away in the blue, dreaming kopjes the voice of a following
+fate laughed softly.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+TWO UNEXPECTED MEETINGS
+
+
+Early in the afternoon Carew rode to the mission station to tell Ailsa
+Grenville and her husband of the expected visitors, and of how he was
+likely to depart in the morning for M'rekwas and be away about a
+fortnight.
+
+Ailsa Grenville smiled at him archly when he told her. "Why do you run
+away when, for once in a way, you have the chance of a little
+companionship? It would do you more good to stay."
+
+"I think not; and besides," he added, hastily, "I am going on
+business."
+
+"A convenient sort of business, I fancy. Why not wait and see them
+first?"
+
+"Well, I could hardly go away immediately after their arrival, when
+Mr. Pym probably knows of the letter despatched to me from
+headquarters. It is far simpler to send a runner back with excuses."
+
+"But why go at all?" in a persuasive voice.
+
+Carew walked to the door and knocked the ashes out of his pipe against
+the heel of his boot; and Ailsa knew by his face that, though he did
+not resent her questioning, he would take no notice of it. And it made
+her a little sad, for of all the men she knew, next to Billy, her
+husband, she admired Carew, and she regretted deeply his insistent
+determination to stand aloof from mankind generally behind the
+barriers he had built up.
+
+Then Billy himself came in: khaki-clad, vigorous, and gay as ever; and
+when he heard the news he was less reticent, and exclaimed outright,
+"But what do you want to go away for? Why, it will be quite a treat
+for you to have ladies there; and who knows, one of the heiresses may
+be very charming--charming enough even for your fastidious taste!"
+
+"I prefer the company of the veldt," was all he said, without relaxing
+the fixity of his face; "ladies are more in Stanley's line."
+
+"The Kid must be awfully pleased," Ailsa said, smiling. "I'm sure he
+isn't going away."
+
+Carew, lying back in a big chair, was leisurely lighting his pipe, and
+he did not reply. All his attitude showed only cold indifference, and
+it would have been difficult to believe that, even in his heart, he
+had taken the trouble to be resentful. Ailsa, watching, felt a little
+impatient with him. She wanted to break through the shell in which he
+chose to hide that self which her instinct told her was so different
+to his outward seeming. What had become of the gay Londoner, who drove
+the smartest four-in-hand in the park, and rode the fastest horse to
+hounds? She longed to write home and ask her people of his story, but
+bitter things had been said when she elected to go into exile with her
+husband, and there had been almost no correspondence since. And Billy
+had been away in South Africa at the time of the crash and heard
+nothing about it. All he could tell her was that Carew of the Blues
+had been known as one of the gayest of the gay fifteen years or so
+ago, and that suddenly he had seemed to vanish off the face of the
+earth; and that Carew of the B.S.A.P. was the same man, only
+different, and he must be over forty years of age. So she had to
+content herself as well as she could, and be glad that, at any rate,
+while he remained in the Victoria district, they could have his
+companionship, though he chose to keep his own counsel as to why he
+was there.
+
+At first she had been rather afraid of him, and felt shy and awkward
+when he came to see them; but Billy's attitude of jovial good
+fellowship, in no way repulsed by the other's cold reserve, had helped
+to reassure her, and now they both appeared unconscious of any lack of
+warmth in their visitor. If he liked to be silent he could, and if he
+seemed in a taciturn mood they took no notice.
+
+When he called for his horse to return he said good-bye to her before
+mounting, and spoke of not coming again for a fortnight, and she
+watched him ride away regretfully. Evidently he did not mean to be
+sociable, even to the lady travellers, and it was no use hoping
+anything for him.
+
+In the meantime, the first ambulance, containing Meryl and Diana,
+arrived at the ruins. Mr. Pym was detained in Edwardstown with his
+engineer, and might not join them until the next day, but the girls
+begged him to let them go on, longing to be out in the open again,
+away from hotels and bungalows.
+
+So a police-boy from the town camp was sent on to escort them, and the
+Zimbabwe camp notified by runner of their approach. Stanley opened the
+letter in the absence of his chief, and much to his own delectation,
+was waiting alone to receive them upon the chosen camping-ground on
+their arrival. Diana saw him first, and remarked joyfully that he was
+white.
+
+"Hooroosh!..." said she, "there's a man as well as ruins." And a
+little later, "I'm afraid he's only a boy, but he looks a nice boy,
+and there are occasions when the 'half a loaf' proverb applies to
+'half a man.'"
+
+Then he helped her out of the ambulance after receiving them with a
+grave salute, and regretted that, in the absence of Major Carew, there
+was no one but himself to receive them. He was evidently a trifle shy
+and embarrassed, stammering a little as he offered his services to
+superintend the pitching of their camp, with eyes that would wander
+from the elder cousin to Diana's small, impish, alluring face.
+
+"Have some tea with us first," said she. "We've already acquired a few
+Rhodesian vices, such as an unlimited capacity for tea-drinking, and
+Gelungwa can make quite a decent apology for the beverage which cheers
+but not inebriates."
+
+They sat down, and laughed and chatted together until the kettle
+boiled, and before the tea was finished The Kid had fallen in love
+with both, and was congratulating himself that Carew had taken that
+afternoon ride. Then the girls said they would ramble while their tent
+was pitched, but disagreed as to which direction they would take
+first. Meryl had left her little guide-book with her father, and
+wanted to postpone the temple until she had it. Diana said it was too
+hot to attempt the Acropolis Hill. In the end they separated. Meryl
+strolled towards the Acropolis and Diana sought the cool shadiness of
+the temple.
+
+About the same time Carew started his homeward ride, and when he
+reached the base of the Acropolis Hill he gave his horse to the runner
+who had gone with him to carry some books for Ailsa Grenville, and
+climbed a little way into the hill to remark a point of investigation
+he had been discussing with Grenville; and, quite suddenly, round a
+sharp piece of masonry, he came upon Meryl Pym. She wore a large,
+shady hat, and she was standing quite still, gazing across the
+country. For a moment Carew stood quite still also. It was odd that
+she had not heard his steps upon the rough footpath, but apparently
+she was too absorbed to hear anything at all. He was exceedingly
+relieved and drew aside stealthily, prepared to return quickly the way
+he had come. But before he started he glanced once more, for something
+in her quiet pose struck oddly upon his heart. She looked very slim
+and graceful and girlish in a simple washing frock of some soft grey
+material, with little Quakerish cuffs and collar, and the big, shady
+hat tied on with a ribbon. And all in a moment he was transported
+years before, and there was a Devonshire wood, and a slim lassie, and
+little Quakerish cuffs and collar, and eyes that watched and
+waited--watched and waited for him.
+
+And then....
+
+No, not even in thought would he dwell again upon what followed. It
+was a weakness he had fought down. A weakness that even now, given
+rein, could unman him. The quick light vanished from his eyes, the
+mouth grew stern again, and he turned to descend.
+
+At the same moment Meryl turned also and came towards his
+hiding-place. He had just time to step further back and take shelter
+behind a low, bushy tree, which would hardly reveal his khaki, before
+she passed. And just in front of him she raised her head and glanced
+upwards, so that he saw her eyes, and for a moment his pulses seemed
+to stop beating. If her pose had reminded him of someone it was as
+nothing compared to her face with that upward glance. The delicate
+contour, the fine features, the wistful, dreamy, quiet eyes. Were they
+blue, or were they grey?... How came they with long, dark, curling
+lashes when her hair was a dusky, light shade, with soft waves and
+gleams of sunlight? In his hiding-place he stood very still and very
+rigid. For a moment he might have been part of the rock behind him.
+Then she passed on up the steep ascent, and he came out and retraced
+his steps, feeling a little dazed.
+
+Who could she be?... But, of course, the party must have arrived
+unexpectedly: had not remained in Edwardstown as they intended. And she
+was one of the heiresses--one of the flaunting, gaping, vulgar,
+dressed-up young women he had been secretly so resentful over. And, of
+course, she was none of these. Then suddenly he almost laughed; almost
+laughed aloud. For she was worse--far, far worse. The gushing,
+loud-voiced heiress he might have coped with. His frigidity froze most
+people if he chose; and avoidance was not difficult. But what could he do
+with Joan--his love, his dead love Joan--looking at him out of this
+girl's beautiful eyes, touching him with this girl's slender hands,
+speaking to him from this stranger's lips? It was impossible--impossible;
+all the careful training of that fifteen years in exile would be undone.
+His very life would be undermined again. For the moment it seemed
+incredible, preposterous. He felt stunned by it.
+
+Then his rigid self-control came to his aid, and his face grew stern
+and hard.
+
+The preposterous thing was that he should let a chance resemblance hit
+him so; should even admit the possibility of being undone after all
+his careful self-training. No, a thousand times no; he was not such a
+weak fool as that. The strength he had won was his still. He had only
+to go on being resolute and cold and the past would lie down again,
+and once more go quietly to sleep.
+
+He defied it to overcome him now. By every agonised pang, by every
+hour of unfathomable bitterness, by every solitary year of self-chosen
+exile, he insisted that he must prevail. He strode on, scarcely seeing
+anything about him, and his face grew sterner and sterner. Then he
+came within sight of the camping-place, and saw the white tent, and
+Stanley giving directions, while Moore and some black boys unpacked
+things from the ambulance.
+
+And he thought he would get more complete control of himself before he
+joined them; take this thing fairly by the throat and throttle it,
+that he might regain his peace of mind absolutely before the second
+encounter with the owner of the face and form that seemed for a moment
+to have made an upheaval in his life. So he turned aside and made for
+the temple, feeling glad and relieved at the consciousness that the
+mood was passing, and reassured that, being no more taken by surprise,
+he would successfully master it. Probably he could still go away on
+the morrow, and once away, Rhodesia would take him to her heart again.
+He knew it full well. Every day now the country was giving back to him
+of what he had given to her; lulling him, soothing him, revivifying
+him with her freshness and her charm.
+
+But his mind was very occupied still and his vision clouded as he
+passed into the cool shade of the temple, and he did not see a small,
+dainty person with an impish face perched high on a broken wall, with
+her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands, and a queer,
+fitful, half-serious, half-bored expression in her dark eyes. Instead,
+seeing no one and thinking himself alone, he sat down on a low wall
+quite near to her and stared gloomily at the ground. Diana, not a
+little amused, surveyed him at her leisure. "What in the world," she
+wondered, "was this smart, soldierly looking man, correctly booted and
+spurred, sitting down there for in the ruins?..."
+
+The great temple at Zimbabwe has never been roofed. The ruins consist
+of a wonderful outer wall, from twenty-two to thirty-two feet high and
+in some places fifteen feet thick, of an elongated shape, and within
+this wall are remnants of other walls which formed separate small
+enclosures. There is also the sacred enclosure with the conical tower,
+and leading into it from the north entrance the wonderfully contrived
+passage, between two high walls, scarcely more than a shoulder's
+breadth apart in one place. Amid the ruins trees have grown up, many
+of them higher than the outer wall, and these shade the glare of the
+sun, casting cool shadows and networks of sunlight upon the broken
+walls. And on the afternoon in question here and there were splashes
+of brilliant scarlet, where a Kaffir Boom tree flowered with a
+flaunting indifference to the passing of centuries and races.
+
+Diana, with her whimsical, artistic temperament, was fully alive to
+the fascination and uniqueness of her surroundings, but being a little
+tired with the drive, she felt for the moment somewhat impatient with
+ruins generally, and just a shade depressed with a certain air of dead
+forlornness that hovered all around. Then into the midst of this dream
+of antiquity strode a stern, fierce-looking, very up-to-date
+sportsman, who sat, for no conceivable reason, on a broken wall and
+stared at the ground. For one moment her sense of the ludicrous made
+her almost laugh aloud. Then, with sudden, upleaping interest, she sat
+still as a mouse and watched him. Once she half smiled to herself.
+There was a man, then, as well as a boy! She was not going to be
+entirely stifled in ruins, after all! She went on with her
+cogitations, staring hard, her head a little to one side. A real man,
+too, with a lean, brown face, and a square, determined chin, and a
+nose quite Roman enough to suit any novelist, and dark hair a little
+thin on the top and a little grey at the temples. She could not be
+sure if he were a soldier or not, but evidently he had been riding,
+for he still carried a hunting-crop; and also, judging by his face and
+attitude, something was considerably on his mind.
+
+Without the slightest movement she sat on and waited; and that was
+exceedingly characteristic of Diana. Where another girl would have
+felt embarrassed and made some sound to relieve the tension, she
+almost held her breath to retain it. The situation was unique. In a
+life that offered deplorably little of novelty and adventure she would
+not for worlds have thrown away such a chance. Meryl, on the other
+hand, would probably not have felt the tension; she would have quietly
+walked past him out at the entrance. Diana felt the atmosphere of the
+footlights and calmly waited.
+
+And, of course, in the end, vaguely conscious of some disturbing, not
+quite accountable element, Carew looked up straight into her eyes.
+
+Diana looked straight back and tried hard to keep her lips from
+twitching. She noticed pleasurably that he did not start; that he
+scarcely even showed surprise. Such a man, she felt, would not. Yet
+the very fact that for several seconds he remained perfectly still,
+staring at her, showed that he was quite satisfactorily astounded.
+Then he stood up, and waited a moment as if he expected her to speak.
+She thought he might have smiled. The hero on the stage, of course,
+would smile--divinely--and a blush like a tender dawn would overspread
+the heroine's rose-leaf cheeks.
+
+But he did not smile; to be honest, he looked excessively annoyed, and
+no tender blush of any sort could possibly have shown upon her
+sunburnt face.
+
+Still, she did not intend to flinch, and if the mischievous smile
+lurking at the corners of her mouth died away, she still regarded him
+with a calmness equal to his own, and with the impishness quite
+emphatically still in her eyes. Then suddenly she felt as if there had
+been some invisible sword-play between them. Her instinct told her he
+resented her silent watching, and that his cool, collected front now
+and his silence were the expression of his resentment. It was not in
+the least like a fairy story, of course; here was the prince, surly,
+stony, and bearish, and the princess, red and brown with sunburn, on
+the point of being caught at a disadvantage. But there Diana's native
+wits came to her aid, and she did a clever thing.
+
+"Would you mind helping me down?" she asked, sweetly. "I climbed up
+here to get a good view of the interior, and when I try to descend the
+stones slip so, I am nervous. I did not like to disturb you before,"
+she finished, unabashed and unblushing, but carefully lowering her
+eyes a moment.
+
+He stepped forward at once and reached his hand up to her, and she saw
+that his keen eyes were of that intense clear blue seen in so many
+strong, notable men, but that they looked at her in a cold, aloof
+manner which made her feel rather small and childish. "Surely," she
+thought, "he is not genuinely angry just because I did not tell him I
+was there?" Aloud she said:
+
+"Thank you," and placed her hand quite calmly in the strong, inviting
+brown one upheld to her.
+
+Then, taken with a fit of devilry out of growing exasperation, she
+added, "I'm not the daughter, I'm the niece."
+
+"Miss Pym, I presume," he said, coldly, and bowed to her.
+
+"Miss Diana Pym," she replied, and slightly inclined her head.
+
+"My name is Carew," he told her, with bluntness.
+
+"And are you ... er ... a scientist, evolving a theory about the
+ruins?"
+
+"I am a policeman." He said it brusquely, almost rudely, and Diana was
+taken with a sudden desperate inclination to laugh. All in a moment he
+reminded her forcibly of the uniformed autocrat holding up one lordly
+hand to stop the traffic. She moved towards the entrance, keeping her
+face averted. "The same sort of policeman as Mr. Stanley, I suppose?"
+she suggested, affably, but he seemed not to hear her, and a covert
+glance at his face was not reassuring. But the mere fact only spurred
+her on. If she was silent he might think he had overawed her.
+Goodness! how appalling! She quickened her step, and tossed her small
+head a little with a kind of challenging jerk.
+
+"I rather like your ruin," she said. "It's quite a nice old heap of
+stones."
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+THE BEAR
+
+
+Once more Carew vouchsafed no reply, but Diana knew perfectly well
+that his lips tightened slightly, which signified that in some way she
+had hit him.
+
+So pretending to be perfectly unaware of his non-responsive attitude,
+she ran airily on:
+
+"Such a mad idea to travel hundreds of miles to see a few old remains
+of a doubtful edifice, built by Bantus! or is the plural Bantams?...
+I'm sure when you heard we were coming you wondered if you had better
+prepare a dwelling for us with padded walls. Now, didn't you?..." and
+she looked up archly into his face.
+
+"I understood Mr. Pym had come to this neighbourhood about some gold
+claims," in cold, even tones.
+
+"Yes, so he has. But we haven't; at least Meryl hasn't. She came to
+see Rhodesia. I don't quite know what I've come for," naïvely. "I was
+just wondering about it sitting on that wall." And still he refused to
+be drawn. "You were looking very grave. Were you wondering what you
+are here for too?"
+
+At that moment they reached a spot where the path divided into two:
+one fork leading to their tent and the other to the police camp. He
+stood still. "I believe I was considering the best solution to a
+native problem that has lately arisen." He glanced towards their tent.
+"I see Mr. Stanley is helping to arrange your camp. Please let him
+know of anything you want. You will find him an excellent guide."
+Then, scarcely looking at her, he saluted and walked away.
+
+Diana returned to their tent feeling baffled and interested,
+half-inclined to be cross and half-inclined to laugh. And almost at
+the same time from the other direction came Meryl.
+
+"O, it's wonderful!" Meryl cried softly, with all her face aglow. "I
+never imagined anything half so fascinating; and I haven't even seen
+the temple yet. Mr. Stanley, do stay and dine with us. Our cook-boy is
+quite good."
+
+"All except his soup," put in Diana, "and he is only good at that in
+the sense of making it out of nothing. Sometimes I think he just boils
+a bit of the harness, or a corner of the tent-flap, or probably he
+makes it of rats if he can catch enough."
+
+Stanley looked at her with all his eyes and accepted the invitation
+eagerly, saying that he must first go back to the camp to change. Half
+an hour later he reappeared, looking quite smart in a white duck
+dress-jacket and a starched collar.
+
+As they sat down to their alfresco meal, taken under the stars, with
+two lanterns suspended on sticks for lights, Diana suddenly said to
+him:
+
+"Who is the bear?..."
+
+"The bear?..." doubtfully.
+
+"Yes. The bear who lives down there in the police camp, and rejoices
+in the name of Carew."
+
+Stanley, looking much amused, replied, "You must mean the Major; but
+you haven't met him, have you?"
+
+"I had the pleasure of being snarled at for about fifteen minutes this
+afternoon."
+
+Stanley laughed outright. "But where? He never said that he had seen
+you."
+
+"I don't think he did see me. We merely met. Most of the time he
+either looked away or looked through me at something beyond. Still, he
+might have mentioned the meeting. I don't feel flattered."
+
+"O, but that is nothing with Carew. He is an awfully silent chap."
+
+"Silent!... do you call it?... I never felt so ... so ... suppressed
+... in my life. I thought he seemed rather inclined to bite me."
+
+"But where did you meet him, Di?..." asked Meryl, with interest.
+
+"I was sitting on a wall in the temple, and he strode in and sat on
+another wall and stared at the ground ... and I stared at him ... and
+then he looked up and saw me ... and afterwards ..." she paused.
+
+"Do you mean to say you sat perfectly still in front of him, and let
+him sit on, thinking himself alone, and then suddenly discover
+you?..."
+
+"Yes. Why not?"
+
+"Well, it wasn't very fair on him."
+
+"Such nonsense, Meryl! That's just what he seemed to think. Why
+shouldn't I have a little romance if I want to? Such a dull, prosaic,
+commonplace old world as it is, generally speaking! I was having a
+lovely one. He was a great hunter who had lost his way, and dragged
+himself into the temple to die...."
+
+"I thought you said he strode in?..."
+
+"Don't be silly; he wasn't in the romance then. And I was a lovely,
+mysterious veiled lady who lived in the wilderness; but my veil
+happened to be thrown back, and when the dying hunter raised his
+eyes...." she stopped short.
+
+"Well?..."
+
+"That's where the romance stopped, where he brutally spoilt it,
+because when he raised his eyes and saw me there he just scowled
+horribly."
+
+Stanley and Meryl laughed whole-heartedly, but Meryl told her it
+served her right because she was unfairly taking him at a
+disadvantage.
+
+"But I did nothing of the kind. No one was at a disadvantage except
+myself."
+
+"I'm sure you weren't," Meryl remarked. "You never have been yet."
+
+"That's where you are mistaken, my dear. When you are sitting in a
+lovely romance, gazing at a dreadfully handsome, distinguished-looking
+man who is the hero prince, and will presently discover you and smile
+divinely with all his soul in his eyes, and when instead an
+iron-visaged person looks up at you, and scowls and grows as black as
+thunder, I defy any woman not to find herself at a disadvantage."
+
+"Well, how did you get out of it?... What did you do?..."
+
+The alluring twinkle shone suddenly in Diana's eyes, and her lips
+twitched mischievously, as she replied:
+
+"Well, I smiled divinely instead, and asked him to help me down from
+my high wall."
+
+"O, you are quite incorrigible," laughed Meryl. "If I had been him I
+would have left you there to get down the same way you went up. But
+who is he?..." turning to Stanley. "He sounds rather interesting."
+
+"He's a splendid fellow," The Kid asserted, warmly. "We couldn't stick
+him at first, Moore and I, but we soon found he only wants knowing.
+There's some history attached to his being out here that no one quite
+knows; but he is a Fountenay-Carew and used to be in the Blues."
+
+"But how nice!" quoth Diana. "This is much more interesting than the
+old ruins. Is he rich and haughty, with lovely estates left to
+dishonest stewards, and all that?..."
+
+"No very poor, I should imagine; nothing but his pay, anyhow. I
+believe when he was in the Blues an old uncle gave him a big
+allowance, but something happened, and he threw the money in the old
+chap's face, and the old chap chucked him out."
+
+"And what happened to cause the quarrel?" asked Diana, all ears. "Why,
+he is more romantic than my prince!"
+
+"That is what I fancy no one knows. Anyhow, in a country like this, no
+one asks. It isn't quite the game, you see; and, anyhow, no one is
+interested now. He has done a tremendous lot for Rhodesia in one way
+and another, especially for the police force and natives; and we're
+quite proud of him in our way for that, independent of his history."
+
+"How nice!" and Meryl's eyes grew very soft. "It is a much finer
+reward than he would probably ever have gained in the Blues. I hope he
+thinks so?"
+
+"I don't suppose he cares either way. Certainly, he doesn't appear to.
+He just loves the country, and seems only to want to stay here; but he
+never speaks even of that. Since he came here a few months ago he has
+done a lot of investigation work among the ruins privately. He is most
+awfully attached to them."
+
+Suddenly Diana asked, "I suppose he is pretty sick about two modern
+young women presuming to journey here to gaze at his treasure?"
+
+Stanley coloured up, and Diana laughed. "O, don't bother to deny it. I
+could feel it in my very bones when we met this afternoon."
+
+They finished their meal, and the boys moved the table away, so that
+they could sit round the glowing embers of a small fire, not so much
+for warmth as for the idea, and they lazed low in their chairs,
+talking idly and enjoying the cool, fragrant night.
+
+And presently, not à propos of anything in particular, Diana said,
+quite aloud, "I guess The Bear is growling and scowling away nicely
+to-night down there in his den. I expect the first time we meet I
+shall forget and call him Bear Carew instead of Major Carew, and then
+he'll shrivel me up with a glance."
+
+A sound beside them in the shadow made all look up suddenly, and the
+lamplight fell full upon Carew's face as he stood near Diana's chair.
+
+Meryl rose hurriedly, blushing to the roots of her hair, while
+Stanley, secretly much amused, stood up likewise. Only the culprit
+remained unperturbed to outward seeming, glancing archly round.
+
+"I'm afraid you overheard what I said ... _Major_ Carew.... I'm quite
+ready to apologise, only ..."
+
+"Please, don't...." For one instant the coldly even voice had a tiny
+inflection in it, as of humour, though he stifled it immediately, as
+he turned to Meryl and said, gravely, with a bow, "Miss Pym, I
+think?... A letter has come for you from Edwardstown by runner. I
+brought it on in case you might wish to send a reply, and to enquire
+if you are quite comfortable here for the night."
+
+Meryl took it from him, thanking him in her low, sweet voice, and with
+a rather shy, upward glance. And Diana, in the shadow, saw the soldier
+suddenly flinch and suddenly grow sterner, standing in an attitude of
+almost unnatural rigidity.
+
+"There is no heed to reply," Meryl said, after reading her note. "It
+is only a message from father to say he may be detained until
+afternoon. Thank you so much for bringing it. Won't you sit down? Can
+I offer you anything? I'm afraid there is not much choice. Father does
+not like luxuries in the wilderness, and we only carry whisky."
+
+"No, thank you." The tones were even again now, and he made no
+movement towards a chair. "Have you everything you need for the
+night? I hope Mr. Stanley has made himself very useful?"
+
+"He has been splendid. I am only afraid we have tired him out. Won't
+you sit down?" and she shyly motioned to a chair.
+
+"Thank you. I'm afraid I must get back. I have some despatches to
+write. Would you like a police-boy to keep guard here all night? There
+is nothing whatever to fear, but if it would add to your comfort?..."
+
+"O no, thank you," warmly. "We are not in the least nervous. I think
+there are no lions very near," with a little laugh.
+
+Diana, lying back in her chair, had scarcely taken her eyes off the
+tall soldier, though she watched him covertly, and without seeming to;
+and her quick brain perceived dimly that his aloof attitude was partly
+a mask which had become a habit, and that, however much he suppressed
+her, there was nothing whatever repellant about his chilly reserve.
+And then, suddenly, the little mischievous devil possessed her again,
+and she longed to try her arts upon him, just to see what happened,
+and to show him she was not seriously in the least afraid of him.
+
+And no sooner had Meryl remarked that there were no lions near them,
+than she could not for the life of her help murmuring, "No lions, only
+bears."
+
+Again there was an instant's answering gleam in Carew's eyes, but he
+only smiled very slightly, and said, "Perhaps a bear's growl, like a
+dog's bark, is worse than his bite."
+
+It was as though something altogether too much for him was struggling
+with an inclination to relax just the least bit on Diana's behalf and
+insistently conquering. With scarcely a second look at her he drew
+himself up tautly and said he must be going. Then he saluted gravely,
+said good night in a voice that included them all, and strode away
+through the darkness towards the police camp.
+
+For a moment there was silence round the glowing embers.
+
+"It was kind of him to say good night," said Diana, sarcastically.
+
+"What a fine-looking man!" commented Meryl.
+
+"He is gruffer than usual to-night. Perhaps something has happened to
+upset him. I think I must be going also," and Stanley reluctantly rose
+to follow his chief.
+
+"Of course he is gruffer," said Diana. "Two tiresome women have dared
+to journey to Zimbabwe to look at his ruins."
+
+In the darkness Carew strode on to where a light shone through the
+doorway of a hut, but his eyes were looking straight before him into
+the night, and had the expression of one whose thoughts were very far
+away. It had cost him an effort to go up there with the note, but he
+had made it purposely, determined to take in hand quickly that vein of
+weakness which threatened him at sight of Meryl. He would go up and
+speak to her and break the spell as quickly as possible, regaining his
+old fortitude. More particularly as he felt he could not now leave on
+the morrow, just as Mr. Pym was arriving expecting to find him there.
+Not that there appeared any reason why, just because he happened to be
+a millionaire, a police officer should be expected to wait on him, but
+no doubt the Administration had its own reason for showing special
+attention to a very rich man, and hoped for some benefit to the
+country thereby.
+
+So he had taken the bull by the horns and strode up to the lamplit
+camp, where the travellers sat over the glowing embers; and, of
+course, he had heard Diana's remark, and smiled grimly to himself, in
+no way displeased, for it suited him perfectly to be shunned as a
+bear. And then, keeping an iron control over himself, he had addressed
+Meryl, and looked straight into her face without flinching. The upward
+look, for one second, had shaken him, but the iron control held good,
+and before he left them he had spoken to her and looked at her with
+perfect calmness. The visit had been quite as he wished it, and for a
+few seconds, striding into the dark, he congratulated himself upon
+having so satisfactorily coped with a situation that had threatened to
+be a little difficult and had disturbed him so in the afternoon. Of
+course, she wasn't really like Joan, except in a very general way.
+Just her height and figure and graceful movements and colouring; and,
+of course, the upward glance from confiding, thoughtful, blue-grey
+eyes that had humour lurking in them, and power and possibilities, and
+were so curiously framed in dark lashes in spite of light hair. In the
+midst of his self-congratulation he remembered the upward look again,
+and all in a moment once more it shook him. His gaze went blindly to
+the stars, and his mind flew back. Ah! how sweet Joan had been; how
+strong, how true! How she had stood by him through the beginning of
+the storm, turning the clouds to sunshine, making everything worth
+while! And then, the swift tragedy, the climax; the awful, awful days
+and nights that followed. How he had trodden the lonely Devon moors,
+blindly, passionately seeking a dead weariness of body that would dull
+his mind! How he had cursed the two men who drove in the final barb,
+and vowed never to see their faces again!
+
+And then the little note-book he had found, in which Joan had
+inscribed some of her thoughts from time to time, and copied a few
+favourite passages from favourite authors! It had come to him like a
+voice from the dead--Joan's voice, calling to him to rise above his
+despair and prove himself still worthy of her. And out there on the
+moors at sunrise he had vowed that he would. Calmly, coldly, as an
+austere monk, he had laid down for ever the things that had made his
+life gay and joyous before, and prepared to turn his back on England
+and all that it held pertaining to him.
+
+And now there is a distant wilderness and great southern stars, and
+mysterious, antique ruins, and a man who has grown strong and silent
+in aloofness, and won a sort of soothing content out of what he has
+given, seeking no reward.
+
+Not, perhaps, that "renewing" a royal friend had spoken of fifteen
+years ago, for the contentment was void of hope and fear and joy, but
+balm upon the passionate, frantic bitterness and despair. But the
+"renewing" might come even yet, however much he scorned the thought;
+for forty-two is at the prime of years, and Life has a tender way of
+her own of healing when she will.
+
+But to-night the memories are bitter, and the reopened wound throbs
+and burns. Carew strode up to his hut, with only a curt good night to
+the trooper, and when Stanley arrived back there was no light burning,
+only darkness and silence.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+A MINING CAMP
+
+
+The following day Carew avoided the camp, after telling Stanley he
+might devote his time to the ladies if he wished. In the afternoon,
+however, he saw Mr. Pym and his engineer arrive, and then, presently,
+the party all went down to the ruins together. About an hour later
+they re-emerged, and while the two girls went back to the tents, the
+millionaire strolled towards the police camp. Carew, seizing his
+opportunity, came out, and went to meet him. He considered himself
+fortunate in being able to offer the necessary courtesies when the
+ladies of the party were absent. Mr. Pym hid his surprise at seeing so
+distinguished-looking an officer at such an out-of-the-way camp, and
+received his somewhat curt greetings in his own quiet, business-like
+manner. He thanked him for the attentions he had already rendered, and
+hoped they were not causing any inconvenience in pitching their tents
+near the ruins. Carew assured him they were not, and mentioned that
+Mr. Stanley would be happy to place his time at their service and do
+anything he could to make their stay agreeable.
+
+Henry Pym, noting the obvious intention of the officer not to place
+much of his own time at their disposal, looked quietly into the
+resolute face, and felt his interest growing apace. At the same time,
+following his lead, he made no attempt to lengthen the interview,
+which he felt was more or less regarded as an official duty; and with
+courteous thanks said good night, hoped Major Carew would dine with
+them one evening, and returned to his tent.
+
+"Well, uncle," was Diana's greeting, "what do you make of The Bear?"
+
+"The Bear?..." questioningly.
+
+"The cast-iron soldierman, who condescends to breathe the same air as
+ordinary mortals down there in the police camp."
+
+"O, Major Carew!..." with a quick gleam in his eyes. "I thought him
+rather a fine fellow. Don't you?" and he smiled at her slyly.
+
+"A fine bear," quoth Diana, with a little pout. "I prefer a man with a
+little more flexibility. A little more commonplace flesh and blood, so
+to speak."
+
+"I asked him to dinner to-morrow," her uncle remarked.
+
+"And is he coming?" with ill-concealed interest.
+
+"No. He is going to see two young miners named Macaulay a few miles
+away, and was regretfully compelled to decline," and the humorous
+smile on his face widened, for he knew that Diana would be piqued.
+
+"As if he couldn't go there any day!" she grumbled. "O, of course, he
+is perfectly odious."
+
+Meryl's eyes met her father's, and they both laughed, while he
+remarked, "Never mind; perhaps we can lay a trap for him another time.
+Evidently he has no particular fancy for ladies' company."
+
+"Do you know the Macaulays?" Meryl asked.
+
+"No, but I am going to see them in two or three days on business."
+
+"And you will take us?..." she pleaded. "I do want so to see all we
+can of the settlers as well as the country."
+
+"We will see later," he said, and made a move to prepare for dinner.
+
+During the next two days he and his engineer made sundry small
+excursions on business. Their investigation of several outcrops in the
+Victoria district had convinced them the gold was by no means worked
+out by that ancient people who had left so many traces of mining
+operations, and Mr. Pym was prepared to buy up claims and properties.
+On the fourth day he went to see the Macaulays, and took the girls
+with him, having procured a mule each for them to ride. Stanley and
+Carew were also to be of the party; the latter not a little to
+everyone's surprise.
+
+All through the four days he had held consistently aloof, personating
+merely the courteous official upon whom Mr. Pym had a certain claim
+because of the letter from headquarters. As a matter of fact, he had
+undertaken a journey of some length on two of the days to outlying
+kraals; and Diana, hearing of it from Stanley, had laughed a little
+grimly, and said, "He need not have troubled. We have no wish to speak
+to him"; and Stanley, not quite clever enough to understand, remarked
+regretfully, "But you would like him so much if you knew him
+properly."
+
+The reason was not very apparent for his accompanying them to the
+Macaulays' mine, but Meryl shrewdly suspected her father, who had gone
+quietly to smoke a pipe in the police camp with him on one or two
+occasions, had asked him to come more or less as a personal favour.
+For though Stanley knew the road perfectly he knew very little about
+the surrounding country itself; and Mr. Pym, with his unerring
+instinct, had quickly discovered that Carew's mind was a well of
+knowledge on most things Rhodesian. So the taciturn soldier joined the
+cavalcade, though he succeeded in attaching himself to Mr. Pym and
+riding well on ahead.
+
+The two Macaulays were "small miners," working on tribute a mine
+belonging to a block owned by a company in which Henry Pym had large
+interests. Complaints had come through to his ears concerning the
+difficult conditions upon which the two young miners, and many others
+like them, struggled to make a fortune or a livelihood, and he had a
+fancy to go and see them for himself. The mine was in a hollow, banked
+round by tall, gloomy kopjes, which seemed to stand like a bodyguard,
+sternly shutting them off from all sight or sound of the outside
+world. At the same time, the road to it was delightful. Sometimes they
+climbed nearly to the top of a kopje, the mules going up stairways of
+granite as if born to it, and the lovely country lay outspread in a
+glorious panorama before them.
+
+The party said very little, but their eyes told that the fascination
+had crept into their hearts already, though they could only appreciate
+in silence, wondering, perhaps, why they felt this strong attraction
+for a land that was chiefly kopjes and veldt.
+
+Was it, perhaps, the marvellous, translucent atmosphere, or was it the
+blue intensity of the dreaming kopjes, ornamented ever and anon by
+gleaming white battlements of granite, where the sun blazed down on
+giant boulders, or was it the unfathomable, mysterious, syren-like
+allurement of the country, that, without effort, without thought,
+steeped the senses in an irresistible fascination? Why does Rhodesia
+fascinate? Why does she call men back again and again to her manifold
+discomforts and unnerving disappointments, to her pests and glare, to
+her bully beef and unwashed Kaffirs? Who shall say?... Who shall
+attempt to explain?...
+
+There is no explanation; only the foolish would seek it. The country
+just gets up and takes hold of one and smiles, and men become enslaved
+to her. Ever after "the hazy blue of her mountains, the waft of the
+veldt-born scent," is like a germ in the blood. The discomforts are
+forgotten, the disappointments dissolve into air, the noontide glare
+and choking dust are a mere nothing: libellous creations of some
+discontented grumbler. And in the midst of the crowd, or in England's
+green lanes, or on some far shore, the wanderer is caught in the old
+mesh suddenly, and all his pulses beat with swift longing at just that
+heaven-sweet impression: "The hazy blue of her mountains, the waft of
+the veldt-born scent...."
+
+And she, the syren, lies there in her sunshine and her loveliness;
+locked in the arms of the deep, luscious, dreaming nights, whispering
+and murmuring softly under embracing, star-lit heavens; making wild
+riot when the splendid storms fling after each other across her bosom,
+while the thunders roll deafeningly amidst her kopjes, and the
+lightning pierces brilliantly the riotous clouds and makes a glory of
+the mighty scene. Sulky and colourless when she is waiting impatiently
+for the delayed rains; resplendent, and with a colouring that is like
+a Te Deum, when the renewing has come, and all her soul sings aloud in
+the joy of spring, and all her flowers and trees lend her loveliness
+past telling, and her hills a yet deeper blueness under yet intenser,
+rain-washed skies. All this--all her moods and whims and
+waywardness--going serenely on--splendidly, superbly indifferent to
+the men who come to tame her and stay to love in silent enslavement;
+as also to the men who come solely for gain and gold, and go away
+shrieking their complainings to the four winds. Because, perhaps, the
+enchantress has not troubled to show them her allurements, and
+ruffled, discontented minds have discovered only the dust and heat and
+pests.
+
+But what of it to the syren?... There are others who stay, as many,
+perhaps, as she wants, and to whom she puts out a shy hand of
+friendship, and presently soothes and consoles as the strong, silent,
+storm-tossed man who rode with so soldierly a bearing beside Mr. Pym;
+suffering no stab of love and longing any more as he looked over her
+fair bosom, because the shy hand was in his, because there was that
+subtle sense of understanding in his heart which seemed to tell him
+that even as he loved Rhodesia, Rhodesia loved him.
+
+And so they came to the Saucy Susan Gold Mine, at least to the ridge
+of the surrounding kopjes, and looked down to where a cluster of huts
+like beehives told them humans dwelt down there in the hollow.
+
+"It can't be a mine," said Diana. "It's just a hollow in the hills;
+the sort of place giants hide in when they play hide-and-seek."
+
+"But it is," Stanley assured her. "We shall see a little more as we
+wind down."
+
+And presently they came within view of a shaft, and two honest-eyed
+young Englishmen, both old Charterhouse boys, came forward to greet
+them.
+
+Meryl shook hands with her face all aglow with interest; and to their
+humble apologies that they had only huts to invite them into, she
+said, "But it is so nice of you to invite us at all. You wouldn't
+believe how proud I am to come here to see you, and how tremendously
+interested."
+
+And Diana, with a droll expression, remarked, "You seem to live rather
+in the nethermost depths. You must feel as if you were going to heaven
+literally and figuratively every time you ascend to the outer world."
+
+The elder brother laughed pleasantly, but the younger, who had a white
+face and a delicate, refined air, looked at her a little wistfully.
+Meryl chatted on with the elder, but Diana, with her quick perception,
+scented a silent, wordless, plucky endurance of adverse conditions in
+the younger, and gave her attention to him.
+
+Then they went into the dining-room hut, and found a meal spread on a
+roughly made table, with only two chairs for seats and all the rest
+packing-cases.
+
+"Who has to sit on a chair?" asked Diana. "I needn't, need I?..."
+
+"Why, they are quite sound!... Are you afraid of a spill?..." asked
+Lionel Macaulay, looking amused.
+
+"No, only I can sit on a chair any day of my life. I simply insist
+upon having a packing-case when such a good opportunity offers."
+
+So Meryl and her father were duly ensconced in the only two chairs,
+and Diana mounted gaily on to a tall, thin packing-case, which would
+certainly have gone over backwards if Colin, the rather sad-eyed
+brother, had not caught her just as she was overbalancing.
+
+"How clever of you!..." she laughed. "What happens when you two
+overbalance and don't happen to be near enough to catch each other?...
+Does the dinner come in and find you both sprawling on the floor?"
+
+"Well, we've had a good deal of practice, you see," he told her,
+already cheering visibly. "The tables are turned for us, and we choose
+a chair when we can get it, for a treat."
+
+Afterwards she made him show her all his clever contrivances for
+packing-case furniture, and admired his sackcloth curtain, barrel
+washhand stand, and made him feel vigorous and hopeful.
+
+Stanley was talking to Meryl, and Lionel Macaulay was showing Mr. Pym,
+the engineer, and Carew over the mine, so she gossiped away to him all
+by herself. And she drew from him a little of the bitter
+disappointments they had encountered in the country. A story of first
+one mine and then another failing them; of capital slipping away and
+bills mounting; of the gradual cutting down of comforts and increased
+austerity of living: a story common enough in all colonies where Life
+puts men through the mill again and again to prove and harden them.
+Acting perhaps on the lines:
+
+     "It is easy enough to be pleasant
+       When life moves along like a song,
+     But the man worth while is the man who can smile
+       When everything goes dead wrong."
+
+Life wants a lot of men and women whom she knows are "worth while" in
+carrying out her great affairs, and that is perhaps why so often
+"everything goes dead wrong."
+
+Diana maintained her rôle of gay inconsequence because it pleased her
+best.
+
+"It all sounds very superior and all that rot, and I'm sure Meryl
+would call you a hero; but I should swear myself black and blue in
+your shoes, and that's about what you do pretty often, I expect."
+
+His smile grew fresher and more genuine.
+
+"It doesn't do much good though."
+
+"O yes it does. Don't tell me! When things get into a silly stupid
+mess with me I just shut the door and say every swear word I know
+until I feel better. That's one advantage of living in a hollow in the
+desert. You needn't even bother to shut the door!... You can shout
+your ruffled feelings to the kopjes, and I suppose they echo the words
+back to you. How perfectly splendid! That's a thing about Rhodesia I
+hadn't thought of before. Of course, the echoes are sometimes
+wonderful; so if you were to shout a few swear words the kopjes would
+shout them after you; and that's much better than 'dreaming stillness'
+in my opinion. But why aren't you and your brother making a fortune? I
+thought everyone in Rhodesia was making one who had a mine."
+
+"We don't get up enough gold. By the time we have paid our royalty and
+the expenses there is nothing left."
+
+"Then the royalty must be too big. Who do you pay it to?"
+
+He coloured, and she watched him humorously.
+
+"Has my uncle something to do with your company? O, don't look
+uncomfortable. I'll just talk to him about it. There ought to be
+occasions when no royalty is taken at all. I'll tell him so."
+
+Colin Macaulay laughed into her smiling eyes.
+
+"As it is, there is a charge for everything, even the grass the
+donkeys eat!..."
+
+"O, monstrous! I never heard of such a thing. I'll interview the board
+about it if you like. Tell your donkeys they may eat anything they
+choose in future, it is not going down in the bill any more!..." and
+they both laughed gaily.
+
+In a more serious mood, however, she asked him presently, "I suppose
+it has been rather a disappointment?... This coming out to Rhodesia to
+make a fortune!"
+
+"Why do you think so?"
+
+"O, well, lots of reasons. You haven't come within sight of the
+fortune, for one thing; and you've still got packing-case furniture
+and live in huts. And you eat a lot of bully beef, now don't you?"
+
+"We do."
+
+"But that isn't what you came for?"
+
+"Still"--meditatively--"it's not a small thing to be in a country
+where a fortune may be won any day. It is that, of course, which keeps
+us going. It is better anyhow than a stool and one hundred and fifty
+pounds a year in England."
+
+"Are you sure?" And she watched him with keen eyes.
+
+He coloured slightly, but answered with firmness:
+
+"Quite."
+
+"But not better than something else, perhaps?"
+
+He saw that her interest was kindly and genuine, and suddenly drawn to
+expand he told her simply:
+
+"It's the isolation that hurts. Day after day, day after day, just
+this hollow and these kopjes, and never anyone to speak to except each
+other. We send for the mail once a week, but sometimes very little
+comes by it; and we get nothing fresh to read except a weekly
+Rhodesian paper. That is a gold mine to us for just one evening; but
+for all the rest there is nothing. Lionel is studying French, and I do
+a little also, but it palls after a time badly."
+
+"I should think so. It sounds as dry as dead bones."
+
+They were sitting upon a rocky knoll, and Diana had her hands clasped
+round her drawn-up knees, presenting a very attractive picture. "I'm
+not a true Imperialist at heart," she informed him. "I hate gush and
+talk and heroics, but between you and me I think an awful lot of you
+men making your solitary fight in the wilderness. It's always a lot
+easier to put up with discomforts when you know your next-door
+neighbour is jolly uncomfortable too. Of course, most people don't say
+so, but that's because they are conventional, and fondly try to
+persuade themselves, very unselfish also; but when they are honest
+they know quite well a misfortune is lightened when several others are
+in the same box. That's why, on a wet day, I console myself sitting at
+the window and watching folks struggling with drenched umbrellas and
+bedraggled skirts. It's so good to be safe inside."
+
+He waited with amused eyes.
+
+"And, of course, the trouble for you is just sitting down here among
+these monotonous kopjes and being uncomfortable all alone. No one to
+grumble to--ugh, how I should hate that!--no one to feel superior
+with; no one to envy you, even if there were anything to envy. It's a
+positive grave."
+
+"You've left out one of the worst contingencies. No one to discuss
+with; no friction of mind and opinions."
+
+"That comes under the heading of grumbling. When I discuss I almost
+always grumble about something. It is good for the progress of the
+world." And she laughed whimsically. Then, with one of her sudden
+changes, "How long do you expect to stay on trying to dig up a
+fortune, and pretending it is worth while when you know you hate it
+like Old Harry?"
+
+"We shall probably try another mine soon. That is what we want to do;
+but it cost so much to get our machinery down into this hollow we
+don't quite know where to find the money to get it out again. So we
+just go on hoping we shall strike a good reef soon."
+
+She remained thoughtful and silent some moments, and then, as if to
+change the subject, remarked, "Mr. Stanley seems happy enough in his
+solitary place. He says he used to be in Salisbury, but very much
+prefers Zimbabwe."
+
+"Most of the police prefer a quiet place with good shooting; and now
+that he has Major Carew there so much it must often be interesting."
+
+"Do you know Major Carew well?" and her quick voice failed to entirely
+hide her interest.
+
+"As well as perhaps anyone does. He comes to see us fairly often on
+Sundays."
+
+"But he is so silent, he can't be very interesting."
+
+"He is not always silent."
+
+"No, sometimes he snarls," with a little laugh.
+
+"Ah! you don't know him. Get him to talk to you about the natives;
+about their habits and legends and customs. There isn't a man in
+Rhodesia knows more, and there isn't one they trust more absolutely.
+He is down in this district now on their behalf, and before he set
+foot here they knew all about him. Natives a hundred miles apart
+communicate that sort of thing to each other. Every kraal here knew
+perfectly that he was stern and rigid, but absolutely just. If he once
+says a thing he stands by it, even if he gets into trouble at
+headquarters, which isn't so very unusual. Someone out of jealousy or
+pique or utter inability to understand stern justice, will
+misrepresent his actions and misreport him for doing his duty. It's a
+heart-breaking business for him sometimes; but he never gives in when
+it is keeping his word one way or the other with natives. He would
+sooner resign, and they know it; and fortunately they recognise his
+value and meet him somehow. Of course, he isn't in the Native
+Department, properly speaking, but he has done a lot of work with them
+for some time."
+
+"And what do you think he is down here for now?"
+
+"I don't know; but it is some abuse or other that has reached the ears
+of the administration. This sort of thing happens among the
+short-sighted, small-minded Native Commissioners. There was a man a
+short time back who charged his house boys five shillings for
+everything they broke. At the end of six months they had had no pay at
+all, and were pretty heavily in debt. He was magistrate as well as
+commissioner and had them brought before his court, and promptly
+sentenced them to work six months for nothing."
+
+"What a shame!" she burst out indignantly.
+
+"Or a Native Commissioner may terrorise a native into selling cattle
+to him for a mere song by nothing but a look. Of course, they are not
+allowed to buy cattle really, but if they are married their wives buy
+them instead sometimes, and then the Commissioner in an outlying
+district can fairly easily fix the price, if he has made himself a
+dread to all the kraals round. He can collect taxes, too, not strictly
+just, to make his accounts look well at headquarters."
+
+"But I thought Native Commissioners were always gentlemen?"
+
+"They are generally, but they don't all live up to the usually
+accepted standard. Some of them seem rather to glory in behaving like
+bounders and treating the native unjustly. It is bad for the country,
+but things are improving. Almost all new appointments now are made
+among public-school boys and Varsity men."
+
+"And do you think Major Carew is here about some such matters?"
+
+"Yes; but it isn't given out so, and no one knows just what. But the
+natives are fortunate to have him on their side. He is not in the
+least afraid, and he won't shelter any unjust steward. On the other
+hand, whatever complaints there are against the natives will be just
+as honestly examined, and woe betide the kraals that are in the wrong!
+He is no Exeter Hall sentimentalist, and they must know it pretty well
+by now."
+
+"Why do you think he is out here at all? Surely he might have been a
+general with his K.C.M.G. if he had stayed in the army?"
+
+"I rather fancy Carew would think that a small thing compared to what
+he has done in Rhodesia. After all, K.C.M.G.'s are pretty cheap
+nowadays, aren't they? But it isn't every man who can know a new
+country is grateful to him, and who has achieved all he has at a work
+he loves."
+
+"Why did he come?" Still Diana strove vainly to hide her interest. "Do
+you know?"
+
+"Adventure, probably. A good many men from crack regiments came in the
+early days."
+
+"There must have been something more."
+
+"Perhaps."
+
+"Don't you _know_?"
+
+"No." He looked at her with a little smile. "It isn't the game to ask
+questions out here."
+
+"That is just what Mr. Stanley said, and it is so dull of you both.
+The man's a perfect bear. I christened him 'The Bear' before I had
+known him an hour. But why is he? Why should he be? That's what I
+want to know."
+
+"I don't fancy you will. I doubt if anyone knows. He has never made
+friends, I think, out here, except with the Grenvilles, and they are
+some connection."
+
+"That's the missionary and his wife, isn't it? What in the world can a
+man like that see in a missionary? Of all the soppy, flabby
+individuals give me the usual specimen who goes out to preach
+Christianity to the heathen, and generally disgusts them and everyone
+else."
+
+"Not this missionary."
+
+"O, is he an original also?"
+
+"He's one of the finest men I've ever known."
+
+"Then what in the world is _he_ buried in the wilderness for? I never
+knew anything so absurd. A fine soldier and administrator, just a
+policeman; a splendid man, just a missionary. And you and your brother
+just grubbing about in a God-forsaken mine, apparently for nothing. It
+is enough to make anyone wild." And she faced him with that
+smouldering indignation she rarely allowed to come to the surface.
+
+"But they are both in Rhodesia"--ignoring her kindly inclusion of
+himself and his brother--"and Rhodesia wants good men."
+
+"And when she gets them just buries them at her outposts. I haven't
+much faith in your Rhodesia. She is a capricious jade. She absorbs a
+man's finest qualities and best years and gives him nothing in
+return."
+
+"Ask Carew if she gives him nothing. Probably she has given him more
+than anyone else could give."
+
+She got up impatiently. "All the more reason why he shouldn't be such
+a bear. People who have got what they want out of life ought to be
+amiable and friendly."
+
+She turned round, and found herself face to face with Carew himself,
+looking, if anything grimmer than ever.
+
+"I came to tell you that tea is ready, and the others have already
+commenced."
+
+Diana looked straight into his eyes, with a daring, challenging
+expression. "And you heard me discussing your amiable attributes? I'm
+sorry, but"--with a swift gleam--"I do discuss something else
+sometimes."
+
+"I heard nothing," he answered, returning her direct gaze, and stood
+aside for her to pass.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+AN EVENING RIDE
+
+
+As they rode home in the evening Diana, more nettled with Carew's
+impassivity than she would have cared to own, contrived to get a
+little apart from the others with her uncle, and in her frank,
+engaging way explained to him the rapaciousness of certain mining
+companies and her own promise on behalf of the donkeys. Mr. Pym
+regretted that he could not immediately grant her request without
+consulting his co-directors, but Diana knew perfectly, by the friendly
+gleam in his eye, that he meant to look into the question; and because
+he was impressed by the sturdy, plucky fight of the two brothers he
+would probably do a good deal more for them in the end.
+
+After which she prattled to him gaily, until Stanley was clever enough
+to distract her attention and remanipulate the party. He had been
+riding with Carew, and the engineer with Meryl; but on the party being
+disarranged the engineer joined Mr. Pym to discuss the mining
+properties they had been visiting, and Carew found himself unavoidably
+partnered with Meryl, while Stanley and Diana went gaily on ahead. It
+was the first time, what he was pleased to term "his luck" had
+deserted him. Heretofore there had been no single _tête-à-tête_
+between him and either of the cousins since Diana surprised him in the
+temple ruins. It was his fixed intention that there should be none. He
+argued in himself that he had no "small talk" in his vocabulary, and
+would only reciprocate the boredom he would himself suffer, and rather
+than either should be inflicted he steered a resolute course which
+partnered him with a man. In vain Diana, spurred by pique, had once or
+twice laid a trap for him; and Meryl, with growing interest, had
+sought to draw him into conversation. With masterly art he had steered
+clear of both, and continued his serene, impassive way.
+
+But on that homeward ride Fate, for once, got the better of him.
+Stanley and Diana were cantering gaily ahead along the narrow path,
+that meant smooth-going for one horse and a stumbling amid small rocks
+or long, dry grass for the other; while Mr. Pym and his engineer
+conversed with a solemnity no one could lightly disturb between the
+two front horsemen and the two back.
+
+At first Carew rode along with his eyes fixed rigidly on the horizon,
+and, except for its innate strength, an almost expressionless face.
+Meryl was a little amused. She realised thoroughly that the situation
+was none of his seeking, and she was in two minds whether to give him
+expressionless rigidity in return, or purposely tease him with
+questions. At first she chose silence, and looked around her with eyes
+of growing tenderness at the kopje-strewn country.
+
+And so, instead of being irritated with the "small talk" he dreaded,
+Carew found himself left entirely to his own cogitations; while,
+judging from her rapt expression, she scarcely realised his presence.
+And then, just because human nature is stronger, after all, than most
+things, memory, for the sake of a dream-face he would treasure while
+he had breath, made him look at her covertly with seeing eyes. He
+noted first that she was a perfect horsewoman--slim and upright and
+easy, almost like a part of her horse. Both girls rode astride,
+wearing long holland coats and specially made light top-boots, with
+large shady sun helmets; and because for a long time he had not seen
+anything much but slipshod garments among women riders, or exceedingly
+warm-looking correct home attire, he appreciated their cool smartness.
+
+Unconsciously it took him back to the old buried days, when the
+Devonshire moors and Devonshire lanes knew no hotter rider than Peter
+Carew. To the steeplechases, when he was so slim and wiry that, in
+spite of his height, he had ridden many a horse to victory. To the
+polo matches, when his matchless horsemanship had scored goal after
+goal for his regiment of picked riders. She recalled to his mind the
+stag-hunting in Devon and Somerset, where the first women had ridden
+astride to the meet, realising mercifully how the steep ascents and
+descents were eased for their horses, without the tightly girthed
+side-saddle, and for themselves without the side-seat strain. Almost
+as if it were a carefully permitted luxury, he saw the wide,
+wind-swept moors, heard the cheery shouts and the excited hounds, felt
+his thoroughbred sweeping gloriously along, as if its soul and his
+soul were both one in feeling the joy and exhilaration of the chase.
+What glories there were in those wind-swept, sun-bathed mornings in
+Devon! What joy of life! What lust of manhood! What splendid,
+whole-hearted young inconsequence! In his heart he smiled a little
+grimly. Peter Carew of the Blues had been no shunner of women in those
+days; no taciturn, silent, unappreciative onlooker. Rather he had
+loved too many, kissed too freely, ridden away too light-heartedly.
+
+Until the blue-grey eyes, so like Meryl's, looked shyly up, and then
+in their turn ran away from him. Of course, he had followed blindly
+like the hot-headed, hard-riding sportsman he was--followed blindly,
+wooed irresistibly, and won gloriously.
+
+And then ...
+
+Over the kopjes, over the vleis, over the veldt a black cloud came
+down, and suddenly all the picture was blotted out. An expression that
+was momentarily almost wistful left the fine mouth; the far-away
+softness left the keen blue eyes, and his face hardened strangely.
+Then he looked up at Meryl, riding beside him, and saw all the
+questioning interest in her face.
+
+"I'm afraid you have a very dull companion," he said; but it was in
+the voice that Diana usually called his snarl.
+
+Meryl smiled. "I did not for a moment suppose that you would talk."
+
+She could hardly say that his face relaxed, but at least there was
+that in it which suggested he liked her answer far better than any
+conventional politeness.
+
+Suddenly a wholly unlooked-for twinkle lurked somewhere in his eyes.
+
+"Bears don't usually," he said.
+
+Meryl laughed. "Diana is too fond of nicknaming her friends and
+acquaintances; but on the whole I think she has let you off lightly. A
+bear is a magnificent animal."
+
+"Not given to much amiability. No Prince Charming, for instance," and
+he smiled a little grimly.
+
+"But strong--and--well--dangerous, which is better."
+
+"You think so?" He looked at her rather curiously.
+
+"Decidedly."
+
+They rode on in silence, and, for a little way, the road being rough,
+he reined in his horse to the narrow path behind her. Then, when it
+grew smoother again, she waited for him to come alongside.
+
+"You haven't always been in this part of Rhodesia?"
+
+"No; only recently."
+
+"Long enough to get very attached to it."
+
+"More or less," and suddenly his voice hardened a little, as if
+scenting a discussion and wishful to ward it off.
+
+"I wonder why Rhodesia is so fascinating?" And her eyes roved with
+love in them from far horizon to far horizon. "I suppose you do not
+attempt to analyse it? You are content to care unquestioningly."
+
+"Yes"--with an effort--"after a time, one just cares."
+
+"And at first?..."
+
+"At first one has to find one's footing, so to speak. She is somewhat
+the bewildering, uncomfortable stranger to the new-comer."
+
+She marvelled that he should say so much, but hid her pleasure lest
+she should unwittingly change his mood.
+
+"She has never seemed that to me. Something has attracted me from the
+very first. I came, I saw, I loved."
+
+"You must remember that you came under exceptional circumstances."
+
+"And you?"
+
+"I was among the early pioneers."
+
+"How splendid! I wish I could say the same."
+
+"It was extremely uncomfortable."
+
+"But you didn't mind. I don't need to be told that. There was so much
+to make up for it. How good it must be to be a man!"
+
+"Yet the women are the true heroes out here."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"We get what we came for. Interest, excitement of a kind, freedom...."
+
+"And the women?"
+
+"There is not much for the women, but the plucky ones are often
+heroines."
+
+"Only no one tells them so?"
+
+"No one tells them so; therein lies the heroism."
+
+"I see. They put up a good fight, and no one says, 'Well done!' Isn't
+it the same with the men?"
+
+"The men get many compensations."
+
+"Compensations that make it worth while?"
+
+"Distinctly."
+
+They rode on in silence, both looking ahead to the blue mountain that
+guards the north of Zimbabwe. The peaceful loveliness soothed his
+spirit because he loved it, but in her it awakened a vague, swift
+ache. She felt somehow that he had a right to love the country,
+because he had made it his and given it of his best; that, for all his
+presumable poverty in many things, he was yet so rich in what he had
+achieved, and in what he had won for himself of interest and
+usefulness. While for her?... She was an alien, a mere tourist, a
+looker-on; the daughter of a millionaire who came to Rhodesia for
+wealth, and gave--how little in return!
+
+He might look at the tender outline of the lovely mountain with the
+glad, restful consciousness of work well done. She could only look at
+it with that ache of divine discontent: unplumbed, wordless longing.
+Even the heroism of the settler's wife was not for her. The women who
+were plucky enough to put up that good fight, although no one ever
+said "Well done!" Compared with them, in his eyes she was probably a
+mere cumberer of the earth; an ornament, intended only to be admired
+by the leisured classes. The young splendid country had no use for
+her, no place for her. She was an alien, an interloper; child of a man
+who came only for gain, and took his gain elsewhere, recognising no
+claim from a land that was no home to him, only an investment.
+
+Her soul cried out it was no wish of hers that it should be so; but
+only silent condemnation seemed to echo back to her from the far blue
+hills.
+
+She glanced at the strong, serene face of her companion, and because
+somehow he seemed a little less stern and uncompromising to-day she
+said to him simply, leaning a little to his side:
+
+"I envy you so, the sense that you have won the right to love her. I
+envy the plucky settlers' wives who are the mothers of her future. I
+feel myself so utterly an alien. Has Rhodesia any use for ... for such
+as I?"
+
+He looked at her strangely, and as he looked she saw an expression
+almost like hungry longing come into his eyes; then as suddenly vanish
+again, leaving him utterly amazingly stony. He turned his head
+sharply, and his gaze became fixed and rigid.
+
+"Millionaires' daughters can usually be pretty useful if they like,"
+he said almost brutally; and she felt as if he had struck her. In
+sudden anger and bewilderment she touched her horse with her whip and
+darted ahead. It was not the words, but the way in which he had said
+them. What did he mean?... What did he not mean?... She bit her lips
+to keep back the smarting tears that blinded her eyes. She felt as if
+she hated him. For a little space he had been so different to the
+cold, callous soldier, and in quiet response she had spoken from her
+heart; and in return he had said this cutting thing with cold intent,
+making her feel that he despised her. Did he see in her only a willing
+accomplice to her father's money-making schemes? The one perhaps who
+spent the gains heartlessly and carelessly elsewhere? Beside those
+settlers' wives he had said were heroines, was she but an idle,
+contemptible, useless heiress? She spurred her horse on, letting her
+thoughts run away with her, unwilling that he should overtake her
+until she had got herself well in hand; and Carew followed behind,
+feeling again that sense of a black, rayless abyss all about him. Why
+had he looked full and deep into her eyes like that?... Why had he not
+gazed only upon the mountains that soothed and refreshed him?... The
+mere discovery that the past he thought to have outlived slept so
+lightly was a shock to him. Had he not then outlived anything? Had he
+only put his memories lightly to sleep, and dreamt all the life he had
+lived since? He was scarcely conscious that he had said anything
+inconsiderate; he hardly knew what he had said. He only remembered he
+had looked full and deep into beautiful eyes, and suddenly it was as
+though his dead love Joan had come back to him.
+
+Presently she slowed down so that he came up to her, and it was
+noticeable that something in her whole attitude had changed. She was
+as upright as he now, and her eyes also looked rigidly ahead. He saw
+the change without understanding it and wondered a little, without
+troubling to probe.
+
+"Your friends, Mr. and Mrs. Grenville," she said coldly, "would they
+care to see us if we called, or would they think it perhaps just
+vulgar curiosity?"
+
+"They would be delighted; visitors are a very rare treat to them." He
+was puzzled a little at her manner, but let it pass. Meryl had it on
+the tip of her tongue to add, "They don't mind even millionaires'
+daughters?" but her own good taste saved her from a momentary
+satisfaction that a man of his breeding could only have considered
+bourgeoise.
+
+"Perhaps Mr. Stanley would take us," was all she suffered herself; and
+added, "From his account Mrs. Grenville is evidently one of Rhodesia's
+heroines."
+
+"She is," he answered so simply that Meryl felt a little nonplussed.
+
+When they reached the camp Diana had already dismounted and gone into
+their tent, whither Meryl followed her.
+
+"Well," she said, "how did you get on with The Bear? Did he chore you
+up over anything?"
+
+Meryl considered a moment before replying. "One moment I thought him
+the rudest man I have ever met, and the next ..." she seemed puzzled
+how to explain.
+
+"And the next I suppose he didn't seem a man at all, only a pillar of
+stone!..."
+
+For answer, she said thoughtfully, "I wonder if something hurt him
+very badly some time or other?"
+
+"If it did, it doesn't exempt him from the ordinary amenities of human
+intercourse. He isn't the only man who has been hurt." And Diana
+kicked off her boots impatiently.
+
+"No," said Meryl; "but it makes it a little easier to forgive him."
+
+"Don't do anything so foolish. You'll end by thinking him interesting
+and falling in love with him; which would be too utterly silly when
+you are as good as engaged to Dutch Willy, and when he, The Bear,
+would care about as much as my foot," with which dictum she put her
+head out through the tent flap, and called to Stanley and Carew,
+"Hey! Mr. Stanley! don't go away. Stay and keep us company in my
+uncle's absence. I believe he is venturing into The Bear's den
+to-night."
+
+Carew smiled quite frankly for him.
+
+"Can't I tempt you to come also? I daren't promise you a decent
+dinner, but I've some fresh Abdullah cigarettes out from home, if you
+care to come down afterwards."
+
+Diana was disarmed in spite of herself. "And will you promise to growl
+very prettily?" with an arch expression.
+
+"I'll try not to frighten you away too quickly."
+
+Diana withdrew into the tent.
+
+"O!" she said, "he's a bear with two faces; and that's the most
+difficult to cope with of all."
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+THE MISSION STATION
+
+
+They went to the Grenvilles' the next day, while Mr. Pym took another
+of his investigation trips. Stanley acted as escort, and Carew went to
+Edwardstown on business.
+
+Ailsa Grenville met them with her brightest smile, and ushered them
+proudly into her cool, picturesque drawing-room hut.
+
+"How charming!" they cried, with genuine delight; and Diana added, "O!
+why can't I have a hut in the wilderness?..."
+
+Then the khaki-clad, sportsmanlike missionary strode in, and after the
+preliminary greetings Diana asked with charming piquancy, "O! are you
+really and truly a missionary?"
+
+"Really and truly," he told her gaily, and came over to her side of
+the hut to sit beside her. "Why do you ask it like that?"
+
+She considered a moment, and then declared impishly, "Because it
+doesn't seem possible that a man like you should never say 'Damn.'"
+
+He laughed outright. "Well, I'm not going to tell tales out of school;
+but if you'd only got one pair of brown boots in the world and one
+pair of brown gaiters, and the boy tried to clean them with blacklead
+and paraffin oil!..."
+
+Diana moved nearer to him, with her prettiest and most ingratiating
+air. "O, tell me some more!... Tell me lots more."
+
+"I don't think that is half so bad as the boy washing the saucepans
+and the teacups all in the same water together," put in Mrs.
+Grenville.
+
+"How perfectly delicious of him!" cried Diana. "What else did he do?"
+
+"You ought to have been here this morning when our stores came out
+from Edwardstown," the missionary told her. "The boy carries them on
+his head, you know; and there was a tin of golden syrup ..."
+
+"Yes ... yes ... and it leaked!..." gleefully.
+
+"Trickled all down his head and neck; you never saw such a sticky
+mess! And as soon as the other boys discovered ..."
+
+"Did they duck his head in a bucket?..."
+
+"O, dear no!... _licked_ him!..."
+
+Diana fairly howled with delight; and then Stanley came in, after
+seeing that the horses were properly watered and fed, and was
+immediately accosted by Grenville with, "Hullo, Kid! you're quite a
+deserter! What have you been doing all the week?"
+
+"Do you call him Kid?" Diana asked. "What a capital name for him!"
+
+"He has been 'The Kid' almost ever since he came to this district."
+
+"It pays," remarked Stanley jocularly; "they give me sugar."
+
+"And he lives with The Bear; how comical! Instead of the lion lying
+down with the lamb, in Rhodesia you have The Kid feeding with The
+Bear."
+
+"Who is The Bear?" Ailsa Grenville asked, from the packing-case
+cupboard, where she was reaching down cups and saucers.
+
+"Need you ask?" queried Diana. "Doesn't Major Carew ever growl when he
+is here?"
+
+Ailsa looked much amused. "Not exactly," she said; "but I admit
+sometimes he rolls himself up into a ball, so to speak, and relapses
+into a sort of winter sleep."
+
+"I hope you prod him," said Diana.
+
+"Billy wouldn't let me," glancing affectionately at her husband.
+"There is only one Major Carew for him."
+
+"Still, it might do him good. We prodded him last night, didn't we?"
+addressing Stanley. "We went right into his den, and gave him a good
+baiting, while we smoked his new Abdullah cigarettes," and she smiled
+gleefully at the remembrance of the stern soldier, in an astonishingly
+sociable mood for him, humorously parrying her chaff. "You know," she
+ran on, "he simply hated our coming. I almost wonder he didn't dig
+impassable trenches across the road, or fortify himself in the
+Acropolis Hill. Anyone might have thought we were the bears, and he
+the woman."
+
+"I expect he was afraid of your charms," said Grenville smilingly. "We
+wilderness-dwellers have none of the townsmen's armour to withstand
+fair women."
+
+"Well, growling and scowling are very fair substitutes," quoth Diana;
+"and, besides, he didn't even trouble to observe if we had charms. As
+far as he decently could he looked the other way altogether."
+
+While she chatted on, delighting the missionary and his wife with her
+gaiety, Meryl sat in a low chair, and gazed through the doorway out
+over the smiling country, much as Carew usually did.
+
+"It must be very wonderful," she said at last, aroused by a
+sympathetic question from Ailsa Grenville, "to live day after day with
+such a scene as that in one's doorway."
+
+"Yes," Ailsa told her. "The wonder never grows less, nor the mystery,
+nor the beauty. Major Carew, when he is here, loves just to sit and
+look at it; and so do I."
+
+Diana, with the two men, had strolled outside; and Ailsa and Meryl sat
+alone in the cool interior.
+
+Meryl sat very still, with her hands lightly clasped on her knees, and
+her eyes always--always--to the lovely prospect that was like a mighty
+ocean in which the waves were blue, mystical kopjes; and over which
+the first clouds, that heralded the approach of the rainy season, shed
+entrancing lights and shadows. Ailsa sat a little behind, and her eyes
+roved back from the view that had grown into her being and become part
+of her life to the face of the young heiress. She noted at once its
+instinctive charm; the charm of a woman blessed with most of the
+traits that hold and bind men for ever. Strength was there without
+masterfulness; sweetness that would never cloy; a dreamy elusiveness
+that meant a closed book it would be a joy to study chapter by
+chapter; and some of the chapters would surprise with their lightness
+and mirth, while others would surprise with their depth of sympathetic
+understanding, and yet others would bewilder alluringly with their
+whimsical, irresistible uncertainty. She knew that society papers
+sometimes spoke of the well-known millionaire's daughter as beautiful,
+but to her it seemed the word was hardly the right one. Meryl's face
+had in it something too strong and too distinctive for actual beauty;
+and yet Ailsa thought of all the lovely women she had ever seen none
+were quite so attractive. And because she was a tender-hearted woman,
+the thought crossed her mind to wonder if perhaps, out of the dark
+shadow that she knew hung ever over Peter Carew's life, there might
+yet be a way of escape; a gracious healing, and a final joy. Could two
+such humans meet and not love? Could anything truly separate them if
+once the love were born?
+
+She mused a moment or two happily, sublimely ignorant of all the
+forces that warred between; of what caused the shadow; of the power of
+a dead face; of the pride of a resolute man; of that attractive
+Huguenot Dutchman biding his time down south.
+
+At last Meryl broke the silence. As she sat gazing through the open
+doorway her mind had lingered unconsciously over that last sentence.
+"Major Carew, when he is here, loves just to sit and look at it," and
+in her fancy she saw the silent, watching form of the grim
+soldier-policeman.
+
+"He is an interesting man," she said simply. "I think I understood he
+was some connection of yours?"
+
+"You mean Major Carew? Yes; he is a distant sort of cousin, but we are
+two entirely different branches of the family, and had drifted widely
+apart until we three met out here. Yet it was not surprising we should
+meet like this. The Carews were always wanderers and adventurers, like
+Drake and Frobisher and the other fine old pirates. A humdrum career
+in the Blues would hardly have continued to satisfy Major Carew, any
+more than the conventions and hide-bound prejudices of the Established
+Church could hold my husband."
+
+"Yet, if you will forgive my seeming rudeness, both of them apparently
+took a decided step downwards from the social point of view."
+
+"That would not trouble either of them for a moment. They sought
+Freedom, and found it."
+
+"Yet it meant, in a sense, what some people call being buried alive."
+
+"Ah, those people do not understand. That is how I took it at first.
+Shall I tell you a little, or will it bore you?"
+
+"Please tell me. I think it is kind of you to trust me so soon with
+your confidence."
+
+Ailsa smiled. "One always knows. Anyone with insight would trust you
+instinctively. But there isn't much to tell. Only that when I married
+my husband he held a living in Shropshire, with a sure promise of
+quick promotion; and then Doubt crept in which he could not overthrow,
+and after a long struggle he gave it up because his conscience would
+not let him be a hypocrite."
+
+"But he is still a Church missionary, is he not?"
+
+"In a sense; but he is not paid by any society, and works on his own
+lines entirely. He had a little money of his own, and I have also, and
+out here it is ample. But at first I was very bitter with him, and let
+myself be influenced by my people who were still more bitter, and I
+would not join him. I went back home and lived the old life of my
+girlhood. He never uttered one word of reproach, although he was just
+breaking his heart for me, and--for which I bless him every day of my
+life--he wrote every mail telling me about the country and his work.
+At first I scarcely read the letters, and often did not reply; but he
+wrote on patiently and waited. And at last my mood changed. The
+endless tea-parties began to pall, and the insipidity of my home life.
+Week after week, week after week, the same round of social gatherings;
+the same people, the same conversations, the same everlasting tea,
+buns, and gossip. In each parish around, so many, many unmarried
+women, so many empty, monotonous lives. I think the condition of
+England's country villages is becoming almost a tragedy; all the men
+seem to have gone away to a bigger and wider world, and all the women
+to have been left behind to feed on emptiness. There are the
+clergyman's daughters, the doctor's daughters, the solicitor's
+daughters, and perhaps a few retired veterans and their daughters; all
+struggling through the same old empty round; while the men go out to
+conquer the earth." She paused a moment, but seeing Meryl's rapt
+attention, went on uninterruptedly, "And one day I awoke to the fact
+that I had a special right to one of the finest men who had gone out
+to do his share, and a special place at his side. To cut a long story
+short, I won through the frantic opposition of my family, cut myself
+adrift, and came out here to see for myself what Billy was doing that
+gave him a satisfaction he had never found in his peaceful easy
+living; in spite of the hunger I had always known was wearing out his
+soul for me." She looked out across the country dreamily, before she
+finished. "I shall never forget when I first saw this," motioning to
+the sunny prospect. "We arrived here in the dusk, owing to a
+breakdown, and so I had a long night's rest before Billy first showed
+it to me. I must tell you I was already tremendously impressed, on the
+quiet, with my brown, stalwart, khaki-clad husband in place of the
+decorous, black-coated parson I had parted with; and although the
+journey had been very exhausting, for I had to travel in the
+post-cart, my interest in him and the country had never abated. Then
+he opened the door wide about sunrise, and said casually, 'Sit up and
+look at my view, Ailsa.' I sat up, and for a moment I could not speak
+at all. Do you know, Miss Pym, the country looked positively hung with
+diamonds that wonderful morning. I shall never forget it. Just outside
+the door, forming a sort of framework to the scene beyond, was some
+tall, dry grass, thin and straggly enough to let the light through.
+And where at the top it spread into graceful, hanging, feathery
+seed-ears, it was hung with large dewdrops, reflecting all the colours
+of the rainbow. Behind them was the bluest of early-morning skies.
+Beyond them, what you see here, a far dream-country of untold
+loveliness. I said, 'O, Billy! have you lived beside this all these
+months?' And then I began to cry, because I didn't know what else to
+do, and I was so glad that I had come."
+
+A fleeting shadow of sadness seemed to cross Meryl's face. "I envy
+you," she said in a low voice. "You can stay on with the man you love,
+and see it every day. I must go back to the tea-parties."
+
+"Most people pity me."
+
+"I dare say; and they envy me," with a little forlorn smile.
+
+"You have much power, and power is good," softly.
+
+"Have I?... How, why, where?... What shall I do with all this money my
+father makes? I wonder what I could do to take from my heart this
+feeling that I am an alien and an intruder in this lovely country,
+among you people who are quietly making history? If your husband
+wants money for his mission, I could get him a cheque for a thousand
+pounds from my father, I know; but what is that compared to giving
+one's life as you do, and growing right into the heart of the country,
+and feeling just that it is yours because of what you have given? I
+know that is how Major Carew feels also. One can see it in his rapt
+gaze. He does not care for very much else in the world. But we, my
+father and I, we just take riches out, and give nothing but cheques
+which we never even miss." She got up and moved to the doorway,
+controlling with an effort her sudden, unexpected show of emotion.
+"The others have been looking at your fowls and cattle," she said,
+"and now they are coming back. I hope Mr. Grenville will show us over
+the mission station."
+
+"He will be delighted," Ailsa answered, following her lead with quick
+understanding; "and another day you must come and sit in my doorway
+again."
+
+"I should love to;" and she stepped out into the sunlight to join the
+gay trio Diana was still the life of.
+
+Then Mr. Grenville took them into his workshops and his little mission
+hall, and showed them how he taught the boys carpentering and
+blacksmithing, and reading and writing and farming; making good,
+useful labourers of them with even greater zeal than that with which
+he made them Christians. Diana, the outspoken, could not resist a
+surprised comment.
+
+"I thought people who had been abroad always ran down missionaries,
+and scoffed at missionary work?"
+
+"They do very often," Grenville replied, with frankness, "and not
+without reason. A great many missionaries are naturally not very
+suitable men. It is almost impossible to pick and choose."
+
+"There are some," put in Stanley disgustedly, "who just confirm all
+the blacks they can, without bothering about how much they understand,
+and then make communicants of them so that they can send good figures
+home to their society for the missionary magazines. They don't teach
+them anything useful at all, and they do a roaring trade with the
+garments sent out by pious ladies' work guilds; as if the natives
+weren't better in their own natural state than they are ever likely
+to be dressed up in clothes and fuddled with doctrines."
+
+Mr. Grenville, standing very upright and looking every inch a man,
+said simply, "It isn't entirely their fault always. The home folk like
+the figures; they imagine they stand for progress, and they know
+nothing about the conditions. Many missionaries are very fine men, and
+they would do even better work if left a little more to their own
+initiative, and not cursed with this atmosphere of competition in
+figures. It isn't fair to damn the whole flock because a few of the
+sheep are black."
+
+"And don't you ever feel you are wasting your talents?" Meryl asked
+him a little shyly.
+
+He threw his head back and squared his shoulders with a characteristic
+movement. "It is better than the hypocrisy and feebleness of the
+condition of affairs at home; and I am very fond of the natives. They
+are most lovable, when one once gets their confidence and understands
+them. And the freedom is good, and the primitive conditions. The
+getting right down to the bedrock of nature, so to speak, without too
+much highly developed civilisation. Yes, it is a good life for a man.
+Sometime I should like to show you the mission farm. We've made
+tremendous strides lately."
+
+"And you?..." Diana turned with a winsome air to Ailsa Grenville. "Do
+you find the natives lovable, and the primitive conditions?... And are
+you proud of the mission farm?... Or doesn't it all sometimes make you
+just long to scream?... It would me!..."
+
+Ailsa smiled into her eyes. "One grows adaptable very quickly. I
+confess I am very happy here. Certainly there are times when one feels
+rather as if one had dropped off the world into space, but it doesn't
+take long to struggle through it. But then, of course, it is well to
+remember that Billy and I are rather an exceptional couple; quite
+absurdly, idiotically satisfied with each other's company. If it were
+not so our lives would be purgatory. The tragedies of these far
+countries are for the husbands and wives isolated from all other
+companionship, and having perhaps nothing in common with each other.
+There are few conditions worse than isolation under those
+circumstances. It breaks the woman's spirit and sours the man and
+brings shipwreck, where a little other congenial companionship might
+have brought them through in safety."
+
+They were interrupted by the sound of voices outside, and found that
+Mr. Pym and his engineer, having encountered Major Carew returning
+from Edwardstown, had persuaded him to show them the way to the
+mission. Mr. and Mrs. Grenville greeted them with eager warmth, and,
+the afternoon sun having sunk behind some trees, tea was spread
+outside the huts, so that they could drink it while admiring the view.
+Carew, though silent as ever, was less rigid, and Meryl saw how
+insistently his eyes strayed back to the blue vista of kopjes. She
+wondered what he thought of all day long, in his continuous silences,
+and behind the quiet, forceful eyes. It was noticeable that Diana
+seemed to have outgrown both her awe and chagrin towards him; and
+though at first he proved very unbending, she eventually won something
+like a repartee out of him. Ailsa watched them quietly from the
+background, and waited hopefully, but in vain, to see his eyes stray
+to Meryl. Indeed, he seemed almost to shun her, and she noted it with
+regret. Was it possible that already his preference was given to
+Diana, with her light raillery and ready laugh? Diana so pretty, so
+attractive, so original, and yet to Ailsa's thinking, so far less
+reliable and restful than Meryl. In the end, by a clever little
+manoeuvre, she brought Carew and Meryl together.
+
+"You are almost outvied, Major Carew," she told him lightly. "Miss Pym
+likes my view already, as much, if not more, than you. I told her you
+loved to sit and look at it, and that is exactly what she likes to
+do."
+
+Meryl smiled, but made no comment. Mere admiration seemed superfluous,
+and Carew was grateful that she spared him raptures. So they sat quite
+still, and instead of any constraint between them because of the
+silence, there was a vague sense of restfulness and understanding.
+Meryl spoke first, and then she made no allusion to his love of the
+spot.
+
+"I think you were right," she said simply. "Mrs. Grenville must be one
+of Rhodesia's heroines."
+
+"How do you specially mean it?"
+
+"I mean it, because one _knows_ there must be times when the isolation
+is almost unendurable, and when she must long for many of the things
+of her old life, however much she declares otherwise."
+
+"Yes, I think there are. She evidently had many friends, and she has
+almost lost them all. It is difficult to keep up friendships by post."
+
+Then Ailsa herself joined them.
+
+"Has Major Carew been with you into the temple, yet?" she asked Meryl.
+"He is better than any guide-book for information."
+
+Meryl coloured faintly, but looked a little amused. He had so
+persistently withstood every friendly hint or invitation to accompany
+them among the ruins.
+
+"He has been very much occupied ever since we came," she said,
+glancing towards him.
+
+Carew looked quite unconcerned, and merely assented, which made Ailsa
+rather want to shake him. "But it ought to be part of your business,"
+she told him, "to interest visitors in our wonderful old ruin."
+
+"I can hardly imagine anyone needing any incentive to that from me,"
+he said.
+
+Meryl glanced at him humorously. Some new phase she had detected in
+him, since Diana persisted in what she called "baiting" him, made her
+more ready to overlook his bearishness and less quick to feel
+repulsed.
+
+"Will you take me if I promise not to ask any silly questions?" she
+asked, with a smile.
+
+He looked up, and for a brief moment the past seemed to lie still as
+one that is dead. His keen, direct eyes looked straight into hers, and
+he said simply, "I should like to take you."
+
+Meryl felt her cheeks glow a little with sudden, swift, indefinable
+pleasure, and almost at the same moment Diana broke in upon them.
+
+"Do you know, Major Carew, your singularly appropriate nickname has
+been subjected to a little embroidery?... You are now called, after
+the Coeur de Lion, 'The Bear with two faces.'" All in a moment he
+stiffened and the shadow loomed; and while Meryl wondered Diana ran on
+unheedingly, "If I say to you when we meet, 'Which face is it to-day?'
+you will know that I mean, is it your day of lordly graciousness, or
+is it the cast-iron, beware-of-the-bull frown day?"
+
+"I think you are excessively rude, Diana," Meryl said, though she
+smiled with the rest.
+
+Carew smiled too, but he rose from his seat and moved away on some
+small pretence.
+
+And as he went, Meryl, watching with eyes that were daily gaining
+clearer sight, saw that the shadow was as of some deep, unfathomable
+pain.
+
+She too got up and moved a little away from the rest, gazing with
+grave, tender eyes across the kopjes, lying how bathed in a faint
+ethereal flush of rose and gold.
+
+"He had not always two faces," she said in her heart. "Something hurt
+him badly once, and ever since he has taken refuge behind the iron
+mask."
+
+"Rhodesia," her heart whispered, almost without her consciousness,
+"cannot you with your fairness reward him for his work by soothing
+away the memory so that the refuge is no longer needed?..."
+
+A little later, as they all prepared to ride home, she saw how
+resolutely he took his place with the engineer, and hastened on ahead,
+quenching even Diana by the stoniness of his mien.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+A DECISION THAT FAILED
+
+
+As Carew sat outside his hut that evening smoking a solitary pipe, two
+thoughts seemed to fill his mind. The one that he had told Meryl he
+would be pleased to visit the temple ruins with her; the other the
+warning unconsciously conveyed in Diana's raillery, reminding him that
+he was in danger of straying from the rigid pathway he had chosen of
+unsociable aloofness, and therefore in a measure, perchance, inviting
+trouble.
+
+But of course he need not go. A polite message by Stanley, or a call
+as he rode past perhaps, already starting on some convenient
+engagement. Yet as he sat on he knew it was not entirely his wish to
+resort to either subterfuge. Why, after all, should he not go with her
+just once, and no doubt Diana also, and tell them a little about the
+mysterious walls?
+
+He pulled hard at his pipe, staring into the darkness. Why not go and
+get it over, instead of troubling to send an excuse? Surely that were
+the simpler plan? One moment he thought he would, and the next he
+found himself shrinking unaccountably, warned again by Diana's chaff.
+He knew quite well she was right. He was a man, or a bear if she
+preferred it, with two faces; but the trouble was that she should so
+thoroughly have grasped the fact. He had only intended to show one
+face, the uninviting, frigid one; and yet unconsciously she had won
+from him more than one glimpse of the other.
+
+And if he unbent so far as to act as their escort to the ruins, he was
+yielding still further to an atmosphere of friendliness he had
+forsworn.
+
+He turned in at last, still in indecision, but the next morning he
+said he would not go.
+
+So Meryl waited a little forlornly through the morning hours. It was
+unusually cool for Zimbabwe, the hot sun being hidden by grey clouds,
+and she knew no question of heat could possibly be detaining him. She
+had hoped he would call for her about eleven and then come back to
+lunch; but the morning wore on, and no tall figure in khaki strode out
+from the clearing where the police camp stood.
+
+Neither did the afternoon bring any word or sign, until Stanley
+arrived for a cup of tea and to ask them to stroll up to the store
+with him at the head of the valley. Diana agreed readily, having found
+the hours somewhat tedious; but Meryl felt tired and headachy, and
+chose to remain behind. Once, as casually as she could, she asked if
+Carew had gone anywhere for the day.
+
+"No, he's grinding away at his report for the Native Commission, and
+as solemn as a judge. I don't think he has spoken two words all day."
+
+"Is there some special haste then?"
+
+"O no; it is just his mood. He gets a sort of black day sometimes,
+when he barely answers if you speak to him, and looks like a bronze
+figure. Then he grinds away at something or other as if his life
+depended on it, and Moore and I have to just shut up."
+
+When they had gone away up the valley Meryl sat on alone in the shade,
+thinking deeply. Evidently he had some reason of his own for not
+following up his promise, and she need not any longer expect him. He
+did not want to take her, and probably was vexed that he had said that
+he would. It did not seem very polite, but she hardly looked at it in
+that way. Somehow, with this stern-featured soldier-policeman, the
+ordinary amenities of conventional intercourse seemed to have little
+weight. If he regretted his words and did not want to go, she liked
+him better for calmly remaining away, than coming against his wish,
+because he felt he ought. Another man would have done that, any man,
+in fact; only Peter Carew, and a few like him, would calmly change his
+mind and remain aloof without saying anything.
+
+Yet how keenly she was disappointed. It was quite idle to pretend
+otherwise to herself, and with a strength like his she calmly faced
+the fact. When she went to bed the previous night she had lain awake
+thinking of the morrow, hugging to her consciousness with shy
+gladness that he was on the point of unbending at last and showing a
+little friendliness. In a few days now they would be journeying on,
+and she had begun to expect he would remain unbending to the last, and
+let them go away, perhaps never to meet again, with nothing beyond the
+official courtesy and the occasional sparring with Diana. And then had
+come this sudden hope, and she had been strangely glad. One might live
+a lifetime and not again meet a man quite like him. Even if their
+intercourse were to be of the merest afterwards, still it was better
+than nothing, better than a final end to all friendship when they
+journeyed on again, leaving him and the ruins behind.
+
+And now had come this swift disappointment. He must have regretted his
+move instantly, and made up his mind to be more rigid than ever.
+
+She hardly troubled to ask why. Doubtless he had his own reasons, and
+whatever they were, they were nothing petty or small. Her eyes strayed
+a little longingly to the police camp, and she watched the door of his
+hut from her chair securely hidden behind some low bushes.
+
+Was he still grinding at his report, she wondered, looking like a
+bronze figure? The simile pleased her, and she smiled. Yes, bronze was
+the right word to use, for his face and hands and arms were tanned
+almost to the colour of his khaki with exposure, so that he sometimes
+looked all of a piece, except for the close-clipped dark moustache and
+keen, intense blue eyes.
+
+Then as she looked she saw some movement in the camp. A boy appeared,
+apparently in answer to a call, and stood a moment receiving
+directions. Then the tall figure itself appeared, stood a moment to
+give an order, and strode down towards the little gate. She sat up,
+and her breath came a little unevenly. Was he really coming at last?
+Had he, after all, been seriously delayed?
+
+No; outside the gate, without one glance towards the tents on the
+hill-side, he turned to the left and disappeared in the direction of
+the Acropolis Hill.
+
+So there was nothing further to hope for. He would never come now. It
+was the end.
+
+She got up, feeling suddenly a new tiredness, and wishing vaguely that
+they were leaving on the morrow. Perhaps it would be possible to
+persuade her father to do so without exciting much comment. Diana was
+already a little bored with their camping-place and ready to be off,
+and she ... without daring to probe too deeply, Meryl felt, for the
+sake of her own peace of mind, it would be wiser to go quietly away
+from a presence so likely to disturb her peace.
+
+Yes, she would ask her father to plan a move as soon as he came in,
+and in the meantime she must do something herself to pass the next
+hour more helpfully than sitting alone in the shade.
+
+The greyness had rolled away now, and the evening grown exceptionally
+lovely, with clear skies overhead and great banks of pearly tinted
+clouds on the horizons. Where should she go? Only two ways lay open.
+Either she must follow Diana and Stanley up the valley, or she must
+stroll down to the temple alone. The third route lay to the Acropolis
+Hill, and that was formidably closed by the presence of the man who
+should have been her companion. Finally she decided on the temple, and
+tying on the large grey hat that blended so charmingly with her eyes
+and the soft tints of her skin, she walked along the little footpath
+skirting the police-camp vegetable-garden to the western entrance.
+
+Inside the temple walls all was very peaceful and still, while the
+sunshine made a network of gold through the leafy trees upon the
+antique masonry. Yet as she looked around upon the empty desolation
+her heart grew sad with a nameless sorrow; that old, old ache, and
+old, old tiredness, for the utter futility of work and of striving,
+that sometimes seems to fill the human heart, when in a depressed mood
+it looks upon the ruins of something that has once had strength and
+greatness. Meryl carried in her hand a little pocket edition of Omar,
+but she did not open the leaves nor read the lines. In a vague way it
+was enough to have it with her; it was like having in her hand the
+hand of a friend who understood. For of all poets the world has known,
+perhaps none have so perfectly voiced the cry of the human heart when
+it questions the why and the wherefore and the worthwhileness of its
+own mysterious existence. So she sat very still in the ancient temple,
+and pondered the old questions that live from age to age--unanswered.
+
+And because Sorrow seemed for the moment to have her in his keeping,
+all her thoughts were tinged with sadness. She looked around upon the
+broken walls, and it seemed to be brought home to her with sudden
+force, how little time was given to each one to play his part before
+he must make room for another.
+
+     The Bird of Time has but a little way
+     To fly, and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.
+
+And because there was that element of greatness in her, which was also
+in her father, she thought less of the "worthwhileness" of doing than
+of the poorness of _not_ doing. His talents were given to
+money-making, because it was the thing he had a genius for; but she
+knew that in a measure he fulfilled his trust, and besides subscribing
+generously to charities, helped many a "lame dog" over his stile in
+secret. But what had this to do with the trust that was hers? She who
+did not even bear the heat and burden of the day in making the
+money?... She who had but to spend it.
+
+In the ruined temple she sat on--thinking, thinking.
+
+How the spot fascinated her!
+
+In this far Rhodesia, how strange that she, the product of the most
+modern and presumably enlightened age, should linger there amidst
+these broken walls, and feel strange kinship and fascination about
+those old people in that remote age; should stretch a hand out to
+them, as it were, across the centuries, with this feeling that their
+thoughts had been even as her thoughts, and that the passing of the
+ages could never eradicate the essential likeness of one people to
+another in those old eternal questions of whence and why and
+wherefore.
+
+And they, the maidens of that day, had loved the man who was big and
+strong and true, even as the maidens of to-day; the man who achieved;
+who was ever fearless to do and dare; who gave his service to the
+world quietly, unostentatiously, indifferent to praise or reward. And
+what was the use of it all: the love, the heartache, the silent
+admiration.... The maidens were dust now, and all the strength and the
+heroism of the strong men could not give them one age longer to do and
+dare ere they too made room for others.
+
+Yet always--always--deep-rooted in the heart and mind of humanity, was
+this ineradicable belief in the simple act of _doing_; this
+half-contempt of the lives content to flutter their little way in
+aimless self-seeking. The spirit that took men through the terrible
+solitudes of untrodden places, that urged them across uncharted seas,
+that carried them fearlessly aloft to conquer the air--not for gain,
+not for notoriety, not for praise, but just that simple splendid need
+to be _doing_. How it appealed to her, how it enthralled her senses,
+how it made her ache with a great overwhelming desire to discover
+quickly what "doing" in a big sense there might be for her!
+
+Of course he, the stern soldier-policeman, was of the fearless band.
+In his quiet way he was "doing" with the foremost, though it might be
+a work that would never bring him anything in this world but enough
+pay just to live upon. But that was beside the point. The band to
+which he belonged did not linger in the shallows, counting the cost,
+counting the gain; they plunged straightway into the deep waters, and
+struggled to some mysterious, perhaps fugitive, goal ahead, finding
+their reward in the struggle itself and the difficult headway won.
+
+And afterwards!...
+
+O, what did it matter about afterwards, if one had put up a good fight
+and dared the deep waters? How much better to be overwhelmed there,
+than to fritter away a butterfly life in the shallows! How splendid to
+win through and stand on the far bank with the quiet band of strong
+workers, even though no one knew aught of the struggle, instead of
+being lauded to the skies by the playing butterflies!
+
+Only, what could she do; ah, what?
+
+A wave of hopelessness seemed to seize upon her, and back across her
+mind like a lash cut the dictum of the strong, rigid man, "A
+millionaire's daughter can generally be pretty useful if she likes."
+
+Of course, signing cheques, cheques, cheques--a mere machine--and
+never to get in touch with the deep need, the inarticulate sorrow of
+the world that her soul ached to comfort. It would seem that even to
+him, the figure of bronze, it was what she should seek as her
+_métier_. She almost wondered if somewhere in his heart he had a
+faint contempt for her, because she was a millionaire's daughter: a
+product of the new régime; someone who could not be permitted to stand
+in the same light as the women of his ancient, illustrious name; who
+had no part with the proud, patrician ladies of his great family.
+
+She rose to her feet suddenly, feeling unaccountably hurt by the
+thought, and her eyes roved half unconsciously, and fixed themselves
+upon the spot where the scarlet petals of the Kaffir boom showed
+blood-red against the ancient northern wall. The ache in her heart
+coloured all her mind for the moment, shutting out the glad sunshine
+with its golden evening glow resting tenderly upon the granite blocks,
+showing her only the splashes of scarlet like blood upon the ancient
+walls. Was it the altar of sacrifice? Did the Kaffir boom shed its
+great red flowers for ever, like drops of blood upon the altar of the
+world's pain?
+
+The sound of a step upon broken stones roused her suddenly; a man's
+firm tread close beside her. She looked round slowly as it stood
+still, and with the ache and the question lingering in her face, found
+herself looking into blue eyes of a disconcerting directness--the eyes
+of the soldier-policeman.
+
+"I saw you from the Acropolis Hill," he said, "and so I came."
+
+No word of why he had not come sooner; no explanation of his presence
+on the Acropolis Hill when she had a right to expect him with her; no
+preliminaries at all, no self-conscious excuses, no apparent
+realisation that he had behaved a little oddly; only the simple,
+direct announcement, "I saw you, so I came."
+
+Yet there was something more--a vague intangible something, that made
+the directness of his eyes disconcerting in a way it had not been
+before. Meryl felt a pink flush stealing over her face, and turned her
+head away to hide it.
+
+"I wonder what you were thinking about just then?" he said, with the
+slightest softening. "I awoke you from a very deep reverie."
+
+She raised her eyes, and they fell again upon the scarlet flowers.
+Something born of her own deep understanding told her, give this man
+straightness for straightness always if you would stand well with
+him; no begging the question, no subterfuge.
+
+"I was thinking," she answered simply, "that those scarlet petals of
+the Kaffir boom, falling on these ancient walls, suggest great blood
+drops offered, upon the altar of the world's pain throughout the
+ages."
+
+"Ah!..." The exclamation escaped him quickly, unheedingly--sharp,
+short, abrupt. It was as though she had struck him suddenly in a
+vulnerable place. It told her, as perhaps nothing else could have
+done, she had gauged rightly when she remarked to Diana that sometime
+something had hurt him very much.
+
+For a moment there was a tense, pulsing silence, and then he turned
+aside towards the sacred enclosure which stood behind them. Meryl
+turned also, and ventured as she did so to glance into his face. It
+was stern again now, but she knew for a brief moment as he made the
+exclamation it had not been so, and for a reason she did not seek to
+fathom her heart was strangely glad.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+THE ANCIENT RUINS
+
+
+When Carew had started up into the Acropolis Hill an hour previously,
+he had not had the faintest intention of fulfilling his engagement and
+going in search of Meryl. On the contrary, he had gone there to avoid
+her.
+
+All day long, as Stanley described, he had been grinding away at his
+native report in a gruff, determined silence: a silence even gruffer
+and more determined than usual. Because of his thoughts the previous
+evening and of his decision in the morning, he had finally made up his
+mind not to visit the temple with Meryl Pym, and not to run any
+further risk of slipping unconsciously into the friendly attitude he
+was so anxious to avoid. When Stanley set out towards the tents, he
+mentioned casually that he was going up the valley to the store, which
+is also a most attractive and comfortable hostel for Zimbabwe
+visitors, and should ask the two girls to go with him. A little later,
+glancing in the valley direction, Carew saw the khaki figure for a
+moment going up the pathway, and the flutter of a light dress, or
+possibly two, just ahead. He took it for granted that Meryl and Diana
+had both accompanied Stanley, and that his escort was no longer
+expected. He told himself he was glad, and decided to go into the
+Acropolis Hill, about that point of interest still unravelled between
+himself and Grenville, and so avoid any chance encounter.
+
+But when he found himself among the ruined fortifications, he became
+conscious of a flagging interest wholly unlooked for. Something seemed
+to have gone out of him, or out of the ancient stones, and he knew
+himself in some vague way not in tune. He gazed at the amazing walls,
+erected upon granite boulders two hundred to two hundred and fifty
+feet above the valley, and the marvel in him that never seemed to die
+was, at any rate, less arresting than it had ever been before.
+
+Here, on an isolated hill, rising to a height of three hundred and
+fifty feet, were fortifications which in their ingenuity, massive
+character, and persistent repetition at every point of vantage had
+astonished the highest experts of modern military engineering. Rampart
+walls, traverses, screen-walls, intricate entrances, narrow and
+labyrinthine passages, sunken thoroughfares, banquettes, parapets, and
+other devices of a people thoroughly conversant with military
+engineering and defence, and not one word, not one line, not one clue
+as to the identity of the builders nor the object of their colossal
+labours; labours which one felt could only have been achieved through
+the compulsory service of many slaves, for thousands of tons of
+granite blocks had been transported up the precipitous kopje to a
+height of no less than two hundred feet, which a careful examination
+of the rocks on the hill proves must mostly have been quarried from
+granite about twelve miles distant. And all this in spite of the fact
+that Nature alone had made the hill already impregnable, it being
+inaccessible on three sides and very difficult of ascent on the
+fourth. It is one of Rhodesia's mysteries, and one also of its
+fascinations; those mysteries and fascinations which so far have
+effectually baffled all efforts to find the clue and read the closed
+book. Who was it came for gold in those old, old days? Who was it
+built the line of forts to Solfala on the coast to guard the route
+along which the gold was undoubtedly carried, and of which remains may
+still be seen at regular intervals the whole distance? Where was the
+gold taken to from Solfala, and by whom?
+
+And no less strange perhaps is the absence of all clue to the
+burial-ground of this stalwart race; for only a stalwart people could
+have built those temple walls and those amazing fortifications. Where
+then are the bones of their dead? Strange and incomprehensible as it
+may seem, no excavations have yet unearthed human bones, or brought to
+light any spot that might be supposed to have been a burial-ground.
+
+To Peter Carew the mystery and the fascination had become such an
+ever-present companion in his thoughts, that it was not surprising a
+moment should come when he stood among the ramparts and found their
+interest for the time being crowded out. The surprising thing was the
+source of that crowding out. For it was not even the lengthy report
+for the Native Commission to which he was giving such infinite thought
+and pains that filled his mind; neither was it anything to do with the
+police force he had grown to care for as truly as his old regiment;
+nor any far-reaching, visionary dream for the welfare of the country.
+Chiefly it was a pair of grave blue-grey eyes, with a gleam in them as
+their owner said, "Will you take me if I promise not to ask any silly
+questions?" And he had said "Yes." Yet now he was here on the
+Acropolis Hill alone.
+
+He stared moodily at the broken walls and pondered within himself. Why
+had he not taken her? Or why, since he had chosen not to do so, could
+he not put the whole remembrance from his mind? Nay, why did he half
+begin to wish that he had not let himself be overruled by his own
+counsel of prudence? They would be going so soon now, and it might be
+long before he would again be given an opportunity to speak with any
+woman of Meryl's charm, or look into any face so full of attraction.
+And yet that was just what he wished; was actually the chief reason
+for his unsociable resolutions. His own inconsistency puzzled and
+worried him, and his eyes as he looked steadily to the horizon had a
+lurking cloud in them.
+
+Then quite suddenly and unexpectedly he had turned his gaze to the
+temple walls lying far below, and seen the figure seated idly on
+fallen masonry, lost in thought.
+
+Then she had not gone with Stanley and Diana? She had remained behind
+alone, nettled perhaps by his bearishness, and choosing to be
+independent, and still take her stroll to the temple without him.
+
+But it was not the thought of her possible censure that spurred him
+unexpectedly to a new decision. He had accustomed himself to be
+indifferent to that in most people. It was a perfectly simple and
+direct desire to join her. And because at heart he was a perfectly
+simple and direct man, he suddenly left off cogitating and started
+down the hill. Perhaps until that moment he had not truly known which
+way his desire lay. Perhaps in the first discovery he had purposely
+not chosen to give himself time to weigh and probe. Anyhow, he
+hesitated no more, until he stood at her side and looked into her
+eyes with that direct gaze that Meryl so unexpectedly found
+disconcerting. But the sensation passed rapidly, and in its place came
+a quiet content. Whether he had avoided her all day or not, at least
+he came now entirely of his own initiative, and for the time it was
+enough. She was too honest to pretend anything herself, and possessed
+too fine a nature to cover what might have held embarrassment by a
+coquettish taunt or feigned pique.
+
+"I had given you up," she said; "it seemed probable that you had
+spoken unthinkingly when you said you would come."
+
+"I have been working all day at my report," he replied simply.
+
+He seemed a little different somehow, and besides, he had come
+entirely of his own free will. She remembered it, and put away all
+sense of restraint, fought down and conquered the self-consciousness
+that sometimes seemed to grip her when he was taciturn and aloof.
+
+He had placed one foot on a low wall, and leaned back against a tree
+in a natural, unrestrained attitude, and quite naturally she seated
+herself on the wall before him.
+
+"You found it very engrossing?"
+
+"It is interesting work."
+
+"Has it any special object, or just a general one?"
+
+"A little of both. We want to benefit the natives as a whole and
+improve their conditions; and we want also to make some changes in the
+native administration of the country."
+
+"And you are fond of the natives? For you at least they are worth
+while?"
+
+"Emphatically so."
+
+"To any particular end?"
+
+His face grew grave and thoughtful, but the hardening stayed away
+still--the hardening that so often came when either she or Diana,
+sought to draw him. Only apparently to men would he speak of his work
+and his beliefs.
+
+"It is difficult to say. Probably nothing but time will show us the
+true solution of the problem of the black and the white race living
+together in one country. But meanwhile the black man is eminently
+worth while. With firm and just treatment he is capable of great
+development."
+
+He raised his eyes and looked out into the distance. "If only we could
+ensure it for him everywhere! Native commissioners and their clerks
+and the magistrates, all men of fine fibre, who honestly care about
+the natives under them and the welfare of the country. So much could
+be done if ... if ..." He smiled a little grimly. "We are so apt to
+expect the impossible," he finished. "How should numbers of men of
+fine fibre ever reach Rhodesia at all? In so many cases we must just
+take what we can get."
+
+"But the standard will improve as the country grows?"
+
+"O yes; it is improving steadily. All the signs are hopeful, if we can
+but light upon what is truly the best method of administering the
+native laws, and get good men to carry the work out."
+
+And still the heavenly sense of unrestrained mental kinship lingered.
+Happy, yet fearful, Meryl ventured a word of appreciation.
+
+"It must make you glad to feel you are doing such a useful work for a
+young country. It seems as if ... as if ... it is just what a man
+might ask to be doing."
+
+He drew himself up with a slightly taut movement, and she divined he
+did not wish for any personal praise; yet, because a tinge of red
+showed under the bronze, she was glad she had seized the opportunity
+to offer a tribute that might at some odd moment heal a passing sense
+of uselessness and appreciation.
+
+She stood up also, and they moved slowly round the ruins together,
+while he explained to her much that he had read and gathered and
+surmised in his leisure hours, not only about the temple itself, but
+about all the ancient remains and the mysterious people who had dwelt
+there long ago. Told as he told it, the listener could only find it
+enthralling, for the man's heart was in his subject; and where another
+might have rhapsodised or sentimentalised, he only stated certain
+remarkable facts, and gave her the simple reasons for and against
+certain deductions, that she might decide her own view for herself.
+
+"But you?..." she questioned at last. "In spite of the scientific men
+who have scoffed, and their followers who have thrown cold water upon
+all enthusiastic belief in the antiquity of the ruins, you are quite
+satisfied that they are really of a very great age, are you not?"
+
+"Absolutely."
+
+"Can you tell me why chiefly?" She smiled a little. "I believe it
+absolutely myself, but I am afraid it is partly a sentimental belief.
+Already I love them, and it makes me jealous for them. I feel I cannot
+bear anyone to throw doubt upon their antiquity."
+
+"It is not easy to explain in a few words, without a great many facts
+and a lot of detail, but I can tell you one or two salient points. For
+one thing, Zimbabwe was evidently connected with a gold industry on a
+very large scale. Mr. Telford Edwards, a well-known and able mining
+engineer in Rhodesia, measured up, about fourteen years ago, the
+length, breadth, and depth of most of the then known old workings in
+Rhodesia, and calculated the cubic contents of what had been taken
+out. And taking the assay value in each old working to be per ton the
+same as it is in the reef in each case now, he estimated that at the
+present value of gold more than one hundred million pounds' worth had
+been taken out. Even two hundred years ago gold was worth very much
+more than it is now; so that it is inconceivable that such an amount
+had been produced within the last two thousand years without any
+mention of it anywhere. Such a production of gold would have upset the
+markets of the world."
+
+"Yes," she said eagerly as he paused; "please go on."
+
+He did so, but without withdrawing his gaze from the distance.
+"Another point is that the workings are so widely dispersed and so
+numerous, requiring such an enormous amount of time and labour, that
+it seems only reasonable to believe that the gold-mining went on for
+many hundreds of years, probably before the age of writing at all. I
+am not prepared to agree offhand that Zimbabwe is probably the ancient
+Havilah of the Scriptures, but I see no very good reason why it should
+not be. On the other hand, the ancient workings and fortifications and
+temples may have been the work of Phoenicians or Mongols several
+thousand years ago. Certainly against Mr. McIver's theory, that the
+Temple was the work of Bantus a few hundred years ago, I think we may
+put the fact that an admirable drainage system has been
+unearthed;--drainage systems of any kind being more or less unknown to
+black races of a low order. In the meantime, we can but await fresh
+clues, which may put us upon the track of proofs, and hope that the
+day is not very far distant when much of the mystery will be cleared."
+
+"O, I hope so," she said; "and thank you so much for telling me all
+that you have. I shall think of it often when I am back in 'the cities
+of the plain,'" and she smiled a little wistfully.
+
+He did not answer, and she wondered what deep thoughts at the back of
+his brain made him always so grave. She felt instinctively he had not
+always worn this serious, preoccupied air, and her heart grew tender
+anew at the thought of that "something" which had hurt him long ago.
+
+Had he ever told anyone? she wondered. Would he ever tell anyone?...
+or would he go quietly on through his life, self-contained,
+self-dependent, aloof? Well, it was good to have met him and known
+him; a simple, strong soul going quietly about its appointed service
+is always good to have known. Perhaps the recollection of the meeting
+later would help her to do likewise, and in the maze of her life learn
+at least to do the simple, strong thing at the moment.
+
+They were moving towards the western entrance now, and she wondered if
+he would accompany her back to the tents, and perhaps stay a little,
+as Stanley did evening after evening. But just as they approached the
+opening voices were heard, and a moment later Diana and Stanley stood
+in the wide aperture. Diana's winsome face was lit with whimsical
+mischievousness, but it fell somewhat when she beheld Carew.
+
+"O goodness!" she remarked comically. "Who would have thought of
+finding you here?"
+
+Stanley and Meryl laughed at her apparent discomfiture, and even Carew
+relaxed as he replied, "You don't seem entirely pleased."
+
+"Well, no, I'm not; but if you are just leaving it doesn't matter."
+
+"I think I shall stay; I scent some vandalism."
+
+"O well," airily, "if you will have it, we were just coming to dig for
+corpses;" and she tossed her head with an independent air.
+
+"It is strictly forbidden to dig for anything on pain of various dire
+penalties," Carew told her.
+
+"I know it is, and that is just exactly why it interferes with my
+plans to find _you_ here."
+
+"I see. And what about Mr. Stanley, who is also a representative of
+the Government that made the laws?"
+
+"Mr. Stanley is only a trooper, and I am Diana Pym. It is not his
+place to interfere with my actions. It would only be mine to shield
+him if he was persuaded to help me and got into trouble."
+
+"And what in the world do you want with a corpse, Di?" asked Meryl.
+
+"Why gold, of course! Mr. Stanley has been telling me a perfectly
+thrilling theory about corpses with a lot of antique gold ornaments on
+them being buried in the ruins; and he knows where one or two are,
+because a gold-diviner showed him with his divining-rod, and he marked
+the places in case he wanted to remember later; and to-day is when he
+did want to remember later, and he's just strolled round with me to
+point out the spots; and if that isn't a long enough sentence for you,
+you must add some more yourself," drawing a long breath.
+
+The Kid, enjoying himself hugely, hastened to add for Carew's benefit,
+"It's only just a joke. Miss Pym wanted me to show her where our
+visitor of the other day said he had divined gold."
+
+"It's not a joke at all," declared Diana defiantly. "It's the key to
+the whole mystery. While all you scientific folks are arguing this,
+that, and the other, I want to look and see. Besides, if there are
+antique gold ornaments, perhaps a few thousand years old, I want some.
+I'm not specially in love with your old broken walls, but I'm ready to
+be in love with your jewellery, worn a few thousand years ago."
+
+"You Philistine!" exclaimed Meryl. "If you can't appreciate the ruins,
+you certainly ought not to be allowed to possess a single treasure
+taken from them."
+
+"O rot!... What's the use of decayed old walls anyway? You and Major
+Carew can have the heaps of stones. We don't want to rob you of so
+much as a pebble. But we do badly want to dig down and look for a
+corpse."
+
+"And when did you propose to begin?" asked Carew.
+
+"Well, I suppose a moonlight night would be best, when you're rolled
+up in your den or else when you've gone off to a distant kraal."
+
+"You would see a ghost in about half an hour," from Meryl, "and fly
+for your life."
+
+"O, are there ghosts?" looking suddenly dubious. "Did your diviner
+divine any ghosts while he was about it?..." turning to Stanley. "You
+never told me that. Of course, I shouldn't much like to be handling a
+corpse, and feel its ghost put a cold, clammy hand on my shoulder.
+What a horrible idea! Do you think there are any?"
+
+"There might be;" and The Kid's eyes twinkled. "Of course, I supposed
+you would imagine we ran risks of that sort."
+
+"Ugh!..." with a cold shudder. "I believe I can see one now. It must
+have overheard me saying I coveted those gold ornaments. Come away
+quickly. I want ... I want ... now don't look shocked, Meryl; I want a
+whisky and soda!..."
+
+They followed her out from the gathering gloom of the walls into the
+quick-coming darkness, and as she and Stanley pressed on ahead, Carew
+and Meryl could only follow. As they did so they spoke little. It was
+as though some bond of sympathy between them had slipped into being of
+itself outside their consciousness altogether, and with a blessed
+sense of quiet understanding neither attempted to make conversation;
+and neither questioned as yet whence came this unsought bond, this
+link forged as by a power outside themselves. The time for probing was
+near, but it lingered yet a little.
+
+As they approached the tents and joined the other two waiting to make
+their adieux, Diana's voice again broke in upon their quiet,
+dispelling its curious sense of unreality.
+
+"It wasn't you I was afraid of, Major Carew," she called lightly.
+"Baboons and owls and bears I dare tackle any day; but a ghost three
+thousand years old!... ugh!... I give it up!... You will not need to
+add to that precious native report another one, concerning the daring
+theft of a corpse from the ancient ruins of Zimbabwe by a well-known
+young lady from Johannesburg."
+
+He smiled into her laughing eyes in a manner that surprised her, and
+made his face extraordinarily attractive in a way she had not yet seen
+it.
+
+"And what would have happened to Stanley, do you suppose?... I'm
+afraid the police force might have considered it necessary to dispense
+with his services."
+
+"O, that wouldn't have mattered in Rhodesia in the least! He'd have
+opened a butcher's shop, or come on with us as our butler, or gone and
+dug a hole in a kopje and called it gold-mining. No one would have
+thought any the worse of him, and I'd have felt indebted to him for
+life. We'd both have had a run for our money, anyhow!..." and she
+laughed gaily as she turned away.
+
+But in their tent, alone together, she suddenly made the epigrammatic
+remark, "Dangerous, very dangerous indeed; like most bears. Mind you
+don't get badly clawed, Meryl!..." and then with her usual lightness
+ran off into another subject.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+CAREW RIDES AWAY
+
+
+With the coming of the dark, velvety southern night, resplendent with
+brilliant southern stars, it would seem the time for probing was at
+hand. By the tents on the hill-side Mr. Pym, the engineer, Meryl, and
+Diana sat outside in the starlight, rather a silent party, listening
+to the intermittent sound of tom-toms coming from some kraal near by.
+
+Then Mr. Pym alluded somewhat suddenly to their departure, and Meryl
+made the discovery that it was a topic she had been dreading all the
+evening. Diana, on the other hand, seemed relieved.
+
+"I have one more journey to make," he told them, "and then I propose
+to start at once for Enkeldorn and Salisbury. Unfortunately, I am
+afraid this journey will take two and possibly three days."
+
+"Then take us with you," said Diana at once.
+
+"It is an unhealthy district or I would. I do not think it would harm
+you, but I am afraid for Meryl." There was a slight pause, then he
+added, "As we returned to-day we stayed for a cup of tea at the
+mission station with Mr. and Mrs. Grenville. I happened to mention my
+journey, and Mrs. Grenville said she would be delighted if you would
+both go and spend the two or three days with her."
+
+"But I want to come with you," Diana cried; and leaning towards him
+added confidently, "Uncle, you will have to take me; don't make a
+fuss."
+
+"Why shall I have to take you?" with amusement in his small, keen
+eyes.
+
+"Because I have made up my mind to go," was the prompt rejoinder; and
+he gave an amused chuckle.
+
+"And what do you say, Meryl? Will you spend two or three days with
+Mrs. Grenville?"
+
+"I should like to, if Di really wants to go; otherwise we could quite
+well have remained on here, couldn't we?" There was a note of anxiety
+in her voice that she was unable to entirely hide. Only three more
+days, and they to be spent several miles away!
+
+"I do not particularly want to leave you here as long as that. I would
+rather you visited Mrs. Grenville, and I think it would be an
+interesting change. She invited you both."
+
+"It was very kind of her," said Diana, "but I am quite decided about
+wanting to go with you. I suppose we could both come?"
+
+"I think I would as soon go to Mrs. Grenville"; and Meryl sat very
+still, gazing at a distant star.
+
+"What do you think?" said Mr. Pym to his engineer. "Will it be all
+right for my niece to accompany us?"
+
+"Why, yes, certainly, if she takes quinine regularly. It is a
+beautiful neighbourhood. She can either ride her mule or be carried in
+a machila."
+
+Diana clapped her hands, feeling her point was won easily, and then
+added, "Couldn't we take Mr. Stanley with us? He would so love the
+shooting, and he is such good company."
+
+"As I came past to-night I called in and asked both him and Major
+Carew. Stanley accepted at once."
+
+There was a slight movement where Meryl sat, but she did not speak;
+and her father, almost as if with intent, kept his eyes turned away.
+
+"What did Major Carew say?" asked Diana.
+
+"He was uncertain. He thought he might be obliged to go to Edwardstown
+on business, and he left the question open."
+
+Diana laughed. "He wanted to make quite certain sure that there were
+to be no ladies in the party."
+
+"I don't know why he should suppose there were likely to be."
+
+"Possibly not, but he is a cautious man. Anyhow, when you tell him I
+am going he will make ready to start to Edwardstown on business."
+
+So they sat on under the stars, each busy with thoughts. Henry Pym's
+were a trifle anxious. So little ever escaped his clear eyes that it
+was not in the least surprising he had seen whither Meryl's mind was
+trending, almost before she knew of it herself. And much as he admired
+Major Carew, he feared, with the clear sight of a great love, that
+indefinable something that stood as a barrier between the man and his
+outlook upon certain phases of life. Whatever it was, his studied
+avoidance of social intercourse, and his turning his back so
+resolutely upon England and all his people there, suggested to the
+astute man of the world that he had taken out of his life's plan all
+thought of marriage, and was not very likely to turn from his purpose.
+Hence the shadow of anxiety in the father's eyes, for his deep
+knowledge of Meryl told him further that she would neither love
+lightly nor forget easily.
+
+And still the girl herself sat on and made no sign. The joy of the
+evening hour was still too new. Under the stars at present she asked
+nothing better than to live through it again and again in her memory.
+For whereas a woman is often fearful to anticipate a joy for dread of
+a disappointment, afterwards, when the realisation is sure and sweet
+and all her own, she will draw delight from it for many a silent hour
+in quiet contentment.
+
+And down at the police camp the two troopers and the officer sat
+likewise under the stars. Stanley was very full of his trip, for Carew
+had readily given him the two or three days' leave; and in the
+direction whither they journeyed were roan and sable and water-buck
+and probably lions to rejoice the heart of a game young British South
+African policeman with a bloodthirsty desire to kill. Moore, in his
+quaint, Irish way, chaffed him a good deal, as was his wont; for
+though one had received his education at the Bedford Grammar School
+and was a clergyman's son, and the other at a board-school and was the
+son of a small innkeeper, in the Rhodesia police force all troopers
+are equals, and there is a frank camaraderie which is very creditable
+to its members. Carew himself showed very little difference, and in
+the same spirit the homely Moore had received a cup of tea from
+Diana's dainty hands, poured out for him by Meryl.
+
+Only, as they twitted each other in slow, easy tones, neither of them
+attempted to include Carew, who sat a little apart in the darkness
+smoking his beloved pipe; and when they rose to turn in, he merely
+acknowledged their pleasant "Good night, sir," with a short "Good
+night" in reply, and made no movement himself. Even when the lights
+at the hill-side tents went out he still sat on, alone with the night
+and the stars. Later, because he knew he should not sleep, he started
+off up the valley towards the store, feeling a need for action.
+
+And all the time, under the covering darkness, his face seemed to grow
+graver and graver. He was too wise not to know when danger threatened,
+and too direct not to face it squarely at once. And the danger that
+seemed to threaten him now was the likelihood that if he saw much of
+Meryl Pym he would grow to love her, and perhaps she would reciprocate
+his love, and for them both there would be only a great pain. That it
+could by any possibility be anything else did not enter his
+cogitations. According to his own ideas he could not marry, and least
+of all could he marry the only child of a millionaire. And it seemed
+to him further that if he cut off all intercourse at once the danger
+would be averted. He was quite satisfied in his own mind that the
+evident attraction had not had time to sink very far down. In two or
+three days she would go away again and he would go on with his work,
+and it would all be the same as if they had never met. Manifestly the
+chief consideration now was to avoid any further friendliness
+whatever, except the merest courtesy which had obtained at the
+beginning. If possible, he decided it would be better not to meet any
+more at all. When a man is strong in one thing, he is usually strong
+in others; and the quiet strength that had enabled him to break away
+from an old life of leisure and ease and excitement, and build up
+another life for himself on entirely different lines in a new country,
+helped him now quietly to make his decision and try to take the
+simple, direct course, out of a threatening danger.
+
+And yet it was not entirely easy; the simple, direct way very seldom
+is. Byways are apt to have softer grass for the feet, deeper shade
+from the sun, smoother banks to rest upon. The direct, straightforward
+way often goes on mercilessly up the steep hill, having sharp flints
+in its pathway, cold winds, dry dust, untempered glare. But the man
+who dares it with steady eyes usually arrives first at the goal,
+tempered metal ringing true, while he who dallies in the pleasant
+byways may find his armour has grown rusty and his powers lax.
+
+As he walked quietly back to the police camp Peter Carew looked
+straight before him to the dim horizon, and in his eyes there was an
+expression that few, if any, had ever been permitted to behold. For
+the hidden sorrow that was his was his alone, and he had never sought
+nor asked the sympathy of a fellow-creature. In the starlight he
+looked back into the eyes of his dead love, and it was between him and
+her only the sorrow might be shared. As he had loved her memory all
+these years, he would love her still, though in the great loneliness
+of his heart he might be drawn to that one other woman who so
+strangely resembled her and so deeply attracted him.
+
+But Meryl was not for him, the penniless policeman, and he knew it.
+
+The hour spent together in the temple ruins had been too sweet, too
+dangerously sweet, and therefore he would run no further risk. He
+would not go with Mr. Pym, because that might forge a link of
+friendship it would be difficult to break; and he would not remain at
+the camp, because that might involve considerable intercourse if Meryl
+and Diana stayed behind at the hill-side home alone. He would instead
+retire to Segundi on the pretext of meeting the Resident Commissioner
+expected there, and stay until the millionaire's party had departed
+from Zimbabwe for good. It would be as well to start early, he could
+easily manage it; and if he saw no prospect of saying good-bye to Mr.
+Pym in person, he would write him a short note giving some sort of
+explanation.
+
+So it happened the next morning, before anyone at the hill-side camp
+was dressed, a Black Watch boy presented a note to Mr. Pym's boy, and
+a little distance off on the road Major Carew waited on his horse for
+a message.
+
+And in his tent, still in a sleeping-suit, Mr. Pym read the note, and
+looked hard for a moment at the sunshine beyond the open flap, as if
+seeking out there to read, not what was said in the little letter, but
+what was _not_ said.
+
+Then he stood up, slipped on some shoes, and went outside into the
+fragrant morning air. Directly he saw Carew on his horse, he took the
+little path through the scrub and rocks and went towards him. Carew
+alighted, and came a short distance along the path.
+
+Mr. Pym spoke first. The other had already done his speaking in the
+note.
+
+"This is very sudden. I hoped you would have accompanied us to Susi."
+He looked up hard into the soldier's bronzed face, though without
+seeming to do so. To any other man the steadiness of Carew's eyes
+might have been disconcerting.
+
+"I hardly expected to be able to. Mr. Jardine was almost certain to be
+at Segundi one day this week, and I knew I should have to meet him."
+
+"How long will you be away?"
+
+"Possibly a week."
+
+Henry Pym was a little taken aback, but he did not show it. The cool
+brain that had manufactured the income of a millionaire was fully
+alert now, not so much because he did not wish to be taken unawares,
+but because Carew interested him beyond most men, and he wanted to try
+and grasp the working of his mind.
+
+"Then we may not see you again before we start for Salisbury?"
+
+"Possibly not. Will you kindly say good-bye to the ladies for me,
+should I be prevented doing so in person?"
+
+"They will be disappointed not to see you."
+
+"I am sorry also." A little smile of grim humour played suddenly about
+his lips. "You must tell your niece The Bear sent her a farewell
+growl, and he hopes she will find more amiable Rhodesians at her
+future camping-places."
+
+"I think she is not one to care much about the average type of amiable
+cavalier. She will miss The Bear's growl a good deal. But we shall see
+you again shortly, I hope," he hastened to add. "Any time if you care
+to come to Johannesburg we shall be delighted if you will visit us at
+Hill Court."
+
+"Thank you. If I come that way, I shall remember."
+
+Then he held out his hand. Mr. Pym grasped it with unwonted warmth.
+
+"Good-bye, sir," said the soldier simply.
+
+"Good-bye, Carew; I have been glad to meet you," answered the
+millionaire. And then as the horseman rode away without one backward
+look, he walked slowly along the little path to the tents.
+
+At breakfast he broke the news quite simply, but once more he did not
+look at Meryl. He told them Major Carew had been called away to
+Segundi, and would not return before they had departed north.
+
+"Gone?..." echoed Diana blankly. "Do you mean he has gone already and
+without saying good-bye?"
+
+He felt Meryl's eyes upon him with a strained expression, and he
+turned lightly to Diana to give her time to grasp the news.
+
+"Yes; but he left you a message. He passed before you were up, and I
+went out to speak to him. He asked me to make his farewells to both of
+you, and particularly to tell you that The Bear sent you a growl, and
+he hopes you will find more amiable Rhodesians at your other
+camping-places."
+
+But Diana was in no mood for light messages; rather unaccountably, she
+received it with impatience.
+
+"O, he is simply odious!" she exclaimed. "I have no patience with him.
+Why can't he behave like an ordinary man just once in a way? Going off
+at sunrise, and never stopping to say good-bye! It is downright
+rudeness, and there is no reason why he should conclude he can be as
+rude as he likes with impunity. You don't seem to mind his
+bearishness, Meryl? but I hope you have spirit enough to resent his
+casual departure."
+
+Meryl was rather pale, but she managed to reply lightly, "I can't see
+why you seem so surprised. He is only acting as he has done all along.
+It is his affair, whether he keeps it up to the last, or suddenly
+changes altogether and becomes the polite, conventional society man.
+Personally, it would have surprised me far more to see the change."
+
+"O, you're just shielding him," with impatient disdain; "I suppose
+because he happens to be rather good to look at. But I call it rude;
+just plain, unvarnished rudeness to go off like that for some
+trumped-up reason and never say good-bye to you and me. I hope I
+_shall_ meet more amiable Rhodesians elsewhere, and I should like to
+have a chance to tell him so." Then she rattled off into another
+subject, leaving neither Meryl nor her uncle any necessity to help the
+conversation, for which, in their secret hearts, they were deeply
+grateful.
+
+And perhaps Diana's clever little head made an effort which had no
+appearance of an effort; for like the two brothers who had been
+respectively her father and her uncle, very little transpiring in her
+immediate circle ever escaped her notice.
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+"THE SHIP OF FOOLS"
+
+
+Meryl had not been long with the Grenvilles before Ailsa's sympathetic
+nature divined that some shadow seemed to be brooding upon the girl's
+spirit. She was so pensive and silent, with sad eyes turned often to
+some far horizon full of wistful thought. And then perhaps suddenly
+she would make an effort and be unusually gay, but the gaiety was not
+spontaneous nor the laughter frank.
+
+In truth, it had been a weary two days and nights for Meryl, since the
+early morning when her father and Diana, with the engineer and
+Stanley, rode away, after escorting her to the Mission Station and
+leaving her there to await their return. It was as though the very
+abruptness of Carew's departure had crystallised all her wavering,
+uncertain thoughts, and told her bluntly what he was to her. Before
+she had been half dreaming; now she knew.
+
+And it seemed to her that she knew also, beyond any questioning, that
+he had no feeling whatever for her beyond the merest friendliness; and
+since they would probably never meet again, she must, if possible,
+conquer her own foolish heart, and resolutely withdraw the love she
+had given unasked. It seemed to her, at any rate, the strongest thing
+to do, and while she made the effort she would turn a smiling face to
+the world and let no one suspect. If she failed--well, that would
+still be her own affair and no one need know. So she rallied herself
+often and talked gaily, encouraging an interest in all Mr. Grenville's
+plans and hopes that she did not always feel. What she liked best was
+to sit silently before the large sitting-room hut, with her hands on
+her knees, gazing at the wonderful prospect, while Ailsa sewed beside
+her and talked quietly. Ailsa who knew him so well, and loved him so
+well, and appeared to be the only woman friend he possessed. Ailsa
+also who loved this far country so well, the country he had adopted
+for his own land, and seemed quite content, as he, to give the best
+years of her life, in her small measure, to its welfare.
+
+Meryl thought much of the lives of these three quiet workers in the
+wilderness, and mused a little sadly upon what seemed but gilded
+pleasure-seeking emptiness to which she would presently go back.
+
+It was in one of these thoughtful moods she asked Ailsa with plain
+directness how she thought a millionaire might best benefit Rhodesia,
+supposing he were willing to make an effort in that direction. Having
+asked, she added with a light touch, "I imagine you are hardly ready
+yet for libraries and public parks and orphanages?"
+
+"No," Ailsa answered; "but we want settlers badly. Think what it would
+mean to the country if just one rich man or company, instead of
+acquiring large tracts of land and holding it until the price mounts
+to a high figure, were to make a genuine effort to get a white
+population upon it as quickly as possible, even though it meant small
+or no profits. It is too much to expect from any company naturally,
+but there are individuals holding up their land, and therefore holding
+back the country, who might show a more generous spirit. I could name
+a well-known man who owns immense tracts, one of them two hundred
+thousand acres not far from a town, and there it lies in idleness,
+awaiting a land boom. Not long ago it was given out through the
+newspapers that he had a great scheme in hand for getting settlers,
+but nothing has come of it yet, and no one has much hope that it ever
+will."
+
+"I wonder if my father owns land here? Do you happen to know?"
+
+"I think he does."
+
+"And it is lying idle?" divining that her companion knew more than she
+implied.
+
+"As far as any outsider knows, it is."
+
+"I see." Meryl got up and moved down the rustic verandah, standing a
+moment at the far end and looking across the country with grave eyes.
+Then she came back. "Has anyone ever thought of a Rhodes Scholarship,
+that might take the form of grants of land and be won by competition,
+I wonder? Would a scheme like that work, do you think?"
+
+"I have often thought that it would. Besides bringing the settler, it
+would more or less ensure a desirable one, if he had to prove himself
+a useful, hard-working youth of good sound education. But, of course,
+it would mean a big outlay. A man might inaugurate such a scheme to be
+carried out by his will, but he would hardly be likely to do it in his
+lifetime."
+
+"Still, I suppose something of the kind might prove workable if the
+owner of the land were content to forego a large profit, and let
+settlers have farms or plots on exceptional terms, if they could prove
+themselves capable, useful men?"
+
+"Yes, that is very much what we want. The owner of the land a patriot,
+keeping an eye on the scheme himself, and helping it forward for love
+of the country, not holding it back and keeping it idle for the sake
+of his own already well-filled pocket."
+
+"I will sound my father about his possessions," the girl said simply,
+looking to the far blue hills.
+
+Ailsa watched her a moment covertly, and then asked with a little
+wonder in her voice, "The country seems to have taken hold of you very
+quickly. You speak as one who already loves it."
+
+"I love all South Africa. I have always been happier out here than in
+England. In some way it seems more thoroughly my own land."
+
+"Why is that, do you think?"
+
+"I hardly know, unless it is the remembrance that all we have we owe
+to Africa. I believe my father was penniless when he came out here."
+
+"It has been the same with many, but they do not remember. It is more
+usual to come here for gain, and go away to spend it in more luxurious
+countries."
+
+"Perhaps, but it has never seemed to me to be fair. My father is not
+like that. He loves Africa as I do, but he is a very hard-working man,
+and perhaps some things do not occur to him. I think he is up here now
+to see the country, as well as acquire fresh mining properties, and
+all the time he seems so busy and preoccupied, he is probably thinking
+out development schemes of general benefit."
+
+"I hope so," and Ailsa spoke very earnestly. "Your father is a fine
+man; one has only to talk to him to perceive that quickly, and it
+would be a good day for Rhodesia if he began to take a genuinely
+practical interest in her welfare. I know he has talked much of it to
+Major Carew, and no one could tell him more of our hopes and needs."
+
+They were silent a few moments, and then Ailsa added with a touch of
+emotion, "You know, when one thinks of the service some men give so
+quietly and unquestioningly to the far-off lands, it seems, after all,
+but a small thing for rich men who have benefited by them to give of
+their riches. Yet how few ever do! There are more men ready to risk
+their lives than to put their hands in their pockets. But then that is
+just perhaps because they are fools, and fools never make any money to
+give; have nothing, in fact, except their lives to offer."
+
+She smiled with a little twist to her lips, playing fitfully with a
+thread in her fingers. Evidently it was a subject that moved her
+deeply. "Of course, you know the verse from 'The Ship of Fools':
+
+     'We are those fools who could not rest
+     In the dull earth we left behind,
+     And burned with passion for the West,
+     And drank strange frenzy from its wind.
+
+     The world where wise men live at ease
+     Fades from our unregretful eyes,
+     And blind, across uncharted seas,
+     We stagger on our enterprise.'
+
+"Those are the men who appeal to me; the men to whom gain is the
+secondary consideration; who come blindly out just as much to give as
+to take. My husband is one, Major Carew is another, Stanley under
+Carew's influence will become a third. Think of them all, all over the
+world; guarding the frontiers, making the paths, exploring the
+danger-zones!
+
+"Think of the little band now gone into the sleeping-sickness belt to
+investigate the disease, and try to learn how best to cope with it!
+How little reward will they get! how little acclaim! But that is just
+a side issue. They did not go for reward. Disaster shook a
+threatening hand at a splendid young country, and instantly some from
+The Ship of Fools were ready to risk their lives in going to the
+rescue. God bless them for it, and bring them safely back! But in any
+case one knows they will be content, if but the work is carried
+forward and the new pathways rendered safe.
+
+"Those types of men are the heroes of to-day, because the spread of
+the Empire, and the welfare and progress of the colonies, grows every
+year a more important factor to England; yet many a good football
+player, and many a popular actor, will win an honoured name, while the
+man who died at the outposts in some dangerous investigation work will
+pass away unknown and unheard of. But they do not mind, that is the
+splendid thing. They are just fools, fools, fools
+
+     'Who burned with passion for the West,
+     And drank strange frenzy from its wind.
+       *       *       *       *       *
+     And blind, across uncharted seas,
+     They stagger to their enterprise.'
+
+"How many threw up everything at home and came out in the time of the
+Boer War! Think of the men who carried the railways across Canada and
+America, fighting for the pathway, step by step! Think of them in the
+awful climate of West Africa, laughing and playing and singing one
+evening and dead the next! Think of them struggling up here in the
+early days, and undaunted by the horrors of the Matabele rebellions,
+going steadily on with their railways, making their homes! Think of
+them in India! Ah! what The Ship of Fools has achieved in India is
+beyond telling. Only one doesn't feel it in the same way at home. One
+has to come out oneself, and see the path-finders at their work, to
+realise all it means. It does one good just to hear them grumble. How
+shall I explain? It makes you understand that they are the sort of
+heroes who hate to be thought heroic; so they grouse and swear and
+grumble; and talk about a God-forsaken country and a God-forsaken
+existence, and wonder what in the name of all that is wonderful they
+are here for. And perhaps they go off home vowing never to return;
+until the 'strange frenzy' catches them again, and back comes the dear
+Ship of Fools, with every berth taken and the stoutest grumblers
+hurrying to be the first ashore. Fools or heroes, it is much the same.
+I think I have read somewhere that a man couldn't be a hero unless he
+were also a fool."
+
+Meryl got up, and moved behind her companion's chair that she might
+not see the glisten in her eyes, for the longing for that one
+Fool-Hero who had brought such sudden desolation in her heart. Placing
+her hands on the back of it, she leaned over her affectionately and
+said, "It doesn't carry men only, that ship of yours: some of the
+fools are women. O, I know, I know; you are one of the chief among
+them and I envy you." In a whisper, "God knows, I envy you."
+
+Ailsa reached a hand back and laid it over the girl's. "It is very
+sweet of you to say so, but I mayn't accept it. Seeing I have a
+husband like Billy, I should be a very real fool in the most literal
+sense if I stayed away. No, the women-heroes in this land are those
+who face it with a careless, selfish husband, or perhaps in a home
+having no love, and who win through their little day and make no
+plaint. God help them!"
+
+"And you mustn't envy me," she added after a moment, "for presently,
+you will be doing far more than I can ever hope to do. Because it is
+in your heart it will find a way, and then your money will give you a
+great power and influence. Be hopeful, you sweet child," with a little
+playful pat. "Your eyes are over-sad for twenty-four, and sometimes
+when you smile it goes no further than your lips."
+
+Meryl brushed her hand quickly across her eyes, and tried to laugh
+with an attempt at lightness.
+
+"O yes, I will. When I get back home I'll sign cheques, and more
+cheques, it is so easy for me. And I'll persuade father to plan out a
+scheme to bring settlers on the land; land scholarships for
+public-school boys, or something of that sort; and I'll try and
+comfort myself with the thought that in this way he is giving back for
+what he has received. I think I'll take a stroll now it is cooler. The
+others will no doubt come back to-morrow, and this may be my last
+evening in this part of the world. I know you want to worry your
+cook-boy and your head about the dinner, so I'll just go a little way
+alone."
+
+"Very well," Ailsa answered cheerily, guessing that she wished to take
+the stroll in solitude; but as she moved away towards her kitchen she
+said to herself, "Poor little girl! you will comfort yourself you are
+helping your father to fulfil his trusts, and at the back of it all
+quietly, silently, you will be breaking your heart for a man of iron
+who unbends to none."
+
+And along the rocky pathway, that was a short cut to Edwardstown and
+led along a low ledge of kopjes commanding a lovely view of the valley
+which lay between the Mission Station and Zimbabwe's lofty northern
+mountain, Meryl walked slowly, with a sense of desolation she could
+neither gauge nor dispel; and over and over through her mind as she
+looked to the far kopjes passed the lines of England's strong
+woman-poet, Emily Brontë:
+
+     "What have those lonely mountains worth revealing?
+     More glory and more grief than I can tell:
+     The earth that wakes _one_ human heart to feeling
+     Can centre both the worlds of Heaven and Hell."
+
+What have those lonely mountains worth revealing? was the dumb,
+inarticulate cry in her heart. Ah! what?... what?... And it seemed as
+if all the loneliness in the world were brooding over the blue kopje
+and over the spot where the ancient ruins lay, and creeping into her
+heart and her life for ever.
+
+Would he ever come again, that grim soldier-policeman, who just once
+or twice had shown her a glimpse of the strong man's heart behind the
+barrier, and the strong man's everlasting charm?... Or was it indeed
+all finished for ever? Just an episode that came and went and had no
+sequel, except in that brooding sense of a great loneliness upon the
+distant hills and upon the path of her life. She told herself again
+that it must be so; that evidently the momentary softness had been
+only passing moods; that she counted for nothing at all to him, not
+even a friend it was worth while saying "good-bye" to.
+
+With the deep sadness still in her face she turned, because a step was
+approaching round a tall boulder beside her. And a moment later she
+was looking full and deep into Peter Carew's eyes.
+
+"You?..." she said. "_You?_ ..." as if she could not believe her own
+eyes.
+
+He said nothing. Suddenly speech seemed to have gone from him, but an
+expression in his face that was new to her quickened her pulses with a
+strange glad quickening.
+
+After a moment he spoke, and it was as though his whole expression and
+figure stiffened.
+
+"I did not expect to find you here," he said. "I was told you had gone
+with your father."
+
+"Not I; Diana only." And her eyes fell, and a faint colour dyed her
+cheeks.
+
+There was a moment's awkward pause: she remembering his unceremonious
+departure, wondering at his unceremonious return; he nonplussed at the
+trick Fate had played him, bringing him again, in spite of his
+decision, into the sphere of her beauty and her quiet charm.
+
+"I was going to the Grenvilles'," he told her at last.
+
+And suddenly a tiny smile played about the corners of Meryl's mouth.
+"I thought you could not possibly return from Segundi for a week?"
+
+She looked away as she said it, so she could not see the swift
+contraction of his face and the swift gleam in his eyes. For one
+moment, of all things in heaven and earth, he felt suddenly that he
+wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her--roughly perhaps; yes,
+roughly and masterfully, for daring to aim her little shaft at him.
+Instead he replied gravely, "I had to come, because Mr. Jardine wanted
+Grenville's opinion on a particular native question, and it was a
+difficult matter to explain in a letter."
+
+"Then I mustn't hinder you." And she stood aside. "Of course you are
+thinking of starting back to-night and are in a great hurry?"
+
+And then for once the man's armour failed him. "No, I am not going
+back to-night, and I am not in any special hurry. If you were going on
+to the top of the kopje, may I come with you?"
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+AN EVENING CONVERSATION
+
+
+As they climbed slowly up the zigzag path, neither of them troubled to
+make conversation. All in a moment it had come back--mysteriously,
+unaccountably--the sense of understanding, the quiet kinship of
+minds--for her, the sudden utter content at his nearness. While he was
+there beside her, by his own seeking, what did the future matter?--the
+future might wait. It is generally so with women. In the "afterwards,"
+the deepest pain is usually theirs, because it is not given them to
+break away and drown the ache and the longing in action and change;
+but in the present, if he, the loved, is with her, she can forget so
+much in that blessed sense of nearness. The man's ache, perhaps,
+spreads more uniformly over both presence and absence, for in each,
+for him, there is the very human craving to possess.
+
+So they reached the summit, and stood a moment gazing at the prospect
+outspread. A sunset in a novel has become too banal for repetition; it
+seems, indeed, almost the last word in literary mediocrity; and yet at
+the evening hour in Rhodesia, in September, when the rains are nearly
+due, and great masses of cloud begin to gather on the horizon, there
+is again and again a pageant of wonder and colouring to steep man's
+senses afresh at every renewal, as if it was the first time of
+beholding. Nothing banal, nothing mediocre in the actual
+phenomenon--just a riot of colouring, a riot of splendour, a riot of
+revelation. It is not a glory in the west spreading a little way
+overhead. It is an all around, north, south, east, and west, colouring
+beyond all telling--something aloof, overpowering, incomprehensible,
+with the remote majestic splendour of the Rockies, or the Sahara, or
+the Victoria Falls.
+
+Neither Carew nor Meryl spoke. They were of those who know that the
+highest appreciation of all is in silence. But to herself Meryl
+whispered:
+
+     "Lord, Thy glory fills the heavens."
+
+At last he turned and glanced at the little book in her hand.
+
+"You read Omar?"
+
+"Yes. And you?"
+
+"I like Adam Lindsay Gordon better. Omar is apt to undermine a strong
+purpose. Gordon inspires one."
+
+"Doesn't Omar help one to see things as they _are_, and dare to be
+strong in spite of it, while Gordon avoids many essentials, and writes
+chiefly of how we would have things be?"
+
+"But surely the inspiration is the chief thing. The man who inspires
+is better than the man who reveals, and in revealing unnerves." She
+was silent, and he added, "I suppose it is the difference between the
+æsthetic and the practical, and so they appeal to the æsthetic or the
+practical side of man."
+
+She wondered if it were possible such as he should have an æsthetic
+side, and presently said:
+
+"You are all practical, I should imagine."
+
+He glanced at her half humorously. "I wonder why you say that?"
+
+"I don't know, except that one does not usually associate æstheticism
+and strength." Another man might have asked her if she was satisfied
+he _was_ strong, but Carew only looked to the horizon. He was asking
+it of himself instead.
+
+And he asked it, because he was leaning there beside her, alone on the
+kopje top. Suddenly yielding to an impulse he did not seek to analyse,
+he said quietly, "I have never been a great reader of poetry, but long
+ago I was engaged to be married, to some one who cared very much for
+it. Omar was one of her favourites, and sixteen years ago he was very
+little known compared with to-day."
+
+Meryl felt the colour ebbing from her face, and averted her eyes.
+Without any telling, she knew that this woman he had loved sixteen
+years ago was the cause of that mysterious shadow on his life to-day.
+When she felt she had complete control of her voice, she asked, "And
+you were never able to be married?"
+
+"She died." There was a pause, before he added, "You remind me of her
+more than anyone I have ever known." And for both their sakes he
+finished, "That is one reason why I have been glad to talk to you one
+day, and found it perhaps too painful the next."
+
+Meryl felt suddenly as if an icy hand had closed on her heart. His
+meaning to her was so obvious. But she managed to say naturally, "I am
+afraid it has been a great sorrow to you. Was she ill for long?"
+
+"She died suddenly. There was a tragedy. Afterwards I came out here."
+
+"And you have never been back?"
+
+"No, I have never been back."
+
+"But you will go?"
+
+"I think not. When I came away it was like closing a book and writing
+'Finis.' I do not want to reopen the book for many reasons."
+
+"But your people?" she ventured, longing to hear more, yet fearful of
+staying his unexpected confidence.
+
+"I have no people," and his voice was suddenly stern.
+
+"But your home?..." bravely; "your country?..."
+
+"My home is here. My country is here. I am a Rhodesian."
+
+Still with her face averted, she looked to the far kopjes lost in
+thought. She seemed to be realising slowly all that his words meant;
+feeling throughout her consciousness the utter exclusion of herself
+from any plan of life he might formulate. It was as she had seen
+before. His work, the country were everything to him--would continue
+to be everything. Any unusual softness he had shown to her, any
+unexpected pleasure in her company, was just for the sake of a certain
+memory he held very precious, for the sake of what the book contained,
+upon which he had written "Finis."
+
+Of course, she might have known. What should such a man as he be drawn
+to except in friendly intercourse in a girl as young and simple and
+undeveloped as herself? What a madness it had been, what a
+foolishness! and yet how it hurt, how it hurt!
+
+With a sudden blind sense of ineradicable pain, she breathed over to
+herself one verse of the "Immortal Persian" that is not contained in
+many editions:
+
+     "Better, oh better, cancel from the scroll
+     Of universe one luckless human soul,
+     Than drop by drop enlarge the flood that rolls
+     Hoarser with anguish as the ages roll."
+
+What pain there had evidently been for him! What pain for her now--and
+to what end....
+
+     "Tis all a chequer-board of nights and days
+     Where Destiny with men for pieces plays;
+     Hither and thither moves, and mates and slays,
+     And one by one back and closet lays."
+
+She stood up suddenly and brushed her hands across her eyes. This was
+a weakness, and she knew it. He must not know, he must not guess.
+
+But he saw enough to cause him to say suddenly, with quick concern,
+"You are not well. Something is troubling you."
+
+"O no," and she gave a little laugh that he could not but know was
+forced. "I've been rather bothered with a headache to-day. Shall we go
+back?" She had been carrying the large grey hat slung over her arm,
+but now she tied it on, pulling it down over her face, so that he
+could see nothing but the small, firm chin and sensitive mobile mouth.
+And neither could she see that, under or through the rigidity, his
+face wore now a troubled aspect, and his eyes looked to the horizon
+seeing nothing. Why had he come back? he was asking. Why was he
+hovering in the grip of it again, that strong need of the human,
+however resolute, for sympathy, for companionship, for understanding?
+For now, as they stood together alone on the kopje, all the ache of
+the last sixteen years seemed to be merged into one great longing for
+her. And then in his heart he laughed harshly. He, the British South
+African policeman, not even a regular soldier; and she, the only
+child, and sole heiress, of a millionaire father who adored her. He,
+with his tragedy in the background, that he could not speak of, in his
+forty-third year. She young, beautiful, fresh, with all the world at
+her feet. Ah, of course, he had been a fool to run any risk of another
+encounter; and he was sore with the fate that had led him thither in
+ignorance.
+
+And Meryl, walking a little stumblingly over the rough pathway, was
+glad of the big shady hat that hid her eyes and gave her time to pull
+herself together. Of course, that other woman he had loved sixteen
+years ago had been one of his own people--one of those whom the great
+Fourtenay family of Devon regarded as an equal. Whereas she was just
+Meryl Pym, and though many needy peers chose rich wives from across
+the sea, anyone might know Peter Carew was not of these, and would
+sooner shun such riches than seek them.
+
+So they walked back, mostly in silence, only no longer the silence of
+quiet, contented understanding, but rather a silence which she showed
+no inclination to break, and he felt baffled, and worried, and
+anxious. And at dinner, though Meryl made one of her spasmodic efforts
+and contrived to be gay, he remained somewhat preoccupied and
+taciturn. And Ailsa looked from one to the other secretly, and
+wondered what had been said before they reached the Mission Station;
+and felt again that womanlike desire to shake the man for the very
+resoluteness she most admired in him.
+
+When she said good night to Meryl she could not refrain, from just one
+little delve into the perplexing situation. "If you and Major Carew
+met at six o'clock and did not get back until seven, you must have had
+quite a long chat together. Such a new thing for him! I don't think
+even I, his trusted friend, can boast of such an incident."
+
+"We just stayed to watch the sunset," and Meryl turned away on some
+slight pretext. "He certainly was a little more communicative than
+usual. Did you know he was once engaged to someone who died?"
+
+"No," in slow surprise, "I had never heard of it. But then, he never
+speaks of himself, and I did not know his branch of the family at all.
+We lived near London about that time, and seldom went into Devonshire.
+Still, I wonder Billy did not know. Probably he heard it, and took no
+notice. That would be so like Billy. He was perhaps scheming some new
+move for his boys, as he used to call his parishioners."
+
+"Perhaps he would rather I had not mentioned it," Meryl said.
+
+"It will be safe with me, dear. I shall only speak of it to Billy. How
+terrible it must have been! It is impossible not to feel it has
+shadowed all his life. And for her!--he must have been a very
+striking, attractive man in those days. One hears rumours without
+attaching much interest to them at the time, but looking back now, I
+remember my father alluding once or twice to the two brothers as if
+they were very well-known men. But that would be when I was but a
+schoolgirl, and soon afterwards I went abroad for a year with an
+aunt." She lingered a moment longer. "I am glad he told you. It was
+nice of him. And he tells so little. It was a great compliment. Good
+night, dearie. Sleep well."
+
+Meryl sat on the little bed, in the round wattle and daub hut, and
+pressed her fingers against her eyes to still their throbbing. Then
+she looked round at her surroundings, and a little wry smile twisted
+her lips. A rough floor of ant-heap composition and cow-dung hardened
+to cement, with some native reed matting laid down; a small stretcher
+bed; a packing-case for a washhand-stand, and enamel ware. Another
+packing-case for a dressing-table, and a little cheap glass nailed to
+the wall. Walls of baked mud, which had fallen in places, laying bare
+the wattle stems, and a door made from packing-cases which fitted
+badly, and was fastened only by a string and a nail. For ceiling long,
+thin wattle stems converging upwards, and outside a thatch of dried
+grass. And against this in her mind she placed the Johannesburg
+bedroom, with its costly appointments, its beautiful windows opening
+to a wide, flower-decked verandah, which commanded a lovely view of
+distant hills; its lavish display of wealth and luxury. And she smiled
+that little wry smile, because for the sake of just one man, a mere
+soldier-policeman, this room might have been a paradise, and the other
+a grave. In truth she had learnt much from her sojourn in the
+wilderness--much beyond the life and aspect of a far country.
+
+Then she crept to bed feeling tired and disheartened, but finding a
+little comfort in the thought that she would see him in the morning.
+
+But at sunrise Carew aroused Grenville and said good-bye, and rode
+away before breakfast.
+
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+THE CHARTER FLATS
+
+
+Later in the day the party arrived back from Susi, and in the cool of
+the afternoon a last good-bye was said to the mission station, and
+they all returned to the Zimbabwe camp for their last night.
+
+It had been casually mentioned that Carew had paid a flying visit the
+previous evening and gone again early that morning, but very little was
+said about the circumstance. Stanley was already beginning to look and
+feel disconsolate over the approaching exodus, and Diana was very full of
+the fact that she had shot a duyker. "I didn't really aim at him, you
+know," she told Grenville naïvely; "I just held up the gun and pulled the
+trigger. I couldn't believe my own eyes when I saw the buck lying dead.
+All the same I did shoot him, and I've got his horns, and they will
+occupy the place of honour when I get back in my own private sanctum. I
+shall not tell the Jo'burg folk about not aiming; why should I? If I
+describe the buck going at full speed, and how I bowled him over with one
+shot, it won't be any more of a lie, if as much, as most of you colonists
+tell when you get home to civilisation."
+
+"Certainly not," agreed Grenville gravely; "but why not make it a lion
+while you are about it, or even a rhinoceros?"
+
+The Kid began to giggle. "And let it be just charging you," he
+suggested joyfully. "And first you must take a snapshot of it
+charging, and then you must fire into its mouth and blow its brains
+out."
+
+"And you might have its horns polished and mounted and its tail
+stuffed," added Grenville.
+
+"Silly idiots," scornfully. "You're both jealous. If you could have
+_seen_ the things The Kid _missed_!"
+
+"The Kid generally misses," chimed in Ailsa cheerfully. "He gets so
+excited, he quivers all over, and the wild beast, or whatever it is,
+just lollops away, throwing a grin over his shoulder at him."
+
+"If you don't mind," threatened Stanley, "I'll give away your hippo
+story."
+
+"It has increased," said Ailsa's big, schoolboy husband, chuckling to
+himself.
+
+"Impossible!..." ejaculated The Kid. "Surely it had already reached
+the limit of human ingenuity?"
+
+They both spluttered, and Ailsa threw a newspaper at them, but Diana
+demanded to be told the story.
+
+"O, it's only about a hippo in the Zambesi, above the Victoria Falls,"
+began Stanley; "a perfectly harmless hippo really, but it had the
+impudence to look at the canoe in which Mrs. Grenville was travelling
+back to the hotel in the dusk."
+
+"I thought it bumped the canoe up and down on its back," said the
+missionary, still chuckling.
+
+"That came later"; and Stanley addressed himself gravely to Diana.
+"But at one time the story really did stop at the hippo chasing them
+on to an island and off it again, and opening and shutting its mouth
+at them."
+
+"If you had been there you would have been terrified, and had
+hysterics or something," Ailsa flung at him.
+
+"I certainly should at the later period of the story," he assured her.
+
+"When it played catch-ball with them?" suggested the missionary.
+"Threw them all into the air and caught them again in the canoe."
+
+"That wasn't so bad, since it _did_ catch them," said Stanley. "My
+horror would have been when it climbed the tree after them!..."
+
+"That is the part that has increased," put in the schoolboy husband,
+beginning to shake again. "It now jumps after them from one tree to
+another," and then they both spluttered insanely, and Diana joined in
+because it was so infectious, and Ailsa called them all ridiculous
+children who ought to be given a sweetie and tucked up in bed.
+
+A little later the cavalcade got under way, and Grenville and his wife
+stood waving to them somewhat sorrowfully from their wilderness home.
+
+"They are dear people," Ailsa said; and added, "O, Billy, if Major
+Carew would but come out of his shell and love Meryl!... I am sure she
+cares for him ... and she is so sweet ... and he--O, he is just like a
+figure of stone."
+
+Grenville pinched her ear affectionately. "Little matchmaker! No one
+by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature; and no one by just
+wishing it, I am inclined to think, can influence the little god Cupid
+whither he will aim his arrow. Perhaps, perhaps not; that is all there
+is to say ever."
+
+The next morning after a very early breakfast, the travellers started
+on their way to Enkeldorn _en route_ for Salisbury. And at the top of
+the valley, whither they walked to save the mules, both girls stood
+and turned for a long last look at the grey walls of the ancient
+temple, lying in a soft haze of morning mists. It seemed to Meryl it
+had never held a deeper fascination, a stronger allurement. Just those
+old, old walls, and the soft enfolding mists which must have enfolded
+them even so for perhaps three thousand years. The red of sunrise was
+still in the sky, for Mr. Pym was an early starter, and it tinged the
+mist with a soft flush where the sun's rays had not yet lit a clearer
+light.
+
+"It was good to come," said Diana simply. "I have to thank you for
+it."
+
+But Meryl only smiled in response. She had nothing to say. She felt
+she was leaving behind with the ruins the best memory her life would
+ever hold. Then they climbed into the ambulance waiting for them, said
+"good-bye" charmingly to the lonely dwellers at the store and hotel,
+with whom they had had some pleasant chats, drinking tea and admiring
+the lovely view from their delightful huts, and went clattering away
+down the road, their faces turned to the north.
+
+And in the valley they left behind there was desolation.
+
+Carew arrived back at his quarters, grim and taciturn, in the evening,
+to find Stanley looking a veritable image of disconsolate hopelessness
+in spite of Moore's persistent droll badinage.
+
+"O, what did they want to come for," he groaned, "if they had to go
+away again?"
+
+"Faith!..." said the astute Irishman. "Did ye ask either of them to
+share your little wooden hut?..."
+
+But The Kid paid no attention. As Carew stood a moment beside him,
+filling a pipe, with a cold, expressionless face, the youngster
+glanced up with a momentary gleam, and remarked, "Eh, sir? But women
+are the devil, aren't they?"
+
+Carew said nothing; but with a low chuckle Moore ejaculated, "Come,
+give the divil a chance; we find him very accommodating sometimes in
+auld Erin."
+
+Stanley got up and stretched himself. "Days and weeks of desolation
+now," he moaned; "and we were so happy and content before. Moore, old
+chap"--giving that harmless individual a smack on the back that nearly
+knocked him over--"yours was the wise choice when we spoke of gifts
+from heaven. I said, 'Give me millionairesses,' and you, with the
+wisdom of the ages, said, 'Give me whisky.' I'll take a little now and
+hope for the best."
+
+And still Carew said nothing. The pipe was filled and he slowly lit
+it. Then unexpectedly he tapped it with light significance. "This is
+the best friend of all," he said, and went away into his hut.
+
+Stanley glanced after him a moment with a curious expression.
+"Gad!..." he murmured. "Was our bronze image a bit hit too? He looks
+fierce enough and stern enough to be resenting a dent."
+
+In the meantime the travellers reached the Charter Flats, and decided
+to camp there for the night. They had travelled for some time along
+the sandy tracts, enjoying the sense of space all around and the wide
+horizons, and both Mr. Pym and the girls were loth to hurry away. It
+is customary to dread these wide sandy tracts, and either hurry across
+them or avoid them; but to these city-dwellers their vast calm held a
+deep allurement; for though only scrub and sand stretched from horizon
+to horizon, with occasional little strips of stunted trees, the clear
+southern atmosphere lent a lovely effect of light and shade and
+colour. Many large patches here and there were blackened with veldt
+fires, but these in the distance formed delicate shadings that
+enhanced the charm of a strip of yellow sand or young green grass or
+purple-shadowed wilderness. It was like a world that contained only a
+colour scheme; no dwellings, no humans, no landmarks, no hills and
+valleys, no roads: just delicate shadings and haze as far as the eye
+could see, with no clear line between earth and heaven. They might
+have been looking over the edge of the world into a delicately tinted
+space, so boundless it seemed, so unfathomable, so remote. They
+pitched their camp on a little rising ground, near a slow meandering
+stream that crept lazily across the miniature desert. And when the
+dusk came down the effect was more unusual still, for the flats are on
+high ground, and the heavens seem to stoop down all round, hanging a
+dark curtain, decorated with brilliant stars, on every side. Across
+all the world no sign of human life, no sound; only vast emptiness
+everywhere--above, around, below; and for companions, worlds and suns
+and solar systems.
+
+It is a scene in which a man may seem to get very close to his God;
+not a remote, incomprehensible Deity, dwelling vaguely beyond the
+stars, but a Presence that is in the breathing silence and the velvety
+deeps at hand. And a man may meet himself there also; not the aping,
+grinning, chattering mask of a personality custom more or less compels
+him to wear in the crowd, but the hidden, mysterious being, conscious
+of a soul beyond his ken, that in such quiet hours desires eternally
+some goal, some good, afar off. The indestructible, incomprehensible,
+infinite hunger, that lies as a germ in every human heart and is man's
+best attribute, in that it raises him for ever incontestably above the
+beasts that perish, and stands serene and steadfast as the Rock of
+Ages, the one barrier past which the materialists and the scientists
+cannot go: the divine spark within the human, which no theory can
+account for and no learning of sage or cynic obliterate.
+
+The travellers sat round a glowing fire, for the night air was keen
+and cold; and much that is inevitably disturbing in the friction of
+daily being and daily doing seemed to fall away from them and cease to
+exist for that one wonderful night. And the next day, when the small
+black attendant brought their early tea and opened wide the tent-flap
+to a brilliant morning, yet another picture awaited them. This time it
+was a world decked with enormous diamonds. Tall, sparse grasses leant
+over and whispered to each other outside the tent, and every ear and
+every seed was hung with a lovely brilliant dewdrop. Out beyond was
+that same vague, remote, fathomless horizon, painted now with
+wonderful rose tints, where the rising sun caught the lingering mists
+and merged the dark streaks of blackened veldt into the general scheme
+with a softness of shading beyond all description. Meryl lay still,
+gazing with her soul in her eyes, but after a time Diana sat up.
+
+"It makes me ache almost like the Victoria Falls did. I wonder why God
+painted such lovely scenes where no one ever came, or scarcely ever,
+to see them?"
+
+She was silent a moment, then ran on again, "We fight and sweat and
+struggle for diamonds, and God hangs them on the dry grass, in the
+wilderness. Meryl, I wonder if we shall ever see anything quite like
+this again? And they told us to avoid the Charter Flats!... I suppose
+God feels about it something as we do. He knows most people like
+Brighton parades and Durban sea-fronts, so He lets them arrange their
+own sights; and for Himself, in far wonderful places, He paints scene
+pictures, and plants lovely gardens, and fills them with birds and
+flowers and sunshine, and splashes down upon the world, in some remote
+corner, a glorious colour scheme, just for his own delight."
+
+Meryl raised herself on her elbow, with a little tender smile. "And I
+suppose He said to Himself, 'I will let Diana and Meryl Pym see one of
+my secret, treasured places'?"
+
+"Yes, exactly. And though I don't hold with saying grace before meals,
+because, since God made us, it seems the least He can do to enable us
+to obtain food to keep us alive, I will say a grace this morning to
+Him for letting me see His colour scheme on the Charter Flats at
+sunset and sunrise."
+
+A little later they had a fragrant breakfast of liver from a buck the
+engineer had shot about daybreak; and that is a delicacy known only to
+those who fare forth across the veldt, and have a bright wood fire
+burning in readiness for the spoils of the hunt directly they are
+brought in.
+
+Then they started away again across the flats, once more moving in a
+vague world of soft shadings, with only the long sandy road
+stretching away into space behind them and before. And sometimes,
+before the sun mounted too high, they found themselves moving across a
+space of gold and bronze, where grass that had not been burnt shone
+like amber in the morning glory; and again presently a space of
+loveliest emerald-green, where the grass had been burnt early and the
+new blades were already sending up joyous blades into the sunlight.
+And sometimes a Kaffir-boom tree added a splash of brilliant scarlet,
+painted upon a canvas of soft, hazy shadings; and sometimes the veldt
+showed them a little piece of her flower-carpet--the carpet that was
+to spread broadcast presently--of delicate-tinted lovely flowers in
+reckless profusion upon a ground of rich terra-cotta soil.
+
+Neither girl talked. It was not a scene to talk in. It did not call
+for raptures and exclamations; only for dreaming and absorbing. It
+seemed as if it might have been the spot where God rested upon the
+seventh day, so utter and absolute and complete was the sense of
+detachment from all the exigencies of being and doing.
+
+Two verses of a poem by Arthur Symons repeated themselves in pleasant
+rhythm in Meryl's mind:--
+
+     "I leave the lonely city street,
+     The awful silence of the crowd;
+     The rhythm of the roads I beat,
+     My blood leaps up, I shout aloud,
+     My heart keeps measure with my feet.
+
+     "A bird sings something in my ear,
+     The wind sings in my blood a song
+     'Tis good at times for a man to hear;
+     The road winds onward white and long,
+     And the best of earth is here!"
+
+
+
+
+XIX
+
+THE CONVENTIONALITIES ONCE MORE
+
+
+Later in the day they reached Enkeldorn and once more pitched their
+tent beside the police camp; but the place is not inviting, and they
+were glad to leave early the following morning; for Enkeldorn is the
+centre round which many Dutch people congregate to farm small farms,
+in what it must be confessed is often the most slovenly and lazy
+fashion conceivable. And some of them speak quite openly of how they
+hate the English, and look forward to a day when they will be strong
+enough to turn them out of the country.
+
+But before that day can come, before union with a South Africa in
+which there is Dutch predominance, it is to be hoped England will send
+out more and yet more strong, vigorous young settlers, to put brains
+and heart and energy into the virgin soil, waiting only for the
+craftsman's hand; and so ensure for ever, in union or out of it, an
+unswerving predominance of Cecil Rhodes's countrymen: holding his high
+aims and hopes and splendid Imperialism in Cecil Rhodes's land.
+
+Two days later the party arrived in Salisbury, and not a little to
+their regret, the fashionable garments that had travelled thither by
+train to await their arrival had to be duly unpacked and worn. Diana
+glanced at herself disconsolately the first afternoon, dressed in an
+elegant summer frock, awaiting tea in a drawing-room, and one or two
+lady callers known to Mr. Pym who were likely shortly to arrive.
+Meryl, seeming lovelier than ever, though perhaps a trifle frailer, as
+if some sadness in her mind weighed upon her waking and sleeping
+hours, stood at the window, looking over the pretty, well-kept town.
+
+"Why are we here? This is not the wilderness," Diana said grumblingly;
+"this is suburban mediocrity. It was not fair to bring me all this way
+from home, to have to dress up and look pleasant, and talk banalities
+to people I have never seen before and probably shall never see
+again."
+
+"You are so inconsistent, Di," Meryl said, with a little affectionate
+laugh. "When we arrived at Zimbabwe you said you did not want only old
+ruins, you wanted a man. Judging by the number of cyclists in
+flannels, carrying tennis racquets or golf clubs, who have passed this
+window in the last half-hour, you will find more men, ready no doubt
+to hang upon your lightest smile, than you will know what to do with."
+
+"I don't want them," with an impish pettiness. "I hate young men in
+flannels. I hate houses. I hate afternoon frocks. I hate clean hands.
+I hate having to be polite. I want The Kid, giggling insanely at his
+own silly jokes. I want The Bear's den and The Bear inside it. I want
+to have grubby hands and old shoes and a red face, and eat things in
+my fingers, and forget I have heaps and heaps of money for the simple
+reason that it is no earthly use if I have."
+
+Meryl smiled softly and wistfully. "I wonder what they are doing?... I
+think they will miss us. It is extraordinary how Zimbabwe gets into
+one's heart. I have never seen anything anywhere that appealed to me
+quite like those old walls, with their untold story and their patience
+of the ages. The Sphinx in Egypt may be older, but we know how it came
+to be there and who built it. One of Zimbabwe's fascinations seems to
+be the absence of all knowledge about it, of all why and wherefore."
+She broke off as a Cape cart drove up to the door. "Here is someone
+coming to call. I think it is Mrs. Cluer, by father's description."
+
+"Then bother Mrs. Cluer!" snapped the peevish one. "In this country I
+wonder if people say they are 'out' or 'asleep' when they do not want
+to be found 'at home'?"
+
+But Mrs. Cluer knew both Major Carew and Stanley, so the conversation
+was not quite so uninteresting as Diana had anticipated. She was,
+moreover, a woman of exceptional charm, and at any other time they
+would both have lost their hearts to her.
+
+"You probably did not see much of Major Carew," she said. "He is the
+most unsociable man in the country. One can get him to a man's
+bridge-party, but not much else; and most of us have given up trying.
+I expect it is partly his own doing that he is down there. He always
+manages to get work that takes him out on the veldt, if possible."
+
+"He appears to like it," Meryl commented; "and Mr. Stanley and his
+companion are very fond of him, in spite of his unsociable ways."
+
+"O, all the men are fond of him," she told them, evidently glad of an
+opportunity to sing his praises. "He never gives himself any airs with
+them for one thing, and he's just a man all through, living a clean,
+sportsman's life; and whether they do the same themselves or not, they
+all look up to him and admire him for it, without being afraid he will
+come down like a sledgehammer upon their failings. One knows the tone
+of the whole police force is better for having an officer like Major
+Carew, and it is a thousand pities there are not more like him. And
+Cecil Stanley is just the dearest boy in the world. Every one in
+Salisbury was fond of him. He is so good at games and dancing, and
+always so jolly and boyish and natural. We miss him badly, but I
+believe he likes being down there better than in the town."
+
+"I think he does; he seemed perfectly happy."
+
+They went on to speak of the gaiety of Salisbury; its golf and tennis
+and polo and dancing; and their visitor urged them to stay for a
+fancy-dress ball, when four hundred guests all in costume were
+expected. But neither of them were in the mood for balls, and the only
+attraction they cared about was an early-morning gallop with the
+hounds after jackal. Nothing could solace them for the careless, happy
+days they had left, and as soon as Mr. Pym had transacted his
+business, they persuaded him to take them out to Lomagundi with him,
+rather than be left behind in the town.
+
+"They seem to be rather touchy ladies here, and so superior," Diana
+urged, when he demurred; "and you know I am never safe for two minutes
+with that type. I should be driven into saying appalling things, and
+our reputation might be ruined for ever."
+
+In the end, as usual, they won him round, and departed one morning
+gleefully in the little toy train that runs out across the Gwebi Flats
+to the Eldorado Gold Mine. And to Diana's joy, they had a luggage-van
+fitted up as an impromptu saloon for them, and were able to spin along
+with both doors wide open, enjoying the air and the country. The
+Eldorado is the show mine of Rhodesia, having a native compound equal
+to any in South Africa, and charming bungalows for the staff, and an
+airy, comfortable hospital. But mines were not likely to hold much
+interest to lady travellers from Johannesburg, and all their eagerness
+was to go out to Sinoia to see the limestone caves, where, like an
+exquisite jewel in a massive setting, an underground lake, of
+wonderful colouring, lies in lonely loveliness.
+
+Or perhaps it were better likened to a butterfly, with its wings
+closed, and only the more or less drab outside showing. The veldt,
+somewhat uniform and colourless, with its surrounding hills, is the
+butterfly with its wings closed. Enter the wide hole in the ground,
+beside the hidden lake, and descend the rough natural staircase of
+rocky boulders, to where the sun through an opening in the ground
+above shines down on to the translucent water, and there lies the
+butterfly with its wings open, and all their exquisite design and
+colouring and blending unfolded to the eye.
+
+"You have some rare treasures in this far Rhodesia," Meryl said to
+their guide and host as they reluctantly left the hidden jewel behind;
+"treasures that your children and your children's children will be
+very proud of some day."
+
+"If they have time," he answered a trifle cynically. "Not many
+Rhodesians to-day have time to care for any but the treasures that
+they can work for and grasp and carry away. The time for natural
+beauties to be appreciated is not yet. Why, we do not even pay a
+native half-a-crown a week to keep the caves free from the baboons and
+bats that defile them. I am afraid, at present, Rhodesia lives almost
+entirely for to-day," he continued. "The spirit ready to sacrifice
+itself for the good of future generations has yet to be developed." He
+was a clever-looking man, with quiet, thoughtful eyes, and he and
+Meryl had talked much together during her short stay. "The nobility of
+the bee is not found much among humans. In all the annals of the race,
+is there anything to compare with their service to the coming swarm?"
+
+"Only that we do not know it is the result of calm reasoning," she
+answered. "The bee perhaps comes into existence, permeated through and
+through with this one idea, and lives solely to fulfil it. The service
+humanity asks of humanity is something even higher, surely--a
+willing, conscious sacrifice of present ease to future good. The
+spirit of heroes and fools"; and she smiled a little sadly,
+remembering Ailsa Grenville's verse and her enthusiasm for the dear
+Ship of Fools. "But you have some fine men out here," she added. "I
+think your future looks exceedingly hopeful."
+
+A few days later they started on their return to Bulawayo, and the
+tour was practically ended. There was nothing more now but dusty
+railway journeys and elegant garments and conventionalities.
+
+"No more grubby hands and red faces and 'anyhow' clothes that did not
+matter," was Diana's constant lament. Meryl said nothing. What was
+there to say? But the pain that dwelt in her eyes sometimes, when she
+thought no one was looking, sent deep stabs to her father's heart.
+With all his money, and all his power and influence, what could he do
+in this one thing that seemed to matter beyond all other things?
+Nothing except to look quietly on, and hope the wound was not too deep
+for healing. That, and to humour her in anything she asked. Which was
+partly why some of the long hours of the hot, dusty journey were spent
+in discussing plans for the settlement of young men upon his land, on
+exceptionally easy terms. He was not quite sure that the country was
+ripe for such a scheme yet; but Meryl's great wish for it, and obvious
+pleasure in the discussions, took him to lengths he might otherwise
+have avoided.
+
+So they came to Bulawayo, and as they stepped out on to the platform,
+Meryl saw suddenly among the other passengers a tall form in khaki
+that caused her to draw in her breath with a little catch, while her
+eyes grew strained and anxious. Diana was still in the saloon, only
+half dressed, and her father was talking aside to someone who had come
+to the station to meet him. She was quite alone, rooted momentarily to
+the spot, waiting for the tall man to turn in her direction, if he
+chanced to look that way at all before hurrying off.
+
+Then someone accosted him, and she saw the strong, self-contained
+face, as he turned to the speaker. A moment's suspense followed; then
+the man who had accosted him went towards the station entrance, and
+Carew came slowly in her direction, with his helmet low over his eyes.
+Thus he did not see her until they were face to face, and in the
+first moment of recognition she saw him start, as one taken in swift
+surprise. Then a slow colour crept up under the sunburn on his cheeks,
+and something came into his eyes that she had never seen there before.
+
+But he only came forward with a formal air and saluted her solemnly.
+"I joined the train in the night," he said. "I had no idea you would
+be coming to Bulawayo so soon."
+
+It was all very ordinary, very sedate, and a little wooden, but Meryl
+paid no heed to that, paid no heed to the obvious conclusion he had
+taken no chance journey hoping to see her again. For what his lips
+could not say, and his manner would not, his eyes had revealed to her
+in that first swift moment of surprise. She knew that whatever came
+between them in the future, whatever was between them now, Peter Carew
+was not indifferent to her.
+
+
+
+
+XX
+
+FAREWELL
+
+
+"Did I hear the growl of a bear?" sang out a voice from behind a drawn
+blind of the saloon coach beside which they were standing.
+
+"I'm afraid you did," said Carew, addressing the blind.
+
+"O, joy! joy! Growl again, growl again--like the Christmas bells. How
+would it go?... 'Growl out, wild bear'--I forget the rest, but it's a
+silly song I learnt to sing when I was young. Don't go away; I shall
+be dressed directly. If these God-forsaken railways had not such a
+mania for landing you at your destination when all respectable people
+are snug in bed!..." and sundry sounds suggested the impatient speaker
+was flinging things about. Then a face with bright eyes appeared over
+the blind, which was a wooden shutter, and could be lowered to a
+discreet distance. "Hullo!... I simply had to take a look at you. I've
+been pining for a glimpse of The Kid's smile and your scowl. It's been
+deadly since we left Zimbabwe. Ugh!... how I hate civilisation!"
+
+Carew looked at her with his rare, slow smile. "Is that why you keep
+the whole train waiting in the station, and the station-master,
+conductor, and guard in a state of ferment, because they cannot clear
+the line until you are dressed?"
+
+"Rude man!" came back the quick retort. "You haven't yet said, How do
+you do?"
+
+"How do you do, Miss Diana Pym?" gravely. "I hope I see you well! And
+how did you leave Salisbury?"
+
+"I do very nicely, thank you, Major Carew. You cannot see me very well
+through a wooden shutter, I imagine. And how is your old heap of
+stones?" ... with which she vanished again to the interior. "Tell the
+conductor I've come to the last curl and the last hook and eye," she
+called, and a few minutes later stepped out on to the platform, a
+vision of fresh daintiness. "I'm rather glad," she remarked to Carew,
+with a twinkle, "that you will have an opportunity of seeing us in our
+best clothes"; then running on, "I see you look as fierce and
+awe-inspiring as ever; but having learnt, in Rhodesia, to keep quite
+calm with cockchafers and beetles running about in my bed, I am not
+likely to be afraid of a bear."
+
+"Are you going to the Grand Hotel?" Mr. Pym asked him, having joined
+them while Diana was finishing her toilet, "because there is plenty of
+room in our motor."
+
+Carew thanked him, and they all moved away together. At the hotel,
+however, he vanished, and it was only after a little adroit persuasion
+later that Mr. Pym got him to accept an invitation to dine with them
+in their private room in the evening.
+
+And after accepting, Carew went about the work that had brought him to
+Bulawayo with an uneasy mind. The fortnight that had elapsed since the
+evening he found Meryl unexpectedly at the Grenvilles' had been a
+somewhat disturbed one for him. For many years now his life had flown
+so evenly in all big essentials. Little worries, little disturbances,
+disappointments, were inevitable for a man whose heart was so
+thoroughly in his work, and for whom the conditions of work were often
+so trying. But these had only ruffled the surface; underneath the
+smooth river flowed along strong and self-contained. After the
+upheaval that had been as a volcanic eruption upon smiling
+sunshine-flooded fields in his life, and the black desolation that
+followed, there had succeeded a long quiet period of calm action that,
+if it held nothing which could be termed joy, held nothing either that
+was sorrow except his buried memories. And he had been well content
+that it should be so; well content to contemplate just that and
+nothing else to the journey's end.
+
+And now, suddenly, had come this vague unrest. He sought for its
+source and its reason, and could not find a satisfactory answer. For
+though it dated from the coming of the millionaire and his party, he
+would not admit himself capable of the folly of falling in love with
+Meryl. To him it was such inexcusable foolishness, in view of many
+things. Rather he chose to believe it was a voice from the old life,
+reawakened in his heart, and calling to him across the years. When he
+smoked his pipe outside the huts, and pondered deeply some knotty
+point in his report and in the work of the Native Commission, he found
+himself suddenly remembering that it was September. And away in his
+beloved Devon they would be out after the partridges--striding
+through the heather and across the stubble-fields, ranging over the
+purple moors with purple horizons all round, and in the distance a
+strip of turquoise, which was the sea. He could almost hear the whir
+... rr of wings and the shots on some far hill-side. And he knew that,
+though the shooting in a wild, vast country like Rhodesia is a far
+finer and more sportsmanlike affair than shooting driven birds in
+England, he yet felt, and would ever feel, that intense British love
+of the soil that had reared him, and the moors where he fired his
+first gun and shot his first bird. And, of course, upon the heels of
+the shooting came the hunting, which had once been the joy of his
+life, ever after he first put his pony at a stiff fence, entirely on
+his own, and sailed gloriously over, in spite of an anxious groom
+shouting caution to the winds.
+
+And then all the woodcraft and fieldcraft he had learnt from his
+uncle's keepers and his uncle's farmer tenants. He remembered how it
+had been part of his education as a youngster, and how in pursuit of
+knowledge he had been up early and late and in the middle of the
+night, picking up information about the woodland creatures from anyone
+who could teach him or finding things out for himself. There was the
+poacher who had shown him, for love of the sport, if sport it could be
+called, how he got the pheasants silently off the boughs in the
+night--taking them from their roosting-places and never a sound. He
+had given that poacher a bright half-crown, he remembered, and his
+firm lips twitched a little over the recollection. He had not seen the
+humour then of paying the man who was stealing his uncle's
+pheasants--the pheasants that would some day be his. He wondered if
+the boys in England now, the future landowners, were taught woodlore
+as he had been taught it, because it was good for an English gentleman
+to know all the scents and signs and sounds of his estate.
+
+And after all, he was no landowner at all. By his own act, instead,
+merely an officer in the British South Africa Police, with a few
+hundreds a year income, and nothing but a meagre pension ahead.
+
+Ah well! he had had a good deal besides for what he had lost, and it
+had been a good life enough, dependent solely on himself, and far
+removed from the caprices of a rich uncle. He regretted nothing at
+this stage of what had transpired after the upheaval came. Of course,
+his brother was now owner of the estates that might have been his, and
+was married, and had children; whereas he was a soldier-policeman
+looking forward to a meagre pension.
+
+Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered. It was only that, seeing so
+much more of the Pyms socially than he had been wont to see of anyone,
+old memories had been awakened. He hoped they would soon go to sleep
+again, for, in passing, they had taken some of the restfulness out of
+Rhodesia's far horizons, and fretted the flow of the strong, silent
+river, with a vague discontent. Sometimes between him and those far
+horizons there was a face now--sometimes a voice--sometimes just a dim
+presence--the voice and the face and the presence of Meryl Pym. And it
+was a thing to be fought down and crushed and conquered--a weakness
+that was well-nigh a foolishness--a folly such as stern men trample
+underfoot.
+
+So when Mr. Pym asked him to dine with them privately, he made some
+excuse, and only yielded under pressure. And when he joined them he
+was in one of his gravest moods, as if he had barricaded himself round
+with impenetrable reserve. There were two other guests, so Diana did
+not twit him openly; she only murmured in an aside, for his ear alone,
+"I'm so sorry it's a party, and we shall feel obliged to be polite.
+This civilisation is becoming a positive burden."
+
+Meryl was a little late, and she wore a beautiful gown, of a classic
+cut, with exquisite classic embroideries and a filigree band on her
+lovely hair. It was the first time he had seen her in evening dress,
+and he took one keen, sweeping glance and then looked away. He had
+rather the attitude of a soldier on parade, to whom the colonel had
+said "eyes front." Only he was his own colonel, obeying his own laws
+and restrictions. And Meryl only dared to take a fleeting glance also,
+for fear her eyes might betray her. And though he looked as striking
+as a man may, in immaculate evening dress, with his strong, clear-cut
+features, and inches that dwarfed most men, with the inconsistency of
+a woman she decided she liked him best in khaki that had seen hard
+service, and that look of being all of a piece, because his hands and
+face were so brown. He sat on her left, while Lord Elmsleigh, who was
+passing through from the Victoria Falls, sat on her right; and though
+she chatted lightly to his lordship, she was conscious every second of
+the hour of the big, silent, rather grim soldier-policeman. He spoke
+very little. Just an opinion now and then when he was asked for it, or
+the corroboration or correction of a statement, when someone looked to
+him questioningly. The millionaire, chatting in his quiet, weighty way
+to his two other guests, noted everything. He knew that Carew and
+Meryl scarcely once looked at each other, or addressed each other
+direct, and with a deep sense of regret he had again that feeling of
+being brought up against some barrier where neither his money nor
+power nor influence could be of any avail. And at the same time he
+knew in his heart that he had never met any man to whom he would
+sooner entrust Meryl and the fortune that must be hers. For though
+their very silence together revealed to his astute brain that neither
+was indifferent to the other, he could not but see also that
+undercurrent of grim determination in Carew. True, he was almost
+always silent, but Henry Pym perceived that his silence to-day was not
+quite of that of yesterday. Something had gone out of it--some quiet,
+grave, unquestioning content. In the keen, direct, steel-blue eyes now
+there was a shadow lurking behind, that might have been of some old
+memory, or might have been of some new pain, but which vaguely hurt
+the millionaire host.
+
+Meryl's eyes were less smiling than her lips, turning a little
+unsteadily this way and that, with a restlessness that added a touch
+of vivacity to her quiet beauty. But that, he knew, was the thing we
+baldly name pluck. It was not to-night he need fear what he should see
+in her eyes, nor perhaps to-morrow. It was any day, any hour, any
+moment in the weeks to come, when she believed no one was observing
+her.
+
+So the evening passed, and the last rubber of bridge was played, and
+the first move made towards departure.
+
+"Shall we have your company for a day or two? I must stay here over
+to-morrow!" Mr. Pym said to Carew.
+
+"I leave early in the morning," was the quiet reply. "I only came here
+to see Mr. Ireson, and now I go to Salisbury."
+
+Meryl, with her face turned away, blanched a little in the shadow.
+This was the end then. This casual, conventional good-bye at a
+dinner-party. To-morrow he would go east before they were up; and the
+next day she would go back to Johannesburg, and later England. She
+turned quickly to make a gay remark. Something in her heart tightened.
+She felt suddenly appalled at the future, and was afraid she might
+show it.
+
+But the evening had still one little unexpected treat in store for
+her. Lord Elmsleigh had a big-game trophy in his room that he wanted
+to show Mr. Pym and their other guests--something that he had shot in
+the Kafue valley. And in consequence, while Diana and Carew and Meryl
+were standing together by the open window that led on to the wide
+balcony, he took them both off with him.
+
+And then Diana said to Carew, "As you are going to-morrow, I will give
+you those snapshots to-night. I have them in my room," and she went
+away, pulling the door to after her.
+
+So Carew and Meryl were left alone by the window, looking out into the
+pulsing southern night. Meryl, quite suddenly, felt a little dizzy,
+and she drew back into the corner, leaning against the woodwork,
+feeling glad of some support. Carew remained upright and rigid, with
+something in that very rigidity that suggested a special need to keep
+himself well in hand. If he had stopped to think about it, he might
+have felt that Fate was treating him a little unkindly. So far he had
+done the strong thing every time, and gone quietly away from danger;
+not because he was a coward, but because he knew it is sometimes far
+more cowardly to skate on thin ice, and hope it will be all right,
+than to remain in safety on the bank. For Meryl's sake as well as his
+own he had chosen to remain on the bank. And yet here, for the third
+time, was Fate deliberately bringing the danger zone to him, in spite
+of his efforts to avoid it. But he did not stop to cogitate either one
+way or the other. Sufficient for him that he knew himself in the
+danger zone, and therefore it behoved him to be very wary. Not by act
+or word, if he could help it, must he let Meryl see how she had
+disturbed his peace. And there, again, it would seem, Fate had played
+with him. A subtler man would have perceived that an added rigidity
+was not entirely the safeguard he needed now. Meryl already knew him
+too well for that. Had he talked and laughed a little, she might have
+been puzzled and baffled. But Carew was not subtle. He was simply
+sincere. And so he just stood very rigid and silent; not perceiving
+that in the circumstances that it was hardly the best way to baffle
+the eyes of love. Meryl knew instinctively he was putting some special
+restraint on himself, and the knowledge made her quietly glad,
+underneath the sudden pain of the knowledge that it was farewell.
+Back, in her vantage of shadow, she looked at him. And she saw, not
+for the first time, but perhaps more fully, that inner force in this
+man, which told any who had eyes to see and understanding to perceive,
+that nothing would turn him from a set purpose, if he were persuaded
+it was a right one; and whatever woman's arts she might possess, they
+would be as the waves against a granite rock. They might play round
+him, and sprinkle foam on him, and soften his aspect, but they would
+not _move_ him. So, with an inner strength not unlike his own, she
+accepted his decree. For some reason, or set of reasons, love might
+not come into being between them. He was determined that it should
+not. Very well, she would hide her hurt and face her future without
+it.
+
+And if she chose to cherish his image, hidden deep down in her heart,
+that was her affair. A laughing, mocking world need never know.
+
+She broke the silence first:
+
+"If you are going early to-morrow, we shall not meet again."
+
+"No." He looked at her a moment, about to say something else; then
+changed his mind, and looked out of the window in silence. Leaning up
+against the lintel, in the softened light, her outline and features
+and deep, true eyes made too fair a picture for him to trust himself
+to look upon.
+
+"Perhaps you will be coming to Johannesburg presently?"
+
+"I think not."
+
+"Nor England?..." with a little wistful smile.
+
+"Nor England."
+
+"You speak almost as if you never expected to go there again?"
+
+"I shall never go there again."
+
+There was a pause; then she continued:
+
+"Yet you are so absolutely an Englishman, and they say"--with another
+little smile--"an Englishman always wants to go home to be buried."
+
+"I am more a Rhodesian."
+
+"And you feel like Cecil Rhodes?... We went out to the Matopos this
+afternoon. It was a big thought, that of his, to be buried there. It
+gives you people in the north something that we of the south have
+not--your own special great man, lying in your midst. What a country
+you will be some day! I envy you your share of the building."
+
+"The south is a great country _now_. It is not a small thing to be
+building there."
+
+"Yes, but we have two races, and it spells division and weakens our
+enthusiasm."
+
+"Help to bridge over the gap. Help to make it spell union. That were a
+work that any man might be proud to give his life to."
+
+And at that slowly she became taut and rigid almost as he, with wide
+eyes gazing into the night. He had struck a hidden chord; struck it
+full and strong.
+
+"Do you mean," she said a little breathlessly, "that though my
+sympathies are so much with the north, my work, any usefulness I may
+attain to, ought to be given to the south?... that ... that ...
+perhaps it belongs to it?..."
+
+He was silent a moment, weighing his words.
+
+"I think," he said, "that you in the south are passing through a
+critical stage, and there must be much need for strong women as well
+as strong men. Dutch Predominance is the cry now, but the scales turn
+easily, and it may be English Predominance to-morrow. No country can
+make real headway, and consolidate its greatness, while there is this
+changing and interchanging of power. There must be no predominance but
+that of the country's good; and to that end Dutch and English _must_
+be merged into South African. It is the duty of every true patriot to
+look this way and that, and see how it can best be achieved; and to be
+ready to sink all personal aims and triumphs for the furtherance of
+the great end."
+
+"Is it possible," she asked slowly, "when it seems one side only is
+honest in its protestations?"
+
+"You cannot be sure about that. Seek out the strongest and best men of
+both sides, and help them to gain the power and hold it. Your own side
+is not without blame. At the first big election after the country was
+settling down again, you could not even stand together. At the polls
+there were three parties, where there should have been only two.
+Englishmen opposed Englishmen, mostly over a question of small
+differences, and for personal pride of place. South Africa has never
+yet recovered from that mistake. You must not hold two hands out to
+the Boers--the hands of differing Englishmen--but _one hand_, that is
+absolutely reliable and sincere."
+
+"It is what I have heard my father say, and others also, but progress
+is very slow. There is much racial hatred rampant still."
+
+"It will yield gradually. The fittest must prevail in the end; but
+obviously that fittest will prove to be neither Dutch nor English, but
+South African."
+
+"How do you think it will prevail?" She was white now, and her eyes
+were gazing very straight out into the night.
+
+"By intermarriage chiefly. It is almost the only solution to the
+problem. Speaking one tongue, owning one country, will never help it,
+as Dutch and English interests united upon one hearth. That is why you
+must be patient, and just go steadily on, avoiding dissension as much
+as possible, while trying to raise the tone of both races on every
+side."
+
+There was a little tremor in her voice as she said, "And are we to
+take it just meekly when Englishmen are ousted for Dutchmen and loyal
+service ignored?"
+
+"I think you can only be patient at present. The strong part will lie
+with you, though the others seem to triumph. If the party in power
+find the country is at a standstill, and not progressing as they want
+it to, they will end by rearranging the public posts, and the
+Englishmen will come back because they are the fittest. As a race, you
+know, we are inclined to be domineering and somewhat overbearing. We
+certainly have ourselves to thank for some of the trouble. Probably
+while the Dutchman is 'top dog' he is having his fling, and we are
+learning a little wholesome wisdom. When the reaction comes the
+country will be the gainer."
+
+"And in the meantime intermarriage?" she questioned slowly.
+
+"In the meantime intermarriage," he said, with quiet emphasis.
+
+But he little dreamt that at the cross-roads he was pointing her to a
+path of tears.
+
+They heard Diana returning, and he moved restlessly.
+
+"If I do not see you again"--with a hesitating voice unlike
+himself--"I hope you will be very happy.... Meeting you has been a
+great and unexpected pleasure."
+
+"Thank you," was all she could trust herself to say.
+
+And then Diana came into the room.
+
+A moment later the other men returned, and they all said good-bye. And
+when Carew shook hands with Meryl, he noticed that her hand was as
+cold as ice and her cheeks as white as snow, and that she scarcely
+raised her eyes to his face.
+
+And wondering and fearing, he walked away into the darkness, with the
+sense of a new shadow walking beside him--a shadow that had come to
+stay, in spite of all his resolutions and strong endeavours, the
+shadow of his love for the woman he had just left in silence and never
+thought to see again.
+
+
+
+
+XXI
+
+A "HOARDING HUSTLING"
+
+
+There was probably no family in Johannesburg better known or better
+loved than that of Henry Pym, the millionaire. Even Aunt Emily was
+something of a favourite, in spite of her peculiarities, perhaps a
+little for the sake of the delightful entertaining that took place at
+Hill Court. Diana was adored for her spirits, and Meryl was regarded
+somewhat as a treasure Johannesburg had a right to be proud of.
+Certain it was that if eventually she followed the example of her
+American cousins and enriched an English peerage with her wealth, she
+would hold her own amidst the loveliest and most charming of England's
+peeresses. At the same time, though many perhaps hoped that she would
+lead the way for the young South African heiresses, not many had much
+belief that she would lead it in the particular fashion they hoped;
+for there was ever that uncertain elusive quality about Meryl, that
+suggestion of the visionary and dreamer, that betold a nature not very
+likely to follow in any beaten path, or give overmuch value to the
+advantages of a high alliance from a worldly point of view. It was
+probable she would see things in quite a different light to the
+majority and act for herself. Nevertheless Johannesburg hoped for the
+best, and would have been pleased to number a peeress among her
+daughters; if it were only to show the world, for one thing, that some
+of South Africa's heiresses were every whit as refined and clever and
+charming as America's, whatever may have been implied to the contrary
+by scathing comments on Johannesburg's millionaires which have
+appeared from time to time in varied guise.
+
+Mr. Pym himself, however, was not among those who nursed such high
+hopes. When he took the Piccadilly mansion the preceding spring, and
+transferred his household to London for the season, he meant to
+entertain lavishly, and give the girls every possible opportunity to
+see the world of the highest London society, knowing full well he
+could do this because his friends numbered many among England's high
+names. That he should take them into the wilds of Rhodesia instead had
+certainly been the very last thought in his mind. On the other hand,
+as we have said, it did not greatly perturb him. He was inclined to
+think they might gain as much from their pioneer pilgrimage as from a
+rush of continuous gaiety. What exactly they _had_ gained it would
+have been difficult to gauge; nothing perhaps that Aunt Emily would
+detect, fussing and exclaiming round them upon their first arrival.
+
+Diana, in a mood for merriment, and possibly to cover a certain
+invisible shadow that rested as a dim cloud upon the party, rouged her
+face to a brilliant red with an alarmingly fiery nose end. When she
+lifted her veil and confronted her aunt with a perfectly unconcerned
+smile, that lady raised her hands in horror and bemoaning. "O, my
+dear!... my dear!... your complexion is ruined. How could you be so
+careless? How could Meryl let you?... It will take weeks of care to
+undo the mischief."
+
+"O, don't make a fuss, aunty! Complexions don't matter tuppence-halfpenny
+in Rhodesia. You surely didn't imagine I was going to carry a
+sun-umbrella about, did you?"
+
+"But my dear child!..." still in great distress. "It is a dreadful
+thing to say, but you really look as if ... as if ..." but there her
+courage forsook her, and she could not name the dreadful possibility.
+
+"As if I had been drinking!" finished Diana cheerfully. "Yes, it's a
+little awkward, but perhaps if I don't lurch or look foolish ..." Then
+she encountered the astonished eyes of a young footman, who had come
+in with some small paraphernalia from the motor, and unable to keep
+her face, turned hurriedly away.
+
+"I'm rather afraid James is going to have a fit," she remarked to
+Meryl. "I hope it won't incapacitate him for the rest of the day," and
+she chuckled to herself. Meryl had not yet raised her veil, and the
+anxiety on Aunt Emily's face, which she vainly strove to hide, was
+delighting Diana more than ever. "Better not take your veil off
+downstairs, Meryl. Aunt Emily has had rather a shock from my face; I
+don't think she could bear any more."
+
+But the poor lady's concern was too pitiful to Meryl, and she threw
+her veil far back, saying, "She is a wicked creature, aunty. Her face
+only wants washing"; and then Aunt Emily, reassured and comforted,
+joined in the general laugh.
+
+"But soap and water won't remedy all the defects," Diana told her.
+"I've acquired a violent dislike to houses and rooms and tableclothes
+and clean hands, and all the absurd paraphernalia of civilised
+existence. Of course, I suppose I shall become rational again in time,
+but at present I thought of having a tent on the lawn and becoming a
+hermit."
+
+"How is everyone, Aunty?" Meryl asked, as the poor lady seemed again
+somewhat overcome. "Have you had hosts of visitors while you were all
+alone?"
+
+"Yes, people have been very kind, and I have not had much time to be
+dull; and everyone is delighted you are back again. Mr. van Hert has
+called twice this week to know which day you would arrive."
+
+Meryl's lips contracted a little, but Diana murmured, "Oho!... Dutch
+Willie! ready to be on the doorstep, of course, in spite of the
+hullabaloo you've been causing in the country, unrestrained by my
+caustic criticisms."
+
+"I expect he thought he would make hay while the sun shone," Meryl
+told her, "and air his pet theories while they were not in danger of
+being stamped on."
+
+Then they both went upstairs, and Meryl stood awhile at the wide
+window, looking over the lovely garden; and though she still answered
+kindly to her aunt's flow of chatter, the good lady having followed
+them to their room, her heart was far away among distant kopjes, where
+mysterious grey walls basked in the sunlight with the silence and the
+patience of the ages.
+
+For the next two or three days a continuous stream of visitors passed
+up and down the drive, and invitations poured in, and the girls found
+themselves quickly in a very vortex of social life.
+
+William van Hert did not come until the third day, and then he chose
+as late an hour as he well could, hoping to escape the throng. This he
+succeeded in doing, but Diana he could not escape. If it had been his
+hope to see Meryl alone he was entirely frustrated. Diana's small,
+practical head perceived the wisdom of avoiding all haste in what
+these two might have to say to each other, and van Hert had to bow to
+her decision. Still further, he had to undergo a small fire of chaff
+with an edge to it, concerning some of his political doings and
+sayings during their absence. But this from Diana he could always
+take. Whether she knew it or not, and whether she cared or not, at the
+time she probably wielded a more direct influence over van Hert than
+anyone else living. Certainly a more direct influence than Meryl and
+her father, for whereas his liking for them only tempered his rashness
+and indiscretions, Diana aimed shafts straight at any of his rabid
+policies in a manner that caused him secretly to reconsider. Yet all
+his devotion was drawn to Meryl in her fairness and quiet strength,
+and the hope of his heart was still to win her.
+
+As it happened, it was a very white-faced, silent Meryl who sat on the
+deep verandah that afternoon of his first call, and was content
+chiefly to listen to Diana waging her usual war. That astute young
+person had much to say, in her own slangy phraseology, concerning
+certain utterances of the Dutch extremists, openly derogatory to the
+English, and seemingly opposed to any spirit of racial conciliation.
+
+"Why don't you try and teach your people to play the game?" she asked
+him, with a fine scorn. "Do you hear any of our eminent men haranguing
+about 'keeping down the Dutch' and 'steam-rollering the Dutch,' and
+without any hesitation openly speaking of themselves as a separate and
+superior race? Whatever our men think, they are at least sportsmen
+enough just now to keep it to themselves, for the sake of the hopes
+and aims of the country. But you apparently allow your following to
+say anything, and either pretend not to hear or take no notice. Listen
+to this, said by a predicant of the Dutch Reformed Church...." She
+picked up a pamphlet, lying near, and read aloud: "'We are a nation
+with our own taal, traditions, and history. We must now stand shoulder
+to shoulder and hand in hand for the rights of _our_ people.... May
+God give _our_ people strength to be unanimous!' Unanimous in what?...
+Why, forcing the issue of the language question according to their own
+ends, and retrenching English teachers, and generally looking upon
+themselves as the superior, chosen people whom God meant to reign
+alone in South Africa."
+
+"My dear young lady," he remonstrated, "can you blame me for the
+unwise, indiscreet utterances of every Dutch predicant who opens his
+mouth?"
+
+"Why, of course I do. You are a leader, and you ought to protest
+openly against any such utterance; but naturally, if you only consider
+it unwise and indiscreet, you don't regret the purport of the words at
+all, merely their being uttered at perhaps the wrong time. Well, that
+sort of spirit isn't 'cricket,' as we understand it; and your
+attitude, in professing to hold out a hand to the English section,
+while the other is making secret signs to the Dutch, is what we call
+trying to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds; and that is an
+experiment being attempted by far too many of your colleagues just
+now."
+
+"I am doing nothing of the kind," he repudiated indignantly. "I am
+standing by my countrymen, that they may maintain the dignity of their
+nation and not be trampled under foot by the English."
+
+"O fiddlesticks! No one wants to trample you under foot. We mostly
+want to raise you. We want to broaden your outlook and widen your
+views. But you know perfectly well that that means a great united
+country, for the back-veldters might learn at last where strength lay;
+and then your precious taal, traditions, and history will have to take
+their proper place in the general scheme, and that will be on a plane
+of equality and not blatantly on top."
+
+Again he protested with outspread hands. "But we have a great country
+now through union. You overlook the most important fact."
+
+"We should have had," she corrected, "if the Bond in Cape Colony, and
+Het Volk in the Transvaal, and the Unie in the Orange River Colony had
+not chanced to be powerful enough to work almost entirely in the
+interests of a Dutch South Africa all the time they were waving a
+flag, and cheering the colours, and delivering orations on the beauty
+of Union and their love for the great Mother Country, meaning the
+Liberal Government, who mostly, it would seem, told them to do as they
+like and please themselves and not make a fuss, so long as they called
+it Union."
+
+He turned to Meryl with a deprecating air, as if asking for her
+support, and she smiled rather a tired smile and said, "It is only
+that she has had to bottle it all up for a long time, as you were not
+at hand. The next time you come she will be ready to smile on you."
+
+"But I hope in the meantime you do not endorse the slander?..."
+
+"I have plenty of hope to balance a certain amount of doubt; and if it
+is any pleasure to you to know it, Diana never troubles to cross
+swords with a man she has not considerable regard for."
+
+He flushed and looked gratified, and Diana remarked coolly, "O, I've
+lots of regard for you. I'm only sorry that a man who might be
+brilliant is content to be mediocre because of his prejudices. Now
+when we were in Rhodesia ..." and she paused, regarding him with the
+bright, piquant eyes of a small bird.
+
+"Well, what about Rhodesia? You didn't find much brilliance there, I
+imagine? Brilliance does not thrive on bully beef and existence in a
+mud hut."
+
+"Neither does 'back-veldt' obtuseness and narrow-minded bigotry and
+indiscreet loquacity, Meinheer van Hert."
+
+He could not help laughing at the droll way she made the statement.
+"Well, what does thrive?"
+
+"Silence," thoughtfully.
+
+"But that did not appeal to you?" with significance.
+
+"Not perhaps so much as the growl," was her enigmatic reply.
+
+"And did you like this wild, wilderness land of silence?"
+
+She regarded him with half-grave, half-mocking eyes. "Well, we
+understood why _you_ want to have a finger in Rhodesia's pie, you and
+your various active organisations working in the interests of a Dutch
+South Africa. Any child could see what such a country would be worth
+to you. But you won't succeed, my friend. They've got a few strong men
+up there who believe in 'to-morrow' more than 'to-day,' and are not
+afraid to forego present honours for future progress. You won't bribe
+them, and you won't hoodwink them, and you won't get them. They may
+not have much weight or power or money to back them, but there's
+something in the atmosphere up there, something in the very air, that
+would tell anyone with a grain of perspicacity they could be dangerous
+if they liked. I shouldn't rouse the sleeping lion in Rhodesia if I
+were you, Meinheer, you and your colleagues, with coercion or anything
+else--that way lie explosives."
+
+At that moment Mr. Pym joined them, and the conversation at once
+became general, though van Hert laughingly told his host he had been
+undergoing a regular hoarding hustling. Then he told them of a few
+happenings since they went away, and because he was as glad as he
+could be to see them back again, all his natural versatility came
+uppermost, and one could easily perceive why he was a leader of men,
+and likely to remain so.
+
+"If only one could make him see straight," said Diana, when they spoke
+of it afterwards, "instead of with the warped vision of a one-idea'd
+fanatic."
+
+Later she tried to draw Meryl a little concerning her attitude towards
+him, but Meryl would only maintain an unrevealing silence, and Diana
+was baffled and troubled. She felt vaguely that some new thought was
+forming in Meryl's mind, some thought that held danger, but she could
+not grasp in what direction it tended.
+
+And van Hert smoked his pipe with a very thoughtful air that evening,
+pondering deeply. Meryl had neither encouraged him nor repulsed him,
+and she seemed just the same and yet different; and once more that
+half-formed dread came back to his memory that through Rhodesia he
+might lose her.
+
+And then he thought he would put the uncertainty at an end quickly and
+learn his fate as soon as possible; for he was treading on rather thin
+ice in his public capacity just now, and a strong coalition against
+him, which was rumoured in the air, might place him in an unpleasant
+position.
+
+On the other hand, Mr. Pym's support and Meryl's charm might prove
+weapons which would see him safely through, and help him to mould his
+position anew on broader lines.
+
+But for another three weeks Diana successfully baffled his intention,
+influenced by that vague fear she could not fathom, and a futile,
+helpless desire to ward off some pending destiny. And in the meantime
+she puzzled her small head daily concerning the invulnerable silence
+and aloofness of Peter Carew, and the blue shadows deepening under
+Meryl's eyes, though she strove hourly to be ever her old self and
+show no sign.
+
+
+
+
+XXII
+
+MERYL'S DECISION
+
+
+Although van Hert had no opportunity to reopen the subject of his
+hopes to Meryl during those three weeks, she knew quite well that he
+had in no wise changed to her. His every look showed it, and an
+intangible something in his manner whenever he addressed her. And all
+the time, though her heart was given hopelessly elsewhere, she felt
+herself in the grip of circumstances that might determine her action
+against her inclination.
+
+It would be difficult to relate just what passed in her mind through
+those three weeks, while outwardly she moved in the whirl of social
+happenings dependent upon their return with all her usual charm and
+dignity. Certainly she was rather quieter than usual, but as Diana
+talked and laughed faster, possibly with intent, the change was not
+noticed. She was specially quieter when van Hert was there, and Diana
+was specially talkative; entertaining him, rallying him, teazing him,
+in a way that, at any rate, brought out his best side, and in a sense
+buffeted the bigot good-naturedly into the attractive companion. And
+it seemed to show Diana at her best too, for behind all her flippancy
+there was undoubtedly a purpose and a depth which she would not for a
+moment have admitted, but which nevertheless was sincere and true.
+
+"Of course, I don't really care either way," she would tell him
+mockingly. "You may have a Dutch South Africa and welcome, if you
+won't interfere with my personal schemes and general affairs. I've
+nothing modern about me, in the sense of wanting to reconstruct the
+world generally and be a Joan of Arc to my retrenched compatriots. But
+when some of you talkers get up and express high-flown sentiments of
+brotherhood and union for the benefit of the public Press one moment,
+and swerve right down and wink at such sentiments as steamroller the
+English or the finances or the language question the next, it is time
+you had a little wholesome plain speaking. Anyhow, who _did_ vote the
+money for the new Government buildings?..."
+
+But whether Diana cared or not, one thing was certain: the utterances
+of that well-known minister William van Hert were showing gradually a
+higher and broader tone, and an atmosphere of conciliation was
+beginning to spread over his hitherto rabid sectarianism.
+
+And van Hert himself found it went well with his feelings to exchange
+wordy battles with Diana and keep his dreams for Meryl. The younger
+girl invigorated and enthused him, while the elder, curiously enough,
+appealed more to his senses. He wanted her fairness, as a strong, dark
+man often feels himself drawn to a woman who is frail and fair. And
+yet even while he wanted her he was a little afraid of her, a little
+baffled, a little uncertain of himself.
+
+Thus the three weeks passed, and the moment of the inevitable decision
+came near.
+
+And all the time Meryl felt herself rather as one who stood upon a
+difficult, stony place, with the forbidden land behind her and the
+clear call of a great need before. She believed that she would never
+see Carew again; that definitely and forever he had cut the threads of
+deep sympathy both had known existed. It was his dictum and she could
+only abide by it. What then should she do with her life? To what end
+turn this existence, blessed by fortune with wealth and the power
+wealth brings, though suddenly swept bare of joy?
+
+And ever and again back to her mind came Carew's words that last
+evening at Bulawayo: "Help to bridge over the gap. Help to make
+division become union. That were a work that any man might be proud to
+give his life to."
+
+And every day, more and more fully, she recognised that whatever she
+had to give she owed to South Africa. She gradually thought herself
+into a state in which she existed for herself and her own inclinations
+no more, but only for that sacred claim upon her.
+
+For the spirit of noble deeds, the spirit that carried Joan of Arc to
+the rescue of her country and to martyrdom, is not dead in the world,
+though no modern historian may depict a woman in armour leading allied
+armies on the battlefield. In quieter guise, in hidden corners, in
+unsung self-forgetfulness, women still answer to the divine call that
+sounds in their hearts, more inspiringly perhaps than in a man's; and
+for the everlasting good of the human race let us hope it will never
+cease to sound.
+
+Lamartine has said: "Nature has given woman two painful but heavenly
+gifts which distinguish her from the condition of men, and often raise
+her above it: pity and enthusiasm. Through pity she sacrifices
+herself; enthusiasm ennobles her. Self-sacrifice and enthusiasm! What
+else is there in heroism? Women have more heart and imagination than
+men. Enthusiasm arises from the imagination, self-sacrifice springs
+from the heart. They are therefore by nature more heroic than heroes."
+
+Enthusiasm and a divine spirit of self-sacrifice held a very deep part
+in Meryl's heart, though never for a moment would the thought of
+heroism have occurred to her. Where Diana, out of her mocking, but
+staunch and loyal heart, amused herself dashing cold water and playful
+satire upon all heroics, Meryl said nothing at all, but at a critical
+moment both were equally capable of _acting_.
+
+And it did not require much thought on Meryl's part to see now where
+this spirit of enthusiasm and self-sacrifice seemed to call her. South
+Africa was at the cross-roads; she was at the period of her most
+urgent need for great women as well as great men. The only question
+that seemed to arise was, what did she specially want of the women
+ready to serve her?
+
+In her own case Meryl found an answer from the lips of Carew himself.
+"Intermarriage," he had said; "that is the real solution to this great
+barrier of racialism. The same hopes united upon the same hearth." And
+it did not need much thought to perceive that should she, the admired
+and beloved heiress, fondly expected to marry an English nobleman and
+blossom into a peeress, marry instead a Dutchman and devote herself
+absolutely to South Africa, she would give a tremendous impetus to
+this question of intermarriage which was to consolidate the great
+South African Union. She saw herself giving this impetus, because it
+seemed to be the service life asked of her, and following it up by a
+wise and steadying influence upon the man who was likely always to be
+in the forefront of South Africa's politics.
+
+And yet, sometimes in the silence of the night, how her spirit
+shuddered and shrank from it, lying bare and desolate and bleeding
+under the hopeless, unconquerable ache for that strong Englishman in
+the north--that soldier-policeman for whom she would willingly have
+foregone all pride of place, all luxury of wealth, all satisfaction of
+achievement! Yet this he would never know, seeing her, as he ever
+must, framed in a vast fortune from which she could not extricate
+herself. She thought if she might choose, she would remain quietly
+with her father for ever, doing good, as he, by stealth and without
+ostentation, feeding her heart on a memory that would never die; but
+here the spirit of self-sacrifice intervened, and gave her no hope of
+rest but in fulfilment of what she believed life asked of her.
+
+And so the day of decision came, and all unconsciously Diana struck
+the final note. In the morning, glancing through various papers,
+magazines, and pamphlets with an extraordinary skill to glean any
+little essential point without wading through column upon column of
+matter, she came upon a paragraph that aroused her instant
+indignation.
+
+"O listen to this!" she cried. "If they are not at it again! Somewhere
+or other General Grets has been making a speech, and here is part of
+his noble sentiment: 'I earnestly appeal to parents to prevent their
+children marrying any of the English race. They must not let this
+colony become a bastard race the same as the Cape Colony. If God had
+wanted us to be one race, He would not have made a distinction between
+English and Dutch.' Well, I wonder what Dutch Willie will have to say
+to that?" and she smiled grimly to herself in anticipation of some
+satisfaction to come. "This man Grets is certainly one of his
+supporters. If he comes this afternoon I shall have a nice little bomb
+ready for him!"
+
+But instead of waiting for his usual late hour, van Hert came early,
+and asked to see Miss Meryl Pym alone; and when Diana returned from a
+game of golf ready for the fray, she was presented to van Hert as her
+future cousin.
+
+For once even she was nonplussed and at a loss for words. "O well, it
+would be silly to pretend to be surprised, wouldn't it?" she said
+rather lamely, and crossed to the tea-table to pour out her own cup of
+tea. "And it is superfluous to hope you'll be happy and prosperous and
+all that; so I'll just say, my dear future-in-law, I think you're a
+devilish lucky man!..." And Diana snapped it out as if an
+unaccountable sensation demanded an explosive of some sort.
+
+"My dear!... my dear!..." cried Aunt Emily in outraged horror. "Do try
+to remember where you are and who you are! If you indulge in such
+vulgar, disgraceful language on the golf course, you certainly cannot
+expect to repeat it in the drawing-room." But Diana paid no heed. She
+had already observed that Meryl, though blushing faintly, avoided
+meeting her eyes.
+
+"And what about this brilliant speech of General Grets' reported this
+morning? Will your party allow you to consummate the match, do you
+think?..." with biting sarcasm.
+
+But van Hert only laughed good-temperedly. "Could it in any way better
+be given the lie?" he asked, and before that irrefutable logic Diana
+was silent.
+
+Neither could she see her way to raising any reasonable objections,
+when a little, later the engagement was announced broadcast with
+considerable beating of big drums, but she flung a few sarcasms about
+with some violence.
+
+She flung one or two at her uncle, being at a loss to understand his
+taking the engagement so quietly; but if she had been present at the
+interview between him and Meryl before the final sanction was given,
+she would have seen that he too could hardly act otherwise. In truth,
+Meryl perplexed them both in those first few days, for she was so calm
+and quiet and self-contained they both felt a little dumb before her.
+It was as if, having finally made up her mind, she was determined to
+avoid all paths that might weaken her and take her stand alone. She
+was far more quiet and composed than either her father or Diana. These
+did not say much, but they showed perhaps the more. Henry Pym's hair
+whitened perceptibly, as if from some stern mental trouble, and Diana
+was uncertain, peevish, and difficult to please. Only once the subject
+was alluded to between them.
+
+"I confess the news took me rather by surprise," her uncle admitted in
+reply to some sally of hers, "and I was a little at a loss to follow
+her actions."
+
+"Actions?..." sniffed Diana. "What actions?... None were needed; it is
+the result of meditation."
+
+"You mean?..." questioningly.
+
+"Heroics and martyrdom," she snapped, and flung out of the room,
+leaving him perplexed and grave.
+
+"If I thought so," he said in his heart, "if I were sure of it, I
+would forbid the banns myself."
+
+He moved to the window, and stood for a long time looking silently and
+sadly to the far blue hills. He was thinking that, though he had given
+his life almost to be all in all to Meryl since she was left
+motherless, there was one part now he could not play.
+
+"A mother would have seen through anything and known what to do," he
+finished, and sighed heavily.
+
+
+
+
+XXIII
+
+CAREW'S STORY
+
+
+The news reached Carew through a newspaper. He was back in Salisbury now,
+attending the renewed sitting of the Commission, giving invaluable
+assistance. Whatever he said was instantly listened to. The chief members
+of the Commission, men of note and weight, wondered a little over this
+distinguished-looking man, merely a soldier-policeman, who knew such an
+extraordinary amount about the black races in Rhodesia; but if they
+sought enlightenment they were disappointed. No one knew anything about
+Major Carew, except that he was once in the Blues and now in the British
+South Africa police, and that the natives were more or less his hobby.
+
+But there was one morning when he was more silent than usual; when he
+seemed a little _distrait_ and very difficult to approach. And the
+moment the sitting was over he declined, somewhat curtly, an
+invitation to dinner that evening, and rode out across the veldt
+alone. That was the morning the daily newspaper contained the news
+that the only child of Henry Pym, the well-known millionaire, was
+engaged to be married to Mr. William van Hert, the eminent politician.
+
+And Carew's comment was to ride out across the veldt alone.
+
+The news was undoubtedly a shock to him. Of course, he had known she
+would marry, but, more or less unconsciously, he had pictured her with
+an English home and a permanent place in English society.
+
+The reality,--what actually had happened,--had not entered his head at
+all. Of course he knew van Hert by name; everyone did. And because of
+his reputation for anti-English views Carew both marvelled and at the
+same time gleaned a probable motive. And the result of his cogitations
+was that added sternness which always came into his face when he was
+seriously troubled.
+
+Yet what use to fret and trouble now? She had gone out of his life for
+ever, and with her his last chance of glad renewing. Henceforth he
+must go back to his quiet life of service which asked and gave nothing
+else, and to the companionship of those old memories which sometimes
+awakened from their sleep.
+
+He rode far across the veldt, and for the first time for many a long
+year turned back the leaves of the closed book. And the reason he did
+this was the remembrance of Meryl's face, as she leaned up against the
+lintel of the window that last evening at Bulawayo, when they both
+felt it was a final parting. Something that had been in the depths of
+her eyes, and which she had been powerless to hide, although she made
+no other sign. It was a remembrance that called that added sternness
+to his face: the sternness of deep trouble suppressed. For he knew no
+woman of Meryl's nature would look as she had looked that evening and
+love another man in a month. Therefore it was probably for some
+altruistic motive and not love that she had consented to marry van
+Hert; no shallow, selfish motive he knew well enough, but perhaps some
+call she had found the courage to answer.
+
+But if it was also a sacrifice, an offering of herself and her
+happiness upon some altar of need, ought he to let her fulfil it?
+Between her and the husband he had pictured for her he could not allow
+himself to stand; between her and van Hert, whom he was convinced she
+did not love, was another matter. Yet he knew in his heart that he
+could not save her now; the die was cast, both of them must abide by
+it. And in any case, how could he tell her his story? How could he go
+to her with that story and empty-handed as well; she the heiress of
+great wealth, and he without even a name and position?
+
+Away out in the kopjes he rode his horse slowly up a steep hill-side,
+and on the top dismounted and sat upon a boulder, looking over a vast
+tract of lovely country to infinite blue distances. As ever in moments
+of stress, he had chosen the height, with wide horizons, fresh-blowing
+winds, far spaces of sunlight; and in the flickering shade of the
+thinly foliaged trees he took off his helmet, baring his head to the
+breeze. And it could be seen that the grey about the temples had been
+increasing, while the strong lines on the face had deepened already,
+as if it had gone hardly with him of late.
+
+He sat very still; so still that a little squirrel ran down almost to
+his feet to investigate the strange figure, and little birds chirped
+all kinds of personalities about him to each other close at hand. He
+was taking a journey into a far land--the far land of the buried past.
+He was thinking of that story he would have had to tell Meryl Pym. Of
+Joan's sad life, sad love, sad death. Of how long ago she had lain
+dead upon the heather, as far as anyone could tell, slain by his hand.
+
+He went back to it now, page by page; it seemed in some sort of
+penance that he must give. The first pages dealt with those two gay
+young brothers in the Blues; the elder, Peter, the recognised heir to
+the rich bachelor uncle, who now made life gay for them with an
+allowance of two thousand a year each; but he was an autocrat and
+something of a tyrant, the old uncle, and his will had to be law. He
+did not mind their sowing of wild oats if they were what he called
+gentlemanly wild oats, and merely got them talked about as gay young
+dogs, and he was always generous with an extra cheque if they got into
+difficulties; but he would not have foolhardy, quixotic affairs at
+all. There he put his foot down. When the younger brother, Geoffrey, a
+youth of small, mean aims and temperament, led the pretty daughter of
+one of the keepers into trouble, he told his uncle he was going to
+give her a fixed sum out of his own allowance yearly while she was
+unmarried, and something always for the child.
+
+"Nonsense," said the old gentleman tartly; "the girl shouldn't have
+been such a fool. I will pay one hundred pounds into the bank for her,
+and she shall not have another penny." Geoffrey thought himself well
+out of the scrape, but before the incident closed there were words
+between the brothers that neither ever forgot. Peter took a different
+view of the matter entirely; he knew the girl, and he knew that she
+was gentle and confiding, and that Geoffrey had won her round with
+promises. So he called his brother a cur, and a few other things with
+strong adjectives, and because he knew he was in the wrong Geoffrey
+never forgave him. He went further, and hated him from that time
+onward.
+
+But the incident was destined to bear fruit of a far more searching
+nature. Because he heard the girl was very ill and quietly fretting
+herself to death, Peter went one day to see her, prepared to make any
+amends in his power for his brother's sin. And beside the sofa where
+the girl lay he met Joan Whitby. And such are the vagaries of human
+nature, with its beginning on that day, the gay, light heart, the
+fickle fancies, light loves, wild escapades of the devil-may-care
+young sportsman, all vanished away into thin air before a love that
+filled his whole being. Lovelier, gayer, cleverer women, ready enough
+to meet the heir of Richard Fourtenay-Carew halfway, had left him only
+gay and careless. Joan Whitby, shy, distrustful, reserved, won the
+prize unsought. She had run away from him, avoided any spot where they
+might meet, hidden if she saw him in the distance, tried to hurry past
+if they met unawares; more than that she could not do, because she was
+the governess at the agent's house, and she and her charge must often
+cross the park. But Captain Peter Fourtenay-Carew was a hot-headed,
+determined young man, and having lost his heart to Joan's grey eyes
+and delicate, lovely face, he was not very likely to be abashed by the
+fact that she hid from him; rather it whetted his determination to win
+her. And in the end, because Joan perceived he was an honest gentleman
+and that he truly loved her, and because with all her pure, strong
+soul she truly loved him, she left off running away and came shyly
+through the wood to meet him. And of course Geoffrey, the jealous,
+spiteful brother, discovered their secret, and carried the tale to his
+uncle in violent, indignant guise, precipitating anger for his own
+ends, where a little discretion might have found a compromise. Mr.
+Carew's lips curled a little cruelly as he remarked he would easily
+nip that peccadillo in the bud. He would have no penniless, unknown
+governess reigning at Dartwood Hall, having already quite other views
+for his future successor. Then he informed his agent the young lady
+holding the post of governess in his house must be sent away at once,
+with a quarter's wages which he would be pleased to remit. To Peter he
+said nothing; he merely waited for an indignant scene, easily to be
+squashed with cold and cursory logic concerning allowances and future
+inheritance if his wishes were disregarded. But it was just there that
+he misjudged this gay, handsome nephew of his, possessed also of a
+fund of spirit and strong character which his uncle had not had the
+perspicacity to perceive.
+
+The interview duly transpired, but there was no indignation at all. If
+he had looked for melodrama he was disappointed; the melodramatic did
+not appeal to Peter Fourtenay-Carew. He merely told his uncle quite
+quietly and respectfully that he intended to marry Joan Whitby.
+Richard Carew condescended to reason a little before he resorted to
+that cold, cursory logic, but he might just as well have saved himself
+both. Peter stood in the library window, looking across the grand old
+park, and heard, apparently unmoved, that all those rich acres and
+woodlands and well-stocked waters and preserves would pass from him to
+his brother, if he chose to remain obdurate and marry the poor
+governess, instead of the lady of high lineage his uncle had already
+selected for him.
+
+What he said was, "Do you wish me also to lose my career and leave the
+Blues?"
+
+For the moment his uncle had been too angry to reply. "Get out," he
+had said roughly. "You can't be yourself this morning. I will not
+believe you seriously contemplate losing anything."
+
+Peter had turned back from the window, and stood a moment looking
+squarely into his uncle's face. "I am going to marry Joan," he said,
+"and as you have brought me up to be perfectly useless, except in a
+crack regiment, I only want to know if you will continue my allowance
+long enough to give me time to find out what I can be useful at," then
+he had walked quietly out of the room.
+
+And Richard Carew, distrusting his own ears and far more upset than he
+would ever for a moment admit, remembered that he had seen just that
+look on the face of Peter's mother when he had had to break to her
+that her husband had been killed in the hunting-field--a look of
+desperate finality and unswerving resolve. Within the year he had
+stood beside her grave also, and taken the two baby boys home to his
+own house.
+
+Then Geoffrey had come to him, and because he was clever and
+unscrupulous he fanned the flame easily to white-heat. Finally the
+uncle had decreed, "I will give him a week to think it over, and in
+the event of his remaining obdurate I will offer him one thousand a
+year for five years, and at the end of that time the allowance to be
+renewed or decreased, or stopped, according to my pleasure."
+
+At the end of the week Peter's reply was "I am going to marry Joan on
+the 25th by special licence, in London. If you will not receive us
+together, I should be glad if my man might pack my clothes and bring
+them to me, with a few other belongings."
+
+And Richard Carew's answer to that had been a lawyer's letter,
+politely enquiring of Captain Peter Fourtenay-Carew to what address he
+wished the allowance sent, which was to be his for five years. Peter,
+not yet too angry to be cautious, asked if the five thousand pounds
+might be invested for him in entirety, and made arrangements at once
+to exchange into a far cheaper regiment, aware that as a soldier he
+might still keep a home for his wife, whereas any experiment in the
+untried fields of labour might swallow up all he had. In due course
+the solicitor replied that the request would be granted. But ere the
+wedding was solemnised the unlooked-for hand of fate dealt him a
+pitiless blow. He had many friends in the neighbourhood of his uncle's
+estate, friends who were glad and willing to receive Joan for his sake
+and her own; and in an unhappy hour he received a pressing invitation
+to meet her at the house of one of them, and have a week with the
+pheasants before he had to rejoin his regiment. It was a bitter cold
+month that year, and every sportsman's temper was a little on edge at
+having to face December blasts in October. And one day when they were
+out in a preserve that adjoined Richard Carew's, he and his friend
+heard shots and voices over the dividing hedge; and it brought up the
+subject of young Geoffrey's cold-blooded delight in his good fortune
+at becoming his uncle's heir, and unthinkingly the friend commenced to
+repeat a report of something he had said in the local club when a
+little the worse for drink. Then he had stopped short abruptly, trying
+to turn away the subject, but with a sudden dangerous light in his
+eyes Peter had demanded to be told; and because the other man's heart
+was sore for his friend, and he wanted to give Peter an excuse to
+cross swords with his brother, he told how Geoffrey had implied his
+relations with Joan had been exactly the same as his own, Geoffrey's,
+with the keeper's daughter in the beginning, but that he had not been
+clever enough to get clear of the affair as he had done, and that now
+he was nicely sold for his high-flown superiority.
+
+And then the wrath in Peter's face had been a terrible thing to see.
+It was as if his very nature reeled. He ground his teeth together, and
+his eyes had a red look as he muttered savagely, "God damn him; he
+shall pay for this!" He was standing with his face towards his uncle's
+preserve, and even as he cursed there was a sound of shots, and a
+second later a hare dashed out and fled past them.
+
+Scarcely knowing what he did in the blind white-heat of his passion,
+but possessed suddenly with an awful desire to kill, he swung
+completely round and fired at it. And just at that moment Joan and
+their hostess were coming up behind, hidden by the brushwood and
+shrubs, to go with them to the luncheon-place,--and Joan fell, shot
+through the heart. In the first awful moment no one seemed able to
+grasp the appalling fact. Peter threw himself down on his knees beside
+her, and was like a man struck dazed and speechless. He had a feeling
+that it was some horrible dream or hallucination, and presently this
+bewildering dazed sense would pass away and he would find the horror
+had not been real. Then across his torment he heard a voice that stung
+him alive with dreadful venom. His uncle and his brother had climbed
+the fence and had come to see what had happened, hearing from a scared
+keeper that someone was shot. Peter looked up and saw them. It was a
+dreadful moment for the three to meet. His friend, Maitland, seeing
+the unnatural ferocity in his eyes, tried to draw him away. Even
+Richard Carew, the uncle, looked a little alarmed. But Peter in his
+madness took a step forward. "You cur, you libelled her," he hissed at
+his brother, and cursed him bitterly. And then Geoffrey lost his head
+too. An ugly sneer distorted his face as he answered, "Well, anyhow,
+you won't get your inheritance back now, just through a casual shot.
+Lady Lilton is going to marry me, and ..." But he had no time to
+finish, for Peter suddenly hurled himself upon him, and struggled
+fiercely to get his hands at his throat.
+
+The scene was terrible. Those who were present never forgot it, and by
+the time a keeper and Maitland managed to separate them Geoffrey was
+too much hurt to stand alone. They left him lying on the ground, while
+Richard Carew forced a little brandy between his clenched teeth, and
+Maitland dragged Peter away to where his wife and a keeper were
+watching with horror in their eyes beside Joan's lifeless form. For a
+moment they feared he had lost his reason, and then some dreadful
+tension in his brain seemed to snap suddenly and they saw he was
+himself again. Without a word to either of them he stooped down and
+lifted the still form in his arms, and carried her unaided back to
+the Maitlands' house.
+
+He did not lose hold of himself again, but for weeks suffered a mind
+agony that might well have permanently turned the brain of a weaker
+man. Night after night the Maitlands heard him leave the house, after
+all had gone to bed; and they knew that he went out to tramp the moors
+till morning, for it was only from utter physical exhaustion he ever
+slept. No word came from the Hall, but rumour said the younger brother
+was injured so that he would not walk for months. Richard Carew's only
+action was to lavish hush-money, and keep as much as possible out of
+the papers. One mistake he made. Through his solicitor he informed his
+nephew he was willing to give him his former income, that he might
+remain in his old regiment. In answer to that Peter wrote to the
+lawyer: "I am leaving England for ever, and I shall cease to remember
+from this moment that I have the misfortune to be related to Richard
+and Geoffrey Fourtenay-Carew. No letters will reach me. I leave no
+address," and then he signed himself "Peter Carew" without the
+Fourtenay, and used the second name no more. And immediately
+afterwards he joined one of the early pioneer bands setting out for
+Rhodesia, possessing nothing in the world but a little money gained by
+the sale of his personal possessions and a memory that would shadow
+his whole life.
+
+Sitting alone on the kopje-top, he leaned his elbows on his knees and
+buried his face in his hands, and it was as though the waters of
+bitterness overflowed him.
+
+No, of course he could never tell Meryl such a story as that. For
+sixteen years his path had lain alone and his bitterness been shared
+with none. It must go on so now to the end. When he could bear it the
+memory of Joan's dear face still came to him as in infinite love and
+compassion; but he seldom dared allow himself even that; it was better
+to have nothing in his life--no past, present, nor future except his
+work.
+
+He got up and stood for a moment leaning against his horse, resting
+his arms on the saddle and gazing far away. Then he rode slowly home
+under the stars, and by the time he reached the police camp his face
+was only rigid and mask-like.
+
+
+
+
+XXIV
+
+A RAIN-WASHED MORNING AND A DISCUSSION
+
+
+It was the first rain-washed morning of the wet season when Ailsa
+Grenville heard the news, through a letter from Diana.
+
+And the first rain-washed morning is an epoch in the Rhodesian year;
+therefore it cannot be dismissed with a curt announcement.
+
+All night long the vigorous, boisterous spring-cleaning had been in
+progress. Ailsa, snug in her little bed, with the rain slashing and
+banging and pounding on the corrugated-iron roof, and the trees
+swishing and swaying, and the wind rushing around like a mad thing,
+apparently from all four corners of the earth at once, had laughed
+softly to herself at the commotion Mother Nature was making upon the
+dusty, dishevelled, rubbish-strewn land. It was as if, having been
+very busy elsewhere for three months, she meant to stand no nonsense
+now, but get the whole country furbished up in one night. What a time
+they were having, those dusty, untidy-looking trees! Bucket after
+bucket, millions of buckets as big as a house, full of delicious
+rain-water, flung at their heads! And the dusty, disgraceful roads
+swept bare, with gallons upon gallons of water driving their refuse
+hither and thither, all of it, as if mightily ashamed of itself,
+scrambling along in masses; and, of course, in its haste choking up
+the drains, and becoming a serious hindrance until a veritable
+water-spout was necessary to clear the course.
+
+And then the dead branches and twigs that the trees had been too lazy
+to shed; short shrift for them on the first spring-cleaning night.
+Down they came, helter-skelter, and no notice taken of the tree's
+groaning, or its crackling cries of protest.
+
+And the little river-beds and stream-beds, carelessly left to get
+filled up with dead leaves and rank grass, such a turning out for them
+as the resistless water was driven in sweeping streams along their
+bosoms! And woe betide any carelessly thatched or unsightly roofs! Off
+they went, away with the general medley. The coming summer would have
+none of them. And the granite, which had allowed dust and dirt and
+dead grasses to accumulate upon it, how it got its face scrubbed and
+washed that first night, and the wind shrieking with glee all the
+time, dashing the sheets of rain against it with its whole might!
+
+But, of course, one could tell that everything liked it. The laughter
+in the trees and the wind was quite distinct, and the little rivers
+were fairly shouting with joy. It was not their fault that all that
+piece of the earth had grown so dusty and untidy; it was Mother
+Nature's own fault for being so long coming with those big buckets of
+hers. How could any land, however willing, look spruce and green and
+clean with no rain for four months? No wonder there was such a
+commotion, and it was such a noisy, vigorous business, when at last
+the rain did come! Every tree and every blade and every flower had a
+special little life-plan of its own to carry out, if only it could get
+enough moisture, to say nothing of all the myriad insects and birds
+and animals, who were too lackadaisical, after the long, dry heat, to
+thoroughly begin their summer preparations until the rain came. The
+activity among the humans, with their gold-mines and farms and
+fanciful erections, would be nothing, would not be worth mentioning,
+compared with the activity going on in the hidden world all around
+them on the morrow. Even the flowers had been chary of wearing their
+best dresses in such a dusty, untidy world.
+
+But wait till to-morrow, and then see them! Far, far outvying any
+assembly of Ascot frocks or Lords' cricket week or Henley Sunday. The
+boisterous rain was a little severe on the dainty blossoms, but one
+may be sure they bore it with the pluckiest patience, whispering to
+each other gleefully about the lovely frocks they were going to wear
+the next day. And there would be such eager, joyful cogitations in the
+bosoms of all the little males anxious to be off on their spring
+courting affairs. How could any self-respecting young cock bird or
+male insect go and pay his addresses in a dusty, dirty, faded coat? Of
+course, it wasn't to be thought of. The other chap, who waited, would
+get all the running. But to-morrow there would be no further need to
+wait at all. Plumage and coats would be spring-cleaned, and
+expectations for the coming summer of the highest. Well-filled
+storehouses, leaf-cosy nests, glorious hunting-grounds. Never mind
+these boisterous winds and the violent way they hurl the rain about;
+sit tight and make lovely plans for to-morrow.
+
+Ailsa, snug in her little bed, thought happily about the earth and its
+glad renewing, and woke up her precious Billy to say, "Are you awake,
+Billy? Can you hear it?... We shan't know our little world to-morrow."
+
+And Billy, who was sometimes of a very prosaic turn of mind, answered,
+with a grunt, "Just in time to save that top patch of mealies and the
+bed of onions, by Jove!..." and then rolled over and went to sleep
+again.
+
+"Bother your onions and mealies," said his adoring wife. "The world
+wasn't made for you to grow vegetables in!..."
+
+But the next morning they climbed a kopje together, just for the joy
+of it, and laughed softly, and exclaimed in hushed voices at all the
+wonder outspread.
+
+Such a glorious new heaven and new earth! In the heaven a rain-washed
+sky, resplendent with armaments of fairy cloud-vessels sailing across
+deepest, loveliest blue. On the earth every leaf and every blade
+flashing light, as if it had a little sun of its own; every flower in
+its loveliest court dress; the very stones gay with beautiful shades
+of lichen; the granite kopjes in the distance, with their faces so
+thoroughly scrubbed, gleaming with the dazzling brightness of
+new-fallen snow. Dark, rich soil where the plough had been, renewed
+with the richness of velvet. Sullen, colourless veldt, radiant in a
+few short hours with the first outposts of its coming spring glory.
+Far, blue hills, bluer and intenser than ever in the rain-washed
+atmosphere. Little cock birds and male insects away off soon after
+sunrise about those courting affairs that had been delayed. A whole
+world rejoicing; a whole world singing Te Deums of praise and
+thanksgiving in its own dear, happy, overflowing way.
+
+No wonder the big fellow in the well-worn khaki, with his vigorous
+enthusiasms and wide sympathies, thought a little regretfully of the
+hide-bound, clause-bound, doctrine-bound, sober-minded black cloth he
+had felt himself obliged to put off. Would humanity ever sing again
+as the sons of the morning? Ever burst into Te Deums of overflowing
+thanksgiving to the Giver of all good, such as echoed and re-echoed
+from a long-parched earth on its first rain-washed morning.
+
+Well, he could but try to keep the long face and depressing atmosphere
+and thin air of superiority safely out of his own little sphere, and
+while he taught the natives to be active, useful members of society,
+try to help all the settlers about him, hard cases or otherwise, to be
+honest, fearless, clean-living men, whether they achieved it to the
+accompaniment of good round oaths and a Sunday morning spent in bed,
+or on their knees between consecrated walls in the accepted way. Of
+course, he liked them to come to his little stone tabernacle with its
+thatched roof, and he made his service just as attractive as ever he
+could on their behalf; but if they were too lazy or too busy to
+come--well, it didn't follow they couldn't be honest, clean-living
+fellows without it; so then he went to them, and sat over their camp
+fire, and told them a good story or two, and in the end there wasn't a
+camp within twelve miles where the "bloomin' sky pilot" wasn't one of
+the most welcome guests.
+
+But to do them justice, they mostly liked going to his little
+tabernacle, for it was always a pleasant meeting-place, and men in
+exile, even "hard cases," like to sing a good old-fashioned hymn just
+once in a way; to say nothing of the big home-made cake, full of
+plums, which was usually ready to be handed round afterwards on the
+"sky pilot's" verandah, and which he teasingly informed Ailsa was her
+way of bribing his congregation to come to church, rather than suffer
+the ignominy of hearing him preach to empty benches.
+
+But that was as it might be; anyhow, if a settler within reach chanced
+to be ill, he might be sure he would get a jelly or soup or milk, even
+if he had never put a foot inside the little wilderness church. And if
+Billy could not take it The Kid or Moore had to, for Ailsa ruled her
+little sphere with a rod of iron, and the two troopers had long been
+her willing slaves.
+
+But though she had cut herself adrift from the pleasant world of her
+girlhood, and won a real satisfaction out of life that would be death
+to most women, she had never lost her sympathies with all that went
+on in that existence, where
+
+     Life treads on life
+     And heart on heart;
+     We press too close in church and mart
+     To keep a dream or grave apart.
+
+And when they came back from their ramble on that joyous morning,
+Diana's letter caused a shadow to come over all the sunlight, and a
+quick anxious ache to grow up in her heart. After baldly stating the
+news of Meryl's engagement her cousin wrote:--
+
+"Was it you, or was it that bearish policeman, who suggested to such a
+dreamer as Meryl the desirability of a martyr's crown?... She is far
+better suited to love in a cottage and babies, but just because that
+is the case and it is easy to obtain, she chooses to break her heart
+on some vague altar of sacrifice. I have no patience with these
+high-falutin ideas myself, nor with the cottage and babies either, for
+the matter of that; but I suppose a few people had to be practical and
+selfish and commonplace, to keep the world going round without violent
+bumps and jerks. Don't send Meryl congratulations; send her an In
+Memoriam card. Believe me, it is better suited to the auspicious
+occasion."
+
+Ailsa showed the letter to her husband, feeling that it was the worst
+news she had had for many years. "What does it mean, Billy?... What
+can have influenced her?... My sweet Meryl! What is it?... What can it
+be?... that keeps Major Carew so aloof? It was easy to see how they
+attracted each other."
+
+"He is a proud man," her husband said, gravely. "It is not easy for a
+proud man with nothing to choose a wife with a large fortune."
+
+"Ah, but there is something more," she cried, "it cannot be only that.
+What has kept him so reserved in every particular all these years?"
+
+But Grenville could not help her, and all the afternoon she worried
+and fretted in silence.
+
+In the evening she said to him anxiously, after again discussing the
+news, "Mrs. Fleetwood has often asked me to visit her in Salisbury.
+Shall I go now? Perhaps if I could get Major Carew to talk?..."
+
+"You will never get him to talk," with quiet conviction.
+
+"Nevertheless, my husband, I feel I must try. We have so much, you and
+I. One can but make the effort."
+
+She got up from her chair and went round to him, and climbed on to his
+knee and hid her face, because she was troubled and unhappy.
+
+"Tell me something I can do to help them, Billy?" she pleaded.
+
+He fondled her hair in silence a moment, and then, because he thought
+it might comfort her afterwards to know she had tried, he said, "There
+is no harm in your going to Mrs. Fleetwood's. I think the change would
+do you good."
+
+And Ailsa went to bed a little comforted that at least he sanctioned
+her journey.
+
+
+
+
+XXV
+
+AILSA LEARNS CAREW'S SECRET
+
+
+Ailsa had to journey to Selukwe in the post-cart, and she found it
+very trying; all the more so because her tender heart, which loved all
+animals, suffered agonies of compassion for the poor underfed,
+overworked mules, some with sores, urged pitilessly along by their
+black driver. She wished vainly that she was the happy possessor of a
+fortune, and might at once finance in Rhodesia the Society for the
+Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, for which funds are so urgently
+needed. At Selukwe she had some little time to wait at the hotel
+before taking the train, and she went round to the posting-stables to
+interview any white man she could find who might be in a responsible
+position towards the post-cart mules on the subject of their
+condition. The man, of course, complained of the roads, which were in
+a hopeless condition, and beyond satisfying in a measure her own sense
+of compassion, she knew she had done little good. But while she talked
+to the white man at the stables, a thin, scholarly looking,
+grey-haired gentleman chanced to overhear their discourse, and raising
+his hat to her with grave courtesy, expressed his admiration of her
+action.
+
+"But can nothing be done, do you think?" she asked him dolefully.
+
+"I'm afraid not. You see, the Government do not particularly wish that
+route used, and so they have allowed the road to lapse. Let us hope
+there will very shortly be a railway, at any rate, to Edwardstown, and
+that then visitors will be encouraged to go and see your wonderful
+Zimbabwe ruins, instead of discouraged by the discomforts of the way."
+
+They moved towards the hotel together, and Ailsa asked, "Have you seen
+them?"
+
+"Only for a few short hours, which were all I could spare from some
+research work I was doing elsewhere in Rhodesia. I was tremendously
+impressed by the little I had time to see, and look forward to a long
+sojourn there presently."
+
+They talked on, their conversation drifting from one subject to
+another, and then he discovered her name was Grenville, and she that
+his was Delcombe, and they greeted each other anew as both hailing
+from lovely Devon. After that he proudly assumed the rôle of escort,
+and waited upon her hand and foot. As it chanced, he also was
+journeying to Salisbury, so they became travelling companions, and the
+chance acquaintanceship ripened rapidly. In the evening they dined
+together in the restaurant-car and sat long over their meal; and then
+it was that Ailsa chanced to mention the name of Major Carew.
+
+Henry Delcombe at once remarked, "There was a Major Carew at the
+Zimbabwe police camp, I think, when I visited the ruins, but I did not
+see him. I should like to have done. I understood from the young
+trooper there that he is some relation to the Fourtenay-Carews?" and
+he paused interrogatively.
+
+"It was the man I am speaking of. He _is_ a Fourtenay-Carew."
+
+"Ah!..." and Ailsa saw instantly the swift interest in her companion's
+eyes; a wave as of thought-telepathy that this man probably held the
+key to Peter Carew's past. Delcombe read in her sparkling eyes that
+her interest in the soldier-policeman was no casual one, but of the
+warmest friendship.
+
+"Did you know him before he came out here?" she ventured.
+
+"I knew his father well; I lived near to them in Devon. I was doing
+some research work, and I had a quiet little home in a lovely valley
+close to the little place that was then this man's home, and quite
+near also to Dartwood Hall, where the elder brother, Richard
+Fourtenay-Carew, lived. They are not a rich family at all, you know.
+Dartwood Hall and estates and money came to Richard Carew through a
+very eccentric godmother, who brought him up, and he could do as he
+liked with it all. His younger brother, Peter Fourtenay-Carew, and his
+wife had, I think, only a very small income between them besides his
+pay as a captain. They rented a pretty little place in Devonshire
+close to Dartwood Hall, and came there for the hunting whenever he was
+able. The brothers were good friends, and he always had the run of
+the Dartwood stables. They were an interesting pair, but it was the
+younger whom I regarded as a friend, and that was why I was anxious to
+find out if I had stumbled across his son. As you may have heard,
+Captain Fourtenay-Carew, the father, was killed in the hunting-field
+and his wife died within the year. The two boys, then quite babies,
+were adopted by Richard Carew and brought up as his own sons."
+
+He paused and studied Ailsa's face gravely. She was almost breathless
+with interest, and he seemed a little taken aback by it. She saw the
+question in his eyes, and hastened to add frankly, "I cannot tell you
+how interested I am to hear this. My husband and I think there is no
+one in the world like Major Carew; in fact, in some vague, distant way
+I believe we are related. But he never speaks of his past life at all.
+For some reason he seems to regard it as a closed book; he even
+persists in calling himself a Rhodesian, and resolutely ignores the
+fact that he is anything else as well."
+
+"Ah!..." and the thin, scholarly face of her companion looked as if he
+were obtaining a clue he wanted. There was a pause, and each seemed to
+be weighing something in his and her mind. Then Ailsa spoke: "I
+conclude he has some reason for his extreme reticence, and I hope I
+should be one of the last to pry into anyone's secrets; but for a
+reason I can hardly explain, I should be very glad to know something
+now that might possibly help me to do a special service for him. I
+shall see him in Salisbury."
+
+"What I know is no secret in a general sense," said Delcombe, speaking
+with grave deliberation; "but the facts of it were cleverly hushed up
+by his uncle, and you will easily understand that Major Carew would
+never speak of it now. My own interest in the matter is because of my
+regard for his father, and, I think I may say, admiration for himself.
+Anyone seeing the two brothers together as I did--that is, the younger
+men--must have felt deeply drawn to the elder and repulsed by the
+younger. A finer young fellow than Peter Fourtenay-Carew never
+stepped. The other brother was good-looking also, but he was cunning
+and crafty and little liked. Yet, such are the mysterious ways of
+Providence, the younger brother, by an unlooked-for turn of events,
+became the possessor of wealth and place and influence, and the elder
+went out from his country penniless, exiled, and alone. As far as I
+can judge, no one in England has ever heard of him since. I don't
+think it is even known where he is. A few of us knew that he came out
+to South Africa, and journeyed to Rhodesia with one of the pioneer
+columns, but that is quite sixteen years ago, and events at home move
+quickly, and his utter silence lost him the warm places he might have
+held in most hearts, or, at any rate, left them in abeyance. I only
+came out to Rhodesia a few months ago, and I have been much on the
+veldt, studying ancient relics; but I have kept my ears open. I heard
+of the man you are speaking of at the police camp at Zimbabwe, but the
+young trooper, Mr. Stanley, was not communicative. With a very
+praiseworthy _esprit de corps_, he declined to be drawn into any
+discussion whatever concerning his officer. I heard after I left that
+he, Major Carew, was a very reserved, taciturn man, but it was
+generally credited he had once held a captaincy in the Blues; that and
+a personal description persuaded me he was my old friend's son."
+
+"Yes," Ailsa said, "there can be no doubt about it. I suppose you knew
+that he was going to be married just before he came away, and
+something rather dreadful happened?"
+
+"Ah; he has revealed that much, has he?" in some surprise.
+
+"Not to me; to a great friend of mine."
+
+"I see."
+
+He seemed perplexed, uncertain evidently, how much to tell her. Ailsa
+understood, and was a little at a loss how to act herself.
+
+"I should not have mentioned the fact to anyone else," she said, "as
+he evidently wishes to keep all personal matters entirely to himself;
+but, of course, you were very likely to know it. I also learnt from my
+husband that he was the elder brother and originally his uncle's heir,
+but something happened to cause Mr. Carew to change his mind."
+
+Then Mr. Delcombe said thoughtfully, "I think there is no reason why I
+should not tell you a little more about him. I have always felt
+exceedingly sorry for his determined exile, and the isolation from all
+his old friends and old delights. I know that he dearly loved Devon,
+and one feels it is time now that he came back to try and pick up the
+threads. You and your husband appear to be his only friends, and as a
+distant connection you might be able to approach him upon a subject
+where a stranger, or shall we say a forgotten friend, would be
+diffident." He paused, then added, "I wonder if he has the remotest
+idea that, owing to several deaths, he is now the next heir to the
+Marquis of Toxeter?"
+
+A sudden joy seemed to sweep Ailsa through and through, and her eyes
+shone, and she clasped and unclasped her hands with excitement as she
+breathed, "O, is that _really_ true? It seems too good; too much like
+a story-book."
+
+"Yes, it is a fact. Major Carew's family was a younger branch, and
+sixteen years ago it would never have entered anyone's head that the
+marquisate might fall to them. Time makes many changes, and three
+heirs have died in succession. The present marquis is old and has no
+children, therefore the next heir was Richard Fourtenay-Carew, also
+childless, and after him Major Carew's father. Richard Carew died very
+shortly after this man left England, and young Geoffrey Carew then
+succeeded to all his possessions. I believe something was left to
+Major Carew, but he refused to touch it. It is since then that (his
+uncle being dead) he has become the heir of the present marquis, and I
+think it highly probable he has no notion of the fact whatever."
+
+"I am almost certain he has not," Ailsa intercepted, "for I think he
+would have mentioned it to my husband."
+
+"Unfortunately there is very little money with the title, but he is
+not a man to trouble much about that; and, of course, the present
+marquis may live some time. But I have thought sometimes if he _knew_
+it might wipe out a little of the past bitterness. His brother robbed
+him of so much, but in the end it would seem Nature is making things
+even again. Geoffrey would give half his wealth to have the title, and
+I have reason to believe that it is a great bitterness to him to know
+that his brother, who cares nothing at all about it probably, must
+inevitably inherit it if he outlives the present owner."
+
+"And you will tell him?..." eagerly.
+
+"Perhaps. Or it may be that you!..." He hesitated, and looked at her
+thoughtfully.
+
+And then Ailsa said impulsively, "Let me give you trust for trust. I
+am taking this journey now chiefly on Major Carew's account. There is
+trouble in the air. I cannot tell you the facts; I scarcely know them.
+But he has lived his isolated, reserved life so long, I feel it has
+perhaps warped his view a little, and if he could be persuaded to open
+his heart to a friend he might see things in a clearer light, and save
+himself and a dear friend of mine great unhappiness." She paused, then
+added sadly, "But I am so much in the dark concerning him I hardly
+know how to win his confidence. There appears to have been this
+something before he left England, something rather terrible, that has
+shadowed all his life."
+
+"There was; I will tell you in confidence. Richard Carew hushed it all
+up, but there were a few of us who _knew_. His quarrel with his uncle
+was because he insisted upon marrying a poor governess, a most lovely
+and charming lady, instead of the bride his uncle had chosen. He was
+disinherited, and his allowance so curtailed that he would have to
+leave his regiment; but none of that troubled him in the least. He
+adored his fiancée, and was supremely happy, as anyone could see. Then
+the tragedy fell. I cannot tell you all the details, probably no one
+knows them except his friends the Maitlands and his brother, and uncle
+who is now dead. He was out shooting with Maitland, and the other two
+were near at hand; and Maitland had repeated something to him his
+brother had said, which was a deadly insult to Miss Whitby. He was in
+a blind fury, and scarcely knew what he was doing, when he swung round
+and fired at a hare behind him...." There was a moment's intense pause
+before he finished in a low voice--"and the shot killed the poor girl
+he was to have married in a week."
+
+"O, how terrible!..." Ailsa gasped, and went white to the lips. "How
+terrible! Poor man! O, poor man!" Tears came into her eyes, and she
+turned away to hide them, and for some moments both were silent.
+
+Then Delcombe continued, "It is no wonder that he has been always
+reserved and silent. I suppose in a way it killed the part of him that
+could be anything else. He just went right away to a strange country,
+dropped the double name they had always been proud of, and cut himself
+adrift altogether from everything connected with his old life. It is
+no doubt his intention to remain apart, and take up the old threads no
+more. But I loved his father, and I loved him in my old-fashioned way
+which he was not likely to perceive; and when the Royal Geographical
+Society offered me a chance of a trip to Rhodesia I took it gladly.
+One of my first thoughts, when the decision was finally made and I was
+appointed, was, 'Perhaps I shall come across Peter Carew's son.'"
+
+Ailsa rested her elbow on the table and leaned her head on her hand,
+still with the glisten of tears in her eyes. "It makes one feel there
+is surely a Providence," she told him softly, "for my chance meeting
+with you may save him, and that other, from everlasting regret."
+
+A little later, when they went to their separate compartments for the
+night, she thanked him again. "You have made me feel quite
+broken-hearted for our dear soldier-policeman. Think what his memories
+must have been all these years! But perhaps his dark day is finished.
+I am very hopeful now. God bless you for remaining so staunch a friend
+to him and giving me your confidence!"
+
+And in Johannesburg that night Meryl said simply and quietly to van
+Hert, "I will marry you as soon as you wish. As you say, there is
+nothing to wait for, and, afterwards, there is much that we can do
+together."
+
+"In a fortnight?" he urged, and she assented.
+
+But Diana insisted otherwise. "It is simply indecent haste," she
+exclaimed, "and nothing in this world will persuade me to decide upon
+my bridesmaid's frock and have it ready in less than three weeks, and
+it may be a month."
+
+And Meryl--a quiet, white-faced Meryl nowadays, with little enough
+enthusiasm for frocks and wedding-presents--let her have her way.
+
+
+
+
+XXVI
+
+"HOW CAN I GO TO HER!..."
+
+
+The first meeting between Ailsa and Carew was a very difficult one for
+the woman. Directly she saw him she realised that he had drawn back
+into his shell further than ever, and the increased greyness on his
+temples spoke for itself of anxious, troubled hours. At first he had
+been difficult to entrap. In reply to her note came just a vague
+regret that he was exceptionally busy, and often out on the veldt,
+with a hope that he would see her before she left. One or two other
+attempts failed entirely to procure the interview, and she was almost
+at her wits' end. Finally, she had to resort to strong measures, and
+gain her end by subterfuge. Carew went to the house of a man friend by
+invitation, and was shown into his friend's den to find Ailsa awaiting
+him alone. The expression on his face told her instantly that he felt
+himself trapped, and resented it. But she could be very disarming when
+she liked, and she had tact enough to follow the straight course most
+likely to appeal to him now that she had gained her interview.
+
+"You must not be angry with me," she said, with engaging frankness. "I
+simply had to see you."
+
+He stood very upright, with a cold, unresponsive face, and waited for
+her to proceed.
+
+"Won't you sit down? You make it difficult for me when you are ... so
+... so ... distant and unbending."
+
+He moved away to the window, and stood looking out, with his back to
+the room. "Will you tell me what it is you have to say?" he asked very
+quietly. He knew perfectly well it had to do with Meryl, and he did
+not want her to see his secret in his face. In fact, he did not wish
+to speak of the subject at all.
+
+Ailsa stood silently a moment, looking at his back, and then she said
+very quietly, "I have heard the story of your past life. I ... I ...
+know it all."
+
+For a moment there was such a stillness in the room that one could
+almost hear heart beats. The figure in the window never moved.
+
+"Who told you?..." he asked at last.
+
+"Mr. Henry Delcombe, the scientist, who was a great friend of your
+father's."
+
+Another silence. At last--
+
+"Is he in Rhodesia now?"
+
+"He is here, in Salisbury. He will not tell anyone else," she added.
+"He told me because ... because ... he perceived that Billy and I
+cared for you very much, and for your happiness." She moved a little
+nearer to him, and continued gently, "I felt almost as if I could
+break my heart with sympathy for you,--and that you should have borne
+such memories all these years, _alone_."
+
+"I have put them behind me," he said, speaking almost harshly. "The
+past is dead. What does it matter who and what I was before?... To-day
+I am a Rhodesian, and my work is _here_. I shall remain here now until
+I die."
+
+"You may not be able to do that," and her voice had suddenly a ring in
+it that seemed to arrest him.
+
+"Why may I not?"
+
+"Because presently--very soon perhaps--you will have to answer to a
+call that requires you in England."
+
+He half turned to her, waiting silently and unmoved, with grave eyes
+fixed on the distance.
+
+She came a step nearer. "Mr. Delcombe told me also, that because of
+many changes that have taken place in the sixteen years since you cut
+yourself adrift from home, you are now heir to the marquisate of
+Toxeter. When the present marquis dies you will succeed him."
+
+It seemed at first as if he heard without understanding. Once more
+there was a silence in which one might hear heart beats.
+
+"Will you let me congratulate you?" Ailsa asked a little timidly.
+
+"I think he must have been dreaming," he said in slow comment.
+
+"No; there is no doubt about it whatever. He will tell you himself if
+you will let him. He wants to see you very much."
+
+And still he was only silent, gazing, gazing to the far distance. If
+it was true, how was it he had never heard?... Could it possibly all
+have transpired during the times he had been away shooting in the far
+north, or out on the veldt, away from newspapers for months?
+
+"There is something else I want to speak about," and her voice
+trembled somewhat. "This news concerning your future will make it a
+little easier. You know, of course, that Meryl Pym has become engaged
+to Mr. van Hert, the well-known Dutch politician?"
+
+Instantly he stiffened. "I saw it in a newspaper."
+
+She came close up to him suddenly. "O, Major Carew"--and there was an
+infinite pleading in her voice--"Billy and I thought you cared for
+her, and we believed she cared for you. Don't let her wreck her whole
+life now.... Don't stand by and let her marry a man she does not love.
+Go to her before it is too late!"
+
+Under his iron control his face seemed to work strangely. She saw the
+swift compression of his lips, the swift pain in his eyes, the strong
+hunger he could not entirely hide.
+
+"It is impossible," and the usual steadiness of his voice was shaken.
+"You say you know my story!... How can I go to her and tell her that
+once I killed the woman I loved?... How can I speak to her of love--I,
+the policeman, she the heiress?... How can I tell her that story which
+was told to you?... The story of damnable hate and passion, when I
+tried to strangle my own brother. I tell you she would shrink away in
+horror. She must shrink. Why did you speak to me about it at all! Your
+thoughts are folly and madness. _I_ offer love to Meryl Pym?... My
+God! I have some decency--some pride left." And the pain and
+bitterness in his voice shocked and stabbed her.
+
+But in spite of her inward shrinking she answered him boldly, drawing
+on a courage lent her by love and sincerity.
+
+"And I say that if you love her truly, you ought to be able to trust
+her with your story. It is not noble and spirited of you to stand
+aside as you perhaps think. It is cowardly. Pride is generally
+cowardly. For the sake of your pride, of your own personal feelings,
+you will let her go on with this marriage and never say a word and
+never move a finger to save her from shipwrecking her whole life.
+First you will let your own sad past come between you; then you will
+let her hateful gold drive you away; then you will talk of yourself
+as just a policeman. And in any case--you must know it as well as I
+know it--none of these things would estrange Meryl Pym from the man
+she loved. There is nothing whatever between you except your pride,
+and you think that demands a renunciation from you, careless or no
+whether it brings heart-break for her."
+
+He had grown deathly white now, with dark hollows round his eyes, and
+she could almost see how his teeth were clenched behind the firm lips.
+She had taken him entirely by surprise in her outburst, and her news
+concerning himself; and he discovered she had swept his secret from
+him concerning his love for Meryl, almost before he knew what he was
+speaking of.
+
+"There might be something in what you say if Miss Pym cared for me in
+return. That she does is the merest supposition."
+
+"And how do you know that with such sureness?" she cried. "No, no,
+Major Carew; in your heart you know otherwise. But you just let her go
+away without a word, without a hope, and one or two of us know what
+this hasty engagement means. Diana calls it martyrdom. She wrote me to
+send Meryl an _in memoriam_ card instead of congratulations, for it
+was more in accord with the occasion."
+
+His face worked visibly, in spite of his stern suppression, but he
+still stood rigid and upright, looking away from her--out over the far
+shadowy veldt, seeing nothing.
+
+In the pulsing silence that followed he beheld again that terrible
+October scene, when his love lay dead upon the heather. Could he ask
+any other woman to share that with him?... let the burden of such a
+memory faintly touch her life?... He knew that at the inquest it had
+been decided no one could possibly say who fired the shot. His uncle
+and brother were both shooting at the time, in the same direction; but
+though his friend Maitland had insisted upon a verdict of accidentally
+shot by someone unknown, and Richard Carew had resolutely supported
+him, in his own heart he had stood condemned. Yet if penance were
+required, what had he not given?... Exile, loneliness, nonentity for
+all the best years of his life; and her image, the beloved face of his
+lost Joan, the only woman's presence in his life. And yet now, as he
+stood gazing, gazing to the far blue hills, it seemed that her face
+and Meryl's were strangely blended. From the very first their eyes
+had been as the eyes of one woman, infinitely comprehending,
+infinitely true. Was it possible that Ailsa's accusation was true? One
+woman had been sacrificed more or less to his mad, insensate fury
+against his brother. Was the other perhaps to be sacrificed to his
+rigid, indomitable pride? One picture seemed to stamp itself upon his
+brain with ever-increasing strength and clearness: the picture of
+Meryl, leaning up against the window lintel that last evening at
+Bulawayo, white as a frail, exquisite lily, with the anguish in her
+deep eyes that she could not entirely hide. That, and the iron control
+he had needed to put upon himself, making him seem grim and unfeeling
+for fear one instant's weakness should make his longing arms enfold
+her. Well, he had played his man's part as well as he could; ridden
+away from her, disappointed her, openly avoided her, only in the end
+to love her with the deep, wise, understanding, all-embracing love of
+a man past his first youth, and with a wide knowledge of human nature.
+
+And this engagement of hers to van Hert! What might it not result
+from?... What hopelessness, what despair, what heroic resolve to play
+her little part in the country's good, and win some satisfaction
+perhaps, since she might not have happiness!
+
+Standing silently at the window it all seemed to pass through his mind
+with piercing clearness, and Ailsa's spirited attack rang still in his
+ears: "First you will let your sad story come between you, then her
+hateful gold, then your lowly position, answering to the call of your
+own pride, careless whether it wreck her life's happiness or no."
+
+Yes, she was quite right, it _was_ his pride. Even now the thought of
+the gold was hateful to him.
+
+Still, if some day he would indeed be the Marquis of Toxeter!... if he
+could at least offer her a high position!... if it was no longer a
+question of going to her empty-handed....
+
+The silence continued, and in the background Ailsa waited and watched.
+She could read nothing from the tall figure in the window, except that
+his thoughts were far away and he was probing deeply. She leaned back
+in a low chair, feeling suddenly very tired and overwrought. She had
+come all the way from far Zimbabwe for this interview, just to say to
+this man, before it was too late, the spirited things she had said.
+And now?...
+
+She looked round the den of the man who was her friend, and his, and
+had helped her to win the interview, noting each trivial detail, each
+attempt at decoration and hominess, each cunning substitute such as
+every Rhodesian contrives out of his ingenuity for some trifle not
+easily procured in that far land. And all the time she was tensely
+painfully aware of that strong man in the window, and of the issues
+that hung upon his decision. How, in the event of his deciding to
+approach Meryl, the recognised fiancé was to be treated, was beyond
+her. She was too tired to probe further. She only cared that Meryl's
+happiness should be saved. Her own had been so nearly lost, she had
+seen so much unspeakable bitterness arise out of one great mistake,
+made once by many women at the altar, and she only waited to know if
+she had lost or won.
+
+At last the silent figure moved. At the window Carew turned and came
+towards her. She watched him with all her soul in her eyes, unable to
+rise from her chair for very tension.
+
+"What are you going to do?..." she asked, hoarsely.
+
+"Can you tell me where I can find Henry Delcombe?" he said.
+
+
+
+
+XXVII
+
+DIANA BEGINS TO GROW PERPLEXED
+
+
+In the meantime the household at Hill Court was a restless, uneasy,
+depressed one. No person in it, except Meryl, seemed undisturbed by
+the unsatisfactory atmosphere. She by taking thought, had, contrary to
+the old dictum, added to her stature; but it was the stature of her
+mind. The spirit that takes a woman through the troubled waters at
+hand, with all her consciousness set upon the great goal ahead, upheld
+her now; and in the presence of onlookers gave her a grave serenity,
+not in any way akin to joy, but baffling to those who would fain have
+seen her show a stronger feeling either of gladness or regret.
+
+It baffled even van Hert himself. To him she seemed so strangely the
+same, yet different, from the woman he had loved before the Rhodesian
+tour. In all his work, his plans, his schemes, she was as earnest and
+interested as he could possibly wish; but that fairness his dark
+strength had coveted seemed to elude him at every turn. When he kissed
+her, he felt vaguely that she suffered his caress; on one or two
+occasions it almost seemed as if she went further and shuddered, and
+yet she never actually repulsed him. And then the dainty, light humour
+that had been hers as well as Diana's!... What had become of it?... It
+seemed now as if Diana had absorbed it all, for Meryl was nearly
+always quiet, while the younger girl was almost boisterous. And yet
+even in Diana there was a note that puzzled him. She was so jumpy and
+uncertain. Childishly gay one moment, and cuttingly brilliant the
+next. He was glad she was there. After the first week of the
+engagement he found himself quite willing to further Meryl's obvious
+wish for her company upon every occasion. So if she rose to leave them
+alone they deterred her with vague requests and excuses; and when they
+went in public together, Diana was always with them. And when she was
+snappy, they laughed at her and did not mind. Diana snappy was better
+than no Diana at all.
+
+Aunt Emily thought otherwise, and was deeply grateful to them in her
+heart whenever they took her refractory niece safely out of her way.
+Her escapades were apt to be so wild nowadays, and her language so
+horrifying; and whenever the poor lady remonstrated, she was always
+told that it was the result of the Rhodesian trip.
+
+"It will take me quite a year to get over it," Diana informed her.
+"You can't eat rats, and sleep with a frog in your bed, and go
+unwashed for weeks on end, without suffering from it in some way. God
+bless my soul!... is it likely?..."
+
+At the end of the second week, anyone watching with keen insight might
+have seen a still more significant change creeping over the three most
+noticeable inmates of the house; for Mr. Pym was only silent and grave
+and retiring, going early to his study and feigning to be much
+occupied. And Aunt Emily had acquired a habit of going to sleep after
+dinner during her solitariness, which Diana wickedly called a
+dispensation from Heaven to bless the household of Henry Pym.
+
+So the lovers and Diana were left to themselves, and usually sat upon
+the deep verandah. And it became apparent presently that all the
+talking was done by Diana and van Hert; Meryl was merely a silent
+listener. Perhaps she was not even a listener; one could not tell. She
+sat so still, with wistful eyes looking out beyond the stars. But
+Diana, on the other hand, exceeded herself; and in doing so she made
+van Hert exceed himself also. She was brilliant, mischievous,
+reckless, serious, satirical, nonsensical, all in a breath. She drove
+him hither and thither; led him on one moment, and withered him with
+her satire the next. It was obvious the man very soon left off
+treating her with any careless levity; if he did he was outwitted in
+no time; torn to shreds, and cast to the four winds on merry logic
+that had ever the sting of satire behind its laughing lightness. Very
+quickly he was on his guard, with thrust and parry; keen, watchful,
+alert--the politician to whom South Africa listened. And finally there
+came a day when, after unfolding a plan to Meryl, he added, "That is
+my idea, but I thought I would consult your cousin first." It seemed
+to strike him that it was a little odd, and he added, "She is
+extraordinarily observant. She may see some weak point we have
+overlooked."
+
+"Yes, consult Diana," Meryl had replied at once; "she knows a lot
+about statistics of that kind. She has often had arguments with father
+over them."
+
+So in the evening van Hert came in eager haste to have his talk with
+Diana. And Diana had taken herself off to a dinner-party and was not
+forthcoming. So the lovers sat on the verandah alone, and after a
+little they began to feel at a loss for anything to say, and wished
+devoutly that Diana would return.
+
+As she was likely to be late, van Hert got up and spoke of departing.
+He said he had a measure to study carefully, ready for the reopening
+of Parliament at Cape Town. And while he was still explaining, Diana
+returned. She had made an excuse and left the party early.
+
+"It was so dull," she said. "I have no patience with people who let me
+bite them, and do not try to bite back. I bit them all, more or less,
+in the end, and left them bathing each other's sores, so to speak, and
+exclaiming with bated breath at my cleverness. Fools and blockheads!
+just because I've got a banking account that would buy half of them
+up, and never miss it. As if I didn't know, when I'm in that mood, I'm
+a cattish little spitfire!..."
+
+"So you came home to worry us?..." and the pleasure in his face was
+suddenly illuminating.
+
+"Well, you have the pluck to hit back," and she looked at him with a
+flash of her eyes that made his senses reel a little. She threw her
+costly evening-cloak on to a chair, and pushed it a little aside with
+her foot, with a graceful action that displayed a dainty slipper and
+ankle, in no wise lost upon him. "I always hit back myself," she
+continued. "I've no sympathy with the 'other cheek' theory. I hit
+twice as hard as the attacker if possible. If Aunt Emily were here, I
+should say I give a dickens of a smack; but as she isn't, it is not
+worth while." She came forward with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.
+"Poor dear Aunt Emily! I sometimes have her conscience very much on my
+mind; but there ... I can bear it." And her comical enunciation in the
+poor lady's exact tones set both Meryl and van Hert off laughing.
+
+The laughter was coming back to her own eyes too. When she entered
+they had been clouded, and her lips pouting. If they only knew it,
+she had been bored to tears at the party; bored utterly and
+completely, longing to be back on the verandah fighting a wordy, keen,
+good-tempered battle with van Hert; and she felt sure he would have
+gone when she returned. She had noticed he never stayed late when she
+was absent. But she was just in time. He had not gone, was only just
+going, and she perceived the face of each was tired and depressed.
+
+"What have you been doing?" she rallied them. "You looked as if you
+had been intending to read the marriage service through together, and
+had read the funeral one by mistake; or possibly because it appealed
+to you more!... You both seemed doleful enough for anything."
+
+"We missed you," Meryl said, simply. "William wanted to ask you about
+a new measure he is planning."
+
+Van Hert said nothing, but he was looking at her unconsciously, with a
+light in his eyes that staggered her. Other men had looked at her with
+admiration, but this man had an expression that seemed to envelop her
+with himself. She felt throughout her pulses that he was all fire and
+eagerness and intensity, a strong, wilful, obstinate, fierce, virile
+personality that reached out mute, unconscious arms to her
+level-headed coolness. The fire in his eyes was only smouldering as
+yet, but it seemed to tell her that he was a fine-toned, brilliant
+instrument that she, and perhaps she only, could play upon as she
+liked, bringing forth both thundering chords and enveloping sweetness.
+
+And in the sudden silence that had fallen upon the verandah, Diana
+knew that she liked to play, would always like to play, that with this
+man at least boredom would never fret her restless soul.
+
+Then she plunged into words with him, and they sparred delightedly,
+and that work he had spoken of as awaiting him at home was left to
+take care of itself.
+
+Later, Diana went outside on the verandah of her room and Meryl's and
+looked at the stars. The tables had turned utterly, but it was
+doubtful if either of them perceived it. Meryl went quietly to bed
+with only a few words, and either slept, or feigned sleep. Diana
+loitered on the verandah, and looked at the stars. She hardly knew
+why, only some strange half-consciousness was springing up inside her
+that made her restless. Somehow van Hert seemed to be gaining a hold
+over her. She could not gauge how, nor why, nor wherefore; but as she
+thought of his fine dark eyes in the starlight, with that luminous,
+glad expression when he looked at her, she had a sense of violent
+antipathy one moment, and of a gladness that made her blush secretly
+the next.
+
+But within three days the date of the wedding was fixed, and all the
+papers paragraphed it far and wide.
+
+It appeared in Salisbury the day after Ailsa had had her talk with
+Carew, and it came as a shock to both of them. It left just three
+weeks for action, and no more. What was to be done? Ailsa tried to get
+another interview with Carew at once, and found he had had to ride to
+some place twenty miles distant, and might not be back until the
+morrow. So, in distress, she sought Henry Delcombe. What he had to
+tell her was faintly reassuring. Carew had gone to see him after he
+left Ailsa, and had asked for proofs of his heirship to the marquisate
+of Toxeter. Delcombe had been able to satisfy him, and he had been
+gravely friendly, but that was all. At last, in desperation, Ailsa
+decided to write to Diana. The mail left that morning, and would reach
+Johannesburg in three days. Diana was full of resource, and she might
+think of a plan. Ailsa decided to tell her as much as she could
+without betraying any confidence. She said no word of the tragedy.
+That only concerned Meryl, and if she were to hear it at all, she must
+hear it from him. Neither did she mention his changed position; that
+also he should tell himself. She contented herself with letting Diana
+know that he had admitted he loved Meryl.
+
+In the meantime she waited anxiously for Carew to return, but heard no
+word of him until the Sunday afternoon. In reply to an urgent little
+note he came to see her. She had wondered if he would be changed at
+all; if his new position would shed a ray of gladness in his steady
+eyes. But he seemed exactly the same, and she could read nothing.
+
+"Did you see the announcement yesterday?" she asked. "There is so
+little time. I had to see you."
+
+"I did."
+
+"And what are you going to do?"
+
+He looked down at the carpet, lost in thought. "I hardly know," he
+said.
+
+"O, won't you at least go to Johannesburg?..." she pleaded. "See Meryl
+once. If you fail her now, perhaps you will never forgive yourself."
+
+"On the other hand, I may only disturb her mind. How do you know she
+has not cared for this man for a long time? In any case, what right
+have I to cross _his_ path now?"
+
+"O, your logic!..." she cried. "The way you men think this and that
+and the other, when a woman just _knows_! Go and see her. Go and make
+sure of things for yourself."
+
+But he shook his head in doubt and perplexity. To him it seemed almost
+like stealing to go and attempt to take from this other man what he
+had won fairly and openly; and though Ailsa tried other arguments, she
+could not move him. Only one half-hope she extracted from him.
+
+"Perhaps," he said, "I will write to Mr. Pym and ask his advice."
+
+Then he went back to the hours of desperate mental stress, that were
+steadily increasing the grey about his temples. To Ailsa he might have
+seemed cold and self-contained as ever, but if she could have known
+it, all his being was torn with conflict. With the hourly growing ache
+and longing to throw everything to the winds and to try to carry Meryl
+off while there was yet time there was the fear lest a wrong step on
+his part should shatter for her some newly found content.
+
+
+
+
+XXVIII
+
+DIANA'S PERPLEXITIES INCREASE
+
+
+The two days after Diana came home early from her dinner-party were
+chiefly noticeable for the fact that for the first time since the
+engagement van Hert remained away from Hill Court. No one knew why,
+and the excuse he sent was of the vaguest. Diana asked her own heart
+and was troubled. When he came on the third day, he walked into the
+drawing-room to look for Meryl, and found Diana reading in the window
+alone. They discovered each other suddenly, and it was almost as if he
+gave a guilty start; and he looked unusually pale, with haggard eyes,
+as if he had slept badly of late. Diana saw it all, but gave no sign.
+
+"You are something of a stranger, Meinheer van Hert," she said
+lightly. "My sword had almost time to rust."
+
+"It would never do that. The best of swords is none the worse for an
+occasional rest; unless"--with a somewhat tired gleam of humour--"you
+have been keeping it bright at the expense of poor Aunt Emily."
+
+"No, it has had a real rest. I am saving it again for the best
+swordsman worthy of it."
+
+His eyes came suddenly to her face, and she realised at once that
+until that moment he had scarcely looked at her; and in that second's
+flash she saw something in them that hurt: a swift, deep trouble that
+he was struggling to hide. He looked away again quickly, noting the
+lovely shades of the room, the masses of violets, the general airiness
+and elegance.
+
+"Is Meryl at home?"
+
+"Yes. I will go and tell her you are here."
+
+Diana went upstairs very slowly, lost in thought. And when she had
+told Meryl, she stood a long time at the window, thinking still.
+Presently Meryl came back. "William came to ask me to definitely fix
+the date of the wedding. We decided on the fifth; that will give us
+just a week before he must go to Cape Town." Then, as if she did not
+expect Diana to make any comment, she added, "The invitations must go
+out to-night."
+
+That evening van Hert came as usual, but, simply because he was gayer
+than usual, Diana perceived that his gaiety was forced; and she saw
+also that he shunned meeting her eyes, looking anywhere, nowhere,
+rather than into her face.
+
+The next day she rode in a direction where she and Meryl often met and
+joined him for a gallop. Meryl had suggested coming as usual, but
+Diana had contrived to put her off. She wanted if possible, without
+quite knowing why, to see van Hert alone; and as it happened, Fortune
+favoured her, for he appeared up a side road suddenly, and had no time
+to escape her, even had he wished. So they rode together, and he tried
+to talk to her as usual. When they came to a spot where they often
+dismounted, and sat to enjoy the lovely view of distant hills, Diana
+prepared to get off her horse. She saw him hesitate, and then he
+muttered something about an important engagement.
+
+"O, nonsense!..." with a gay, airy smile. "If I'm not in a hurry, you
+can't be. I only want to sit for about fifteen minutes."
+
+So they gave their horses' reins to the smart black groom, who always
+rode with the girls, and sat on the rustic bench where the three had
+several times sat together.
+
+And suddenly, Diana, giving rein to her impulsive temperament, said,
+"What is your opinion of a man who marries one woman and loves
+another?"
+
+She saw him start and stiffen, but he tried to parry the thrust. "What
+a question to ask a fiancé of a few weeks, on the eve of becoming a
+bridegroom!..."
+
+"Well, that's why! I thought you would have formed many opinions on
+the subject of love and marriage."
+
+"And why do you want to know?"
+
+"O, just a fancy! I know men sometimes do that kind of thing.
+Personally I think it is rather cowardly."
+
+"Why cowardly?..."
+
+"Because it shows a man hasn't the pluck to own he has made a mistake.
+He would rather go on with it, and pretend everything is all right."
+
+She saw him bite his lip, and felt more thoroughly that he would not
+meet her eyes.
+
+"It is hard on the other woman, the one he _does_ love, too. It might
+make her very happy to be told. One joy is better than two miseries
+any day, even if his lordship did have to own to a mistake and look
+rather silly!..." with a little laugh.
+
+"Perhaps I shall know more about it when I am married," trying to
+speak carelessly. "You must ask me later."
+
+"Probably I shall not want to know then; my fancies are always
+varying. What should _you_ do, for instance, if you suddenly found you
+cared for someone else more than Meryl?"
+
+She was watching him closely, and she saw the swift, tell-tale blood
+rush to his face.
+
+"I'm sure I don't know," he answered, with a forced, unnatural laugh.
+"It is rather a remote probability now."
+
+"O, one never knows!..." Diana spoke with assumed lightness, and
+looked away to the hills, feeling a little unnerved by the sudden,
+swift palpitating in her blood. "Shall we go on now?" rising and
+turning her back to him. "I mustn't keep you any longer from that
+important engagement."
+
+She might have added that she had learnt what she came out to learn;
+but instead she put her horse to a smart gallop, and rode back without
+scarcely speaking, flinging him a gay good-bye over her shoulder when
+their roads separated.
+
+When she reached home she found Meryl surrounded by dressmakers, and
+trying hard to assume an interest in the proceedings; but Diana's
+clear eyes saw the effort as plainly as if it had been written across
+her forehead. She saw that she looked ill, too; ill and worn and
+joyless, as if something had damped for ever her natural fount of
+gaiety. And withal she was so sweet-tempered and considerate, studying
+everybody else's feelings in this wedding of hers; everyone's
+apparently except her own. Diana wanted to shake her one moment, and
+howl round her neck the next. Instead of doing either she was a little
+more snappy than usual.
+
+"Will you have your dress fitted now?" Meryl asked her. "Madame has it
+all ready."
+
+"No," shortly. "I haven't time this morning; and besides, one can't be
+fitted just after a ride. I'm going to have a hot bath and a
+cigarette," and she flung out of the room, leaving Meryl a little
+perplexed and Madame considerably perturbed.
+
+In her own apartment she tossed things about, and was very irritable
+with her maid. Later, she went out into the garden to a shady nook
+where she was not likely to be disturbed, because she wanted to think.
+But thinking was no easy matter. On every side were perplexities.
+
+"It's just the devil's own mess," she summed up at last, unable to
+think of any other sufficiently strong description. "Meryl doesn't
+want to marry van Hert, and van Hert doesn't want to marry Meryl; they
+both want to marry someone else; and yet they both mean to go on to
+the bitter end, because of some rotten-cotton notion about serving
+South Africa. O! I've no patience with these heroic attitudes! They
+are not suited to commonplace everyday life. If they'd a little more
+sound common sense, and a little less of the noble and lofty soul
+spirit, they would perceive they will only do more harm than good by
+going against nature and trying to force inclinations. But the absurd
+thing is, that neither has yet had the perspicacity to perceive the
+other's unwilling frame of mind. That exactly bears out my point.
+These heroic attitudes do not suit the exigencies of everyday life. If
+they weren't both so bent on doing the noble thing, they would
+perceive they are merely making fools of themselves, and incidentally
+straining my powers of resource beyond all reason. Of course it can't
+go on; but what in the name of all that's wonderful can I do to stop
+it?... Send for The Bear, and compel him to make the best of the awful
+fact that Meryl possesses a fortune, and console dear Dutch Willie
+myself, I suppose!..." And she smiled grimly. Then her face softened,
+and tears unexpectedly gleamed in her eyes. She brushed them away,
+apostrophising herself impatiently. Then she swallowed down a sob,
+murmuring, "I can't bear the thought of Meryl, standing with that
+smile on her lips and that expression in her eyes, to be fitted for
+her wedding-dress. It makes one want to tear the whole world to
+pieces, and sink South Africa in the nethermost ocean. No wonder uncle
+shuts himself in his study so much nowadays. He must be just as hard
+put to it as I am to know what to do." A step disturbed her
+cogitations at that moment, and Aunt Emily came into view.
+
+"Ah, my dear, I thought I saw you come down the garden. There is a
+letter for you with a Rhodesian stamp. I thought you might like to
+have it." And she handed it to her, at the same time sitting down on
+the garden-seat beside her.
+
+"Have you seen Meryl's dress," she enquired, with an expression that
+had suddenly grown sentimental. "The dear child. To think of her in
+her wedding-dress, so soon to be a bride!"
+
+"Well, that's a commonplace enough event! Girls like Meryl usually do
+become brides, and later on they wear shrouds, and have a nice little
+coffin all to themselves. There really isn't very much difference!..."
+
+"O, my dear!... What a dreadful remark to make! I am sure it is
+unlucky to speak like that."
+
+"Then I hope it will be unlucky enough to postpone the wedding
+indefinitely."
+
+Aunt Emily turned and looked at her niece as if she thought she had
+taken leave of her senses, but that was not by any means a new
+expression upon the face of Henry Pym's sister confronting Henry Pym's
+niece.
+
+"Really, Diana!..." she expostulated. "I think it is hardly a subject
+for jesting. Marriage is a very serious thing. I hope God will bless
+dear Meryl with great happiness. I confess, at first, I was
+disappointed that she chose a Dutch husband; but Mr. van Hert has very
+good Huguenot blood in his veins, and he is undoubtedly a very
+charming man; and then, of course, her children will only be half
+Dutch."
+
+"Her children ought to be bear cubs!" snapped Diana, wishing her aunt
+would go away and leave her to read her letter in peace.
+
+For a moment Aunt Emily was too horrified to reply, and then Diana
+added, "Don't trouble to expostulate any more. I'm not really mad,
+only eccentric. I never could see why people make such a silly fuss
+about weddings; anyhow, they are all the same and all commonplace.
+When I marry, I shall give all my friends the shock of their lives,
+something to talk about for a year, and then for once in my life I
+shall be a public benefactor. I see Helen looking about on the terrace
+as if she wanted you. Shall I ask her?..."
+
+"No, I will go in to her"; and she got up and walked towards the
+house, still wearing a shocked expression.
+
+"I wonder if Helen will have the sense to manufacture some request?"
+thought Diana, glancing after her. "As if I could see the terrace from
+here!..."
+
+Then she opened her letter.
+
+When she had read it through once, she turned back to the beginning
+and read it through again. And all the time she was so rigidly still,
+that a little bird hopped close up to her foot to investigate.
+
+Then she laid the letter down and looked out across the garden. Five
+minutes later she got to her feet.
+
+In a moment of crisis Diana was the type who courageously follows an
+inspiration, without overmuch weighing and sifting. She had faith in
+her own keen woman's instinct and she knew there were times when
+sharp, decisive action is better than lengthy, minute attention to all
+the laws of war, and far-reaching considerations of what might or
+might not result.
+
+A gate at the far end of the garden led out to the main road, and not
+very far down was a post office. Diana went straight to it, and sent a
+wire, with prepaid reply, directed to Major Carew, which ran:--
+
+"Can you come at once? Urgently wanted. Go to Carlton and send message
+on arrival to me.
+
+"DIANA PYM."
+
+
+
+
+XXIX
+
+A USEFUL BLUNDER
+
+
+The railway journey from Salisbury to Johannesburg takes three and
+sometimes four days; so that whether Carew responded to her urgent
+message or not, Diana had rather a long time to possess her soul in
+patience and make up her mind what course to take next. She was in two
+minds whether to take her uncle into her confidence or not, but
+decided men were always apt to bungle, and she had better trust
+entirely to her own guidance. Beyond a doubt the situation required
+the most delicate and skilful handling. First of all, she felt she
+must convey to van Hert some suggestion that would prepare him for the
+shock of what might be expected to follow upon Carew's arrival,
+supposing he came. Meryl she did not worry greatly about. She might be
+expected to be swept off her feet and go with the tide, by the very
+suddenness of it all. The two men presented the obstacles. Carew would
+have to be inveigled with the greatest finesse into an interview with
+Meryl, without ever letting him perceive a woman was leading him. In
+her heart Diana was a little afraid of the steady, unbending face. He
+was not likely to prove pliable; he might even refuse to come. Nothing
+she could say could alter the fact that he was a policeman and Meryl
+was burdened with a fortune, and that was the only barrier Diana was
+aware of. She laughed a little to herself as she wondered whether it
+would help matters if Mr. Pym made a will disinheriting Meryl, and
+dividing his money between her and charities. She could easily give it
+back to Meryl later. Then she sighed. "More heroics!... and they tell
+us it is a base world. Here am I driven out of my senses nearly,
+positively suffocated with high-mindedness, because three delightful
+people can't come down from their unlivable altitude and exhibit a
+little practical common sense."
+
+Then, of course, there was van Hert's pride to consider. What in the
+world, at this time of all others, was to be made of an English girl
+jilting a prominent Dutch politician a week before the wedding day!
+"It's almost enough to cause another war!" sighed poor Diana. "I'm
+really beginning to wish I had let them all go their own foolish ways.
+If I don't mind I shall end in becoming a heroine myself, and that's
+really too alarming!..."
+
+However, the bull having been taken by the horns, it was wiser to keep
+a firm hold of them; though more than once Diana felt herself very
+entirely in sympathy with Mark Twain when he says, "It is better to
+take hold by the tail, because then you can let go when you like."
+
+Obviously van Hert must be tackled first, but she waited until the
+morning after sending her wire, hoping for a reply. It came early, and
+fortune favoured her in that she received her orange-coloured envelope
+unknown to anyone. She carried it upstairs and opened it with a
+beating, anxious heart. It contained only two words, and was not
+signed:--
+
+"Arrive Saturday."
+
+For a moment she felt a little dazed. He was coming then, the stern
+soldier-policeman. What in the world was she to say to him?...
+
+Then a flood of gladness began to well up in her heart. After all, it
+meant before all things, that a day of great joy might be at hand for
+Meryl. Did anything else really matter?... If she personally came
+through the transaction a little battered--well, it wouldn't really
+matter, if Meryl and The Bear were safely off the rocks. Rather than
+let any shadowy good for South Africa come between them now she would
+marry van Hert herself, and at that she gave a little low laugh. In
+the meantime she had three days to think out a plan and convey to van
+Hert some sort of preparation.
+
+When he came that Wednesday evening it was easily seen that he was
+feverish. His eyes were unnaturally bright and his face flushed, and
+at dinner he only played with his food and ate nothing. He talked and
+laughed gaily, but with intermittent shivering which he tried hard to
+hide. Everyone saw it, and Meryl grew concerned. He tried to laugh it
+off, but was not successful. Finally Mr. Pym advised him to go home to
+bed. And then Aunt Emily made the crowning blunder of her life, and
+like some other big blunders now historical, it proved a blessing in
+disguise.
+
+She glanced at Diana with a scared face and exclaimed in perturbation,
+"Now if the wedding is put off it will be your fault, Diana. I told
+you it must bring ill-luck to speak about it as you did."
+
+There was an awkward pause, and in spite of herself Diana flushed
+scarlet.
+
+"What did Diana say?" van Hert asked of Aunt Emily, half grave and
+half casual.
+
+The poor lady, having quickly discovered she had made an unfortunate
+remark and become considerably flurried, made matters worse by
+stammering guiltily, "O, it was nothing much; she was only talking at
+random. She ... she ..."--distressfully discovering van Hert's eyes
+still fixed upon her--"said something about hoping the wedding would
+be postponed, and I said it was unlucky."
+
+For a moment the constraint was painful. Meryl had grown as white as
+the tablecloth, and Mr. Pym looked thoroughly worried. Diana, however,
+had quickly recovered herself, and was now the most composed of any.
+She gave a little sniff and glanced defiantly at van Hert. His eyes
+roved round the table and finally fixed themselves upon hers. She did
+not waver, but looked steadily back at him. He gave a self-conscious,
+constrained laugh. "I presume you had your reasons?" he said.
+
+She narrowed her eyes a little as she replied with a directness
+probably he alone understood, "Yes, I suppose I had. It was yesterday,
+Tuesday. Tuesday is often a queer day with me."
+
+And he knew she was referring to their conversation during the
+morning's ride.
+
+Then Meryl got up to relieve the tension, and because she began to
+feel a little uncertain of herself.
+
+"Di often has queer days, but they have nothing to do with your
+feverishness, William. Jackson had better go back with you, and we
+will telephone Dr. Smythe to look in and see how you are." She went
+away to order the motor, and van Hert seized an opportunity to speak
+to Diana unheard.
+
+"I know what you are alluding to," he said, gravely. "We cannot very
+well leave it like this. Will you ride the same way to-morrow?"
+
+"But if you have fever?" hesitatingly.
+
+"In the war I fought all day long with fever on me. Surely I can ride!
+You will be there?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+When van Hert arrived at the meeting-place next morning, he wore an
+overcoat and looked as if he ought to be in bed, and Diana's heart
+smote her. But she comforted herself with the thought that his fever
+was very much of the mind, and her medicine, if drastic, might still
+do him more good than any physician's.
+
+They rode side by side to the seat they had sat upon before, and
+without saying much he helped her to alight and gave the reins of both
+horses to the black groom.
+
+Once seated, however, he turned to her and said, gravely, "Of course,
+that remark of yours had to do with our conversation the last time we
+sat here?"
+
+"Of course," agreed Diana, calmly. The intricacies of the task she had
+set herself were beginning to interest more than scare her, and she
+was not afraid as to her skill in handling van Hert.
+
+"May I ask in what exact particular?"
+
+"Merely that you are the man about to marry a woman you do not love."
+
+He opened his lips to expostulate and deny, but she rested a little
+hand on his arm a moment and interrupted. "No, do not trouble to deny
+it. I should not have dared to say such a thing without being sure of
+my ground. Your face told me on Tuesday."
+
+He was silent, feeling himself unaccountably in the grip of something
+he could no longer thwart.
+
+"Now listen to me. When Meryl went to Rhodesia you _did_ love her. I
+think she was all the world to you. So she was when she came back, _at
+first_. You were in haste to win her, and she consented to be engaged
+to you. Afterwards...." She paused.
+
+"Well, afterwards?..." in a strained, unnatural voice.
+
+"Afterwards you found in some vague way she was changed. You had won
+her, but you did not possess her. Something had happened. You seemed
+to have seized the substance and found it shadow. I seem to be talking
+like a book, but we will let that pass! Instead of trying to find out
+whether this really was the case, you attempted to hurry forward the
+wedding. That, I think, was weak of you."
+
+"And something had happened?..." he asked, hoarsely. "What?..."
+
+Diana spread out her hands with a little French gesture. "It is
+sometimes just as poignant to say, '_Cherchez l'homme_' as, '_Cherchez
+la femme_.'"
+
+"You mean?..."
+
+"That what had happened was another man."
+
+"Ah!..." in quick surprise; and after a short, tense silence, "Then
+why in the world?..." But again she stayed him with a little arresting
+hand.
+
+"You wonder why she engaged herself to you?... When you have the clue
+it is quite simple. The other man loves her, but he has not told her
+so. I do not know that he ever will. He is a proud, obstinate
+Englishman, and has no position and no money. Apparently he is ready
+to let Meryl wreck her life, rather than bless his with herself and
+her fortune. Some men are like that. It is a mixture of pride and
+heroics very difficult for a well-meaning cousin like myself to cope
+with. I think it may even turn my hair grey yet." Again she spread out
+her hands. "Can you not see the rest?... You yourself led up to it.
+You urged your united service to South Africa (though why poor South
+Africa should be dragged in, I don't know), and she, having as she
+thought lost all hope of simple, personal happiness, decided to give
+herself to you and to her country. Now do you understand?"
+
+He was silent for a considerable time, thinking deeply; and then, with
+one of his quick versatile changes, he turned and pounced upon her
+with the question, "Granting all is as you say, what I want to know
+is, how have you discovered it?" He looked hard into her face with
+keen, searching eyes. "How did _you_ know that _I_ had changed?"
+
+He had taken her a little unawares, and suddenly she felt the hot,
+tell-tale blood mounting higher and higher up her face. She moved
+restlessly, impatiently, as if his gaze were intolerable, and then
+replied a trifle lamely, "You must have heard the English proverb,
+'Lookers-on see most of the game.'"
+
+"Ah! I wonder at what particular point you saw first?..."
+
+"In any case it is beside the question," she declared, anxious to get
+the conversation away from herself. "As I asked you on Tuesday, I ask
+you again, 'What do you think of a man who marries a woman when he
+does not love her?'"
+
+"That is not the question you asked me."
+
+"Yes it is," a trifle shortly. Diana was beginning to feel rather like
+a swimmer out of his depth.
+
+"I beg your pardon, it is not; but we will let it pass for the moment.
+Granting that what you have told me is true, what do you expect me to
+do?"
+
+"Tell Meryl the truth."
+
+"And what is the truth?" He was gazing hard at her again, and Diana
+began to wish she could run away and hide. She knew that her changing
+colour and averted eyes were telling him something he badly wanted to
+know.
+
+"O, you're very dense!" she cried, seeking to cover her discomfort.
+"Tell her you have discovered it is all a mistake; that you do not
+think she loves you better than all the world; and that you feel
+yourself wedded to your work, and ... and ... that kind of thing. Of
+course it won't be nice, but surely you can see it is a far _braver_
+thing to do, than just to go on because you are afraid of what the
+world will say?"
+
+"And suppose Meryl wishes to hold to her promise and give herself to
+her country?"
+
+"She can still do that, only in some other way."
+
+"And what do you think South Africa will say?"
+
+"O, that's quite beyond me!..." with a little comical grimace, "but,
+of course, at any cost, you must avert another war!..." They both
+smiled, and she added more seriously, "You can announce that you
+discovered in time you were not very well suited to each other, and
+mutually agreed to break off the engagement."
+
+Again he was silent for a long time, lost in thought. At last, "And
+when do you think I should say this to Meryl?"
+
+"It will not be any easier through waiting. Why not to-night?"
+
+Again he was silent, and something in the air, some secret, veiled
+magnetism, told Diana whither his thoughts were tending, and her
+cheeks grew hot in spite of herself.
+
+"If I speak to Meryl to-night, and she decrees that the engagement
+shall end, will you promise to ride this way to-morrow morning?"
+
+"What for?" trying to speak with nonchalance.
+
+"To answer the question I asked you just now."
+
+"Which question? I have forgotten it."
+
+"I will ask it again to-morrow."
+
+"But why all this mystery?... Ask me now. I will answer it if I can."
+
+"I would rather wait until to-morrow. Come, you have said all you
+wanted to say to me. Let me have my turn now." And she knew that his
+eyes, sharpened by love, were reading things she had scarcely yet
+admitted to herself.
+
+She got up suddenly, feeling a little breathless. She began to have
+again that alarming sensation of being mastered; as if he had some
+hold upon her, against which it was her instinct to fight, not because
+of any antipathy to him, but because, like all women of her
+independent character and fearlessness, she dreaded the mere thought
+of losing her liberty or yielding her independence. And at the same
+time she knew that the thought which held a dread held a charm also.
+Diana would never lose her grit and personality, she would never
+submit for a moment to any overshadowing, but deep in her heart she
+knew she was true woman enough to like to be conquered by the right
+man. Her instinct was to contradict van Hert in anything just then and
+deny any wish, but she was glad he quietly insisted upon her granting
+his request, and that when they finally rode away it was an understood
+thing she would come again the next morning.
+
+
+
+
+XXX
+
+DIANA IS RESTLESS
+
+
+It would be most difficult, indeed well-nigh impossible, for any
+chronicler to describe the state of Diana's feelings that afternoon;
+and very certain that under no circumstances would she have attempted
+to describe them herself. The swift coming into life of the love
+between her and van Hert was like the man who said he had not been
+born, he just happened. One could imagine Diana calmly stating their
+love had no explanation, it just happened. Perhaps it had been there
+longer than either of them knew; perhaps it took form suddenly when
+each realised the unsubstantial nature of the engagement to Meryl.
+Diana had always had a special liking for van Hert, and had said so
+openly; but as he had for some time been presented in her mind as her
+cousin's lover, there had been no reason why the liking should grow to
+anything warmer, and probably it never would have. But when she
+thoroughly realised how unsatisfactory a basis he was about to build
+his wedded happiness upon, a certain resentment on his behalf took
+shape in her mind, as well as troubled anxiety for Meryl. From this it
+was not a very far step to a warmer feeling still, and as we have
+seen, the old gaieties ceased to attract her if he was not a partaker.
+And then, knowing well that Meryl's heart was given elsewhere, she
+spent no anxious moments as to whether this warmer feeling of hers
+were unfair to her cousin. It was as though it was just held in
+abeyance waiting for something to happen; and when the something had
+happened, she swam out fearlessly into the deep water. With van Hert
+it had necessarily been different. He knew nothing of Carew, and only
+felt vaguely that Meryl had changed; nothing tangible that he could
+take hold of, and yet a something that was as an invisible barrier
+between their closer knowledge of each other. Puzzled and baffled, he
+turned with eagerness to Diana's frank camaraderie, to awake suddenly
+one evening to the fact that, unknown to him, his heart had slipped
+out of his and Meryl's keeping into hers. Yet even then he tried to
+deny the change even to himself; he would not believe he could so
+suddenly transfer his affection. It was not until later, seeing the
+whole from the vantage-ground of distance, that he realised his
+affections had not been transferred. His affection for Meryl still
+existed; he admired her profoundly as before. What had died was his
+desire, starved by the growing sense that she chiefly suffered his
+caress. But he had not the moral courage to go to her frankly and tell
+her this; and rather than face the consequences he attempted to stifle
+this strong longing for Diana and put himself beyond the reach of it.
+Fortunately for all three, that practical common sense of Diana's,
+which she was pleased to call selfish commonplaceness, dared swift,
+unconventional measures, careless of consequences, rather than to sit
+still and let the mistake pass beyond recall.
+
+But at the beginning she had not given much thought to her own
+personal feelings in the matter, and it was only after the ride with
+van Hert she found these suddenly confronting her in their full
+significance. And because the turn of events was becoming a little
+overwhelming, she spent the hours between parting with him and his
+coming interview with Meryl in a whirl of emotion wholly new to her.
+
+Once or twice Meryl asked her if anything was the matter, she was so
+extraordinarily restless, but she only laughed it off and tried to
+steady her feelings.
+
+In the evening, when they left the dinner-table after dessert, she
+mysteriously vanished; but later, swept with an inexplicable wave of
+longing and uncertain dread, she crept down to the dining-room to try
+and discover what had happened. It was growing in her consciousness
+with illuminating clearness that her own happiness depended upon what
+decision Meryl made.
+
+At last there was a movement in the drawing-room as of someone
+stepping in from the verandah, and she waited breathlessly for a
+glimpse of Meryl's face. She and van Hert came out into the hall
+together, and Diana saw that her cousin looked extraordinarily frail
+and white and rather exhausted. Van Hert was very gentle to her.
+
+"Shall I see your father to-night?" he asked, and she answered, "No, I
+will tell him myself. I expect he will see you to-morrow."
+
+"Good night," and Meryl held out her hand.
+
+Diana saw him hesitate; and then, with a movement that had in it the
+graceful courtesy of the Huguenot and the reverence of a fine spirit,
+he bent very low before her and kissed her hand. Afterwards he went
+quietly away, and Meryl stood alone in the hall. For one moment she
+waited, as if listening to his departing footsteps, and then very
+slowly turned and walked to her father's study.
+
+Diana slipped out and went upstairs, but presently her restlessness
+again caused her to descend. She could not settle to anything until
+she knew the truth and how Meryl took it. Thus she was again in the
+dining-room when the study door opened and Meryl came out. Her father
+came with her to the threshold, and it was evident that she had been
+crying. Diana saw her raise a white, tear-stained face, and saw Henry
+Pym kiss his child with ineffable tenderness. Then Meryl went slowly
+upstairs, and Mr. Pym went back into his study and closed the door.
+
+But something in his face, at her last glimpse of it, went swiftly to
+Diana's loyal, devoted heart; and because she loved him as if he were
+her own father, an impulse carried her straight across the hall with
+noiseless feet to the study door. Without knocking, she opened it
+softly and crept in. Henry Pym was seated at his writing-table, with
+his face hidden in his hand; and she saw, perhaps more poignantly than
+ever before, how the last few weeks had whitened his hair.
+
+As she softly closed the door and crossed the room he looked up. Diana
+warm-hearted to a degree when she deeply loved, slipped on to her
+knees beside him, and taking the hand hanging limply at his side in
+both hers, raised it to her lips.
+
+Henry Pym looked down into her eyes, and for the first time guessed
+from whence the solution had come.
+
+"You saved her?..." he said a little huskily.
+
+Diana nestled up against him. "I saved _them_," she corrected. "Van
+Hert is a fine man; he deserves a wife who gives him her whole heart,
+just as truly as Meryl deserves a husband who has no thought for
+anyone else in the world."
+
+"Then you knew he cared for someone else?"
+
+"Did he tell her so?" She lowered her head that he might not see her
+face.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did he say whom?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"Perhaps Meryl knew?"
+
+"She did not say."
+
+She kissed his hand again, and asked in low tones, "Why was she crying
+when she came out of the study? She ... she ... is not sorry about
+things?..."
+
+"No; she is glad. She sees she made a mistake."
+
+"Then why was she crying?"
+
+She saw him flinch, and read in his face all the pain in his heart.
+Evidently he knew of that hidden sorrow shadowing his child's life;
+evidently her sorrow was his sorrow. The wedding he so dreaded was
+safely prevented, but would the happiness come back?... the happiness
+that had been in that household before they went to Rhodesia? Could
+all his love and hope and tenderness bring back joy to the eyes that
+were his heaven and his earth?
+
+"Dearie," murmured Diana again, "was she crying because of that big
+soldier-policeman up north?"
+
+He did not reply, and suddenly she knelt upright, and took his sad,
+careworn face in her hands and nestled her soft cheek against it.
+
+"Because he's coming on Saturday, dearie. Hush! don't breathe a word;
+it is my secret; only I had to tell you because of what I saw in your
+face just now. He is coming because he loves her."
+
+Then slowly a great tear gathered in Henry Pym's eyes and fell
+unheeded upon Diana's hand. He held her fast and made no attempt to
+speak. And Diana hid her face because there were great tears in her
+eyes also.
+
+After a moment she got up, and shook the hair back from her face, and
+rallied him tenderly.
+
+"You see, Meryl must 'mother' something in the way of a country: it is
+her tremendous Imperial instinct; so I thought she had better 'mother'
+Rhodesia." And with a last tender kiss she went softly away and left
+him.
+
+In their own room she found Meryl had sent the maid away, and was
+waiting for her in the dark, standing in the window with her form
+dimly outlined against a moonlit sky.
+
+She went up to her at once and slipped her arm through that of the
+silent figure. Meryl pressed it, but for a moment or two did not
+speak. Diana did not speak either; for once in her life she had
+nothing to say.
+
+At last Meryl said, as if answering some thought deep in her own mind,
+"William told me to-night that there was someone else he loved. Di
+darling, I think there is only one woman it could be."
+
+And still Diana was silent.
+
+"I gathered also that something had been said between you and him;
+something that resulted in ... what has happened to-night...."
+
+"But you are not angry?..." Diana whispered.
+
+"O no. Every moment now I see more clearly what I ought to have seen
+before. I am afraid I have only been foolish, and ... and ... I wanted
+so to do what seemed the best," with a little break in her voice.
+
+"Of course you did; we all know that," said Diana loyally. "But I saw
+the mistake quickest, and I couldn't just sit still and do nothing; I
+am not made that way."
+
+Meryl pressed her arm affectionately.
+
+"Di," she whispered, "I want it all to come right as quickly as
+possible. I won't ask you any questions. Of course, I know it is you
+William cares for, and it seems so perfectly natural now that it
+should be. If you care for him, don't delay anything on my account. It
+would make me glad to hear that you were engaged to him to-morrow."
+
+Diana pressed the hand in hers. She felt strangely bashful with Meryl
+to-night; unable to say anything at all. In her heart she was a little
+shy with herself too. When she started out with a more or less light
+spirit to change the course of two lives, she had hardly realised how
+great a mountain she would be moving.
+
+"Do you love him, Di?..." Meryl asked her softly.
+
+"Yes," and Diana felt a little breathless as she made the admission.
+
+"God bless you! I'm very glad." And Meryl took the girl's face in her
+two hands and kissed her.
+
+Then they went quietly to bed, and Diana knew she had said no word of
+Carew's coming because she was afraid to.
+
+
+
+
+XXXI
+
+THE SOLUTION IS SEALED
+
+
+It was a rather sobered Diana who rode out the next morning to meet
+William van Hert, and when she saw him she felt suddenly conscious of
+herself in a way she had never done before and hoped she never would
+again. The glow in his eyes made it difficult for her to meet them,
+and they dismounted and went almost in silence to their usual seat.
+
+"You know, of course, what happened last night," he said, with
+ill-suppressed eagerness. "It has seemed like weeks and months since;
+every hour a week. I have not slept all night with longing for the
+morning."
+
+He was looking at his very best: another man almost since they last
+sat there; not good-looking, no one would ever call van Hert
+good-looking, but muscular and lean, with an air of virility and force
+always alluring. A man destined to be a leader in some way; one who
+must carry others along with him, if only because of his enthusiasm
+and fervour. The main point was, that he should carry them in a
+useful, practical direction. And hitherto there had been no special
+reason to hope this would be the case; it seemed more probable that,
+for the sake of making a noise in the world and gaining a following,
+he would identify himself with policies which the older and wiser men
+left alone; not from any indifference to the influence he was likely
+to wield, but because he was so full of warmth and intensity it must
+find an outlet. Some men are like that, especially politicians. They
+seem to be obsessed with the idea that they must make a hit somehow at
+once and come to the front _now_. And so they are apt to seize upon
+the first available policy likely to prove a good solid tub to stand
+and shout on; whether it is a durable tub, or one certain to be to
+their credit, is something of a side issue. The main point is a tub
+big enough and strong enough to bear them while they make the
+commotion and gain the hearing they are bent upon. And this spirit,
+like most spirits, may have its uses; it is not entirely to be
+deprecated. It may bring home very forcibly to the electors a weak
+spot that had otherwise been overlooked. In listening to the shouter,
+they may perceive how very entirely he is wrong; and, none the less,
+make the useful discovery that he is a good shouter. This then becomes
+the critical point. Having gained his hearing, will he condescend to
+moderate his views and listen to a little wisdom from older and more
+experienced men; or will he be obtuse enough to continue to stamp and
+shout on his tub, for fear people will call him a turncoat, or a few,
+who really do not matter, will leave off listening to him if he grows
+less noisy? And it is then perhaps a great politician is marred or
+made. Perhaps it often depends very much upon the main influence that
+held sway when the moment came to leave off shouting. That moment had
+come for van Hert, and he had the perspicacity to perceive it; though
+whether he would have acted upon his wiser judgment, left entirely to
+himself, it is impossible to say. It is, on the whole, pleasanter to
+think that, just because he was a clever, capable, sincere man and
+South Africa had need of such, the God of nations placed the matter
+beyond all doubt by sending the right influence across his path.
+
+Diana's mocking spirit loved to make game of heroics and big matters,
+but it was an affectation and nothing more: as Meryl and Henry Pym had
+long ago perceived, not van Hert himself nor Meryl cared more at heart
+for the great questions of the day affecting South Africa, and through
+her the Empire itself, since every year shows more clearly how
+tremendously England's colonies must matter to the mother country. The
+older and wiser men were already beginning to shake their heads over
+the grave and difficult problem of the white races and the black; over
+the tremendous increase of the latter in comparison, which threatened
+to swamp the white man out of South Africa altogether. One thing was
+obvious to all thinkers, the white races _must_ combine. Union must
+indeed be Union and not an empty name. The Englishman and the Dutchman
+_must_ join hands and sink differences, not only for the common good,
+but the common safety. So when Diana's practical spirit perceived how
+great and real an attraction van Hert had for her, she did not try to
+put it from her and struggle against it because he was a Dutchman. The
+moment she was sure, and the course was clear, she let herself go
+fearlessly; not as an act of sacrifice at all, she was far too
+practical to have much faith in a sacrifice such as Meryl had
+conceived, but because she loved the man and believed in him, and had
+no shadow of doubt as to his courage and sincerity if he were but
+influenced to move in the right direction.
+
+Well, he had stood on his tub and done his shouting right well; and
+now he had a goodly following and was the object of not a little
+execration, which is a usual thing for tub-shouters, and does not
+matter very much. What mattered was whether he possessed the genius to
+keep his followers and carry them along with him, after moderating his
+views and coming into line with the older and wiser men. Diana
+believed that he did, and as to be believed in is a very strong aid to
+all men, there was very little doubt that eventually the God of
+nations would prove to have given South Africa a fine statesman, even
+if he were built up upon a rabid politician. And if the instrument
+used was a woman, has not a great nation itself been built up through
+such instrumentality?
+
+And here one pauses a moment to think the old question, how often is a
+woman at the back of a man's greatness or a country's or any greatness
+whatsoever? Only these women do not need to do any shouting, because,
+as a rule, they only want to be heard by _one_. And when the result is
+a fine edifice, they are still content to go unnamed and unsung if
+that _one_ be lauded generously. For God made women in the beginning,
+the best women of all, to want love and be content with love, and care
+very little about fame. And so they go quietly on their way, creating
+great results, moving mountains, and saying very little about it. It
+is that old heroic spirit Lamartine wrote about. And there is a spark
+of it in the soul of every woman waging her solitary fight on the
+outposts of the Empire, whether she put new life and hope and spirit
+into a miner's cabin, or a farmer's little wattle-and-daub home, or in
+the heart of any servant of the Empire. What the colonies owe to their
+women is so little talked about, partly perhaps because words are all
+too inadequate to express it, and also perhaps because if the _one_ is
+there to listen and the _one_ to love, many women want no recognition.
+
+But all this time it only remains to be said that Diana believed in
+van Hert and believed in his work for her country, and that was why
+she had been able to give her love so frankly and absolutely, and was
+not in the least deterred by those mutterings of execration which
+there is very little doubt she intended shortly to put an end to for
+good and all; for if she had entertained any doubts as to how much he
+loved her and was ready to do for her, they must have been swept away
+utterly out of sight after the first moment of their meeting this
+morning. What he had fought to keep out of his face before was now
+flooding through it. Never at any moment, even when he first loved
+Meryl, had he looked at her as he now looked at Diana. In every pulse
+of her being she felt he loved her, not perhaps with the calm, strong
+love of her own countrymen, but with a fierceness and intensity,
+inherited maybe from some French ancestor, that appealed to her love
+of vigour. She at least had level-headedness enough for the two.
+
+But it would hardly have been Diana to sit demurely and listen to his
+outpouring, now that he might speak and she might hear. It was far
+more natural that the very certainty of everything should make her
+feel contrary and want to tantalise him; particularly when, after his
+first question had been answered with a quiet affirmative, he plunged
+into the subject filling his heart without any preliminary, and with
+all that quick enthusiasm of his bursting its bounds.
+
+"Then we need not say any more about it. Why should we?... There is
+only you and I now. It seems for the moment as if there were no one
+else in the entire universe. But I want the answer to that other
+question of mine"; and he leaned near to her, with his whole attitude
+a sort of inspired interrogation.
+
+"What question?..." A shade of lightness had crept into Diana's voice;
+the shadow of a smile into her eyes. She felt on the verge of being a
+little unnerved, and a feigned or real inconsequence was ever her
+refuge.
+
+"The question you were not willing to answer yesterday, and which I
+told you I should ask again to-day. You said that you had asked me
+what I thought of a man who married a woman when he did not love her.
+And I said that was not what you had asked. Do you remember the
+original question, or must I tell you what it was?"
+
+"I don't remember anything about it. I'm afraid I'm rather given to
+asking questions."
+
+"That means I must tell you. Diana, what you asked me was, what did I
+think of a man who married one woman and loved another? Now, I want to
+know how and when you discovered that I loved another?..."
+
+"It was the obvious conclusion"--studying the toe of her smart
+riding-boot with exaggerated interest. "Otherwise you must have loved
+Meryl; you could not help it."
+
+"I see." The smile dawned in his eyes now. "And was it equally obvious
+who the other woman was?"
+
+She glanced away to hide her tell-tale mouth. "It might have been if
+it had interested me."
+
+"But, of course, it didn't?..." and he laughed a low, happy laugh.
+
+"Not in the least. Why should it?..."
+
+"Ah, why?..." and his hand suddenly closed over hers, and at the
+strong, possessive touch the magnetism of the man made her blood race
+through her veins. She tried to draw her hand away, but he only held
+it more tightly, and his face was very engaging as he said, "I've a
+good mind not to tell you who the other woman is as you are not
+interested."
+
+"Then I shall conclude she will not have anything to do with you,"
+came the quick retort. And then her fascinating mouth twitched at the
+corners in a way that threatened to undo van Hert entirely. He looked
+away with a half-fierce expression. "If you don't want me to crush you
+in my arms out here in a public road, don't do that."
+
+"Don't do what?..." innocently; and then they both laughed.
+
+When they were serious again his voice sounded a deeper and more
+forceful note. "Dearest," he said, still imprisoning her hand, "it
+seems superfluous for me to tell you how much I love that other woman,
+as superfluous as to name her. I seem as if I had neither a thought
+nor an idea nor a feeling that does not love her."
+
+"Then let us hope she is not a stiff-necked Britisher," quoth Diana,
+still as if a little afraid to be serious.
+
+"Ah!..." and he raised her hand to his lips. "I believe you will make
+me love the whole race."
+
+"That would complicate matters exceedingly for you," with a
+mischievous taunt in her eyes. "You seem to have hated them so very
+satisfactorily up to now. What shall you say to your colleagues the
+next time they are expecting you at one of their fiery denunciation
+meetings?... I have married a wife, an English one, therefore I cannot
+come?..."
+
+"Shall I have married her?..." and he looked hard into her face,
+blissfully indifferent to her shafts.
+
+"Married whom?..." she asked, provokingly.
+
+He clenched his teeth together. "I feel as if I could shake you!..."
+and he glanced round to see if anyone were in sight.
+
+"O, if you're going to be that sort of a tyrant!..." Diana began. But
+she got no further. No one was in sight, not even the boy with the
+horses. And van Hert just gathered her into his arms and crushed her
+for the sheer joy of it until she cried for mercy. "Say you will be
+good and treat me with proper respect," he demanded before he released
+her, and Diana was compelled to promise.
+
+"But I won't marry you," she added, wickedly, the moment she was free.
+And then to save herself from a second undignified surrender she had
+to capitulate quickly, and add, "At least, not before next week."
+
+Then she raised her eyes, shining with happiness, to his. "Meinheer
+van Hert, if my memory serves me rightly, you have not yet asked me
+the most important question of all."
+
+He raised her hand again to his lips, with a movement of reverence,
+and said, very simply, "Diana, I love you with all my heart and soul
+and strength; will you do me the honour to become my wife?"
+
+And there was a little warm glisten in her eyes as she answered, "Yes,
+dear; I am ready to take the long trek with you."
+
+A little later she went home with an air of quiet radiance that told
+Meryl all she needed to know the moment she set eyes on her, and her
+embrace was full of warmest affection.
+
+Only Aunt Emily seemed thoroughly perplexed, and not able to entirely
+grasp the happy aspect of affairs when she heard it all for the first
+time.
+
+"How extraordinary!..." she exclaimed; and then, with an air full of
+mournful reproach, she looked at Diana and added, "I told you
+something dreadful would happen, my dear, if you spoke of the wedding
+so strangely."
+
+"Yes, aunty, so you did! and it was very clever of you," Diana
+replied. "But, of course, you ought to have warned me before I said
+it. Now, you see, I've got caught in the net myself. Ah well!..." she
+finished comically, "I can bear it."
+
+And Meryl's low laughter, as she hastened to soothe poor Aunt Emily's
+wounded feelings, had a happier note than it had known for many a day.
+
+"I don't think I quite understand," continued the perplexed lady. "It
+reminds me of a story I once heard about the aunt of a friend of my
+father's, that is to say, the aunt of a friend of your grandfather's...."
+
+"Yes, I remember," said the incorrigible; "but she didn't do it in the
+end, you know. And, anyhow, the great question just now is, having
+taken over the bridegroom, ought I to take over the wedding presents
+as well?..."
+
+"Of course, they must all be sent back," Aunt Emily replied, with
+great gravity. "Dear me, what a pity!... What a pity!... And he is
+really quite a nice man, although he is Dutch."
+
+"O, do you really think so?..." Diana asked, and went laughing out of
+the room.
+
+
+
+
+XXXII
+
+A CHAPTER OF SURPRISES
+
+
+In Diana's happy state of mind there was not the slightest doubt her
+interview with Carew, when it came off, would be the reverse of
+conventional.
+
+He arrived at the Carlton the day after it had been notified to the
+papers that the engagement between Miss Pym and William van Hert was
+broken off by mutual agreement. The new engagement was looked upon
+only as a secret understanding at present, and no announcement was to
+be made for some weeks.
+
+Carew saw the news in a paper he got at Kimberley, so that when he
+stepped out upon Johannesburg station, from a difficult, perplexing,
+somewhat equivocal situation he found himself suddenly and
+unexpectedly with a clear course.
+
+He had responded to Diana's urgent summons with alacrity, although it
+left him entirely in the dark as to what had transpired; his action
+had in fact something of the daring which had led to the sending of
+the telegram. Wearied out physically and mentally with the struggle,
+he seized swiftly the chance of a solution the message suggested, and
+trusting to Diana's resourcefulness let himself go with the tide. It
+was as though after sixteen years some spirit of the past suddenly
+re-entered him; some of that old reckless, dare-devil spirit that had
+distinguished him in his regiment long ago.
+
+Without doubt the news that he would some day inherit the Marquisate
+of Toxeter, if he outlived the present owner, had worked a wonderful
+change in him. He still hated Meryl's fortune, when he dared to let
+himself think of a future they might possibly share, but at least he
+could now offer her a position that might one day be among the highest
+in England. And all that it meant to him after his long exile and
+lonely life, apart from all the friends and delights of his youth, lit
+a new light in his eyes. And when he saw the paragraph in the paper,
+and realised Diana had indeed not sent for him for nothing, he seemed
+to let many years slip from his shoulders. Only a week earlier he had
+felt middle-aged, and looked every year of his forty-two. The man who
+strode down the platform on Johannesburg station, drawing all eyes
+after his upright, distinguished form, looked at the very prime of
+manhood, and the grey on his temples only enhanced whatever it was
+that caused those eyes to turn in his direction.
+
+Diana, waiting for his message in no small trepidation, went off at
+once to the hotel. Nothing was to be gained by hanging back, and she
+felt more sure of herself generally if she dashed headlong into a
+delicate situation.
+
+So she walked boldly up to the door of his private sitting-room, gave
+a little sharp knock, and entered.
+
+He was standing with his back to the door, looking idly from the
+window, but when he heard the door open he turned round and faced her.
+
+Diana closed the door and walked into the room, glancing about her.
+
+"What a nice den!..." she said. "I'm sure you could only growl
+prettily here."
+
+He came towards her with outstretched hand, and she was instantly
+struck with the change in his eyes. The steadiness was still there,
+the expression of unflinching purpose, but behind it all was that new
+light now: the light she had never seen in Carew's eyes before.
+
+"You look very well," she told him, warming swiftly to their old
+friendship and forgetting her moments of trepidation. "You ... really
+... you almost look as if you might have come into a kingdom!..."
+
+"Perhaps I have," with a humorous gleam.
+
+"Umh!... I'd be very sorry for the subjects; they would be ruled with
+a rod of iron."
+
+He pulled a chair forward, a large cosy one, such as he knew her soul
+loved, and she sank down into it. He still stood upright, watching her
+with kindly eyes.
+
+"Well!..." he began. "You sent me a very curt summons."
+
+Diana coloured a little, not quite clear where to begin.
+
+"Won't you sit down? You seem so far away up there. I feel a little
+lost somehow, you are so ... so ... Perhaps if you were to growl I
+should feel more at home with you!..." she finished.
+
+He smiled and took the chair beside her.
+
+"I never did growl really. It was all your imagination."
+
+"O, was it?..." emphatically. "Why, thunder in the distance was dulcet
+music beside it!..."
+
+"Well," he said again, "about that summons?..."
+
+"It's just this way," began Diana. "I had a letter from Mrs.
+Grenville...." She watched him keenly, and saw that he grasped at once
+something of what the letter had contained.
+
+"And she told you?..."
+
+"Not very much, but enough, in my mind"--with a sudden flash--"to
+justify my summons."
+
+"I don't think I quite understand." He was grave again now, with a
+line between the straight brows.
+
+"Well, don't get too serious or you will frighten me. I suppose I'd
+better be quite direct. You and I don't either of us care for much
+beating about the bush and subterfuge, do we?"
+
+He signified his agreement, and she ran on.
+
+"I knew that Meryl cared for you; I have known it a long time. Yet she
+was going to marry van Hert. And van Hert cared ... well, he cared for
+someone else too, yet he was going to marry Meryl. It was just a silly
+muddle altogether, do you see?... Honestly, I was at my wits' end-to
+know how to prevent them making fools of themselves. Then came Mrs.
+Grenville's letter. Mrs. Grenville had seen you. She had discovered
+that you cared for Meryl, and she told me so. I didn't stop to think
+then. I saw in a moment it was your business to help me help them out
+of the tangle. So I just sent you a telegram and asked you to come at
+once."
+
+"And now I am here?"
+
+Diana began to look roguish. "I just wanted to suggest," she said,
+demurely, "whether it wouldn't simplify things all round if Mr. Pym
+disinherited Meryl, and divided all the silly money between me and
+charities!..."
+
+He could not help smiling, but there was something more than mere
+friendship in his eyes as he looked at her. He understood perfectly
+that she had strained every nerve to bring him and Meryl together.
+
+"And in the meantime," he commented, "I gather from the newspaper the
+knot disentangled itself, and everything is smoothed out."
+
+"Well, I shouldn't exactly say there were no wounded left on the
+battlefield!..." with a low laugh.
+
+"I see; and you think it is for me to attend to the wounded?"
+
+"To _one_ of them," with significance; and then suddenly her
+unmanageable mouth began to twitch. Carew divined something lay beyond
+the remark.
+
+"And what about the other one?"
+
+"Well," with a little air of coyness, "I rather thought of attending
+to his hurt myself."
+
+He watched her keenly for a moment, and at last she raised a pair of
+laughing eyes to his face.
+
+"The only thing that's worrying me is that I may unintentionally find
+myself a heroine."
+
+His low laugh was full of amusement, and his eyes grew kindlier still.
+
+"You are evidently a most resourceful young woman. Have you made up
+your mind how you propose to heal him?"
+
+"Yes," with feigned gravity. "I thought on the whole it would simplify
+matters if I took Meryl's place at the wedding."
+
+He stared at her with undisguised astonishment. "You mean?..."
+
+"Just exactly what I say. I've taken over the prospective bridegroom,
+and incidentally I thought of taking over the wedding presents as
+well...." And then she threw her head back and laughed whole-heartedly
+at his incredulous face.
+
+"You have given me a great surprise," he said. "I suppose you are in
+earnest?"
+
+"Your surprise is nothing to what is coming upon my friends. Just
+think of it!... I can hardly think of anything else. I do so love
+giving people shocks. Do you remember our first meeting in the ruins,
+when I sat quite still and watched you until you looked up?... That
+was your shock!... You were frightfully disgusted with me, but I
+didn't mind, I'd had my bit of amusement and no one was hurt; any
+other silly girl would have coughed or walked away. Goodness!... how
+black you looked!..." And again she laughed mirthfully.
+
+He began to tell her he hoped she would be very happy, but she stayed
+him and suddenly sobered.
+
+"Not now. We haven't much time left, and we must plan something. Meryl
+will come here and call for me soon in the motor. She knows I have
+come to see a friend, but she does not know whom. She will not come in
+herself, because she is shy about being seen just now. What shall we
+do? When will you see her?"
+
+He got up, and walked to the window with a grave face, and for some
+time he did not speak.
+
+"Are you still worrying about that absurd money? My dear good man, she
+isn't stuffed with it, and she doesn't care tuppence about it. Isn't
+it enough that you know she could love you as a Rhodesian
+soldier-policeman? Why torture yourself unnecessarily?"
+
+"If I were only a Rhodesian policeman I should not have come."
+
+She looked at him with quick curiosity. Then something had happened!
+There really was some great change in him. He smiled into her
+questioning eyes. "Then Mrs. Grenville did not tell you?"
+
+"Tell me what?..." with swift eagerness. "O, do be quick, I love
+surprises. Have you found a gold-mine up there?... or the corpses in
+the temple hung with gold ornaments?..."
+
+"Neither."
+
+She took his arm and gave it a little shake.
+
+"Then what? O, do tell me quickly!..."
+
+"It isn't very much, but it gives me courage to hope, where a
+policeman might consider himself called upon only to renounce. And,"
+he added, quietly, "I owe the knowledge of it to Mrs. Grenville."
+
+"It must be a legacy?..."
+
+"Not exactly. It is only that when the present Marquis of Toxeter dies
+I shall succeed."
+
+"O, my goodness!..." comically. "Am I going to be own cousin to a
+marchioness?..."
+
+"That is as your cousin decrees." Then with a little smile he added,
+"So the shocks are not all given by you, you see."
+
+At that moment a knock sounded on the door, and in reply to Carew's
+"Come in," a hall-porter informed them that Miss Pym was waiting in
+the motor.
+
+"And we haven't decided what to do," said Diana, in dismay.
+
+He was thoughtful a moment, then told her he would endeavour to find
+Mr. Pym at his office and come to Hill Court later.
+
+So Diana went downstairs alone. But on the way, with that mixture of
+restlessness and level-headedness that was so characteristic of her,
+she decided Carew's plan was much too prosaic and dull, and speedily
+commenced to think out a better one. After which she accosted Meryl
+with the words, "I want to introduce you to my friend. It won't keep
+us long. She has a sitting-room upstairs, but she has a cold, and
+could not come down to you."
+
+Meryl looked unwilling, but finally yielded to persuasion and
+alighted. Outside the door of Carew's room, Diana was so afraid her
+face would betray her, she had to pretend to sneeze, in order to hide
+it with her handkerchief. Quite suddenly it had occurred to her
+humour-loving mind, that if shocks were the order of the hour, Carew
+and Meryl were going to have the biggest all to themselves for that
+day at least. Then she opened his door and half pushed Meryl in in
+front of her. They saw only a broad back at the window first, then he
+half turned. The next instant the door closed softly, and Meryl found
+herself alone in the room, face to face with Peter Carew.
+
+There were a few tense seconds in which they each seemed trying to
+realise the other; and then she understood. She went slowly towards
+him, seeing with unerring tuition all the love in his eyes, and
+without knowing it held out both hands.
+
+And across the long years, that self that he had thought for ever dead
+seemed to reawaken by leaps and bounds. He would always be somewhat
+quiet perhaps, a little grave, but the spirit of vigour and reckless
+daring was in him still, if sobered by sixteen years and all that the
+years had brought. He did not stop to explain. Quite suddenly it all
+seemed unnecessary. Between these two the hours of probing were ended.
+He took her outstretched hands in his and drew her into his arms.
+
+It was some time before he told her of his changed position; there was
+so much else to tell first. And when at last it was said she paid
+little heed.
+
+She only looked at him a trifle anxiously, saying, "But, of course,
+you could never give up Rhodesia? You wouldn't let any claim come
+before hers?"
+
+He kissed the finger-tips of the hand imprisoned in his, and murmured,
+"Bless you; it would have gone hard with me if you had wanted me to
+leave Rhodesia for good."
+
+"I shall never do that," softly. "It was the Rhodesian policeman I
+loved first. The other does not greatly matter, except that perhaps it
+brought us together." Then with one of her rare flashes of humour she
+added, "I'm not sure that we shall even have time for a honeymoon. We
+may have to go up there any time about this settlement scheme of
+father's and mine. As Diana is going to help William van Hert to run
+South Africa generally, we must get to work quickly with Rhodesia...."
+And her smile was a very happy one.
+
+
+
+
+FINIS.
+
+
+And so in the end Diana had her little jest, and gave Johannesburg its
+shock and its nine days' wonder, and was certainly the most surprising
+bride of the year; though, of course, afterwards most people said they
+were not surprised at all, and had expected it all along.
+
+Before the wedding a sufficiently characteristic letter found its way
+to a certain mission station in Rhodesia to delight the hearts of its
+contented occupants. After duly relating all that had transpired and
+how the problem had been solved, it added: "And now the only
+difficulty seems to be how to relieve Meryl of her superfluous
+fortune, in order that she and The Bear may live upon love and air,
+and how to save me from appearing in the guise of a heroine!..."
+
+To her old friend Stanley she wrote gaily of the perfectly splendid
+surprise she had succeeded in administering to about half the
+English-speaking population of South Africa.
+
+And Stanley wrote back, with many regretful qualms tugging at his
+heart: "The astonishment of South Africa is a mere detail. When the
+news reached Zimbabwe, bones that have lain buried for three thousand
+years rattled in their grave-clothes, and antiquities of the ages
+crumbled to dust. In the morning, over our coffee, Moore and I ask of
+the four winds and of the liquid butter and of the unyielding bread,
+'Which did he actually marry in the end, and what became of whom?'"
+...
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD.,
+
+BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E. 1, AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
+
+
+
+
+=Hutchinson's 1/- Net Novels=
+
+  _Bound in +Cloth+, with pictorial wrappers._
+
+=THE CAP OF YOUTH=            Madame Albanesi
+=THE SUNLIT HILLS=            Madame Albanesi
+=ODDSFISH=                    Robert Hugh Benson
+=INITIATION=                  Robert Hugh Benson
+=LONELINESS=                  Robert Hugh Benson
+=AN AVERAGE MAN=              Robert Hugh Benson
+=COME RACK! COME ROPE!=       Robert Hugh Benson
+=THE COWARD=                  Robert Hugh Benson
+=THE RETURN OF RICHARD CARR=  Winifred Boggs
+=THE WOOD END=                J. E. Buckrose
+=MEAVE=                       Dorothea Conyers
+=THE STRAYINGS OF SANDY=      Dorothea Conyers
+=THE SCRATCH PACK=            Dorothea Conyers
+=TWO IMPOSTORS AND TINKER=    Dorothea Conyers
+=A RASH EXPERIMENT=           Mrs. B. M. Croker
+=WHAT SHE OVERHEARD=          Mrs. B. M. Croker
+=IN OLD MADRAS=               Mrs. B. M. Croker
+=THE SERPENT'S TOOTH=         Mrs. B. M. Croker
+=SANDY'S LOVE AFFAIR=         S. R. Crockett
+=TWILIGHT=                    Frank Danby
+=LILAMANI=                    Maud Diver
+=A DOUBLE THREAD=             Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler
+=WE OF THE NEVER NEVER=       Æneas Gunn
+=BIRD'S FOUNTAIN=             Baroness von Hutten
+=SHARROW=                     Baroness von Hutten
+=MARIA=                       Baroness von Hutten
+=THE LORDSHIP OF LOVE=        Baroness von Hutten
+=THE GREEN PATCH=             Baroness von Hutten
+=PAUL KELVER=                 Jerome K. Jerome
+="GOOD OLD ANNA"=             Mrs. Belloc Lowndes
+=THE DEVIL'S GARDEN=          W. B. Maxwell
+=A BRIDE OF THE PLAINS=       Baroness Orczy
+=PETTICOAT GOVERNMENT=        Baroness Orczy
+=THE ELUSIVE PIMPERNEL=       Baroness Orczy
+=A TRUE WOMAN=                Baroness Orczy
+=MEADOWSWEET=                 Baroness Orczy
+=THE MONEY MASTER =           Sir Gilbert Parker
+
+
+=MABEL BARNES-GRUNDY= has rapidly come to the front as one of our most
+successful novelists. Her stories excel in wit, humour, observation
+and characterisation. The complete and uniform edition of her novels,
+as under, will be published at short intervals, =at the popular price
+of 1/-=
+
+
+  By
+
+=MABEL BARNES-GRUNDY=
+
+  _Each bound in +cloth+, with most attractive picture wrapper in
+colours, =1/-= net._
+
+  =An Undressed Heroine=
+    =Marguerite's Wonderful Year=
+      =Hilary on Her Own=
+        =Two in a Tent--and Jane=
+          =The Third Miss Wenderby=
+            =Patricia Plays a Part=
+              =Candytuft--I mean Veronica=
+                =The Vacillations of Hazel=
+
+Like Gertrude Page's Shilling Novels, +Mabel Barnes-Grundy's Shilling
+Novels for 1917 will be the outstanding success of the year+.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=London: HUTCHINSON & CO., Paternoster Row.=
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RHODESIAN***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 27950-8.txt or 27950-8.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/9/5/27950
+
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://www.gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
diff --git a/old/27950-8.zip b/old/27950-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..51fda4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-8.zip
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/f001.png b/old/27950-page-images/f001.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d820477
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/f001.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/f002.png b/old/27950-page-images/f002.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1ec3453
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/f002.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/f003.png b/old/27950-page-images/f003.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c4d1438
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/f003.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/f004.png b/old/27950-page-images/f004.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8829f08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/f004.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p005.png b/old/27950-page-images/p005.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..338346c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p005.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p006.png b/old/27950-page-images/p006.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..88bb86c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p006.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p007.png b/old/27950-page-images/p007.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a9ad7a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p007.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p008.png b/old/27950-page-images/p008.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..72727a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p008.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p009.png b/old/27950-page-images/p009.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..99e6255
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p009.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p010.png b/old/27950-page-images/p010.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0272fc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p010.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p011.png b/old/27950-page-images/p011.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a90d8c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p011.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p012.png b/old/27950-page-images/p012.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4ad1677
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p012.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p013.png b/old/27950-page-images/p013.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..729d9dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p013.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p014.png b/old/27950-page-images/p014.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..72d864e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p014.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p015.png b/old/27950-page-images/p015.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6e9c556
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p015.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p016.png b/old/27950-page-images/p016.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..779c55b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p016.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p017.png b/old/27950-page-images/p017.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a372465
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p017.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p018.png b/old/27950-page-images/p018.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b1ea2d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p018.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p019.png b/old/27950-page-images/p019.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4954fc4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p019.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p020.png b/old/27950-page-images/p020.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ea704d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p020.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p021.png b/old/27950-page-images/p021.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a28f6bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p021.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p022.png b/old/27950-page-images/p022.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a922d65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p022.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p023.png b/old/27950-page-images/p023.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a6f0e3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p023.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p024.png b/old/27950-page-images/p024.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..af69fe0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p024.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p025.png b/old/27950-page-images/p025.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9823a10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p025.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p026.png b/old/27950-page-images/p026.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cade325
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p026.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p027.png b/old/27950-page-images/p027.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..94ea597
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p027.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p028.png b/old/27950-page-images/p028.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..81e5e75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p028.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p029.png b/old/27950-page-images/p029.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..58d0700
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p029.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p030.png b/old/27950-page-images/p030.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dddc21d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p030.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p031.png b/old/27950-page-images/p031.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3b01453
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p031.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p032.png b/old/27950-page-images/p032.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..30b9480
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p032.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p033.png b/old/27950-page-images/p033.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a1b3dbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p033.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p034.png b/old/27950-page-images/p034.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..06babe9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p034.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p035.png b/old/27950-page-images/p035.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f7e5fa7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p035.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p036.png b/old/27950-page-images/p036.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..af0a166
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p036.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p037.png b/old/27950-page-images/p037.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8d8b343
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p037.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p038.png b/old/27950-page-images/p038.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a895f45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p038.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p039.png b/old/27950-page-images/p039.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e1a448c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p039.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p040.png b/old/27950-page-images/p040.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..69dd8a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p040.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p041.png b/old/27950-page-images/p041.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0398f5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p041.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p042.png b/old/27950-page-images/p042.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3f5a1bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p042.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p043.png b/old/27950-page-images/p043.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..903f7f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p043.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p044.png b/old/27950-page-images/p044.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab1864f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p044.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p045.png b/old/27950-page-images/p045.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..794bf33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p045.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p046.png b/old/27950-page-images/p046.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb147d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p046.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p047.png b/old/27950-page-images/p047.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..39b97a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p047.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p048.png b/old/27950-page-images/p048.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d82bbc9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p048.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p049.png b/old/27950-page-images/p049.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..15543be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p049.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p050.png b/old/27950-page-images/p050.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f27a41c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p050.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p051.png b/old/27950-page-images/p051.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2fcc811
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p051.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p052.png b/old/27950-page-images/p052.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6f5a96b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p052.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p053.png b/old/27950-page-images/p053.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..15266af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p053.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p054.png b/old/27950-page-images/p054.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f854113
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p054.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p055.png b/old/27950-page-images/p055.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..422f707
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p055.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p056.png b/old/27950-page-images/p056.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..935e2a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p056.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p057.png b/old/27950-page-images/p057.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..761b909
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p057.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p058.png b/old/27950-page-images/p058.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..730619e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p058.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p059.png b/old/27950-page-images/p059.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca97574
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p059.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p060.png b/old/27950-page-images/p060.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ef243f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p060.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p061.png b/old/27950-page-images/p061.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e19d5c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p061.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p062.png b/old/27950-page-images/p062.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..536279d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p062.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p063.png b/old/27950-page-images/p063.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3aa6709
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p063.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p064.png b/old/27950-page-images/p064.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee963f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p064.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p065.png b/old/27950-page-images/p065.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ce920c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p065.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p066.png b/old/27950-page-images/p066.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dbbb4d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p066.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p067.png b/old/27950-page-images/p067.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d62b7b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p067.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p068.png b/old/27950-page-images/p068.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..da1664a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p068.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p069.png b/old/27950-page-images/p069.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0ee11d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p069.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p070.png b/old/27950-page-images/p070.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6917548
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p070.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p071.png b/old/27950-page-images/p071.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4bf11f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p071.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p072.png b/old/27950-page-images/p072.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d3b5f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p072.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p073.png b/old/27950-page-images/p073.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f0ba566
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p073.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p074.png b/old/27950-page-images/p074.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e596680
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p074.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p075.png b/old/27950-page-images/p075.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c15d594
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p075.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p076.png b/old/27950-page-images/p076.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d6e2445
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p076.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p077.png b/old/27950-page-images/p077.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5b70508
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p077.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p078.png b/old/27950-page-images/p078.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7165c9f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p078.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p079.png b/old/27950-page-images/p079.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e8e7a6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p079.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p080.png b/old/27950-page-images/p080.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dde7d8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p080.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p081.png b/old/27950-page-images/p081.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4fb7551
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p081.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p082.png b/old/27950-page-images/p082.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c616658
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p082.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p083.png b/old/27950-page-images/p083.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5fee4a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p083.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p084.png b/old/27950-page-images/p084.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..88fec4a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p084.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p085.png b/old/27950-page-images/p085.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..23dda50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p085.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p086.png b/old/27950-page-images/p086.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ac199d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p086.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p087.png b/old/27950-page-images/p087.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..de4a46c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p087.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p088.png b/old/27950-page-images/p088.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0706605
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p088.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p089.png b/old/27950-page-images/p089.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f21413c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p089.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p090.png b/old/27950-page-images/p090.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..43eb3bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p090.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p091.png b/old/27950-page-images/p091.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c2c023c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p091.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p092.png b/old/27950-page-images/p092.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..78906ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p092.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p093.png b/old/27950-page-images/p093.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e2c87c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p093.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p094.png b/old/27950-page-images/p094.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f8b50e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p094.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p095.png b/old/27950-page-images/p095.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..33c8704
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p095.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p096.png b/old/27950-page-images/p096.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c4a4247
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p096.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p097.png b/old/27950-page-images/p097.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7fc62db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p097.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p098.png b/old/27950-page-images/p098.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9f48a94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p098.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p099.png b/old/27950-page-images/p099.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1fd84e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p099.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p100.png b/old/27950-page-images/p100.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a0a57a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p100.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p101.png b/old/27950-page-images/p101.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c43237d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p101.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p102.png b/old/27950-page-images/p102.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c5e74f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p102.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p103.png b/old/27950-page-images/p103.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..18644da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p103.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p104.png b/old/27950-page-images/p104.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..12e84d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p104.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p105.png b/old/27950-page-images/p105.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1690935
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p105.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p106.png b/old/27950-page-images/p106.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7a32f07
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p106.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p107.png b/old/27950-page-images/p107.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4a818bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p107.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p108.png b/old/27950-page-images/p108.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca749d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p108.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p109.png b/old/27950-page-images/p109.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..64e0f26
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p109.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p110.png b/old/27950-page-images/p110.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c1fdf09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p110.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p111.png b/old/27950-page-images/p111.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c5e75cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p111.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p112.png b/old/27950-page-images/p112.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..707c510
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p112.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p113.png b/old/27950-page-images/p113.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..44c864c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p113.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p114.png b/old/27950-page-images/p114.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ba3c97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p114.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p115.png b/old/27950-page-images/p115.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..392fa0a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p115.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p116.png b/old/27950-page-images/p116.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..259cbb4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p116.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p117.png b/old/27950-page-images/p117.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a8eb72d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p117.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p118.png b/old/27950-page-images/p118.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0e5cb03
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p118.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p119.png b/old/27950-page-images/p119.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6212bff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p119.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p120.png b/old/27950-page-images/p120.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e842016
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p120.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p121.png b/old/27950-page-images/p121.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6dc7b1d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p121.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p122.png b/old/27950-page-images/p122.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f428462
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p122.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p123.png b/old/27950-page-images/p123.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7e04239
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p123.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p124.png b/old/27950-page-images/p124.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1d61f16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p124.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p125.png b/old/27950-page-images/p125.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d6cfaf7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p125.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p126.png b/old/27950-page-images/p126.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d1de047
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p126.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p127.png b/old/27950-page-images/p127.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f8218e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p127.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p128.png b/old/27950-page-images/p128.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..90f3c12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p128.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p129.png b/old/27950-page-images/p129.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..705d50c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p129.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p130.png b/old/27950-page-images/p130.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df74a28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p130.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p131.png b/old/27950-page-images/p131.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eedf4be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p131.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p132.png b/old/27950-page-images/p132.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e7cafff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p132.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p133.png b/old/27950-page-images/p133.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..884ba7c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p133.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p134.png b/old/27950-page-images/p134.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a28388c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p134.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p135.png b/old/27950-page-images/p135.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e8acb23
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p135.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p136.png b/old/27950-page-images/p136.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4a7c70c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p136.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p137.png b/old/27950-page-images/p137.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..71dfb93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p137.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p138.png b/old/27950-page-images/p138.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f9b5c97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p138.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p139.png b/old/27950-page-images/p139.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ef7ecfa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p139.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p140.png b/old/27950-page-images/p140.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a951bff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p140.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p141.png b/old/27950-page-images/p141.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..239067f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p141.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p142.png b/old/27950-page-images/p142.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..07529e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p142.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p143.png b/old/27950-page-images/p143.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e09c0a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p143.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p144.png b/old/27950-page-images/p144.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0cdcf15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p144.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p145.png b/old/27950-page-images/p145.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c2e9246
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p145.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p146.png b/old/27950-page-images/p146.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7fdff8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p146.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p147.png b/old/27950-page-images/p147.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6c8e74b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p147.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p148.png b/old/27950-page-images/p148.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..26213a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p148.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p149.png b/old/27950-page-images/p149.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1329168
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p149.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p150.png b/old/27950-page-images/p150.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5eec0b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p150.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p151.png b/old/27950-page-images/p151.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4f0047d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p151.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p152.png b/old/27950-page-images/p152.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1bc1361
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p152.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p153.png b/old/27950-page-images/p153.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..be97bbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p153.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p154.png b/old/27950-page-images/p154.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9609645
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p154.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p155.png b/old/27950-page-images/p155.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c2705f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p155.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p156.png b/old/27950-page-images/p156.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d742a21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p156.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p157.png b/old/27950-page-images/p157.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e520a81
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p157.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p158.png b/old/27950-page-images/p158.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9e33608
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p158.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p159.png b/old/27950-page-images/p159.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7b9a677
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p159.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p160.png b/old/27950-page-images/p160.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f55defa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p160.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p161.png b/old/27950-page-images/p161.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e40dc8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p161.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p162.png b/old/27950-page-images/p162.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9314110
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p162.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p163.png b/old/27950-page-images/p163.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ab68a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p163.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p164.png b/old/27950-page-images/p164.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9ecc6b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p164.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p165.png b/old/27950-page-images/p165.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..655a2b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p165.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p166.png b/old/27950-page-images/p166.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6f86ed2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p166.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p167.png b/old/27950-page-images/p167.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9190e4a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p167.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p168.png b/old/27950-page-images/p168.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ebc1a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p168.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p169.png b/old/27950-page-images/p169.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f77504e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p169.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p170.png b/old/27950-page-images/p170.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b241338
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p170.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p171.png b/old/27950-page-images/p171.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f930f24
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p171.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p172.png b/old/27950-page-images/p172.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dddc487
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p172.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p173.png b/old/27950-page-images/p173.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6e7a430
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p173.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p174.png b/old/27950-page-images/p174.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..acade32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p174.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p175.png b/old/27950-page-images/p175.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..115bcce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p175.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p176.png b/old/27950-page-images/p176.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e571b02
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p176.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p177.png b/old/27950-page-images/p177.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1b23b17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p177.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p178.png b/old/27950-page-images/p178.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e224c64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p178.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p179.png b/old/27950-page-images/p179.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0a70cc1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p179.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p180.png b/old/27950-page-images/p180.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..668a3eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p180.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p181.png b/old/27950-page-images/p181.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..492d3f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p181.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p182.png b/old/27950-page-images/p182.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a2a8cd1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p182.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p183.png b/old/27950-page-images/p183.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..76c3673
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p183.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p184.png b/old/27950-page-images/p184.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e6cad3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p184.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p185.png b/old/27950-page-images/p185.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..352e174
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p185.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p186.png b/old/27950-page-images/p186.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..64df179
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p186.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p187.png b/old/27950-page-images/p187.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ffbf7d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p187.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p188.png b/old/27950-page-images/p188.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3242b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p188.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p189.png b/old/27950-page-images/p189.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d2cf6ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p189.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p190.png b/old/27950-page-images/p190.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..69ac9df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p190.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p191.png b/old/27950-page-images/p191.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a2646f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p191.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p192.png b/old/27950-page-images/p192.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1942947
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p192.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p193.png b/old/27950-page-images/p193.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9078539
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p193.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p194.png b/old/27950-page-images/p194.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab43ac4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p194.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p195.png b/old/27950-page-images/p195.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..87db635
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p195.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p196.png b/old/27950-page-images/p196.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..64ea052
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p196.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p197.png b/old/27950-page-images/p197.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aebac67
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p197.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p198.png b/old/27950-page-images/p198.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6d01428
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p198.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p199.png b/old/27950-page-images/p199.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6238c44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p199.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p200.png b/old/27950-page-images/p200.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d482a53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p200.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p201.png b/old/27950-page-images/p201.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6600e61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p201.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p202.png b/old/27950-page-images/p202.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0fd9593
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p202.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p203.png b/old/27950-page-images/p203.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f6aed8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p203.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p204.png b/old/27950-page-images/p204.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cde53bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p204.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p205.png b/old/27950-page-images/p205.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..33cbc0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p205.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p206.png b/old/27950-page-images/p206.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..64af865
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p206.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p207.png b/old/27950-page-images/p207.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b888781
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p207.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p208.png b/old/27950-page-images/p208.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..308f2a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p208.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p209.png b/old/27950-page-images/p209.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3d926f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p209.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p210.png b/old/27950-page-images/p210.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3dd078
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p210.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p211.png b/old/27950-page-images/p211.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..30312e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p211.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p212.png b/old/27950-page-images/p212.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f7676a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p212.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p213.png b/old/27950-page-images/p213.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..acf3667
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p213.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p214.png b/old/27950-page-images/p214.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b1068f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p214.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p215.png b/old/27950-page-images/p215.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ed8151
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p215.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p216.png b/old/27950-page-images/p216.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..89a1fb5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p216.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p217.png b/old/27950-page-images/p217.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..58352d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p217.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p218.png b/old/27950-page-images/p218.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ced4a58
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p218.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p219.png b/old/27950-page-images/p219.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d9f4c57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p219.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p220.png b/old/27950-page-images/p220.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a0e0a5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p220.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p221.png b/old/27950-page-images/p221.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..877743e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p221.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p222.png b/old/27950-page-images/p222.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1891932
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p222.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p223.png b/old/27950-page-images/p223.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e5988cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p223.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p224.png b/old/27950-page-images/p224.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ea5bc0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p224.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p225.png b/old/27950-page-images/p225.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9aae792
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p225.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p226.png b/old/27950-page-images/p226.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..30de5ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p226.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p227.png b/old/27950-page-images/p227.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4233b3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p227.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p228.png b/old/27950-page-images/p228.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9bf2168
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p228.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p229.png b/old/27950-page-images/p229.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..efe17d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p229.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p230.png b/old/27950-page-images/p230.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c8d3273
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p230.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p231.png b/old/27950-page-images/p231.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..284bd5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p231.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p232.png b/old/27950-page-images/p232.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..597bb20
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p232.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p233.png b/old/27950-page-images/p233.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f692362
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p233.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p234.png b/old/27950-page-images/p234.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b327b4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p234.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p235.png b/old/27950-page-images/p235.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d8b89e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p235.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p236.png b/old/27950-page-images/p236.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6d7c19e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p236.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p237.png b/old/27950-page-images/p237.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d4a7c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p237.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p238.png b/old/27950-page-images/p238.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..34de7f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p238.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p239.png b/old/27950-page-images/p239.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..49411ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p239.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p240.png b/old/27950-page-images/p240.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ac2aa00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p240.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p241.png b/old/27950-page-images/p241.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..046e1bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p241.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p242.png b/old/27950-page-images/p242.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6fe4746
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p242.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p243.png b/old/27950-page-images/p243.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..73be27a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p243.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p244.png b/old/27950-page-images/p244.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ff0c10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p244.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p245.png b/old/27950-page-images/p245.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1baf79f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p245.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p246.png b/old/27950-page-images/p246.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e8b12de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p246.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p247.png b/old/27950-page-images/p247.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..928177c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p247.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p248.png b/old/27950-page-images/p248.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..50ada51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p248.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p249.png b/old/27950-page-images/p249.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9ac05cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p249.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p250.png b/old/27950-page-images/p250.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1839bbd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p250.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p251.png b/old/27950-page-images/p251.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0cb9742
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p251.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p252.png b/old/27950-page-images/p252.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0d44d8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p252.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p253.png b/old/27950-page-images/p253.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b884b99
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p253.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p254.png b/old/27950-page-images/p254.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..64ba5b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p254.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p255.png b/old/27950-page-images/p255.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6eb9921
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p255.png
diff --git a/old/27950-page-images/p256.png b/old/27950-page-images/p256.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fbaf126
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950-page-images/p256.png
diff --git a/old/27950.txt b/old/27950.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e0ed602
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10615 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Rhodesian, by Gertrude Page
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Rhodesian
+
+
+Author: Gertrude Page
+
+
+
+Release Date: January 31, 2009  [eBook #27950]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RHODESIAN***
+
+
+E-text prepared by David Clarke, Erica Hills, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+   Inconsistent spelling, particularly names of characters in
+   the original text, has been retained, as has variable
+   punctuation.
+
+   The table of contents has been added for the convenience of
+   readers.
+
+   In the advertisements at the end, text enclosed by equal signs
+   was in bold face in the original (=bold=) and text enclosed by
+   plus signs was underscored (+underscored+).
+
+
+
+
+
+THE RHODESIAN
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GERTRUDE PAGE'S NOVELS.
+
+  _In cloth gilt, 6s._
+
+SOME THERE ARE----.
+
+FOLLOW AFTER.
+
+WHERE THE STRANGE ROADS GO DOWN.
+
+WINDING PATHS.
+
+  _In cloth gilt, 3s. 6d._
+
+TWO LOVERS AND A LIGHTHOUSE.
+
+  _Also in cloth gilt, 2s. 6d. net._
+
+JILL'S RHODESIAN PHILOSOPHY.
+
+  _In cloth, uniform with this volume, 1s. net_.
+
+PADDY THE NEXT BEST THING.
+
+LOVE IN THE WILDERNESS.
+
+THE GREAT SPLENDOUR.
+
+THE EDGE O' BEYOND.
+
+THE SILENT RANCHER.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE RHODESIAN
+
+by
+
+GERTRUDE PAGE
+
+Author of "The Edge o' Beyond," "The Silent Rancher," etc.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+London: Hurst & Blackett, Ltd. Paternoster House, E.C.
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+
+        I  THE POLICE STATION
+       II  THE MISSION STATION
+      III  TWO HEIRESSES
+       IV  THE RHODESIAN PROJECT
+        V  WILLIAM VAN HERT
+       VI  THE JOURNEY
+      VII  CAREW IS DISTURBED
+     VIII   TWO UNEXPECTED MEETINGS
+       IX   THE BEAR
+        X  A MINING CAMP
+       XI  AN EVENING RIDE
+      XII  THE MISSION STATION
+     XIII  A DECISION THAT FAILED
+      XIV  THE ANCIENT RUINS
+       XV  CAREW RIDES AWAY
+      XVI  "THE SHIP OF FOOLS"
+     XVII  AN EVENING CONVERSATION
+    XVIII  THE CHARTER FLATS
+      XIX  THE CONVENTIONALITIES ONCE MORE
+       XX  FAREWELL
+      XXI  A "HOARDING HUSTLING"
+     XXII  MERYL'S DECISION
+    XXIII  CAREW'S STORY
+     XXIV  A RAIN-WASHED MORNING AND A DISCUSSION
+      XXV  AILSA LEARNS CAREW'S SECRET
+     XXVI  "HOW CAN I GO TO HER!..."
+    XXVII  DIANA BEGINS TO GROW PERPLEXED
+   XXVIII  DIANA'S PERPLEXITIES INCREASE
+     XXIX  A USEFUL BLUNDER
+      XXX  DIANA IS RESTLESS
+     XXXI  THE SOLUTION IS SEALED
+    XXXII  A CHAPTER OF SURPRISES
+           FINIS
+
+
+
+
+TO THE PATHFINDERS
+
+
+    "Fate lies hid,
+  But not the deeds that true men dared and did."
+
+
+
+
+THE RHODESIAN.
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+THE POLICE CAMP
+
+
+The velvety darkness of a southern night, with its sense of rich,
+luscious, breathing intensity, lay over that romantic spot in Southern
+Rhodesia where the grey walls of the Zimbabwe ruins, with a sublime,
+imperturbable indifference, continue to baffle the ingenuity and
+ravish the curiosity of all who would read their story. Scientists,
+archaeologists, tourists come and go, but the stern old walls, guarded
+by the sentinel hills, give back no answer to eager questioning, eager
+delving, eager surmise.
+
+But in the meantime the Valley of Ruins no longer lies alone and
+unheeded in the sunlight; and no longer do the hills look down upon
+rich plains left solely to the idle pleasure of a careless black
+people. The forerunners of to-day's great civilising army have marched
+into the valley, and beside the ancient walls there is now a police
+camp of the British South Africa Police, presided over by two robust
+young troopers.
+
+In the velvety darkness on the night in question there is a single
+bright light pouring through the open doorway of a dwelling-hut.
+Through the enfolding silence breaks the bizarre music of an
+indifferent gramophone, recklessly mocking the sublime grandeur of
+the age-old antiquities. Laughter and gay music and devil-may-care
+colonists awaking echoes that have been more or less silent to
+civilisation for how many thousand years?
+
+But on this particular evening it is as though some shadow had fallen
+upon the little camp. Nothing tangible--nothing that changed the
+general habits or surroundings--but a vague regret and introspective
+sadness upon the faces of two young men, usually full of careless
+content. Cecil Stanley, the more refined, a gentleman by birth and
+education, lounged low in his chair, with his hands behind his head
+and his feet on the table, and ever and anon his eyes looked with
+pained regret into the surrounding depths of night. Patrick Moore,
+with a grave face, cleaned his gun in a deeper silence than usual,
+proceeding with an occupation that was his joy on many evenings,
+whether the gun needed cleaning or not, rather as if it eased his mind
+to have his hands busy.
+
+"I wonder if the Major will come through to-night?" he remarked, as if
+the silence were growing over-oppressive.
+
+"Sure to," laconically. "The moon will be up directly, and he can't be
+very far away."
+
+"I suppose he won't have heard?"
+
+"Not likely to have done. Gad! I feel as if I'd give anything to have
+had a chance to stand three hours in that queue. It will hit him hard.
+If it's bad for us, who have at least known all along, it will be
+worse for him, hearing it suddenly at this late hour. Those newspapers
+to-day have made me feel like a kid on his first day at
+boarding-school. I'd like to cry if I weren't ashamed to."
+
+"I liked that professor," said Moore, changing the subject. "Decent
+old Johnny, wasn't he? Jolly nice of him to bring all those papers in
+case he came across anyone glad of them."
+
+"Quite a good old bird. That's a rum theory of his about the corpses
+in the temple being buried deeper than anyone has yet dug, and hung
+with valuable ornaments. Wouldn't it be a jolly lark to dig down for
+one and have a look at it!..."
+
+He gave a low, half-hearted chuckle over his gruesome suggestion, and
+lazily getting to his feet, selected another tune for his gramophone.
+
+Moore, busy still with his gun, gave a corresponding chuckle, and
+remarked:
+
+"Begorra, lad!... if we could get a few out one at a time on moonlight
+nights, and fill up the blooming holes again, we shouldn't want any
+blasted machinery for our gold mine, except a pickaxe and a shovel."
+
+"We'd want a bit of pluck, though. The ghosts of the corpses might
+come dancing round to have their say in the matter."
+
+"We'd chance the ghosties. Shure! if they've been hanging round for
+three or four thousand years, they'd maybe like a new sensation by
+this time."
+
+Stanley put on "The Stars and Stripes," wound up the gramophone, and
+slid into his lounge chair again.
+
+Moore glanced up as the music started.
+
+"What!... that thing again!... I'm beginning to feel like those old
+ghosts about it. The same moth-eaten tune for three or four thousand
+years. I'd like a new sensation."
+
+"It can't be much staler than cleaning that old gun."
+
+"Shure, she's a daisy." The Irishman looked tenderly at his treasure.
+"An' she just loves me to be fondlin' her like."
+
+"If it weren't for the Major I don't know what is to prevent us
+proving the old man's theory," said Stanley, evidently harping again
+on his corpses.
+
+"Him, and the bloomin' Company! The old gentlemen sittin' on the Board
+in London suddenly find that the Yankees have been snaffling a lot of
+valuable trinkets and things from the ruins while they took forty
+winks, and then they up and says no one's to look for anything more at
+all; not even a _boney fidey_ Rhodesian, sweating in the police camp
+outside the walls."
+
+"Still, it would be a rare lark to find a corpse with gold ornaments
+on it, and say nothing at all."
+
+"And what should you be doing with the old corpse when you've taken
+the gold?"
+
+"Oh! put him in the soup!" And Stanley slid lower in his chair, with
+another chuckle.
+
+The gramophone ran down with a horrible grind, but its owner only
+looked at it dully and took no notice.
+
+"Shall I wind up again?" Moore asked.
+
+"No, let it rip. It sounds all wrong to-night. Everything is all
+wrong. The whole world gone awry. It's like being on another planet to
+be out here in this wilderness at such a time. I don't believe I've
+ever felt exiled before, but, begad! I do to-night. Let's turn in.
+Probably he won't come now."
+
+Moore carried his gun into one of the huts and stood it carefully
+beside his little stretcher-bed. Stanley took the gramophone into
+another hut, and planked it down somewhat roughly on a table,
+evidently made by an amateur. Without going outside again, he shouted
+"Good night," and after that no sound broke the silence, except sundry
+mutterings from the Irishman, who had discovered an enormous frog
+under his bed, and his beloved pointer pup inside the blankets
+serenely sleeping.
+
+All the next morning Stanley hung about the camp as one who waited,
+but it was not until three o'clock that Major Carew rode slowly up to
+the huts. As he dismounted, briefly acknowledging Stanley's salute,
+there was a characteristic absence of all superfluous words. The
+latter waited until the soldier-servant had led away the mule and
+another boy relieved the officer of his water-bottle, which he always
+carried himself, and then he looked hard at the thin, brown, resolute
+face, with an expression in his eyes that made Carew ask shortly:
+
+"Any news?"
+
+"Bad news from England. I suppose you haven't heard?"
+
+"I haven't heard anything."
+
+For one pulsing second the two men stood and looked at each other; and
+to a looker-on it might have appeared that, however laconic and
+indifferent their attitude, their relationship was not solely that of
+officer and subordinate. The elder man, in his gruff way, was the
+friend of the man under him. The younger had acquired a respect that
+held something deeper than casual liking, and his face showed it now
+as he hesitated before breaking his news. Then he said, very simply:
+
+"The King is dead."
+
+A quick, incredulous expression filled Carew's eyes.
+
+"The King?..." he repeated. "Not ... surely not ..." He paused,
+leaving his sentence unfinished.
+
+"Yes. King Edward. After a few days' illness."
+
+The man's mouth grew rigid. He stood like a figure of bronze, staring
+with unseeing eyes to the far horizon. Stanley drew in his breath a
+little sharply. Yes, he had been right, the news had hit Carew very
+hard.
+
+"When?..." came at last, abruptly.
+
+"A fortnight ago. Just after you left. The funeral took place
+yesterday."
+
+Carew made no comment. Evidently it was true. Little else mattered.
+Nearly all through this trek of his round those distant kraals his
+King had been lying dead, and he had not known it. Such a man as he is
+not stunned by tidings; but he recedes still further into his shell,
+if possible. There is no comment, no discussion, just a grim silence
+sealing a deep pain that cannot express itself.
+
+He stayed a moment longer, while Stanley told him a few details, and
+then he went away into his hut and shut his door to the sunlight--one
+of those exiles for whom the news had, as it were, an added sorrow,
+because during the first shock he had remained in ignorance, and had
+thus been prevented joining in the loyal homage of grief that had been
+offered by his countrymen from the four corners of the earth.
+
+It was thus with many of the far-off Empire-builders. They heard so
+late, so unpreparedly, so suddenly; and in the first shock, an exile
+which had been a calmly accepted condition, became almost a menace,
+seemed swiftly to develop a force. The men in the far places _felt_
+their aloofness; knew that their souls were beating vainly against
+prison bars, for the longing to annihilate space and stand beside the
+beloved dead. That quiet band of men whom we sometimes call "The
+Pathfinders," and who go away across the world to bring the wilderness
+into line; to smooth the rough, link the severed, subdue the untamed,
+and carry prosperity to the waste places. The men who cope with
+strange, deadly diseases; who fight fever swamps, and compel them to
+carry a railroad across their reluctant bosoms, though the swamps in
+turn exact a heavy toll of human life; who make the paths that the
+women and children will presently pass over, though no such
+soul-stirring cry urges their exhausting efforts.
+
+But it is not usual to laud these men, who win their colours at the
+dull, prosaic work of path-finding, as it is to laud those who
+encounter shot and shell in the lurid atmosphere of battle, and one
+feels they do not ask it. Yet now and then they must surely be glad to
+know that thoughtful women and thoughtful men follow their work and
+bless them in silence, sending across the world to them a homage of
+praise that is, perhaps, richer than the plaudits of the crowd. And
+not to them only, but also to the mothers who bid them go, accepting
+their hard part of lonely, anxious waiting without complaint.
+
+And if they fall by the wayside, unrecognised, unknown, but having
+carried the path forward, maybe a mile, maybe a yard, maybe an inch,
+how great a thing is that compared to the small happenings that of
+necessity make up most men's lives!
+
+In the sultry midday heat Carew sat alone in his hut, and certain
+memories, that for fifteen years he had tried to crush out of his
+mind, crowded back upon him with overwhelming force in the grip of his
+sudden sorrow. For that sad event which had plunged a great nation
+into grief had been to him a personal loss. In the silence and shadow
+he mourned deeply, not only the idol of his youth and dear object of
+his heart's best loyalty, but the memory of a friend.
+
+For long ago, or so it seemed, there had been a moment when a royal
+hand had clasped his, and a royal voice--the royalty all lost in the
+friend--had said, "Perhaps you are right. It is best to begin again.
+But do not imagine your life is over and its aims purposeless. Out
+there you will find renewing. Some day come back and tell me about
+it."
+
+That was fifteen years ago, but he had never gone back. Never sought
+the second hand-clasp that would have been his. Never unfolded to
+those interested ears his personal experiences with the pioneer column
+that led the way to do the path-finding in Rhodesia. In the hush of
+the afternoon, with his head bowed on his arms, the years between
+seemed to pass out of mind, and that which once had been to stand
+alone, awaking within him an infinite regret.
+
+He saw again certain lovely park-lands--the woods and hills and
+dales--of a rich inheritance that should have been his. He saw
+himself, the gay guardsman. He saw the dear face of the woman for whom
+he had chosen to cross that arbitrary will which would brook no
+disobedience, and sought to intimidate him with disinheritance.
+Through his mind passed in slurred detail the sordid story which had
+given him a brother's hate in return for a quixotic championing of the
+weak--a hate which proved to have power enough behind it to draw a
+devastating hand across the promise of his future.
+
+Lastly--and here in the silence it was as though his head sank deeper
+in its pain--he saw that woman's dear face, as he had last seen it,
+lying white upon the heather--_dead_.
+
+Ah, the memories were terribly alive to-day; not even fifteen years in
+a new life, with new interests, had done anything but draw a thin
+curtain of silence over the unforgettable pain. Would anything ever
+ease it in reality? Had he for a moment believed that it would? Or had
+he always known, that just as surely as his hand had held the gun
+which killed her, so to his last breath the tragedy would cast a
+shadow over the whole of his life?
+
+He might look out upon the world with quiet eyes and firm lips and
+fearless mien, but the gnawing ache would surely go with him to his
+grave.
+
+And because of it he knew that he had grown somewhat churlish; that
+men who did not understand his unsociable ways and extreme reticence
+looked at him askance. But what of it? How little such things
+mattered! The tragedy was his and the silence was his, and he had
+never asked anyone to share either.
+
+Only to-day, for just this one afternoon, fifteen years was as
+yesterday, and he seemed to realise thoroughly for the first time all
+that royal hand-clasp had meant, before he went to his voluntary exile
+in a far wilderness.
+
+But after a time, when it grew cool enough to walk, he came out into
+the sunshine and started off towards the steep rock pathway that leads
+to the summit of the Acropolis Hill, following an impulse to seek
+comfort in the fresh hopefulness of a height, and to lessen the pain
+in his heart by looking out across a world still living and loving and
+striving. So he climbed on up the winding pathway, enfolded with
+mystery and romance concerning the feet that trod it in the far-off
+centuries, and made his way between the mighty natural boulders out on
+to the high platform, where eyes, all those long centuries ago, must
+have looked out even as his, across the lovely land.
+
+Was it as lovely then?... Could it have been less so?...
+
+How the quiet beauty soothed and caressed him! Surely there were
+moments when the wilderness, tamed at last, like a lovely, wayward
+mistress become entrancingly docile, fondles the hand, and ravishes
+the senses of the strong man who conquered it.
+
+Is this one of the rich rewards Life holds in the palm of her hand for
+the path-finders?... This glorious sense of ownership. This winsome
+soothing of shy gratitude when the fierce first resistance to conquest
+is overpast. A man may call England his country because he was born
+there, and his father before him; but, perhaps, after all, that is a
+small thing compared to standing upon a high eminence, and looking
+across a quiet world which is your country because of all you yourself
+have given to it of hope and faith and steadfast purpose.
+
+In some such spirit soothing came to the quiet man on the top of the
+Acropolis Hill, whispering to him that, after all, this was _his_
+country, and if the beloved dead did indeed seem so far away in fact,
+in spirit he was perhaps nearer to his Empire-builders than he had
+ever been before.
+
+He turned his head at last, and his eyes rested upon the circular
+wall, four hundred feet below, that enclosed the temple ruins. Then
+for a moment a wave of depression swept over him, blotting out the
+landscape loveliness. Was it all, then, vanity, this building and
+striving?... The making of walls and fortifications for another race,
+centuries afterwards, to look upon with cold wonder and curiosity?
+Three thousand years ago perhaps another man had stood even there and
+mourned his king that was dead. And so soon ... so soon ... he also
+died, and the massive walls became ruins, and the dynasty, or empire,
+or era, passed away into oblivion. How soon might a similar fate
+overtake his own great Empire!... and the beloved King, Edward the
+Peacemaker, be perhaps but a legend to some strange new race.
+
+And then it was as though the land to which he had given so much rose
+up to give in her turn the might of hope and renewing. His eyes
+wandered again to the distant mountains and over the fertile plain
+lying between, and all the outspread richness called to him that at
+least there was no ruin here, no hopelessness, no decay.
+
+Progress spoke to him from the rolling plains and from the mysterious
+kopjes, and his blood warmed to that glad sense of possession--if not
+in fact, at least in the fancy born of what he had given. For it is
+when we give, and not when we take, we become the truest possessors,
+rich owners of so much that neither wealth, nor birth, nor striving
+can buy.
+
+In the quiet evening hour the stars were just beginning to light their
+brilliant lamps, and a glow like a rose-flush in the west marked the
+passage of the departed sun. Carew prepared to make the steep descent.
+And as he looked out across this country, that seemed so intensely his
+country, he felt himself heir of all the ages, the strong product of
+long eons of careful development, too rich in those vague splendours
+of the human and the divine not to realise the weak futility of musing
+sadly upon dead dynasties and bygone races.
+
+On the northernmost point, ere the path drops suddenly on its way to
+the valley, he stood still once more and gazed steadily to the north
+where England lay.
+
+Then, thinking deep thoughts of love and loyalty of the King who had
+been his friend, and the friend who had been his King, he gravely gave
+the salute.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE MISSION STATION
+
+
+Although only stationed for a short time at the Zimbabwe camp, Carew
+had chosen always to conduct his own _menage_, and take his meals in
+solitary state apart from Stanley and Moore. This was in every case
+typical of the man, who rarely sought company, and was often quiet to
+taciturnity when he had it. He had not come to the wilderness for
+adventure, or for the companionship of the men he might find there; he
+had come because he wanted to forget. Not even to seek renewing and
+fresh hopes, but only to crowd out of his life the memory of that
+upheaval and tragedy that, it seemed, had placed a stern hand upon
+mere joy for evermore. And he believed he would achieve this best with
+the vigorous, interesting occupation of helping a young country
+struggle through to fulfilment.
+
+It was not until after the dinner-hour that he again showed himself,
+and then he came outside his hut, filling his pipe, and stood for a
+moment beside Stanley and Moore without saying anything.
+
+"Did you have a successful trip, sir?" Stanley asked.
+
+"Quite," dryly.
+
+The young trooper watched him a moment, and then added:
+
+"Did you have trouble with M'Basch?"
+
+"He tried to make trouble. He is a dangerous native."
+
+"And you gave him a lesson?"
+
+"I burnt his kraal."
+
+"Whew!..." and Stanley gave a low whistle. The man was courageous
+indeed who dare resort to such a step, now that it was necessary to
+pamper the natives if one wanted no trouble at headquarters.
+
+Carew took no notice of the significant rejoinder, but his firm mouth,
+if anything, grew a little firmer.
+
+"I gave him due warning, but he thought I dare not carry out my
+threat. He was mistaken. Never make a threat that you can't carry out.
+It matters more than anything with natives. He will not give trouble
+again at present."
+
+"But they may say a good deal at headquarters if he carries his story
+there!"
+
+"I had to risk that. But he is so entirely in the wrong, and so
+clearly aware of it, I don't think he will venture to say anything. I
+have three cases of diabolical cruelty against him, besides stealing
+and law-breaking generally."
+
+Stanley watched him with eyes of admiration. To him the man's strength
+was ever a source of delight, now that his unsociable ways were no
+longer a puzzle.
+
+"We had a scientific man here yesterday to view the ruins," he
+continued, as Carew still lingered while he lit his pipe. "He has a
+remarkable theory for divining corpses by the gold ornaments buried on
+them. He thinks there are probably several in the temple, deeper than
+anyone has yet dug."
+
+Carew did not look very interested. His eyes had still the
+retrospective, pained expression that had come into them instantly,
+when he grasped the import of Stanley's sad tidings.
+
+"Where did he come from?" he asked, half turning away.
+
+"I don't know. He was only here for a few hours. We gave him some tea,
+and he left us some interesting papers, if you would care to have
+them. He seemed rather interested in you!..." and Stanley looked
+keenly into his face.
+
+"In what way?" Carew pulled hard at his beloved pipe and spoke with
+studied carelessness.
+
+"Your name cropped up about something, and he wanted to know if you
+were a Fourtenay-Carew."
+
+The officer started very slightly, but made no comment, and Stanley
+added, "He particularly wanted to know if you were a Devonshire man. I
+said you were."
+
+"I _was_ a Devonshire man," Carew corrected; "I _am_ a Rhodesian."
+
+Then he turned and with a short good night went back into his hut.
+
+The next morning, directly his official work was finished, he started
+to ride over to the mission station, where some far-off connections of
+his, William and Ailsa Grenville, found by chance in the wilderness,
+lived the simple life with a contentment that surprised all who beheld
+them.
+
+It was the first visit he had been able to pay for some weeks, and
+almost before he dismounted a woman stepped out from the large rustic
+building, with its thatched roof, and came towards him with eagerness
+and sorrow strangely blended in her eyes.
+
+"Ah, how long you have been coming! I have watched for you ever since
+we heard the sad news. Billy and I so wanted someone from _home_ to
+talk to."
+
+"I could not help it. I have been right away into the Ingigi district.
+How are you?"
+
+He did not give her his hand because the formalities had long been
+dropped between them, but as he walked beside her to the building his
+face seemed a shade softer.
+
+"We are both well. We are splendid. But we have felt very cut off
+these two weeks. England seemed so terribly far away. The evening we
+heard, Billy and I just sat hand in hand under the stars, dabbing the
+tears away. Don't smile, it was the only thing to do, and we longed so
+to be in London." As she talked she passed into the cool shade of the
+hut and busied herself preparing a lemon squash for him, not needing
+to ask if it were his choice. "We were miserable for days. I'm sure
+all of you were too."
+
+"I did not hear until I came back yesterday."
+
+"Ah ... I was afraid so. Of course, that made it worse."
+
+She brought him the lemon squash and stood leaning against the table
+beside him while he drank it, with the gladness of seeing him still in
+her eyes, though they were grave now with sympathy. It was evident
+their friendship had in it a wide understanding.
+
+She was silent a few moments, and then added simply, "I suppose you
+knew him personally?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+He did not tell her more, and she did not ask him. There was one
+subject that no deepening of friendship had ever made it possible to
+approach, and that was the story of his past. She knew only, from her
+husband, who was extremely vague on the subject, that he had once held
+a commission in the Blues, and been, not only a well-known society
+man, but the heir of a rich old uncle. And then suddenly something had
+happened, and his brother became the heir, and England had known him
+no more. Even William Grenville himself was in the dark as to the
+cause of the lost inheritance, as he had been abroad at the time, and
+had never had much intercourse with Carew's branch of the family. He
+was supposed to be in disgrace himself, because his soul was too
+honest to allow him to continue in a comfortable country living, after
+his convictions lost faith in the tenets of the English Church; but if
+it were so it never troubled him, and he loved his wilderness home
+dearly. Ailsa had her story also, but she too, it was evident, had
+found a solution that held satisfaction.
+
+After giving Carew his drink she moved away and picked up some
+needlework, seating herself near the open door, with sympathy in her
+face and in her silence.
+
+"We had a splendid service," she told him. "We did all we possibly
+could to show our loyalty. But how little it seemed! The far countries
+hurt at a time like this."
+
+He assented in silence, looking out over the lovely landscape as if it
+were a sight his soul loved, and she bent lower over her needlework.
+
+"Tell me about your Ingigi trip, unless you would rather wait for
+Billy. He will be in directly, and he will want to hear everything."
+
+He glanced towards her a moment, noting half indifferently that she
+looked unusually pretty to-day; but he only said a few generalities
+about his work, with his eyes again on the landscape. Ailsa sewed on,
+not in the least dismayed. It was good enough to have him there,
+whether he were communicative or not, and she was glad she chanced to
+have put on her new, pretty dress from home. For, of course, all women
+liked to look fair in the eyes of Peter Carew, quite indifferent to
+the fact that in all probability he scarcely saw them.
+
+But Ailsa Grenville could not have looked other than fair to any man,
+though to some she looked so much more besides. Her frank grey eyes,
+full of expression, her low, broad forehead and chestnut hair, were so
+full of beauty that they seemed to counteract entirely a nose that was
+a little too small and a mouth a little too large. One felt that
+nature had intended to make her a beautiful woman, and then changed
+her mind and allowed a flaw in her beauty, possibly to give her more
+character and an attraction of a different order. To the lonely men
+within reach of the mission station she was goddess and angel
+combined, and knowing it was one of the joys of her uneventful life.
+
+Thus they sat on together in the doorway, speaking quietly of the loss
+they had chosen to make their own, in an intimate sense perhaps only
+possible to far-off Empire-builders. And while they talked the
+missionary himself appeared, and all his face lit up when he saw
+Carew.
+
+"By Jove! I'm glad to see you," he exclaimed, tossing his khaki helmet
+carelessly aside. "We hoped you would come soon. Ailsa was sure you
+would."
+
+He sat on the edge of the table, swinging one putteed leg, a fine,
+athletic, big fellow, with a khaki shirt open at the throat, and
+sleeves rolled up above his elbows, and a brown attractive face with
+honest eyes. "How are the others?... Going strong?... We had them all
+here for our funeral service: the Macaulays, White, Richards, Henley,
+the three prospectors out Chini way, everyone within reach. And
+afterwards we gave them a feed. A homely one, with cakes and jam, as
+Englishy as possible. By gad, Carew! how a loss like this makes you
+think of home and country; and how we Britishers in the colonies ought
+to hang together through thick and thin! If we all felt it more, it
+would be a great thing for the dear old Mother Country. She'll want
+her boys in the colonies to stand by her stoutly, if she is to go on
+holding her own, I'm thinking."
+
+He got up and strode about the hut, his hands in his pockets and his
+pipe in his mouth. "Hang it all!... since I came out here to try and
+do a little useful development among the blacks, I've grown more and
+more to feel that helping the settlers to live clean lives and pull
+together and care about the Old Country, is every bit as important, in
+fact far more so, than teaching Christianity to the heathen."
+
+He stood in the doorway, blocking the view with his immense bulk, a
+rarely attractive man, with boyish enthusiasm in his eyes, and
+fearless honesty in his whole aspect, and just that touch of the
+fanatic which helped him to soar above disappointments and keep his
+charming wife devoted and content with him out there in the
+wilderness.
+
+From his post in the doorway he swung round suddenly, and was about to
+launch upon one of his enthusiastic tirades on the natives or settlers
+or both, when Ailsa stayed him lightly, declaring that lunch was
+ready, and they all proceeded to the dining-room hut.
+
+Afterwards they lazed in a wide verandah, commanding one of the
+loveliest views in Rhodesia, and talked a little of the West Country,
+because the ache was still with each one to be at home at that sad
+time.
+
+When Carew, later, prepared to depart homewards, she gave a large plum
+cake carefully into the hands of his black soldier-servant, telling
+him, Carew, that it was for The Kid and Patrick, and not to let The
+Kid overeat himself, and tell him to come over and see her at once.
+
+"He is rather interested in the subject of corpses just now," Carew
+said, with something approaching a gleam in his eye, "but I don't
+encourage him, because, for two pins, I believe he would dig up the
+entire temple, if the spirit took him."
+
+"The scoundrel!..." with an affectionate laugh. "Tell him if he dares
+to touch one stone of my temple he shall never, never have a cake
+again."
+
+"Oh, I only surmise it from the expression in his eyes when he told
+me, rather wistfully, that some scientific visitor had described to
+him how the corpses, if found, would certainly be decked with valuable
+gold ornaments."
+
+Then he mounted and saluted her gravely as he rode away.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+TWO HEIRESSES
+
+
+In a Piccadilly mansion, about the same time that Major Carew returned
+from his long trek, two girls sat in a wide window-seat and looked
+somewhat disconsolately across the fresh spring green of the park.
+Both were the daughters of South African millionaires. Both were
+motherless, and one an orphan. They were also cousins, and the same
+roof usually was their home.
+
+Two months previously the father of the one and guardian of the other
+had brought them to England, that they might duly "come out" the
+ensuing season in London society. Their presentation at Court had
+taken place in April, followed by a splendid ball at the stately
+mansion taken for their stay, and both girls had looked eagerly
+forward to the festivities ahead.
+
+And now, a few weeks later, they found themselves suddenly dressed in
+black, with nearly all the expected gaieties cancelled, and this
+overshadowing loss weighing upon their spirits. Added to this the
+death of first one mother and then the other, followed by a period of
+ill-health to the guardian and father, had postponed that "coming out"
+long past the ordinary age for such functions; Diana, the orphan,
+being now twenty-two, and Meryl two years older.
+
+Meryl was the graver of the two; graver indeed than is at all usual at
+twenty-four, but with a quiet fund of humour and a romantic
+dreaminess, and withal a certain elusive quality that made her always
+interesting, and pleasantly something of a mystery. Diana was a
+sparkling, practical, outspoken young woman, much adored of young men
+whom she treated with scant courtesy, and with a great deal of common
+sense in her pretty head. The girls' influence upon each other, which
+was cemented by a very deep affection, was wholly beneficial; for
+whereas Diana awakened Meryl from too much dreaminess, Meryl's quiet
+dignity had a softening effect upon Diana's too great exuberance of
+spirits and occasional boyish lack of refinement, which was more the
+result of a boisterous capacity for enjoyment than inbred.
+
+Meryl, as became the dreamer, had been profoundly touched by the event
+which had called forth that swift grief; and whereas Diana could not
+refrain from bemoaning all she must necessarily lose through the
+season of mourning, Meryl thought chiefly of how they could get away
+quickly into the country and replace the lost gaieties with quiet
+delight.
+
+She had already spoken to her father about her wish to leave town, but
+he had been much occupied of late, and not yet had time thoroughly to
+discuss the question. And meanwhile she and Diana waited a little
+disconsolately to see what the days brought forth. Diana was disposed
+for a trip to Switzerland, or Norway, or even Iceland, but she wanted
+to go in a party, and not just they two and a chaperon. Meryl was not
+enthusiastic and it nettled her a little, so that, on the wide
+window-seat, there was a cloud on her face as she drummed idly with
+her fingers and watched the traffic go by.
+
+"If you would only say what you _do_ want," she asserted impatiently,
+"instead of just mooning about and making no plans whatever."
+
+But the fact was, Meryl could not quite make up her mind what she did
+want. In some vague way a kind of upheaval had been taking place in
+her heart, and left her high and dry upon the rocks of uncertainty and
+dim dissatisfaction. New thoughts, new questions, new desires had
+risen in her during that sad month of May, and she felt as one seeking
+vainly she knew not what. She looked beyond the trees of the Green
+Park to the far skies with wistful eyes, and asked herself deep
+questions concerning many things, born of the thoughts that arose in
+her mind when she stood amid a people mourning tenderly a dearly loved
+sovereign, and beheld how in hearts all over the world he had won love
+and admiration, in that, to the best of his endeavour, he had
+splendidly fulfilled his high trust.
+
+And a high trust was hers. How could she not know it, when she was
+sole heiress to her father's millions; and yet, what was she doing,
+or preparing to do, in fulfilment of that trust? That it was no less
+so with Diana did not weigh with her. Diana was different. When she
+was allowed a free hand with her fortune she would buy yachts and
+houses and diamonds, and scatter it right and left, which was good in
+its way; but it would never satisfy her, Meryl, the visionary and
+dreamer, who looked with grave eyes to the far skies, and asked vague
+questions.
+
+Presently, with an impatient little kick at a footstool, Diana broke
+the silence. "_Do_ you know what you want? Have you any ideas at all,
+or are you just a blank?"
+
+Meryl smiled charmingly. "I'm not exactly a blank, but something of a
+confusion. I confess crowded Swiss hotels do not sound alluring. I
+like Iceland better, but it seems rather ... well ... purposeless."
+
+"And what in the world do you want it to be? Do you want to go a
+journey to convert heathen, or preach Christian Science, or explore
+untrodden country? If so, you had better take Aunt Emily and go alone.
+I'm hoping for a little life and amusement."
+
+"We always have that. I want something bigger for a change."
+
+"O, now you're getting to high altitudes. Meryl, do come down and be
+rational. I just feel as if I could shake you." She got up and roamed
+round the room, then returned to the window-seat and leaned out of the
+window watching some workmen who were painting the balcony below them.
+Meryl sat on silently, still seeking some sort of a solution to
+something she could not name.
+
+"There's such a good-looking workman," Diana remarked presently, "I'm
+sure he's an artist. I wish he would look up, but he is too shy."
+
+"Too wise, perhaps. Why are you sure he is an artist?"
+
+"O, well, because he looks like it. He has a Grecian head, and his
+hair curls adorably, and I'm certain his eyes are blue. He'll be just
+underneath the window soon, and if he doesn't look up then I shall
+drop something to make him."
+
+"Come away to lunch and don't be a goose. The gong sounded quite five
+minutes ago."
+
+Diana withdrew her head reluctantly.
+
+"Who wants to eat cutlets when they can watch a Grecian profile!"
+
+"Perhaps you would sooner drop one on his head to make him look up?"
+
+"I would; much sooner. Do you think they've brought their lunch with
+them, or shall we send them some?"
+
+"I expect they've got their dinners in red pocket-handkerchiefs,
+hidden away somewhere at the back."
+
+"Except my Greek"--with a little smile--"and I'm sure his is in a
+Liberty silk square."
+
+They sat down to lunch in the big, oppressive dining-room alone, as
+their chaperon, Aunt Emily, was laid up with a headache, and Mr. Henry
+Pym, Meryl's father, was usually in the City at midday. And after
+lunch, for the sake of something to do, they ordered the motor and
+drove out to Ranelagh to see the polo.
+
+Then came dinner, and with it in quiet, unsuspected guise the news
+that would presently change their lives. Henry Pym, a small, dark man,
+with the keen eyes and quiet manner that so often go with success,
+told them that because there would be practically no London season at
+all that year he had decided to go back to Africa, and he would take a
+country house for them anywhere they liked and leave them there for
+the summer with Aunt Emily.
+
+Aunt Emily nodded her head with an approving air. A quiet country
+house instead of a season's racketing was quite to her taste, and she
+felt dear Henry, as ever, was showing the marked common sense for
+which she humbly worshipped him afar off. Meryl looked at her father
+inquiringly and with a thoughtful air. Diana remarked, rather
+disgustedly, "O, uncle, what rot! Why should we be condemned to some
+dull little hole of an English village, just because there is to be no
+London season?"
+
+"My dear Diana," remonstrated the lady who was supposed to fill the
+post of mother and chaperon to both girls, and was therefore in duty
+bound to express disapproval of Diana's English, "you surely do not
+imagine your uncle admires that unladylike mode of speech!"
+
+"But he understands it," said the incorrigible, "and that is far more
+important."
+
+There was a decided gleam in the millionaire's eyes as he inquired,
+"And what do you want to do instead, Di?"
+
+"Oh, yacht, or travel, or go in an aeroplane, or anything. I simply
+can't sit down in an English village until further notice."
+
+Then Meryl spoke:
+
+"Why can't we go back with you to South Africa, father?"
+
+"Because I'm going to take a trip north. I'm going up to Rhodesia
+about some mining claims."
+
+"And couldn't we go there with you?"
+
+"Not very well. I'm not going to the towns, except for a day or two. I
+shall have to do a lot of trekking in the wild, outlying parts. You
+couldn't manage that."
+
+"Of course not," murmured Aunt Emily. "How dreadful that you should
+have to go, Henry! Why, there are lions and elephants and things, and
+the natives are savages; surely no mines are worth running such
+risks?"
+
+"Not quite as bad as all that, Emily, but hardly the place for you and
+the girls. Would you all like to go to Norway?"
+
+"And fish?..." from Diana, with a sudden light in her eyes.
+
+"You could have a yacht and take a party," he continued, "and come
+back when you are all tired of it. I'll ask Sir Robert to let me have
+the 'Skylark,' because his captain is so reliable. What do you say,
+Meryl?... Shall you like that?..."
+
+"I wish you could come," was her rather evasive answer, and she gazed
+at the table decorations as if pondering something in her mind.
+
+"Well, you can think it over," said the millionaire quietly, "and if
+there is something you would like better tell me." He was peeling a
+pear in a slow, methodical fashion, and his face quickly seemed to
+assume the expression of one whose thoughts were already elsewhere;
+but not before, with a quick, characteristic movement, he had glanced
+keenly and surreptitiously into Meryl's face and read her indecision.
+Something was on her mind. He knew it quite well; and his busy brain,
+under its mask of complacent thoughtfulness, probed into the question.
+
+Ever since the day of the King's funeral she had worn that thoughtful
+air and baffled him a little with her wistful indecision. And though
+he said nothing, he thought about it in his leisured moments; for
+dearer than all his wealth and his power and his success was his only
+child.
+
+That night, trying still to probe the unrest in her heart, Meryl
+stepped out on to their balcony and looked at the stars. Straight
+before her, outlined in a misty moonlight that was almost overpowered
+by the glare of the city's lights, were the tall towers of
+Westminster. Down below the traffic passed ceaselessly to and fro.
+From all sides came the mysterious hum of a great city's life. And as
+she leaned listening, and gazing at the far-off stars that seemed such
+mere pin-pricks above the glare, there came to her a thought of the
+majestic stars that hung over Africa and the majesty of silence upon
+the African veldt. And then gradually there stirred in her a warm
+remembrance of Africa, and of how she had always loved it, and a
+swift, unaccountable feeling of kinship with all the Britishers
+scattered far and wide who called some colony "home."
+
+True, she was English born and English educated; but so also was she
+South African, for quite half her life had been passed in
+Johannesburg, and it was there that her actual home existed. And so,
+by slow imperceptible degrees, out of nowhere and without explanation,
+crept into her mind the sudden realisation of Africa's claim upon her.
+She remembered that it was there her father had amassed his wealth.
+There had been won for her all the smooth, luxurious ways of her life;
+and, but a step further, as it were, stood out the answer to her
+questioning doubts. Whatever trust is yours in the future, whatever
+life asks of you in return for all she has given, it must be for
+Africa. Her heart warmed and swelled swiftly, and her eyes glowed in
+the misty darkness. She felt in her blood that Africa was calling.
+Africa, so sunny, so gay, so breezy, so lovable, and withal with so
+great a need of strong women as well as strong men, to help her to win
+through to the great future that should be hers.
+
+She leaned lower, and it was as though her gaze looked beyond the
+darkness to some unseen horizon. She saw the veldt with its far blue
+mountains, that called to men again and again with such resolute
+calling. Overhead, in her fancy, she saw the luminous Southern Cross.
+All around were the wide, boundless horizons, the swift, scented
+winds. In her spirit she was back again in the sun-soaked land,
+breathing the sun-soaked atmosphere, looking far to the "never, never"
+country that called from the clear distance.
+
+And it was her Africa,--hers, hers, hers.
+
+What did she want with an English village? What to her was a yachting
+cruise in Norway? These might be won some day as restful leisure hours
+in a strenuous life; but without the just winning, what had they to do
+with her?
+
+Africa needed strong women as well as strong men; and, strong or weak,
+Africa was calling--calling.
+
+She had come to London for the season because it was what all the
+other rich men's daughters did; but was she honestly grieved that
+their plans had all to be changed? Surely, now she was free, she could
+find something to do that would fill her hours afterward with gladder
+remembrance than just a season's triumphs.
+
+But what?...
+
+She leaned on in the starlight, chin sunk in hands, thinking,
+dreaming.
+
+And so presently, still by those imperceptible degrees, through which
+works the hand of Fate, her thoughts came at last to the dinner-table
+conversation.
+
+As in a flash, she remembered Rhodesia; and, remembering, it was as
+though the romance of the land reached out strong arms to enfold her.
+
+Here in very truth was a young country, offering a wide field to all
+who sought work, adventure, achievement. Her thoughts ran on
+exultantly. She was rich, she was free, she was young, she was strong;
+why dawdle and dream among the fiords of Norway? Why scale Swiss
+mountains? Let that come later, when she had earned a playtime. In the
+first vigorous years of her youth, let her go out to the sunny land
+that was her home and give it of her best. Let her go north and see a
+young country struggling towards fruition, and perhaps win the joy
+and privilege, generally reserved for men, of helping it forward. All
+in a moment her decision was made. If she could anyhow win her
+father's consent, she would go with him on his trip to Rhodesia.
+
+She stood up, tall and slim, and the subdued light glowed more deeply
+in her eyes. The eyes of the visionary, who sees great things and
+dreams great dreams, and, alas! how often, breaks a heart that of its
+very fineness could only do or die.
+
+Yet better, how much better, to hope and dare and die upon the
+heights, than linger content in the warm, snug valley of little joys
+and little sorrows!
+
+And then across her dreams broke the sound of a sleepy voice from the
+room behind her.
+
+"If you stay out there any longer, Meryl, you will grow wings and fly
+away. Do be rational enough to come in and go to bed."
+
+"I thought you were asleep, Di. I'm sure I haven't been keeping you
+awake."
+
+"No, but you are doing so now; and, besides, it's so imbecile to stand
+out there and stare at the stars."
+
+"I've been thinking hard, Di." She came in and sat on the little gilt
+bedstead, with its dainty hangings, and looked lovingly at the pretty
+head on the lace-decked pillow.
+
+"That's nothing new. If you _hadn't_ been thinking hard it would be
+worth while mentioning it," and there was half a pout and half a smile
+on the winsome mouth.
+
+"But there was more object than usual to-night. Listen. If I persuade
+father to take me up to Rhodesia with him, will you come too?..."
+
+"O, golly!... to be eaten by lions, and tigers, and savages, and
+elephants, and things!..."
+
+"Well, there wouldn't be much apiece if they all had a bite."
+
+Diana sat up and shook the hair out of her eyes, looking very much
+like a small imp of ten, instead of a finished young lady of
+twenty-two. "There's just a chance they would eat Aunt Emily first,"
+said she, "and as that is a consummation devoutly to be wished, I
+think we'll go...."
+
+They both laughed, but Meryl soon grew serious again. "I'm awfully in
+earnest, Di. Who cares about Norway when they might go to Rhodesia!
+You'll perhaps fall overboard and be eaten by commonplace fishes if
+you go there."
+
+"What has given you the notion, Meryl? I thought only miners and
+farmers went to Rhodesia, except a few tourists to the Victoria Falls.
+Do you think there is anything to eat there except locusts and wild
+honey?"
+
+"Let's go and see. I ... I ... want to do some Empire work or
+something. I can't explain. But we've just got into such a maze of
+petty happenings and petty pleasures, and since the King died ..."
+
+"Of course!... you've been miles away ever since, dreaming and
+romancing and imperialising. But it won't last, and when you've landed
+us all high and dry in some Rhodesian wilderness we shall just hate
+each other and everything else, and be ready to murder you."
+
+"Nonsense. We shall explore all round, and study the natives and the
+animals, and make friends with the settlers; and it will all be just
+new and big and teeming with interest."
+
+"Not if you are chewing the mule harness, because you've had nothing
+to eat for days."
+
+"O yes, even that; why not?... We should love it all when we came
+safely back."
+
+"Well, I'll have the bridle, then. It won't, perhaps, be quite so
+greasy."
+
+"Now you're disgusting. Just put your head back on the pillow, and
+register a vow to see me through this craze, if you like to call it
+so, and I'll love you for ever. I like to think of it as Empire work.
+Come and do a little Empire work too."
+
+"But I don't want to. I'm bored to tears with the Empire. We hear a
+great deal too much of it nowadays; that and Standard Bread. I don't
+know which is the worst"--making a wry face--"and, besides, if you
+really want to do Empire work, your plain duty is to marry Dutch
+Willie and cement the races."
+
+A cloud flitted for a moment across Meryl's fair face, which Diana was
+quick to see, and she snoozled down into her cosy bed with a little
+chuckle.
+
+"Got you there, my fair Imperialist! Dutch Willie, or let us call him
+William van Hert, will drop this wild anti-British policy of his like
+a hot brick, if you will only make up your mind to be Madam van Hert,
+and bless his hearth with a Dutch doll or two, having good English
+blood in their veins as well as eighteen-carat Dutch," and the
+chuckles grew more and more audible.
+
+But Meryl only got up slowly and moved away to her own little bed.
+
+"Well, I shall ask father to-morrow, and if you won't come I shall try
+to make him take me without you. I think he will."
+
+"O, no he won't. If you are really quite obdurate, I shall do a little
+Imperial work also. I shall come along to keep watch and ward, and see
+that you don't fail the Empire by losing your heart to some
+fascinating young Rhodesian settler and forget your own South Africa
+altogether. Dutch Willie is a lot the nicest Dutchman who ever
+belonged to that obtuse people, and I foresee it will be my lot to
+guide you to your high destiny on behalf of the two races."
+
+Meryl only smiled dreamily, as if she scarcely heard. Swiftly,
+mysteriously, unaccountably, as is her way, Rhodesia had caught her
+senses and filled all her horizon for the time being. She nestled down
+into her own pretty bed, with the unrest already fading from her eyes,
+and a new gladness in her heart, as of one renewed with a great
+purpose and comforted with a wide hope.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+THE RHODESIAN PROJECT
+
+
+Aunt Emily represented what Diana was pleased to call "the family
+skeleton in the flesh." She was Henry Pym's only sister, and there had
+been a time when she shared a pound a week with him in a tiny cottage
+in Cornwall, while he worked as a miner in order to teach himself all
+he could about mining. After that she had taken a situation as
+housekeeper, while he went out to South Africa to make his fortune.
+Later she had spent a year or two with him, sharing his struggles in
+the new country, and then he had married, and she was once more left
+to take care of herself; for at that stage Henry's finances would
+barely keep himself and his wife. Three years afterwards, when his
+genius for finance was bearing fruit, his wife died, and at
+twenty-seven he found himself a childless widower just becoming
+prosperous. He again offered his sister a home, but her recollections
+of Africa were none to draw her back thither, and she chose to
+continue life in the comfortable situation she had procured as
+companion to an invalid lady. So Henry devoted himself entirely to the
+science of money-making, and at thirty-five he was a rich man. He
+married a second time, choosing for his wife among the gentlest-born
+Johannesburg could offer, and winning the sweet woman who was Meryl's
+mother. About the same time his brother came out from England and
+joined him, and in fifteen years they were two of Johannesburg's
+wealthiest millionaires. A few years later both were widowers, and
+very shortly afterwards John Pym died, leaving his only daughter and
+all the wealth that would be hers to his brother's care. Thus the
+household became as we have seen it, for Henry, remembering gratefully
+how his sister had stood by him in his days of struggle, now insisted
+upon her sharing his luxurious homes and acting as chaperon to the
+two girls. That she was a little trying he knew perfectly, but his
+sense of fair play and kinship resolutely turned a deaf ear to the
+half-spoken pleas of the girls, that he would give her instead a cosy
+home of her own, and procure a younger and brighter chaperon for them;
+and she had now become a fixture.
+
+But what irritated Diana so was the fact that had the good lady
+consulted her own taste, she would infinitely have preferred the cosy,
+independent home; but just as Henry's sense of fair play offered her a
+place in his, so her sense of duty to the two motherless girls made
+her accept it in spite of her inclination.
+
+"If people would but consult their comfort instead of their duty,"
+quoth poor Diana, "how much nicer it would be all round! Uncle doesn't
+really want her here, and she doesn't really want to come, and we'd
+give our heads to be rid of her; but just because Old Man Duty loves
+to make people supremely uncomfortable, here we all are!" and her
+expressive gesture made further comment unnecessary.
+
+But, as a matter of fact, she made a very easy and good-natured
+chaperon, and it was only some of her irritating little ways that
+troubled them. Without being really deaf, she usually failed to hear
+any opening speech, and this Diana coped with very summarily. "Aunt
+Emily," she would begin. "Eh ... eh ... eh ... eh ... ah," and when
+Aunt Emily had duly enquired, "What did you say, my dear?" she would
+speak her sentence for the first time. Or, again, with reference to
+her propensity to get exceedingly worked up upon a subject of very
+little general interest, she would say, "The great point is, not to
+start her off, and not to give her a chance to start herself off. A
+little perspicacity will soon tell you what subject to nip in the bud,
+or when to talk as hard and fast as you can about something else."
+
+"And as for her mournfulness," declared the matter-of-fact young
+heiress, "well, that's genuinely funny. If I've got a bit of a hump
+myself, and I hear Aunt Emily, with a face of heroic resignation, say,
+'I can bear it,' I begin to feel quite chirpy at once."
+
+But when the Rhodesian project came seriously under discussion, they
+were all a good deal surprised to hear Aunt Emily take part in it as
+one who must inevitably be of the party. Henry Pym was a reserved,
+undemonstrative man, and when Meryl begged him to let them accompany
+him on his travels, though he said very little, he was secretly a good
+deal gratified and pleased. His own early hardships had taught him the
+inestimable value of learning self-dependence and plucky endurance,
+and it was not without some regret he viewed a future for the girls
+entirely of rose leaves. Yet how could it very well be otherwise?
+When, however, Meryl pleadingly asked him to take them to Rhodesia
+with him, he perceived that the trip might be beneficial in more ways
+than one.
+
+"You probably don't understand," he told her quietly, "that I am going
+on a business, prospecting trip. I am going right away from hotels and
+railways to see mines, and I don't intend to be bothered with anything
+elaborate in the way of an outfit. I suppose I shall take a tent, and
+travel in a travelling ambulance, but certainly nothing out of the way
+in food or equipment. You would have to do the same, and as you know
+absolutely nothing in the world about 'roughing it,' you probably
+wouldn't like it at all."
+
+"But that is just what we should like," Meryl urged. "That is one
+reason why we want to come."
+
+They were sitting in the smoke-room with him, as was often their habit
+in the evening, preferring it, as he did, to the stately drawing-room.
+
+Meryl sat on a footstool near him, watching his face anxiously, while
+Diana, with an open book on her knee, listened from the depths of an
+enormous arm-chair in which she had curled herself.
+
+"Shouldn't we ever need to wash?" she asked suddenly, in a sprightly
+voice that set them all laughing.
+
+"Well, it's a hot country, you know," said her uncle, "but it might be
+more or less optional."
+
+"Scrumptious!" and Diana snoozled lower into her chair.
+
+"Uncouth," remarked Aunt Emily, disapprovingly.
+
+"Or do you mean unclean?" enquired the sinner.
+
+"It is quite the maddest idea I ever heard of." Ignoring her, and
+growing more and more mournful, the poor lady heaved a deep sigh.
+
+"But need you be bothered with us?" enquired Meryl, diplomatically.
+"Wouldn't you rather have a nice quiet summer in England?"
+
+"And let you go alone?... How could I?... Your father will be much
+engaged with his business, and it would be most unseemly for two girls
+of your age to be left so much alone. I believe it is a dreadful
+country, but if you can face it, I think I can find the courage to
+come with you."
+
+"Think you can bear it, aunty?..." chirped the voice from the
+arm-chair, and Meryl frowned in a little aside at the snoozler.
+
+"If they decide to come at all, they would be all right with me out on
+the veldt," put in Mr. Pym. "If they are prepared to eat 'bully beef'
+and probably do their own washing-up."
+
+"How horrible!..." from the arm-chair. "It sounds worse than chewing
+mule harness."
+
+"What do you mean, Diana?" her aunt asked, nervously.
+
+"Oh, didn't you know there was nourishment in mule harness?... It's
+simply splendid stuff when you've had nothing else for days."
+
+The poor lady shuddered, and her brother chuckled, but Meryl
+interposed with, "Don't listen to her, Aunt Emily. It isn't likely we
+shall ever have had nothing for days."
+
+"I once heard of a man ..." began the spinster, putting down her work,
+and raising her head with the air they all knew so well, denoting a
+long rigmarole about some exceedingly uninteresting person, and Diana
+immediately chimed in with, "Shall you wear a knickerbocker suit,
+aunty, or just a commonplace divided skirt?"
+
+"Neither will be in the least necessary," was the decided answer. "I
+have met people from Rhodesia, and they dress quite ordinarily."
+
+"Oh, that's when they're in another country," insisted the
+incorrigible. "Up there you simply must wear knickers, or a divided
+skirt; it's ... it's ... such a high altitude ... and so ...
+windy!..."
+
+"Diana, be quiet," interrupted Meryl, now sitting on the arm of her
+father's chair. "If you don't mind we shall leave you behind."
+
+"Well, I don't know that I particularly want to go. It doesn't sound
+very inviting except about the washing."
+
+"I think you had all better take a week to decide in," said Henry Pym,
+finally. "I won't say anything about the yacht at present, and you can
+change your minds and have it if you like. And if your aunt chooses to
+stay quietly in England, I'll take a house for her anywhere she likes,
+and I'll look after you both myself. You can take care of each other
+when I have to be absent for a day."
+
+"Would you like us to go?" asked Diana, screwing her head round
+impishly. "Or are we going to be a ... a ... frightful nuisance?"
+
+"I'd like you to come, if you can make up your minds thoroughly to
+take the rough and the smooth together, and make the best of it. I
+think it will be an experience for you, and a wholesome change from
+too much luxury. But mind"--and his strong, dark face looked very
+determined--"I want no grumbling and no fretfulness. If you think
+you've any real, genuine pioneer spirit in you, _come_. If you're in
+doubt about it, stay behind, and go to Norway and have your gaiety."
+
+"I don't think I've very much," said Diana, "but Meryl has enough for
+two, I'm sure; and for the rest, I never grumble, and I'm only peevish
+with very young men. That, of course, I might work off on the
+niggers."
+
+"Has Meryl a lot of pioneer spirit?" asked her father, watching her
+with quiet, affectionate eyes.
+
+"Stacks of it. She wants to become an Empire-builder. I don't. I'm
+bored with the Empire. But I don't mind sampling just one dive into
+the wilderness, to see how I like primitive conditions. I don't know
+what Aunt Emily wants with the wilderness though, unless she has a
+secret fancy for niggers!..."
+
+"I think that is a little coarse of you, Diana. I have no fancy either
+for a wilderness or niggers; but if either you or Meryl were ill, or
+anything happened to you, I should never forgive myself had I
+remained comfortably at home."
+
+"Nothing will happen to us, aunty. I think you are rather unwise to
+think of coming," said Meryl.
+
+"If you go, I shall come as far as Bulawayo anyhow. Then I shall at
+least be within reach."
+
+"Well, think it over for a week," said Henry Pym again, getting up and
+moving towards his writing-table. "I don't like hurried decisions at
+any time. If you like to come and take pot-luck with me I shall be
+glad to have your company, but do not let that influence you. Come for
+your own sakes, and prepared for anything, or remain behind."
+
+They understood that he wished to be left to do some reading or
+writing, and after kissing him good night, went upstairs to their
+room.
+
+But Meryl's eyes had already a new glow of hopeful anticipation, and
+it was easy to see she did not intend to waste much time in making up
+a mind already entirely decided.
+
+Diana found her a little irritating.
+
+"Really, Meryl!" she said, "you look as ridiculously pleased as a cat
+with kittens. You are quite the most unaccountable creature in the
+world. What, in the name of fortune, _is_ the good of going to
+Rhodesia? Frankly, I'd rather stay in England."
+
+But Meryl only smiled happily, and made no comment.
+
+"Oh, put the light out," snapped Diana. "I really can't stand that
+superior, complacent air of yours any longer."
+
+For answer the elder girl crossed the room and gave her a hug.
+
+"Don't be cross, Di. You know you'll love the atmosphere of adventure
+when you are fairly started. Anyone can go to Norway."
+
+"Adventure! Stuff! Heat and flies and sand, that's all we're in for;
+and uncle in a prosaic, 'I told you so' mood."
+
+"We may see lions when we are trekking."
+
+Diana put her head on one side, like a small, bright-eyed bird. "We
+can see those in the Zoo, beloved."
+
+"Well, and you can see Norway on a cinematograph."
+
+Diana turned away with a low laugh.
+
+"Clean bowled. Good for you, O wise Hypatia! Well, we'll go to this
+heathen land and be horribly uncomfortable for a time, and then we'll
+come back and make things hum in London as they never hummed before.
+Where is Jeanne, I wonder? If I've got to do my own hair for two solid
+months I'll never touch a wisp of it until we go," and she rang the
+bell peremptorily.
+
+Later, for a few moments, Meryl again stood out on the balcony,
+enjoying the June night, and as she looked at the stars she smiled
+softly. She was going back to Africa, after all--her Africa, and
+perhaps Life would give her something big to do yet.
+
+And half unconsciously, though with a sense of pleasurable possession,
+she stood with her eyes to the south.
+
+And away in a distant land, on a high hill, strewn with ruins of an
+ancient, mysterious race, a man stood with his eyes to the north.
+
+A taciturn, difficult, unaccountable man, who baffled the people that
+would fain be friendly with him, and chilled any who showed him
+warmth, and yet was invariably liked and trusted by all who had the
+perspicacity to see beyond the rigid exterior.
+
+Even to-day, though he was mourning his sovereign, he had shown no
+softening of grief to those who beheld him. Rather, if anything, he
+had been more silent, more taciturn, more aloof than ever.
+
+Yet the enfolding night and the quiet stars saw what none others saw.
+They saw the ache in the steady eyes, the compression as of pain on
+the resolute lips, the swift, unusual hunger, sternly suppressed, for
+something that had once been in some old life and was now for ever
+ended.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+WILLIAM VAN HERT
+
+
+They, that is, the Pyms, stayed in Johannesburg before they started on
+their travels. Mr. Pym had built for himself a charming house in the
+Sachsenwald neighbourhood, architectured, of course, by Mr. Herbert
+Baker, and having a lovely view to far blue hills.
+
+Few people who have never seen Johannesburg have the smallest
+conception of the charm of its best suburbs, with their wonderful far
+vistas to a dream country of blue mountains on the horizon. To most it
+suggests little beyond dump-heaps of white powdered quartz, tall
+machinery, tall chimneys, with a town of tramways and offices and
+wealthy people all struggling together for more wealth.
+
+Yet in a few minutes one may leave all this behind, and drive along
+tree-lined roads and avenues to where, probably amidst swaying firs, a
+"stately home" of South Africa is picturesquely standing.
+
+Mr. Pym's house was not of the largest, for he had never been
+ostentatious of his wealth, and much of it was represented by large
+tracts of land, where he generously experimented for the benefit of
+the country. As with several rich South Africans, he had his stud farm
+and his agricultural farm; and both were kept up to a very high
+standard, without any particular consideration for profit and loss.
+But his house in the Sachsenwald neighbourhood had more of charm and
+comfort in it than display. The rooms were very high and airy and well
+ventilated, with artistic colour effects which the girls had achieved,
+and something of an Italian air about it.
+
+Along one side, widening into an embrasure at the middle, where doors
+from the drawing-room and dining-room stood open to it, ran a broad
+tessellated terrace; and from the terrace one looked out over a
+lovely garden, gorgeous with the flaming flowers of South Africa, yet
+softened by velvety turf such as is seldom seen "over there," and can
+only be attained by much consistent care and attention.
+
+It was here the girls loved best to sit: Diana because the prospect
+was fresh and breezy and wide, and, true to her namesake, she loved
+the smell of the firs and the earth; Meryl because of those far blue
+hills which made so fitting a background to the dreamland thoughts
+that filled her mind; and, moreover, Aunt Emily did not particularly
+love light and air, so she usually remained in her own sanctum, and
+Diana was able to enjoy, not one cigarette, but two or three, after
+each meal without the tiresome accompaniment of a disapproving eye.
+
+They reached Johannesburg in the latter half of July, and those people
+who had not already fled from the high winds and driving dust were
+hurriedly preparing to do so. In consequence, few friends were there
+to welcome them on their return, and their plans proceeded apace.
+Diana had a smart khaki knickerbocker suit made, and a wonderful
+broad-brimmed hat with a long feather to go with it. When they
+laughingly told her she was not journeying to an uncivilised country,
+and could not possibly wear such a garb in modern Rhodesia, she merely
+asserted she was going into the wilderness to please them, and in
+return they must put up with her in any sort of garb she chose. In the
+end Meryl was persuaded to have a knickerbocker garb also, though she
+insisted that she would never wear it. Aunt Emily bought yards and
+yards of green and blue muslin, in which she proposed to tie up her
+head. "You must have a particularly ugly helmet, and a pair of smoked
+spectacles, and a butterfly-net as well," said Diana, "and then you
+will look as if you belonged to the British Association."
+
+Her uncle, sitting back silently in his big arm-chair, with the quiet
+twinkle in his keen eyes, remarked, "And you will look like the
+principal boy at a pantomime."
+
+"How heavenly!..." said outspoken Diana, and Aunt Emily raised her
+hands in horror.
+
+It was on one of the last evenings before their final departure that
+William van Hert came from a quiet sea-side place above Durban to see
+them. He was taking a long rest there, after a strenuous parliamentary
+campaign, and only discovered through a belated newspaper that they
+had returned from England, and were contemplating a journey north. He
+immediately took a day's road journey to the nearest railway and
+departed for Johannesburg.
+
+Diana saw him arrive, and executed a remarkable spring into the air,
+finished off with a little kick. "Oh, golly!..." she breathed. "Here's
+Dutch Willy come flying to the arms of his ladylove!"
+
+Meryl looked up with swift, questioning eyes.
+
+"Impossible!... He is down at M'genda."
+
+"A little bird whispered, 'She, the fair one of many millions, has
+returned,' and straightway the thousand white arms of M'genda failed
+to hold him."
+
+"Don't be spiteful, Di. Mr. van Hert cares nothing for anyone's
+millions. You know it well."
+
+"I do; and for that reason he should be kept in a glass case. Still,
+he cares for a fair Englishwoman who has been--well, kind to him."
+
+"He is interesting. Was there any special kindness in letting him know
+that I had the perspicacity to see it?" And they went downstairs
+together to receive him.
+
+William van Hert was at that time one of the most disliked, one of the
+most attractive, and one of the most disturbing men in South Africa.
+Gifted with brains and polish, he was yet, at present, marred by
+bigotry, narrowness of vision, and an unreasonable antipathy to the
+advance of English ways and customs. Furthermore, having obtained for
+himself a considerable following, he was, unfortunately, powerful.
+When genuine efforts were being made to bury the hatchet over the
+racial question, this man had more than once dug it up again; but it
+was not entirely clear at present whether he was actuated by motives
+of misguided patriotism, or whether, like far greater men, he only
+wanted to make himself thoroughly heard in the world first, and when
+that object was satisfactorily attained, he would modify his tendency
+to rabid policies and prove himself a reliable statesman. In the
+meantime he was dangerous.
+
+In England there were many who quite seriously believed the racial
+feud was over. There were others who knew that it was still
+exceedingly bitter. There were others again who said very little, and
+perhaps professed to know very little, but in the quietness of their
+own thoughts pondered deeply and patriotically how a real and sincere
+union, and not a merely public newspaper one, was to be wrought
+between two fine races, so that in true harmony they might bring a
+country of great promise to its day of fulfilment. The men who saw any
+solution in making both languages compulsory were not men of true
+insight; neither were those who retrenched Englishmen in one
+direction, and created new posts for Dutchmen in others. One could but
+suppose these men were content to be patriots, not in a big sense to
+the whole country, but in a limited one to their own countrymen. To be
+patriots of South Africa herself, in her widest sense, seemed too much
+to ask of them. Yet, because of the fine qualities many of these men
+possessed, one could but hope that ere long what was good for South
+Africa would be good for each individual, whether in private life he
+called himself English or Dutch.
+
+That William van Hert was ever a welcome guest in the Pyms' household
+showed that he had many excellent qualities besides his undisputed
+personal attractiveness to counterbalance his obstinate bigotry.
+Otherwise Mr. Pym would not have shown him the friendliness he did;
+for in his quiet way Henry Pym possessed greatness, and everyone
+throughout the land knew that he was of those resolute, reliable few
+who would let all their wealth go before they would pander to any
+government or any party to save it. Meryl talked to him because she
+perceived there was a rough sincerity in the man underneath his
+bigotry, and hoped because he was powerful he would presently expand.
+
+Diana alone crossed swords with him, and though perhaps he did not
+know it, it was no small thing that she thought it worth while.
+
+He stayed to dine with them in a simple, homely manner, and his
+conversation at the table was sparkling and vivacious. He told them
+some excellent stories, concluding with one in very broad Dutch that
+they had great difficulty in following. And then Diana opened fire.
+
+"Such a monstrous, face-distorting language," she remarked coolly. "I
+wonder you don't forbid its use instead of urging it."
+
+The gleam came quickly to her uncle's eye, though he appeared to take
+no heed. It was left to Meryl to frown cautiously, and shake a wise
+head.
+
+"Don't frown at me, Meryl," said the incorrigible. "It's a hideous
+tongue, and he knows it, and what's the good of pretending anything
+else? I don't hold with pretence in anything."
+
+"It is the tongue of my country," van Hert told her, more amused than
+annoyed. "Every true patriot loves his mother tongue."
+
+"O, nonsense!" with a charming insolence. "Meryl and I both have Norse
+blood in us. If you go far enough back we probably are Norse. But
+where would be the sense in our professing to love our country by
+talking her tongue, when it served every reasonable purpose in the
+world better to talk English? You're so one idea'd, you Dutch folk, at
+least some of you," pointedly. "The language and the Bible and your
+early-morning coffee!"
+
+They could not help laughing at her, but van Hert indignantly
+repudiated her charge.
+
+"O well!..." she continued, airily. "You know perfectly well you do
+make a fetish of the Language Question; and that your back-veldt
+followers believe the Bible was written in Dutch for the Dutch race
+alone; and that you start having coffee at daybreak, with relays up to
+breakfast-time. And you don't expect your natives or your women to
+possess such a thing as an individual will. That is a luxury for the
+strong sex only!... It all means just one thing. Out in the back veldt
+you are years and years and years, positive, aeons, behind the times;
+and you'd sooner represent a big dam to the progress of the world than
+yield one little silly, rotten cotton prejudice to help it forward. So
+there!..." And having delivered herself of this piece of oration Diana
+got up, pushed her chair back with a jerk, and finished, "I'm going
+out on the terrace. When I think of your back-veldters, and your
+back-veldt policy of suppressing all individualism and all advance, I
+need the company of a few worlds and solar systems to regain my
+equilibrium. No, don't expostulate," as he rose in his eagerness to
+confront her. "I seldom argue. It is not worth while. I merely
+'express an opinion,' having the good fortune to belong to a race in
+which women are permitted such an indulgence," and she threw a
+laughing glance back at him from the window before she stepped out.
+
+Meryl watched her with a swift look of deep affection in her eyes, and
+then glanced at her father. Henry Pym's face was expressionless, but
+his eyes seemed to reply to her unspoken question, and tell her that
+he, too, recognised a little more thoroughly that under the surface
+flippancy and light raillery there was depth. In the meantime, feeling
+she had not been quite fair to her opponent, to go off without
+allowing him to defend himself, he purposely discussed the language
+question a little more openly than was at all his wont with such
+prickly subjects, speaking a few quiet truths in a way that even a
+firebrand like van Hert could not possibly resent. When they joined
+Diana she was sitting on a table, swinging her feet, and singing a new
+music-hall ditty.
+
+"Touching that slander of yours," van Hert began, good-humouredly, for
+few could ever be seriously annoyed with Diana, "I should like to say
+..."
+
+"No, I forbid it," she interrupted. "Arguments bore me. Have you heard
+that little song before that I was singing? It's a ripping little
+ditty. Chain Aunt Emily to the drawing-room sofa and I'll sing it all
+through to you; but if she were to hear it she might faint, and that
+is so tiresome."
+
+He laughed, and sat on the table beside her, and the rabid sectarian
+politician, so given to raising storms and creating scenes in that
+most remarkable of parliaments, the South African Union Assembly,
+forgot his pet injustices and prejudices, and was quickly the
+versatile, virile, engaging social man. Meryl sat a little apart, with
+some dainty crochet-work in her delicate fingers, and though the
+visitor chatted with Diana, his eyes were almost always upon her.
+
+They had purposely put out the electric light after their coffee was
+served, preferring only the lights in the rooms behind them and the
+splendour of the night before. And in the dimness Meryl's fair skin
+gleamed unusually white beside her dusky hair, and the velvety,
+blue-grey eyes, when she looked up, had caught the dreaming darkness
+of the heavens. Only now and then she glanced round. Mostly she sat
+with her eyes on the shadowy darkness and her work in her lap. And the
+Dutchman, gazing, felt with a sort of fierce reluctance that there
+were no women in the world for calmness and strength quite like the
+Englishwomen, nor more delicately, entrancingly fair.
+
+Then, suddenly, Meryl heard her name and looked up.
+
+"Why in the world do you want to go to Rhodesia?" he had said; and
+Diana answered, "I don't know that we do want to go; but Meryl has
+suddenly developed into a violent Imperialist, and we go at her
+desire."
+
+"What to do?" and he asked the question a little sharply of the dark
+eyes now turned to theirs. Quite suddenly and unaccountably he
+resented their going; resented, at any rate, that she, Meryl, should
+go. There had been so much "Rhodesia" of late. Everyone seemed bitten
+with a kind of silly craze for the place. Now it was gold; now it was
+land; now it was union or no union; now it was annexation and "twenty
+pieces of silver"; such a lot of fuss about some square miles of
+wilderness, containing odd outcrops of gold-bearing reef.
+
+"There is nothing worth seeing in Rhodesia, except the Victoria
+Falls," he asserted; "and you can run up there and see all you want to
+and get back in a week!" And still he looked enquiringly at Meryl.
+
+"We want to see the people," she said, half turning. "The pioneers,
+who went first to investigate, the settlers who followed, the women
+who went forward with their husbands into the wilderness."
+
+He got off the table and came and leaned against a verandah-post
+beside her with folded arms, looking down. "But that is what you won't
+see; how should you? You will only see dusty, upstart towns, with
+horrible corrugated-iron hotels, where you will swelter in heat and
+flies and eat abominable tinned stuffs. It is a barren, comfortless
+land at present, with a possibility of being useful some day. They
+want money, energy, brains to develop it thoroughly; and they won't
+accept them when they are offered, because a few stiff-necked
+Englishmen happen to be in power. It is absurd to go there at present.
+You will only get typhoid and malaria, and be excruciatingly
+uncomfortable."
+
+"It sounds a pretty rotten sort of place! What do you and your
+colleagues want it for so badly, anyway?..." asked Diana, throwing her
+head back and narrowing her eyes as she looked at him with a shrewd
+questioning air.
+
+He coloured slightly under the sunburn on his cheeks. "We want a
+United South Africa. Why should one country stand aloof!"
+
+"Meinheer van Hert," said she, coming down from her table and taking a
+step forward to confront him, "for any man with your political views
+to talk about including Rhodesia in the Union solely for the sake of a
+United South Africa and for her own good, is the veriest cant. There's
+gold up there, and perhaps tin; and there's land for farming, and land
+for ranching, and hunting grounds, and a big river. In your United
+South Africa you want your people to be 'top dog' always, and as long
+as Rhodesia stands out there's a menace in the north. That's one
+reason why you want her! Rumour tells us there's a fine race of men up
+there, who don't mean to have any tongue but Cecil Rhodes's tongue
+taught in Cecil Rhodes's country, so it certainly is no place for you!
+You've got to learn more thoroughly what an Englishman means by
+'cricket' before your overtures will be considered; and we're all
+hoping you'll learn it quickly, because we want to be friends, good
+friends, just as soon as ever we can."
+
+He bit his lip and looked angry, but she was already laughing the
+moment's tension aside. "You didn't know I was a politician, did
+you?... As a matter of fact, I'm not!... I'm sick of the whole bag of
+tricks, and the Empire that fills Meryl with heaves and swells isn't
+half so much to me as winning a tennis tournament or a golf
+championship. But when you Hollanders are bursting with pride of place
+and achievement, and offering energy and brains to help Britishers
+along, I just feel as if you'd got to be told a few home-truths for
+your good. Now I'm going to liven the meeting with a little operatic
+music," and she tripped indoors to the piano. Van Hert shrugged his
+shoulders expressively, and then stood silently beside Meryl for some
+moments looking into the night. And as he stood he became conscious of
+a vague sort of dissatisfaction with himself. It was a sensation he
+knew only at rare moments, and those moments were chiefly at the Pyms'
+house. He admired the two cousins more than any women he knew; he
+admired Henry Pym; he loved the homyness of their household; and he
+had to remember that they were English. There must, of course, be many
+others like them. Were there many like them among his own countrymen?
+When Diana told him his people had yet to learn more thoroughly what
+was meant by "cricket" she had hit him hard. He would never have
+admitted it for one moment, but, nevertheless, when he was at the
+Pyms' house he _wondered_.... Densely, stubbornly patriotic to his own
+people and his own tongue he might be, but he had travelled enough to
+recognise certain traits in the English "old public-school boy" which
+it was good for a country there should be in her young men, and which
+were not noticeably present in his countrymen of the back veldt.
+
+Then his eyes rested on Meryl, and all his pulses throbbed with her
+nearness. He had known for many months now that he loved her, yet he
+had never actually told his love. At first there had been a
+disinclination to marry an Englishwoman because of the unbending,
+resolute policy he had identified himself with in the Union
+Parliament. No one spoke of anti-British and anti-Dutch nowadays. It
+was impolitic. But whereas certain men genuinely tried to ease the
+forced situation and meet with fairness and justice upon common
+ground, others still kept the flag of discord in their hands, though
+they hid it under the table, so to speak, and only produced it when,
+as they chose to assert, some pet foible of their countrymen was
+overruled or some indignity threatened.
+
+And of this section in Parliament van Hert was the leader. If he then
+married an Englishwoman, not even South African born, would he not be
+held up to ridicule by his colleagues? And then he would see Meryl
+again, and all his feelings would merge into one great longing for
+her; not for her money--she had been right when she said such a charge
+was unjust, indeed, he almost wished she had been poor--but her quiet
+dignity and calm strength and the exquisite fairness that held all his
+senses.
+
+And as he stood beside her now he hated more and more, without knowing
+why, that she should go to Rhodesia. Whatever he had said to the
+contrary, he knew that there was a romance about that far land that
+might fascinate her. He knew that up there there were some of the
+cream of England's men. "The second son's country," he had heard it
+called, and that meant very often the well-born, high-bred gentleman
+who was not afraid to work, who had never been pampered, and was full
+of the best sportsman's spirit. The man of all others to attract such
+a woman as Meryl Pym. The mere thought of it seemed to fill him with a
+growing alarm, and presently, almost before he knew it, he found
+himself pouring into her ears the story of his love.
+
+Meryl was startled and taken aback. She had known perhaps that he had
+a special liking for her; seen it often in his eyes when he gazed at
+her. But that he should speak now was a little sudden, and she wished
+Diana had not left them alone. She tried to meet his eyes, but
+something a little too ardent in them abashed her, and she looked out
+into the darkness, nervously twisting and untwisting the thread of her
+work.
+
+He saw that she was taken aback, and tried somewhat to curb the eager
+intensity that he felt was unnerving her.
+
+"You are going away up there, and I shall be very anxious about you,"
+he pleaded. "If you would only give me your promise before you go, and
+let me have the right to follow at once if you are ill or anything, it
+would make it so much easier."
+
+She stood up, agitated, still gazing wistfully into the night.
+
+"It is very sudden.... I did not know.... I hardly thought.... Have
+you ... have you ... remembered everything?..."
+
+"That you are English and I am Dutch?... What of it, Meryl?... I may
+call you Meryl, mayn't I?... Are we not both South Africans?..."
+
+He tried to take her hand and draw her to him, but she shrank away and
+he did not urge it.
+
+"Have you remembered it long enough?... Thought it out thoroughly?...
+It all seems somehow so sudden."
+
+"I have known long that I loved you. Does anything else really matter
+if you can love me in return?"
+
+"Ah!..." she breathed and stopped short.
+
+She had liked him long. She had always liked him. Away from his
+politics he was liked by most people. Huguenot blood was in his veins,
+and it showed itself in a French charm of manner that came to him
+naturally when he could get away from that bigoted, narrow obstinacy
+that marred him. She felt he was a man who might be led to many
+things, though driven to none. Because he attracted her she felt she
+half loved the Huguenot side of him already. If only the other side
+did not so insistently repel! Could it perhaps be overruled? Could she
+love him truly enough to hold his love for ever, and through it lead
+him to heights he might never even sight without her? Yet her eyes
+were wistful, gazing out there at the dreaming stars, and her face
+gleamed whiter and whiter.
+
+This was not the love that whispered to her when she looked to the far
+blue hills. This was not the consummation the high stars in far
+infinities told her vaguely might some day bless her life.
+
+And then he pleaded again in low-voiced eagerness, and in distress she
+turned to him. "I'm so sorry. I can't bear to think of perhaps making
+you unhappy. But ... but ... I'm afraid I don't love you in the way
+you want. I hadn't thought about it."
+
+"I have been too sudden." He drew himself up, and his eyes followed
+hers out to the darkness. And a touch of latent nobility seemed to
+come out in him; a quiet dignity like her own that appealed to her
+strongly. "I won't take your answer to-night. I shall come to you
+again when you come back. Perhaps then ... when you have thought
+about it ..." He broke off abruptly. "May I write to you?... Will you
+sometimes write to me?... Perhaps I could follow ..."
+
+They heard steps and voices coming towards them from the drawing-room
+where Diana had wearied of her operas, and in sudden haste he caught
+her hand and raised it to his lips.
+
+"I think I have to thank you for a good deal," he told her a trifle
+huskily. "Men of all nations are better for being admitted to the
+friendship of women like you. If there were anything I could do to
+serve you?..." and he waited for her to speak.
+
+"Serve South Africa," she breathed tensely. "I could ask no more of
+any man."
+
+His hand tightened upon hers.
+
+"Serve her with me. Together we could do so much."
+
+He saw her waver.
+
+"Let me tell you when I come back. Yes ... together we might do so
+much...."
+
+"When you come back ..." he said, and pressed her hand in
+understanding.
+
+Then Diana stepped out of the brightness of the drawing-room.
+
+"How can you two stay sleepily there, looking at the stars like two
+cats, when I am trying to lure you indoors with the latest comic-opera
+music! Meinheer van Hert, Mister Pym says, will you drink with
+him?..."
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE JOURNEY
+
+
+As he had three ladies with him Mr. Pym decided to take a private
+saloon-car, but no saloon in the world could prevent them being nearly
+smothered with the dust through Bechuanaland and Matabeleland in
+August, and while Aunt Emily rent the air with her complainings and
+sufferings, Diana chose to pass disparaging remarks upon the
+long-suffering British Empire, which she considered responsible for
+her journey north. Meryl said nothing, but there was often a wistful
+expression in her eyes as they sighted a lonely farmstead, or stood in
+a little wayside station with perhaps one corrugated-iron building,
+where some white-faced woman looked listlessly at the train. When she
+tried to voice her sympathy with their loneliness, however, Diana
+snapped her up a little impatiently.
+
+"My dear Meryl, you will look at things always in the sentimental
+light. A woman with a husband and child in this freshness and sunshine
+is at least better off than if she were in a city slum, and her man
+probably out of work, and her child dying for want of fresh air."
+
+"But that is not the only alternative!... And in any case to suffer in
+company is almost always easier than to suffer alone."
+
+"But they don't suffer, or, at any rate, they needn't necessarily.
+That is where you are so short-sighted. The average woman wants a
+husband and a child, and I don't see that it matters much whether she
+has them in the wilderness or in a city; the main thing is to have
+them."
+
+"Well, for my part," put in Aunt Emily in an aggrieved voice, "if I
+could only have a man in a cloud of dust I'd sooner never see the
+species again," which tickled Diana hugely and caused her to horrify
+her aunt by adding, "But what an advantage for him never to be able to
+see what you were doing! One could have such high jinks!..." Then,
+changing her voice subtly, she enquired, "Is it too much for you,
+aunty?... I mean the dust and the journey? because there must be such
+very much worse things ahead, and ..."
+
+"That will do, my dear. I can bear it," and her expression of mournful
+resignation tickled Diana more than ever. On the day before they
+reached Bulawayo, however, when hour after hour brought very little
+but scrub and sand, she and her aunt were very nervy and irritable,
+and only Meryl, with her dreams and ideals, continued quietly
+interested. When they reached Bulawayo matters did not improve much,
+because a sand-storm was blowing and it was almost impossible to go
+out. Mr. Pym packed them off to the Victoria Falls as soon as
+possible, and remained behind himself to complete the arrangements for
+his trip. On the further railway journey the dust was worse than ever,
+and utterly out of heart with everything Rhodesian, Aunt Emily retired
+to a suite of rooms at the hotel on their arrival and said she should
+stay there until the cool of the evening.
+
+So Diana and Meryl stood on Danger Point alone, when they took their
+first long look at the amazing cataract of waters. Neither spoke for
+many seconds, and then Diana breathed, "I'm glad Aunt Emily didn't
+come. She would have called it 'lovely' or 'sweet.'"
+
+Meryl laid a sympathetic hand on her arm and murmured, "And you?..."
+
+"One couldn't call it anything. It just _is_." And Meryl with her
+understanding heart pressed her arm in silence.
+
+They walked together through the rain forest, getting drenched with
+spray and hardly noticing it, until they came to the opening near the
+Devil's Cataract at the south end, and sat down to gaze at the
+splendour and wonder outspread.
+
+Then Diana spoke a little in something of an undertone, half to Meryl,
+half to the air:
+
+"A god did it. I don't know which--Jupiter or Pan, or Apollo or
+Hercules--and when they grew tired of the earth and went off to other
+planets, they just left it behind as a child might a castle he has
+built in the sand; and by and by some crabs crawled along and found
+the castle, and sat down and looked at it because it seemed to them
+so wonderful; and by and by some humans found the gods' waterfall,
+crawled up to it, and sat down and wondered. That's all there is to
+do. O, Meryl, I wish I were a goddess and not a worm. The waters are
+mocking us. Don't you hear them?... I just feel as if there were
+something about it all I can't bear."
+
+Meryl smiled a little tender smile. To her Diana in all her moods was
+adorable. In her shy, fierce, tense ones, as now, she was best of all.
+
+"What does it say to you, Meryl?..." the girl went on. "Do you feel as
+if you hated it and worshipped it both together? Hated its remote
+magnificence and devilish cruelty, and worshipped it because you
+couldn't help yourself, either from fear or wonder? I don't know
+which, only I feel ... I feel ... as if I ought to throw over
+something I loved as a sacrifice of propitiation. And it goes on just
+the same--think of it--year after year, century after century, just
+calmly spilling magnificence on the desert air! I believe I'm
+frightened, Meryl. Tell me what it all says to you."
+
+Meryl looked dreamily along the glistening mighty cascades, and then
+spoke softly:
+
+"I feel I'm in the presence of one of the world's biggest things, and
+it is inspiring. You know that sentence of James Lane Allen's, 'When
+one has heard the big things calling, how they call and call, day and
+night, day and night!...' Here they call louder, that is my chief
+feeling. I look at this great natural wonder, and whatever there is in
+me most akin to it swells upward. I feel I must do great things or die
+... be great or not at all. And while I feel like this there is a
+sense of kinship, as if some spirit of the waters understands."
+
+"Perhaps that is why I am afraid," breathed Diana. "I don't care about
+greatness. I don't want to be great. It all seems so unreal. I like
+the sunshine, and flowers, and trees, and birds, and four-footed
+things. I don't want to be bothered with my fellow-creatures; they are
+a nuisance. If they are in difficulties, and can't find a way out for
+themselves, they might just as well go under."
+
+"You heartless little heathen!" affectionately.
+
+The girl brightened suddenly. "Why! it understands, Meryl!... The
+Spirit of the Waters heard me, and now it is laughing. It is great
+enough to understand and appreciate the feelings of both of us. Don't
+you hear the note of revelling now?... Why!... it's all revelling. The
+waters are shrieking with joy. They've come tearing down the Zambesi
+valley for the rapture of plunging over the precipice, and now they
+are just beside themselves with the excitement and delight of it.
+O!... they heard me say I don't care about my fellow-creatures, that
+they are just a nuisance, and they're shouting to me, 'Neither do we
+... neither do we!... Silly, wide-eyed, open-mouthed humans come and
+stare at us, and try to describe us, saying we are lovely and
+wonderful and pretty and such-like, and we just roar at them and their
+puniness and take our glorious plunge.' That is what the waters are
+saying to me now, Meryl. I feel as if I simply must plunge with them.
+Take me away. I can't bear any more to-day." And they went silently
+back through the lovely plantations to the hotel.
+
+But in the evening, in the moonlight, her mood changed again.
+
+"I feel a little like you to-night, Meryl. The big things do matter,
+of course. If I'm such a silly little goat I can't do anything big
+myself, I guess I'll help you whenever it's possible. And, of course,
+even humans matter a little, though I do like dogs and horses so much
+better; but there's something so calm and big and strong about the
+waters to-night, they are telling me all the time that the big things
+matter. O, Meryl, it's so lovely--so lovely--it hurts dreadfully...."
+
+And after a pause: "If it hadn't been for you I should never have
+taken the trouble to come and see it. I won't grouse at the dust any
+more."
+
+And later: "I'm glad there's no sign of a human habitation at hand,
+and that the wilderness is all round. They had to be splendidly
+isolated--magnificently alone--the god who did it understood that. One
+can think of the wide reaches of Africa afterwards, and the gem, like
+a priceless jewel, set in them. Deep silence, wide horizons, untrodden
+country on every hand, and this in the midst like a treasure tenderly
+enfolded."
+
+After three days they returned to Bulawayo, and found their pilot
+impatient to be off. He unfolded his plans, and the two girls listened
+eagerly when he said:
+
+"I am told there is every indication of gold in the Victoria district,
+and my engineer is anxious I should journey down there and see one or
+two properties. The railway does not extend beyond Selukwe, so if we
+go we must take a travelling ambulance and tents and sleep out in them
+for three or four weeks. I think there is a pretty good hotel in
+Edwardstown, where you could remain if you like while I travel round,
+and then we might all journey to Salisbury up the old pioneer route."
+
+The girls were delighted, but Aunt Emily's mournful resignation had
+reached its limit. She informed them, in a voice which implied, no
+matter how they pleaded with her, she should remain firm, that nothing
+would induce her to accompany them upon such a journey.
+
+Her brother said quietly, "Just as you like, Emily. I think I can take
+care of the girls. Will you stay in Bulawayo, or go back to
+Johannesburg?"
+
+Aunt Emily's face wore rather a reproachful expression as she replied,
+"I suppose I had better return to Johannesburg, and then if any of you
+get ill with malaria or typhoid, you must wire for me and I will come
+back."
+
+"You were very good to come so far," said Meryl gently, seeing the
+veiled disappointment that they could dispense with her so easily.
+
+"If it is any consolation," volunteered Diana, "you may be quite sure
+we are all going to be most horribly uncomfortable for the next month
+or two. The only illness I anticipate is an utter and complete
+weariness of life. I don't know which sounds the most dreadful: being
+bumped along dusty roads in an ambulance, and sleeping with snakes and
+toads under a tent; or being stifled in an odious little
+corrugated-iron hotel, living on poisonous tinned stuffs in a
+perpetual odour of stale roast nigger. If I am going to endure it for
+my country, I hope my country will give me the only fitting
+reward--the Victoria Cross."
+
+"Perhaps we needn't stay in the hotel," said Meryl hopefully. "We can
+probably camp out. Surely the wonderful old ruins are somewhere near
+Edwardstown, father? How splendid if we could camp beside them!..."
+
+"Quite near. We will certainly go and see them. They tell me there is
+a police camp there, and at this time of the year it is quite
+healthy."
+
+"But how glorious!..." cried Meryl. "I had no idea you were going in
+their direction."
+
+"I meant to if possible," her father said; and so the trip was decided
+upon.
+
+Three days later the cavalcade started off from Gwelo with great
+_eclat_. Two ambulances: one containing the two girls, a driver, a
+fore-looper, and a small black boy named Gelungwa, who was everything
+from ladies' maid to general adviser; and the other containing Mr.
+Pym, his engineer, driver, fore-looper, and the engineer's black
+cook-boy, who proved himself an invaluable asset.
+
+Each ambulance was drawn by eight mules, and carried its share of the
+paraphernalia necessary to a long sojourn in the wilderness, and being
+thoroughly well equipped, they had decided to dispense with any
+further railway service until they reached Salisbury.
+
+They started from Gwelo, with its wide, tree-lined roads, in the
+freshness of the morning, and leaving the surrounding bare,
+uninteresting common quickly behind, dived straightway into a track of
+Rhodesia that is like a vast, undulating park. The red road wound
+across a wide, breezy stretch of veldt to wooded hills and valleys,
+and beyond this was an enchanting vista of dreaming blue kopjes on a
+far horizon. Even Diana found nothing to grumble at. Like Meryl, her
+eyes rested often on that dreaming distance, and the unique charm of a
+journey into the unknown, independent of railways and hotels, held her
+senses. When two graceful buck sprang up in the grass near them, stood
+a moment to investigate, and then fled away, leaping and bounding to
+safety, she drew a deep breath of delight.
+
+"Di, it's going to be a glorious trip!" Meryl exclaimed in low-voiced
+ecstasy.
+
+Diana paused before she remarked in answer:
+
+"It seems so natural somehow, to be journeying out to an unknown
+bourne in this primitive fashion. I wonder if, in another existence, I
+was one of the wives or handmaidens in Abraham's caravanserai? Perhaps
+I was his favourite concubine!... How interesting!... I'm sure I've
+journeyed like this into a far land before."
+
+And again:
+
+"How jolly to have two drivers who don't understand a word we say,
+instead of a chauffeur who is all ears and an Aunt Emily who is all
+prejudices!"
+
+"Still," said Meryl, "you couldn't very well have a coachman in
+England wearing a sky-blue felt hat that was obviously meant for a
+lady, and with a large blue patch upon brown trousers."
+
+"He's just a dear," was Diana's laughing comment. "I love his awful
+solemnity. He's like a Hindoo idol. And what luck to have a side wind
+instead of a forward one!"
+
+At twelve they stayed in a welcome piece of shade for their first
+veldt meal. Lounge-chairs were untied for them to rest in, and an
+excellent little repast prepared by the cook-boy, while the small
+black imp waited upon them like a trained butler. Then they dozed
+through the hot midday hours, continuing their journey to those
+alluring blue distances after all were rested, until they reached the
+first night's camping place and pitched their tents near a rippling
+river--as Diana described it, "all mixed up with stars, and dreams,
+and niggers, and kopjes, and mules."
+
+For a week they journeyed on, each day seeming lovelier than the last,
+and the dreaming repose of a great content hovered over all of them.
+There was no need for haste and none was made. There was no pitiless
+urging of tired mules as in the post-cart; no shouting natives, no
+hurried pauses for a snatched rest. The mules jogged contentedly
+along, realising they were in good hands, and always through the
+midday hours everyone lazed. An early spring had brought many young
+leaves out, although it was still August, and these were often
+beautiful shades of red, bronze, orange, scarlet, gold, and
+emerald-green, beyond or through which blue kopjes took on a yet more
+dream-like, ethereal air. Sometimes the red road wound along through
+woods of loveliest colouring, carpeted already with spring flowers.
+Sometimes it ran out into open spaces where the trees stood back in
+line, revealing wonderful glimpses of the fascinating land to their
+eager gaze.
+
+Strange, fantastical, granite kopjes like mighty mausoleums adorned
+with ilex trees barred their path, and Diana was convinced some of
+the bones of her ancestors lay buried there, because she felt so
+weirdly at home with them.
+
+"This is my natural environment," she informed her uncle and the
+engineer. "I ought to be dwelling here in state, as the favourite wife
+of the greatest chief in the land."
+
+Meryl grew dreamier with every day, though sometimes her eyes were sad
+as she looked out over the country, as if she already loved it with a
+love that was akin to pain.
+
+Had he, that great Imperialist, looked at it with those calm eyes of
+his, and known just that sense of aching love?... When he journeyed
+out into its enchanting untrodden spaces, accompanied only by some
+kindred spirit, had the land risen up and enslaved and enfolded him,
+like some enchantress who bound men's souls for ever?... Had Rhodesia,
+in her sunny loveliness, been wife and child to the great man who went
+lonely to his grave?...
+
+As they drove along and the fascination increased, far outweighing any
+discomfort of glare and dust and jolting roads, Meryl felt herself
+engraving the sight and the sound and the freshness of it upon her
+soul, that she might have hidden pictures to gaze upon with closed
+eyes when the exigencies of life called her back into the throng.
+
+Her father was mostly silent as was his wont, planning and scheming
+with a brain that knew little other rest than following its natural
+bent, yet with that in his silence, and in his watchful eyes that made
+one feel he too loved the land for itself, as well as for what he
+could get out of it; and that when occasion came, like Alfred Beit and
+Cecil Rhodes, he would pay his debt a hundredfold.
+
+So they came at last to the wide, open veldt where Edwardstown was
+situated, and knew themselves in the district teeming with pioneer
+memories.
+
+Meryl and Diana descended reluctantly at the hotel, and looked round
+disparagingly at their little hot bedroom, thinking regretfully of
+their tent in the wilderness.
+
+"How awful," said Diana, "if we find ourselves never able to exist in
+an ordinary house again! We shall have to pitch two tents in Hyde
+Park. Ugh!... it positively smells of walls and doors and windows;
+how I hate them!"
+
+"We'll go on to Zimbabwe to-morrow and camp beside the ruins,"
+answered Meryl. "How splendid to be going there so soon!"
+
+"Ruins are not much in my line," quoth the outspoken. "Let's hope
+there'll be a man there as well."
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+CAREW IS DISTURBED
+
+
+The news that the millionaire Henry Pym with his daughter and a niece
+were journeying to Great Zimbabwe reached the police camp first
+through a letter from the Administration to Major Carew, requesting
+him to have the long, disfiguring dry grass burnt, and the
+surroundings of the temple tidied up a little, and to show every
+attention to the travellers. When he received the letter it was
+obvious at once that the information did not give him any pleasure. On
+the contrary, his expression as nearly approached a frown as he was
+likely to permit it on receiving orders from headquarters. He had
+opened the letter standing outside his hut, where it had been handed
+to him by the native runner, and Stanley was reading a newspaper near,
+while Moore affectionately handled an antediluvian gun he was thinking
+of buying from a prospector.
+
+Stanley glanced up, wondering what letters had come, and saw the
+hovering frown.
+
+"Any news, sir?" he asked frankly, for he was no longer in awe of his
+silent chief. As a matter of fact, he never had been to any degree.
+The Kid would have found it difficult to be in awe of anyone, but for
+a few days Carew had baffled him.
+
+"Henry Pym, you've probably heard of him, is likely to arrive here in
+a few days."
+
+Stanley opened his eyes a little. "What! the millionaire?... Good biz!
+We'll rook him at poker and bridge and shooting, and a few other
+things. It isn't right for him to have all that money. It would even
+things up a little if we could transfer some of it to poor, penniless
+policemen."
+
+"He is accompanied by his daughter and a niece," said Carew in even
+tones.
+
+"Lord love a holy duck!..." exclaimed the young policeman, and was
+fairly astonished on to his feet. "Coming here, sir?... Coming here to
+Zimbabwe?"
+
+"So the letter says. It also adds that they may wish to camp near, and
+they are to be shown every attention."
+
+"_They shall be_ ..." quoth The Kid, so comically that even Carew's
+lips relaxed. "I suppose the letter doesn't specify the attention?...
+Christopher Columbus!... Great Scott!... Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!...
+To think of two millionaires' daughters all at once in this benighted,
+thirsty land!... It fairly catches me in the breath," and he sat down
+again suddenly as if the news was too much for him.
+
+"By gad, Moore!... do you hear that?... a bloated millionaire and two
+millionairesses are about to descend upon us from the skies. Talk of
+manna and blessings coming down from heaven!... Give me
+millionairesses!..."
+
+The Irishman looked up with a knowing smile. "Shure!" said he, "give
+me whisky...."
+
+"Begorra, Pat!" laughed The Kid. "If you got the heiress you could
+swim in whisky." Then he looked again at Major Carew and observed the
+suggestion of a frown still on his face while he stood with the letter
+in his hand.
+
+"Heiresses are seemingly not much in your line, sir?" he suggested
+humorously. "You ... well, you don't quite look overjoyed!..."
+
+Carew in his quiet way had grown fond of the gay young trooper, and he
+showed no offence at the attitude of familiarity.
+
+"We shall have to consider a good camping-place for them, and probably
+give up two huts to the ladies. I gather they may be here in two or
+three days. Is the grass dry enough to burn to-night?"
+
+The Kid glanced round doubtfully. "Hardly; and the place won't look
+well all black."
+
+"That's why I thought we had better begin at once. If they are some
+days the ash will have had time to blow away. Arrange for a gang of
+boys to be ready at six o'clock, and we will light up and see what we
+can do."
+
+In the hut he tossed the letter down on to his table. "Confound
+it!..." he said under his breath. "Fancy women down here, staring and
+chattering, and prying! I suppose they will expect the entire police
+force in the neighbourhood to be at their disposal, and nothing else
+will matter at all." His face grew more and more gloomy. "If I had
+only started to M'rekwas yesterday, I could have been absent a
+fortnight, and by then they would have departed again." He stood a
+moment considering if he could start at once, and decided, as the
+letter was sent specially to him, he could hardly leave before
+carrying out his instructions.
+
+Stanley and the other trooper meanwhile made hurried preparations for
+a great fire. They lit up in the evening, having stationed boys at
+intervals to keep the flames within bounds, and themselves stood
+posted with their guns, hoping for a shot at wild pig or cheetah, or
+possibly a lion or leopard. Carew kept guard at the huts, with a few
+boys to beat off the flames that encroached to any danger points and
+watch for flying sparks that might ignite the thatch. It was a
+wonderful sight, and his eyes were full of appreciation as he watched
+it. The gathering darkness, the lurid flames lighting up with swift
+brightness the ancient ruins; the high Acropolis Hill on one side, the
+low granite-strewn kopjes on the other, and running between the Valley
+of Ruins, now a vale of fire.
+
+It crossed his mind that it was almost a pity they had not left the
+burning of the grass until the travellers arrived, that they might see
+the strange, fantastic sight. But he cogitated that the millionaires
+he had known hitherto had little appreciation for much beyond
+money-making, and no doubt they were merely taking a passing glimpse
+at the ruins; the man on some money-making quest, and the girls just
+to be able to say they had seen them. His eyes rested on the temple
+wall, and he felt suddenly absurdly resentful that these rich
+pleasure-seekers should come even there to gape and stare. He had
+grown to love the ruins dearly, until that moment he had scarcely
+known how dearly, and to him it seemed for the moment like showing
+some treasured personal relics to barbarians.
+
+There were so many other things for the pleasure-seekers. Let them go
+to the Falls, and Lake Nyassa, and the Himalayas, and those tourist
+treasures; but why come and chatter inane banalities about his ruins:
+his treasured, mysterious relic of perhaps the oldest civilisation
+the world has known?
+
+Of course, he knew perfectly that much controversy had raged round the
+question, and that one or two learned scientists had definitely stated
+their belief that the ruins were of comparatively recent date, and
+deduced more or less convincing proofs in support of their theory; but
+controversies and carefully worded reports were small things to the
+man who had dwelt beside the mysterious temples and fortifications,
+and learnt to love and treasure them. He had his proofs too and his
+deductions, and such as they were they satisfied him, in the face of
+all opposition, that the curious remains were indeed of great
+antiquity, quite probably the ancient Havilah of the Scriptures. To
+him every nook and every corner had its meaning and its history. In
+the play of his fancy he had seen the white-robed priests and acolytes
+in stately procession, amid the old, old walls; heard strains of
+far-off music when an ancient worship offered its votary of prayer and
+praise to that mysterious deity whom they believed in; heard perhaps a
+single lovely voice, or seen a single lovely convert kneel before the
+Sacred Enclosure. He had seen their strong men and their brave men and
+their great men marshalling a host of women and children and infirm
+citizens safely into the fastnesses of the Acropolis Hill, where, with
+a sufficient supply of food and water, three thousand people might be
+safely shielded for any length of time. He had seen them stand on the
+high battlements, and look out across the plain or into the rock-hewn
+kopjes for the hosts of the enemy. He had seen them, even when
+besieged upon that mighty hill, assembling together to worship in the
+temples they had laboriously raised upon the giant granite ledges.
+Were they fair, those women of that old, old day? Were they brave,
+were they mighty in stature, those men who evolved and achieved those
+wonderful defence works? Did they love the fair land that fed them
+with the love of home and country, or were they but sojourners for a
+while amid unfriendly, cruel tribes, that needed watchful eyes day and
+night? Led perhaps by a spirit of adventure, or by persecution
+elsewhere, or by the lust of gold, yet faithful always to the worship
+of their race, and building at infinite, incomprehensible pains those
+temples in the alien land. How they held him; how they fascinated; how
+they soothed with infinite soothing the bitter sorrow, the gaping,
+stinging wound that had driven him furiously away, all those years
+before, from the flesh-pots of a modern Babylon! Had he cared for it
+all very much then?... He wondered, looking full and deep into his
+hidden memories. Had the lights and the music, the song and dance, the
+laughing women and reckless men, the midnight orgies and morning
+headaches, really given him so much pleasure that he must needs fling
+it all aside with such bitter anger and harsh regret when the
+thunderbolt fell and the searching dart stabbed him awake? Outraged,
+hurt-maddened, he had flung away, as he believed, to outer darkness,
+and to a joyless, purposeless, colourless life. And he had found?...
+
+Ah!... when he looked at the ancient, mysterious ruins he had grown to
+love, and around upon a country that was life-hope and life-interest
+to him, he knew that it was the other life which had been purposeless,
+and all of one colour, and the self-chosen exile that had given him
+the things it is good to live and breathe and die for.
+
+And thinking of it all, with that shy softness which sometimes stole,
+as it were, stealthily into his strong face in moments of dreaming
+thought, he remembered with growing regret the advent of the party for
+which he was bidden to make preparations, and resented it yet more
+forcibly. Why need they come?... these women ... these spoiled,
+flattered, perhaps vulgar, heiresses. What did they want with ancient
+rites and wonderful relics of antiquities? What were they doing in
+Rhodesia at all, flaunting their finery and their possessions before
+the eyes of the hardy settlers and the plucky women who shared their
+difficulties and disappointments? In a young, struggling country what
+place was there for the idly, gracefully rich?
+
+In his goaded fancy he saw their elegant, costly garments, and he
+heard strident voices exclaiming shrilly at his treasure, perhaps
+calling it an interesting heap of stones. Was there still time to get
+away, he wondered? Could a sudden call be arranged?... a sudden need
+for hasty departure?...
+
+Let The Kid laugh the hours away with them, and take his fill of gay
+companionship; and let him return when the siege was over, and the
+soothing and the restfulness and the splendour had come back.
+
+Wondering still, and with the sore regretfulness growing, he looked
+round to make sure all was safe, and that no further danger need be
+feared from blowing sparks or creeping flames; and then went gravely
+into his hut to read.
+
+The next morning he told Stanley that he might be obliged to go east
+the following day on important business, and leave him to receive the
+travellers, and remained imperturbably grave and non-seeing when
+Stanley raised his eyebrows and regarded him with a little amused
+twinkle of understanding.
+
+But in the afternoon the party quite unexpectedly turned up, and
+somewhere away in the blue, dreaming kopjes the voice of a following
+fate laughed softly.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+TWO UNEXPECTED MEETINGS
+
+
+Early in the afternoon Carew rode to the mission station to tell Ailsa
+Grenville and her husband of the expected visitors, and of how he was
+likely to depart in the morning for M'rekwas and be away about a
+fortnight.
+
+Ailsa Grenville smiled at him archly when he told her. "Why do you run
+away when, for once in a way, you have the chance of a little
+companionship? It would do you more good to stay."
+
+"I think not; and besides," he added, hastily, "I am going on
+business."
+
+"A convenient sort of business, I fancy. Why not wait and see them
+first?"
+
+"Well, I could hardly go away immediately after their arrival, when
+Mr. Pym probably knows of the letter despatched to me from
+headquarters. It is far simpler to send a runner back with excuses."
+
+"But why go at all?" in a persuasive voice.
+
+Carew walked to the door and knocked the ashes out of his pipe against
+the heel of his boot; and Ailsa knew by his face that, though he did
+not resent her questioning, he would take no notice of it. And it made
+her a little sad, for of all the men she knew, next to Billy, her
+husband, she admired Carew, and she regretted deeply his insistent
+determination to stand aloof from mankind generally behind the
+barriers he had built up.
+
+Then Billy himself came in: khaki-clad, vigorous, and gay as ever; and
+when he heard the news he was less reticent, and exclaimed outright,
+"But what do you want to go away for? Why, it will be quite a treat
+for you to have ladies there; and who knows, one of the heiresses may
+be very charming--charming enough even for your fastidious taste!"
+
+"I prefer the company of the veldt," was all he said, without relaxing
+the fixity of his face; "ladies are more in Stanley's line."
+
+"The Kid must be awfully pleased," Ailsa said, smiling. "I'm sure he
+isn't going away."
+
+Carew, lying back in a big chair, was leisurely lighting his pipe, and
+he did not reply. All his attitude showed only cold indifference, and
+it would have been difficult to believe that, even in his heart, he
+had taken the trouble to be resentful. Ailsa, watching, felt a little
+impatient with him. She wanted to break through the shell in which he
+chose to hide that self which her instinct told her was so different
+to his outward seeming. What had become of the gay Londoner, who drove
+the smartest four-in-hand in the park, and rode the fastest horse to
+hounds? She longed to write home and ask her people of his story, but
+bitter things had been said when she elected to go into exile with her
+husband, and there had been almost no correspondence since. And Billy
+had been away in South Africa at the time of the crash and heard
+nothing about it. All he could tell her was that Carew of the Blues
+had been known as one of the gayest of the gay fifteen years or so
+ago, and that suddenly he had seemed to vanish off the face of the
+earth; and that Carew of the B.S.A.P. was the same man, only
+different, and he must be over forty years of age. So she had to
+content herself as well as she could, and be glad that, at any rate,
+while he remained in the Victoria district, they could have his
+companionship, though he chose to keep his own counsel as to why he
+was there.
+
+At first she had been rather afraid of him, and felt shy and awkward
+when he came to see them; but Billy's attitude of jovial good
+fellowship, in no way repulsed by the other's cold reserve, had helped
+to reassure her, and now they both appeared unconscious of any lack of
+warmth in their visitor. If he liked to be silent he could, and if he
+seemed in a taciturn mood they took no notice.
+
+When he called for his horse to return he said good-bye to her before
+mounting, and spoke of not coming again for a fortnight, and she
+watched him ride away regretfully. Evidently he did not mean to be
+sociable, even to the lady travellers, and it was no use hoping
+anything for him.
+
+In the meantime, the first ambulance, containing Meryl and Diana,
+arrived at the ruins. Mr. Pym was detained in Edwardstown with his
+engineer, and might not join them until the next day, but the girls
+begged him to let them go on, longing to be out in the open again,
+away from hotels and bungalows.
+
+So a police-boy from the town camp was sent on to escort them, and the
+Zimbabwe camp notified by runner of their approach. Stanley opened the
+letter in the absence of his chief, and much to his own delectation,
+was waiting alone to receive them upon the chosen camping-ground on
+their arrival. Diana saw him first, and remarked joyfully that he was
+white.
+
+"Hooroosh!..." said she, "there's a man as well as ruins." And a
+little later, "I'm afraid he's only a boy, but he looks a nice boy,
+and there are occasions when the 'half a loaf' proverb applies to
+'half a man.'"
+
+Then he helped her out of the ambulance after receiving them with a
+grave salute, and regretted that, in the absence of Major Carew, there
+was no one but himself to receive them. He was evidently a trifle shy
+and embarrassed, stammering a little as he offered his services to
+superintend the pitching of their camp, with eyes that would wander
+from the elder cousin to Diana's small, impish, alluring face.
+
+"Have some tea with us first," said she. "We've already acquired a few
+Rhodesian vices, such as an unlimited capacity for tea-drinking, and
+Gelungwa can make quite a decent apology for the beverage which cheers
+but not inebriates."
+
+They sat down, and laughed and chatted together until the kettle
+boiled, and before the tea was finished The Kid had fallen in love
+with both, and was congratulating himself that Carew had taken that
+afternoon ride. Then the girls said they would ramble while their tent
+was pitched, but disagreed as to which direction they would take
+first. Meryl had left her little guide-book with her father, and
+wanted to postpone the temple until she had it. Diana said it was too
+hot to attempt the Acropolis Hill. In the end they separated. Meryl
+strolled towards the Acropolis and Diana sought the cool shadiness of
+the temple.
+
+About the same time Carew started his homeward ride, and when he
+reached the base of the Acropolis Hill he gave his horse to the runner
+who had gone with him to carry some books for Ailsa Grenville, and
+climbed a little way into the hill to remark a point of investigation
+he had been discussing with Grenville; and, quite suddenly, round a
+sharp piece of masonry, he came upon Meryl Pym. She wore a large,
+shady hat, and she was standing quite still, gazing across the
+country. For a moment Carew stood quite still also. It was odd that
+she had not heard his steps upon the rough footpath, but apparently
+she was too absorbed to hear anything at all. He was exceedingly
+relieved and drew aside stealthily, prepared to return quickly the way
+he had come. But before he started he glanced once more, for something
+in her quiet pose struck oddly upon his heart. She looked very slim
+and graceful and girlish in a simple washing frock of some soft grey
+material, with little Quakerish cuffs and collar, and the big, shady
+hat tied on with a ribbon. And all in a moment he was transported
+years before, and there was a Devonshire wood, and a slim lassie, and
+little Quakerish cuffs and collar, and eyes that watched and
+waited--watched and waited for him.
+
+And then....
+
+No, not even in thought would he dwell again upon what followed. It
+was a weakness he had fought down. A weakness that even now, given
+rein, could unman him. The quick light vanished from his eyes, the
+mouth grew stern again, and he turned to descend.
+
+At the same moment Meryl turned also and came towards his
+hiding-place. He had just time to step further back and take shelter
+behind a low, bushy tree, which would hardly reveal his khaki, before
+she passed. And just in front of him she raised her head and glanced
+upwards, so that he saw her eyes, and for a moment his pulses seemed
+to stop beating. If her pose had reminded him of someone it was as
+nothing compared to her face with that upward glance. The delicate
+contour, the fine features, the wistful, dreamy, quiet eyes. Were they
+blue, or were they grey?... How came they with long, dark, curling
+lashes when her hair was a dusky, light shade, with soft waves and
+gleams of sunlight? In his hiding-place he stood very still and very
+rigid. For a moment he might have been part of the rock behind him.
+Then she passed on up the steep ascent, and he came out and retraced
+his steps, feeling a little dazed.
+
+Who could she be?... But, of course, the party must have arrived
+unexpectedly: had not remained in Edwardstown as they intended. And she
+was one of the heiresses--one of the flaunting, gaping, vulgar,
+dressed-up young women he had been secretly so resentful over. And, of
+course, she was none of these. Then suddenly he almost laughed; almost
+laughed aloud. For she was worse--far, far worse. The gushing,
+loud-voiced heiress he might have coped with. His frigidity froze most
+people if he chose; and avoidance was not difficult. But what could he do
+with Joan--his love, his dead love Joan--looking at him out of this
+girl's beautiful eyes, touching him with this girl's slender hands,
+speaking to him from this stranger's lips? It was impossible--impossible;
+all the careful training of that fifteen years in exile would be undone.
+His very life would be undermined again. For the moment it seemed
+incredible, preposterous. He felt stunned by it.
+
+Then his rigid self-control came to his aid, and his face grew stern
+and hard.
+
+The preposterous thing was that he should let a chance resemblance hit
+him so; should even admit the possibility of being undone after all
+his careful self-training. No, a thousand times no; he was not such a
+weak fool as that. The strength he had won was his still. He had only
+to go on being resolute and cold and the past would lie down again,
+and once more go quietly to sleep.
+
+He defied it to overcome him now. By every agonised pang, by every
+hour of unfathomable bitterness, by every solitary year of self-chosen
+exile, he insisted that he must prevail. He strode on, scarcely seeing
+anything about him, and his face grew sterner and sterner. Then he
+came within sight of the camping-place, and saw the white tent, and
+Stanley giving directions, while Moore and some black boys unpacked
+things from the ambulance.
+
+And he thought he would get more complete control of himself before he
+joined them; take this thing fairly by the throat and throttle it,
+that he might regain his peace of mind absolutely before the second
+encounter with the owner of the face and form that seemed for a moment
+to have made an upheaval in his life. So he turned aside and made for
+the temple, feeling glad and relieved at the consciousness that the
+mood was passing, and reassured that, being no more taken by surprise,
+he would successfully master it. Probably he could still go away on
+the morrow, and once away, Rhodesia would take him to her heart again.
+He knew it full well. Every day now the country was giving back to him
+of what he had given to her; lulling him, soothing him, revivifying
+him with her freshness and her charm.
+
+But his mind was very occupied still and his vision clouded as he
+passed into the cool shade of the temple, and he did not see a small,
+dainty person with an impish face perched high on a broken wall, with
+her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands, and a queer,
+fitful, half-serious, half-bored expression in her dark eyes. Instead,
+seeing no one and thinking himself alone, he sat down on a low wall
+quite near to her and stared gloomily at the ground. Diana, not a
+little amused, surveyed him at her leisure. "What in the world," she
+wondered, "was this smart, soldierly looking man, correctly booted and
+spurred, sitting down there for in the ruins?..."
+
+The great temple at Zimbabwe has never been roofed. The ruins consist
+of a wonderful outer wall, from twenty-two to thirty-two feet high and
+in some places fifteen feet thick, of an elongated shape, and within
+this wall are remnants of other walls which formed separate small
+enclosures. There is also the sacred enclosure with the conical tower,
+and leading into it from the north entrance the wonderfully contrived
+passage, between two high walls, scarcely more than a shoulder's
+breadth apart in one place. Amid the ruins trees have grown up, many
+of them higher than the outer wall, and these shade the glare of the
+sun, casting cool shadows and networks of sunlight upon the broken
+walls. And on the afternoon in question here and there were splashes
+of brilliant scarlet, where a Kaffir Boom tree flowered with a
+flaunting indifference to the passing of centuries and races.
+
+Diana, with her whimsical, artistic temperament, was fully alive to
+the fascination and uniqueness of her surroundings, but being a little
+tired with the drive, she felt for the moment somewhat impatient with
+ruins generally, and just a shade depressed with a certain air of dead
+forlornness that hovered all around. Then into the midst of this dream
+of antiquity strode a stern, fierce-looking, very up-to-date
+sportsman, who sat, for no conceivable reason, on a broken wall and
+stared at the ground. For one moment her sense of the ludicrous made
+her almost laugh aloud. Then, with sudden, upleaping interest, she sat
+still as a mouse and watched him. Once she half smiled to herself.
+There was a man, then, as well as a boy! She was not going to be
+entirely stifled in ruins, after all! She went on with her
+cogitations, staring hard, her head a little to one side. A real man,
+too, with a lean, brown face, and a square, determined chin, and a
+nose quite Roman enough to suit any novelist, and dark hair a little
+thin on the top and a little grey at the temples. She could not be
+sure if he were a soldier or not, but evidently he had been riding,
+for he still carried a hunting-crop; and also, judging by his face and
+attitude, something was considerably on his mind.
+
+Without the slightest movement she sat on and waited; and that was
+exceedingly characteristic of Diana. Where another girl would have
+felt embarrassed and made some sound to relieve the tension, she
+almost held her breath to retain it. The situation was unique. In a
+life that offered deplorably little of novelty and adventure she would
+not for worlds have thrown away such a chance. Meryl, on the other
+hand, would probably not have felt the tension; she would have quietly
+walked past him out at the entrance. Diana felt the atmosphere of the
+footlights and calmly waited.
+
+And, of course, in the end, vaguely conscious of some disturbing, not
+quite accountable element, Carew looked up straight into her eyes.
+
+Diana looked straight back and tried hard to keep her lips from
+twitching. She noticed pleasurably that he did not start; that he
+scarcely even showed surprise. Such a man, she felt, would not. Yet
+the very fact that for several seconds he remained perfectly still,
+staring at her, showed that he was quite satisfactorily astounded.
+Then he stood up, and waited a moment as if he expected her to speak.
+She thought he might have smiled. The hero on the stage, of course,
+would smile--divinely--and a blush like a tender dawn would overspread
+the heroine's rose-leaf cheeks.
+
+But he did not smile; to be honest, he looked excessively annoyed, and
+no tender blush of any sort could possibly have shown upon her
+sunburnt face.
+
+Still, she did not intend to flinch, and if the mischievous smile
+lurking at the corners of her mouth died away, she still regarded him
+with a calmness equal to his own, and with the impishness quite
+emphatically still in her eyes. Then suddenly she felt as if there had
+been some invisible sword-play between them. Her instinct told her he
+resented her silent watching, and that his cool, collected front now
+and his silence were the expression of his resentment. It was not in
+the least like a fairy story, of course; here was the prince, surly,
+stony, and bearish, and the princess, red and brown with sunburn, on
+the point of being caught at a disadvantage. But there Diana's native
+wits came to her aid, and she did a clever thing.
+
+"Would you mind helping me down?" she asked, sweetly. "I climbed up
+here to get a good view of the interior, and when I try to descend the
+stones slip so, I am nervous. I did not like to disturb you before,"
+she finished, unabashed and unblushing, but carefully lowering her
+eyes a moment.
+
+He stepped forward at once and reached his hand up to her, and she saw
+that his keen eyes were of that intense clear blue seen in so many
+strong, notable men, but that they looked at her in a cold, aloof
+manner which made her feel rather small and childish. "Surely," she
+thought, "he is not genuinely angry just because I did not tell him I
+was there?" Aloud she said:
+
+"Thank you," and placed her hand quite calmly in the strong, inviting
+brown one upheld to her.
+
+Then, taken with a fit of devilry out of growing exasperation, she
+added, "I'm not the daughter, I'm the niece."
+
+"Miss Pym, I presume," he said, coldly, and bowed to her.
+
+"Miss Diana Pym," she replied, and slightly inclined her head.
+
+"My name is Carew," he told her, with bluntness.
+
+"And are you ... er ... a scientist, evolving a theory about the
+ruins?"
+
+"I am a policeman." He said it brusquely, almost rudely, and Diana was
+taken with a sudden desperate inclination to laugh. All in a moment he
+reminded her forcibly of the uniformed autocrat holding up one lordly
+hand to stop the traffic. She moved towards the entrance, keeping her
+face averted. "The same sort of policeman as Mr. Stanley, I suppose?"
+she suggested, affably, but he seemed not to hear her, and a covert
+glance at his face was not reassuring. But the mere fact only spurred
+her on. If she was silent he might think he had overawed her.
+Goodness! how appalling! She quickened her step, and tossed her small
+head a little with a kind of challenging jerk.
+
+"I rather like your ruin," she said. "It's quite a nice old heap of
+stones."
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+THE BEAR
+
+
+Once more Carew vouchsafed no reply, but Diana knew perfectly well
+that his lips tightened slightly, which signified that in some way she
+had hit him.
+
+So pretending to be perfectly unaware of his non-responsive attitude,
+she ran airily on:
+
+"Such a mad idea to travel hundreds of miles to see a few old remains
+of a doubtful edifice, built by Bantus! or is the plural Bantams?...
+I'm sure when you heard we were coming you wondered if you had better
+prepare a dwelling for us with padded walls. Now, didn't you?..." and
+she looked up archly into his face.
+
+"I understood Mr. Pym had come to this neighbourhood about some gold
+claims," in cold, even tones.
+
+"Yes, so he has. But we haven't; at least Meryl hasn't. She came to
+see Rhodesia. I don't quite know what I've come for," naively. "I was
+just wondering about it sitting on that wall." And still he refused to
+be drawn. "You were looking very grave. Were you wondering what you
+are here for too?"
+
+At that moment they reached a spot where the path divided into two:
+one fork leading to their tent and the other to the police camp. He
+stood still. "I believe I was considering the best solution to a
+native problem that has lately arisen." He glanced towards their tent.
+"I see Mr. Stanley is helping to arrange your camp. Please let him
+know of anything you want. You will find him an excellent guide."
+Then, scarcely looking at her, he saluted and walked away.
+
+Diana returned to their tent feeling baffled and interested,
+half-inclined to be cross and half-inclined to laugh. And almost at
+the same time from the other direction came Meryl.
+
+"O, it's wonderful!" Meryl cried softly, with all her face aglow. "I
+never imagined anything half so fascinating; and I haven't even seen
+the temple yet. Mr. Stanley, do stay and dine with us. Our cook-boy is
+quite good."
+
+"All except his soup," put in Diana, "and he is only good at that in
+the sense of making it out of nothing. Sometimes I think he just boils
+a bit of the harness, or a corner of the tent-flap, or probably he
+makes it of rats if he can catch enough."
+
+Stanley looked at her with all his eyes and accepted the invitation
+eagerly, saying that he must first go back to the camp to change. Half
+an hour later he reappeared, looking quite smart in a white duck
+dress-jacket and a starched collar.
+
+As they sat down to their alfresco meal, taken under the stars, with
+two lanterns suspended on sticks for lights, Diana suddenly said to
+him:
+
+"Who is the bear?..."
+
+"The bear?..." doubtfully.
+
+"Yes. The bear who lives down there in the police camp, and rejoices
+in the name of Carew."
+
+Stanley, looking much amused, replied, "You must mean the Major; but
+you haven't met him, have you?"
+
+"I had the pleasure of being snarled at for about fifteen minutes this
+afternoon."
+
+Stanley laughed outright. "But where? He never said that he had seen
+you."
+
+"I don't think he did see me. We merely met. Most of the time he
+either looked away or looked through me at something beyond. Still, he
+might have mentioned the meeting. I don't feel flattered."
+
+"O, but that is nothing with Carew. He is an awfully silent chap."
+
+"Silent!... do you call it?... I never felt so ... so ... suppressed
+... in my life. I thought he seemed rather inclined to bite me."
+
+"But where did you meet him, Di?..." asked Meryl, with interest.
+
+"I was sitting on a wall in the temple, and he strode in and sat on
+another wall and stared at the ground ... and I stared at him ... and
+then he looked up and saw me ... and afterwards ..." she paused.
+
+"Do you mean to say you sat perfectly still in front of him, and let
+him sit on, thinking himself alone, and then suddenly discover
+you?..."
+
+"Yes. Why not?"
+
+"Well, it wasn't very fair on him."
+
+"Such nonsense, Meryl! That's just what he seemed to think. Why
+shouldn't I have a little romance if I want to? Such a dull, prosaic,
+commonplace old world as it is, generally speaking! I was having a
+lovely one. He was a great hunter who had lost his way, and dragged
+himself into the temple to die...."
+
+"I thought you said he strode in?..."
+
+"Don't be silly; he wasn't in the romance then. And I was a lovely,
+mysterious veiled lady who lived in the wilderness; but my veil
+happened to be thrown back, and when the dying hunter raised his
+eyes...." she stopped short.
+
+"Well?..."
+
+"That's where the romance stopped, where he brutally spoilt it,
+because when he raised his eyes and saw me there he just scowled
+horribly."
+
+Stanley and Meryl laughed whole-heartedly, but Meryl told her it
+served her right because she was unfairly taking him at a
+disadvantage.
+
+"But I did nothing of the kind. No one was at a disadvantage except
+myself."
+
+"I'm sure you weren't," Meryl remarked. "You never have been yet."
+
+"That's where you are mistaken, my dear. When you are sitting in a
+lovely romance, gazing at a dreadfully handsome, distinguished-looking
+man who is the hero prince, and will presently discover you and smile
+divinely with all his soul in his eyes, and when instead an
+iron-visaged person looks up at you, and scowls and grows as black as
+thunder, I defy any woman not to find herself at a disadvantage."
+
+"Well, how did you get out of it?... What did you do?..."
+
+The alluring twinkle shone suddenly in Diana's eyes, and her lips
+twitched mischievously, as she replied:
+
+"Well, I smiled divinely instead, and asked him to help me down from
+my high wall."
+
+"O, you are quite incorrigible," laughed Meryl. "If I had been him I
+would have left you there to get down the same way you went up. But
+who is he?..." turning to Stanley. "He sounds rather interesting."
+
+"He's a splendid fellow," The Kid asserted, warmly. "We couldn't stick
+him at first, Moore and I, but we soon found he only wants knowing.
+There's some history attached to his being out here that no one quite
+knows; but he is a Fountenay-Carew and used to be in the Blues."
+
+"But how nice!" quoth Diana. "This is much more interesting than the
+old ruins. Is he rich and haughty, with lovely estates left to
+dishonest stewards, and all that?..."
+
+"No very poor, I should imagine; nothing but his pay, anyhow. I
+believe when he was in the Blues an old uncle gave him a big
+allowance, but something happened, and he threw the money in the old
+chap's face, and the old chap chucked him out."
+
+"And what happened to cause the quarrel?" asked Diana, all ears. "Why,
+he is more romantic than my prince!"
+
+"That is what I fancy no one knows. Anyhow, in a country like this, no
+one asks. It isn't quite the game, you see; and, anyhow, no one is
+interested now. He has done a tremendous lot for Rhodesia in one way
+and another, especially for the police force and natives; and we're
+quite proud of him in our way for that, independent of his history."
+
+"How nice!" and Meryl's eyes grew very soft. "It is a much finer
+reward than he would probably ever have gained in the Blues. I hope he
+thinks so?"
+
+"I don't suppose he cares either way. Certainly, he doesn't appear to.
+He just loves the country, and seems only to want to stay here; but he
+never speaks even of that. Since he came here a few months ago he has
+done a lot of investigation work among the ruins privately. He is most
+awfully attached to them."
+
+Suddenly Diana asked, "I suppose he is pretty sick about two modern
+young women presuming to journey here to gaze at his treasure?"
+
+Stanley coloured up, and Diana laughed. "O, don't bother to deny it. I
+could feel it in my very bones when we met this afternoon."
+
+They finished their meal, and the boys moved the table away, so that
+they could sit round the glowing embers of a small fire, not so much
+for warmth as for the idea, and they lazed low in their chairs,
+talking idly and enjoying the cool, fragrant night.
+
+And presently, not a propos of anything in particular, Diana said,
+quite aloud, "I guess The Bear is growling and scowling away nicely
+to-night down there in his den. I expect the first time we meet I
+shall forget and call him Bear Carew instead of Major Carew, and then
+he'll shrivel me up with a glance."
+
+A sound beside them in the shadow made all look up suddenly, and the
+lamplight fell full upon Carew's face as he stood near Diana's chair.
+
+Meryl rose hurriedly, blushing to the roots of her hair, while
+Stanley, secretly much amused, stood up likewise. Only the culprit
+remained unperturbed to outward seeming, glancing archly round.
+
+"I'm afraid you overheard what I said ... _Major_ Carew.... I'm quite
+ready to apologise, only ..."
+
+"Please, don't...." For one instant the coldly even voice had a tiny
+inflection in it, as of humour, though he stifled it immediately, as
+he turned to Meryl and said, gravely, with a bow, "Miss Pym, I
+think?... A letter has come for you from Edwardstown by runner. I
+brought it on in case you might wish to send a reply, and to enquire
+if you are quite comfortable here for the night."
+
+Meryl took it from him, thanking him in her low, sweet voice, and with
+a rather shy, upward glance. And Diana, in the shadow, saw the soldier
+suddenly flinch and suddenly grow sterner, standing in an attitude of
+almost unnatural rigidity.
+
+"There is no heed to reply," Meryl said, after reading her note. "It
+is only a message from father to say he may be detained until
+afternoon. Thank you so much for bringing it. Won't you sit down? Can
+I offer you anything? I'm afraid there is not much choice. Father does
+not like luxuries in the wilderness, and we only carry whisky."
+
+"No, thank you." The tones were even again now, and he made no
+movement towards a chair. "Have you everything you need for the
+night? I hope Mr. Stanley has made himself very useful?"
+
+"He has been splendid. I am only afraid we have tired him out. Won't
+you sit down?" and she shyly motioned to a chair.
+
+"Thank you. I'm afraid I must get back. I have some despatches to
+write. Would you like a police-boy to keep guard here all night? There
+is nothing whatever to fear, but if it would add to your comfort?..."
+
+"O no, thank you," warmly. "We are not in the least nervous. I think
+there are no lions very near," with a little laugh.
+
+Diana, lying back in her chair, had scarcely taken her eyes off the
+tall soldier, though she watched him covertly, and without seeming to;
+and her quick brain perceived dimly that his aloof attitude was partly
+a mask which had become a habit, and that, however much he suppressed
+her, there was nothing whatever repellant about his chilly reserve.
+And then, suddenly, the little mischievous devil possessed her again,
+and she longed to try her arts upon him, just to see what happened,
+and to show him she was not seriously in the least afraid of him.
+
+And no sooner had Meryl remarked that there were no lions near them,
+than she could not for the life of her help murmuring, "No lions, only
+bears."
+
+Again there was an instant's answering gleam in Carew's eyes, but he
+only smiled very slightly, and said, "Perhaps a bear's growl, like a
+dog's bark, is worse than his bite."
+
+It was as though something altogether too much for him was struggling
+with an inclination to relax just the least bit on Diana's behalf and
+insistently conquering. With scarcely a second look at her he drew
+himself up tautly and said he must be going. Then he saluted gravely,
+said good night in a voice that included them all, and strode away
+through the darkness towards the police camp.
+
+For a moment there was silence round the glowing embers.
+
+"It was kind of him to say good night," said Diana, sarcastically.
+
+"What a fine-looking man!" commented Meryl.
+
+"He is gruffer than usual to-night. Perhaps something has happened to
+upset him. I think I must be going also," and Stanley reluctantly rose
+to follow his chief.
+
+"Of course he is gruffer," said Diana. "Two tiresome women have dared
+to journey to Zimbabwe to look at his ruins."
+
+In the darkness Carew strode on to where a light shone through the
+doorway of a hut, but his eyes were looking straight before him into
+the night, and had the expression of one whose thoughts were very far
+away. It had cost him an effort to go up there with the note, but he
+had made it purposely, determined to take in hand quickly that vein of
+weakness which threatened him at sight of Meryl. He would go up and
+speak to her and break the spell as quickly as possible, regaining his
+old fortitude. More particularly as he felt he could not now leave on
+the morrow, just as Mr. Pym was arriving expecting to find him there.
+Not that there appeared any reason why, just because he happened to be
+a millionaire, a police officer should be expected to wait on him, but
+no doubt the Administration had its own reason for showing special
+attention to a very rich man, and hoped for some benefit to the
+country thereby.
+
+So he had taken the bull by the horns and strode up to the lamplit
+camp, where the travellers sat over the glowing embers; and, of
+course, he had heard Diana's remark, and smiled grimly to himself, in
+no way displeased, for it suited him perfectly to be shunned as a
+bear. And then, keeping an iron control over himself, he had addressed
+Meryl, and looked straight into her face without flinching. The upward
+look, for one second, had shaken him, but the iron control held good,
+and before he left them he had spoken to her and looked at her with
+perfect calmness. The visit had been quite as he wished it, and for a
+few seconds, striding into the dark, he congratulated himself upon
+having so satisfactorily coped with a situation that had threatened to
+be a little difficult and had disturbed him so in the afternoon. Of
+course, she wasn't really like Joan, except in a very general way.
+Just her height and figure and graceful movements and colouring; and,
+of course, the upward glance from confiding, thoughtful, blue-grey
+eyes that had humour lurking in them, and power and possibilities, and
+were so curiously framed in dark lashes in spite of light hair. In the
+midst of his self-congratulation he remembered the upward look again,
+and all in a moment once more it shook him. His gaze went blindly to
+the stars, and his mind flew back. Ah! how sweet Joan had been; how
+strong, how true! How she had stood by him through the beginning of
+the storm, turning the clouds to sunshine, making everything worth
+while! And then, the swift tragedy, the climax; the awful, awful days
+and nights that followed. How he had trodden the lonely Devon moors,
+blindly, passionately seeking a dead weariness of body that would dull
+his mind! How he had cursed the two men who drove in the final barb,
+and vowed never to see their faces again!
+
+And then the little note-book he had found, in which Joan had
+inscribed some of her thoughts from time to time, and copied a few
+favourite passages from favourite authors! It had come to him like a
+voice from the dead--Joan's voice, calling to him to rise above his
+despair and prove himself still worthy of her. And out there on the
+moors at sunrise he had vowed that he would. Calmly, coldly, as an
+austere monk, he had laid down for ever the things that had made his
+life gay and joyous before, and prepared to turn his back on England
+and all that it held pertaining to him.
+
+And now there is a distant wilderness and great southern stars, and
+mysterious, antique ruins, and a man who has grown strong and silent
+in aloofness, and won a sort of soothing content out of what he has
+given, seeking no reward.
+
+Not, perhaps, that "renewing" a royal friend had spoken of fifteen
+years ago, for the contentment was void of hope and fear and joy, but
+balm upon the passionate, frantic bitterness and despair. But the
+"renewing" might come even yet, however much he scorned the thought;
+for forty-two is at the prime of years, and Life has a tender way of
+her own of healing when she will.
+
+But to-night the memories are bitter, and the reopened wound throbs
+and burns. Carew strode up to his hut, with only a curt good night to
+the trooper, and when Stanley arrived back there was no light burning,
+only darkness and silence.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+A MINING CAMP
+
+
+The following day Carew avoided the camp, after telling Stanley he
+might devote his time to the ladies if he wished. In the afternoon,
+however, he saw Mr. Pym and his engineer arrive, and then, presently,
+the party all went down to the ruins together. About an hour later
+they re-emerged, and while the two girls went back to the tents, the
+millionaire strolled towards the police camp. Carew, seizing his
+opportunity, came out, and went to meet him. He considered himself
+fortunate in being able to offer the necessary courtesies when the
+ladies of the party were absent. Mr. Pym hid his surprise at seeing so
+distinguished-looking an officer at such an out-of-the-way camp, and
+received his somewhat curt greetings in his own quiet, business-like
+manner. He thanked him for the attentions he had already rendered, and
+hoped they were not causing any inconvenience in pitching their tents
+near the ruins. Carew assured him they were not, and mentioned that
+Mr. Stanley would be happy to place his time at their service and do
+anything he could to make their stay agreeable.
+
+Henry Pym, noting the obvious intention of the officer not to place
+much of his own time at their disposal, looked quietly into the
+resolute face, and felt his interest growing apace. At the same time,
+following his lead, he made no attempt to lengthen the interview,
+which he felt was more or less regarded as an official duty; and with
+courteous thanks said good night, hoped Major Carew would dine with
+them one evening, and returned to his tent.
+
+"Well, uncle," was Diana's greeting, "what do you make of The Bear?"
+
+"The Bear?..." questioningly.
+
+"The cast-iron soldierman, who condescends to breathe the same air as
+ordinary mortals down there in the police camp."
+
+"O, Major Carew!..." with a quick gleam in his eyes. "I thought him
+rather a fine fellow. Don't you?" and he smiled at her slyly.
+
+"A fine bear," quoth Diana, with a little pout. "I prefer a man with a
+little more flexibility. A little more commonplace flesh and blood, so
+to speak."
+
+"I asked him to dinner to-morrow," her uncle remarked.
+
+"And is he coming?" with ill-concealed interest.
+
+"No. He is going to see two young miners named Macaulay a few miles
+away, and was regretfully compelled to decline," and the humorous
+smile on his face widened, for he knew that Diana would be piqued.
+
+"As if he couldn't go there any day!" she grumbled. "O, of course, he
+is perfectly odious."
+
+Meryl's eyes met her father's, and they both laughed, while he
+remarked, "Never mind; perhaps we can lay a trap for him another time.
+Evidently he has no particular fancy for ladies' company."
+
+"Do you know the Macaulays?" Meryl asked.
+
+"No, but I am going to see them in two or three days on business."
+
+"And you will take us?..." she pleaded. "I do want so to see all we
+can of the settlers as well as the country."
+
+"We will see later," he said, and made a move to prepare for dinner.
+
+During the next two days he and his engineer made sundry small
+excursions on business. Their investigation of several outcrops in the
+Victoria district had convinced them the gold was by no means worked
+out by that ancient people who had left so many traces of mining
+operations, and Mr. Pym was prepared to buy up claims and properties.
+On the fourth day he went to see the Macaulays, and took the girls
+with him, having procured a mule each for them to ride. Stanley and
+Carew were also to be of the party; the latter not a little to
+everyone's surprise.
+
+All through the four days he had held consistently aloof, personating
+merely the courteous official upon whom Mr. Pym had a certain claim
+because of the letter from headquarters. As a matter of fact, he had
+undertaken a journey of some length on two of the days to outlying
+kraals; and Diana, hearing of it from Stanley, had laughed a little
+grimly, and said, "He need not have troubled. We have no wish to speak
+to him"; and Stanley, not quite clever enough to understand, remarked
+regretfully, "But you would like him so much if you knew him
+properly."
+
+The reason was not very apparent for his accompanying them to the
+Macaulays' mine, but Meryl shrewdly suspected her father, who had gone
+quietly to smoke a pipe in the police camp with him on one or two
+occasions, had asked him to come more or less as a personal favour.
+For though Stanley knew the road perfectly he knew very little about
+the surrounding country itself; and Mr. Pym, with his unerring
+instinct, had quickly discovered that Carew's mind was a well of
+knowledge on most things Rhodesian. So the taciturn soldier joined the
+cavalcade, though he succeeded in attaching himself to Mr. Pym and
+riding well on ahead.
+
+The two Macaulays were "small miners," working on tribute a mine
+belonging to a block owned by a company in which Henry Pym had large
+interests. Complaints had come through to his ears concerning the
+difficult conditions upon which the two young miners, and many others
+like them, struggled to make a fortune or a livelihood, and he had a
+fancy to go and see them for himself. The mine was in a hollow, banked
+round by tall, gloomy kopjes, which seemed to stand like a bodyguard,
+sternly shutting them off from all sight or sound of the outside
+world. At the same time, the road to it was delightful. Sometimes they
+climbed nearly to the top of a kopje, the mules going up stairways of
+granite as if born to it, and the lovely country lay outspread in a
+glorious panorama before them.
+
+The party said very little, but their eyes told that the fascination
+had crept into their hearts already, though they could only appreciate
+in silence, wondering, perhaps, why they felt this strong attraction
+for a land that was chiefly kopjes and veldt.
+
+Was it, perhaps, the marvellous, translucent atmosphere, or was it the
+blue intensity of the dreaming kopjes, ornamented ever and anon by
+gleaming white battlements of granite, where the sun blazed down on
+giant boulders, or was it the unfathomable, mysterious, syren-like
+allurement of the country, that, without effort, without thought,
+steeped the senses in an irresistible fascination? Why does Rhodesia
+fascinate? Why does she call men back again and again to her manifold
+discomforts and unnerving disappointments, to her pests and glare, to
+her bully beef and unwashed Kaffirs? Who shall say?... Who shall
+attempt to explain?...
+
+There is no explanation; only the foolish would seek it. The country
+just gets up and takes hold of one and smiles, and men become enslaved
+to her. Ever after "the hazy blue of her mountains, the waft of the
+veldt-born scent," is like a germ in the blood. The discomforts are
+forgotten, the disappointments dissolve into air, the noontide glare
+and choking dust are a mere nothing: libellous creations of some
+discontented grumbler. And in the midst of the crowd, or in England's
+green lanes, or on some far shore, the wanderer is caught in the old
+mesh suddenly, and all his pulses beat with swift longing at just that
+heaven-sweet impression: "The hazy blue of her mountains, the waft of
+the veldt-born scent...."
+
+And she, the syren, lies there in her sunshine and her loveliness;
+locked in the arms of the deep, luscious, dreaming nights, whispering
+and murmuring softly under embracing, star-lit heavens; making wild
+riot when the splendid storms fling after each other across her bosom,
+while the thunders roll deafeningly amidst her kopjes, and the
+lightning pierces brilliantly the riotous clouds and makes a glory of
+the mighty scene. Sulky and colourless when she is waiting impatiently
+for the delayed rains; resplendent, and with a colouring that is like
+a Te Deum, when the renewing has come, and all her soul sings aloud in
+the joy of spring, and all her flowers and trees lend her loveliness
+past telling, and her hills a yet deeper blueness under yet intenser,
+rain-washed skies. All this--all her moods and whims and
+waywardness--going serenely on--splendidly, superbly indifferent to
+the men who come to tame her and stay to love in silent enslavement;
+as also to the men who come solely for gain and gold, and go away
+shrieking their complainings to the four winds. Because, perhaps, the
+enchantress has not troubled to show them her allurements, and
+ruffled, discontented minds have discovered only the dust and heat and
+pests.
+
+But what of it to the syren?... There are others who stay, as many,
+perhaps, as she wants, and to whom she puts out a shy hand of
+friendship, and presently soothes and consoles as the strong, silent,
+storm-tossed man who rode with so soldierly a bearing beside Mr. Pym;
+suffering no stab of love and longing any more as he looked over her
+fair bosom, because the shy hand was in his, because there was that
+subtle sense of understanding in his heart which seemed to tell him
+that even as he loved Rhodesia, Rhodesia loved him.
+
+And so they came to the Saucy Susan Gold Mine, at least to the ridge
+of the surrounding kopjes, and looked down to where a cluster of huts
+like beehives told them humans dwelt down there in the hollow.
+
+"It can't be a mine," said Diana. "It's just a hollow in the hills;
+the sort of place giants hide in when they play hide-and-seek."
+
+"But it is," Stanley assured her. "We shall see a little more as we
+wind down."
+
+And presently they came within view of a shaft, and two honest-eyed
+young Englishmen, both old Charterhouse boys, came forward to greet
+them.
+
+Meryl shook hands with her face all aglow with interest; and to their
+humble apologies that they had only huts to invite them into, she
+said, "But it is so nice of you to invite us at all. You wouldn't
+believe how proud I am to come here to see you, and how tremendously
+interested."
+
+And Diana, with a droll expression, remarked, "You seem to live rather
+in the nethermost depths. You must feel as if you were going to heaven
+literally and figuratively every time you ascend to the outer world."
+
+The elder brother laughed pleasantly, but the younger, who had a white
+face and a delicate, refined air, looked at her a little wistfully.
+Meryl chatted on with the elder, but Diana, with her quick perception,
+scented a silent, wordless, plucky endurance of adverse conditions in
+the younger, and gave her attention to him.
+
+Then they went into the dining-room hut, and found a meal spread on a
+roughly made table, with only two chairs for seats and all the rest
+packing-cases.
+
+"Who has to sit on a chair?" asked Diana. "I needn't, need I?..."
+
+"Why, they are quite sound!... Are you afraid of a spill?..." asked
+Lionel Macaulay, looking amused.
+
+"No, only I can sit on a chair any day of my life. I simply insist
+upon having a packing-case when such a good opportunity offers."
+
+So Meryl and her father were duly ensconced in the only two chairs,
+and Diana mounted gaily on to a tall, thin packing-case, which would
+certainly have gone over backwards if Colin, the rather sad-eyed
+brother, had not caught her just as she was overbalancing.
+
+"How clever of you!..." she laughed. "What happens when you two
+overbalance and don't happen to be near enough to catch each other?...
+Does the dinner come in and find you both sprawling on the floor?"
+
+"Well, we've had a good deal of practice, you see," he told her,
+already cheering visibly. "The tables are turned for us, and we choose
+a chair when we can get it, for a treat."
+
+Afterwards she made him show her all his clever contrivances for
+packing-case furniture, and admired his sackcloth curtain, barrel
+washhand stand, and made him feel vigorous and hopeful.
+
+Stanley was talking to Meryl, and Lionel Macaulay was showing Mr. Pym,
+the engineer, and Carew over the mine, so she gossiped away to him all
+by herself. And she drew from him a little of the bitter
+disappointments they had encountered in the country. A story of first
+one mine and then another failing them; of capital slipping away and
+bills mounting; of the gradual cutting down of comforts and increased
+austerity of living: a story common enough in all colonies where Life
+puts men through the mill again and again to prove and harden them.
+Acting perhaps on the lines:
+
+     "It is easy enough to be pleasant
+       When life moves along like a song,
+     But the man worth while is the man who can smile
+       When everything goes dead wrong."
+
+Life wants a lot of men and women whom she knows are "worth while" in
+carrying out her great affairs, and that is perhaps why so often
+"everything goes dead wrong."
+
+Diana maintained her role of gay inconsequence because it pleased her
+best.
+
+"It all sounds very superior and all that rot, and I'm sure Meryl
+would call you a hero; but I should swear myself black and blue in
+your shoes, and that's about what you do pretty often, I expect."
+
+His smile grew fresher and more genuine.
+
+"It doesn't do much good though."
+
+"O yes it does. Don't tell me! When things get into a silly stupid
+mess with me I just shut the door and say every swear word I know
+until I feel better. That's one advantage of living in a hollow in the
+desert. You needn't even bother to shut the door!... You can shout
+your ruffled feelings to the kopjes, and I suppose they echo the words
+back to you. How perfectly splendid! That's a thing about Rhodesia I
+hadn't thought of before. Of course, the echoes are sometimes
+wonderful; so if you were to shout a few swear words the kopjes would
+shout them after you; and that's much better than 'dreaming stillness'
+in my opinion. But why aren't you and your brother making a fortune? I
+thought everyone in Rhodesia was making one who had a mine."
+
+"We don't get up enough gold. By the time we have paid our royalty and
+the expenses there is nothing left."
+
+"Then the royalty must be too big. Who do you pay it to?"
+
+He coloured, and she watched him humorously.
+
+"Has my uncle something to do with your company? O, don't look
+uncomfortable. I'll just talk to him about it. There ought to be
+occasions when no royalty is taken at all. I'll tell him so."
+
+Colin Macaulay laughed into her smiling eyes.
+
+"As it is, there is a charge for everything, even the grass the
+donkeys eat!..."
+
+"O, monstrous! I never heard of such a thing. I'll interview the board
+about it if you like. Tell your donkeys they may eat anything they
+choose in future, it is not going down in the bill any more!..." and
+they both laughed gaily.
+
+In a more serious mood, however, she asked him presently, "I suppose
+it has been rather a disappointment?... This coming out to Rhodesia to
+make a fortune!"
+
+"Why do you think so?"
+
+"O, well, lots of reasons. You haven't come within sight of the
+fortune, for one thing; and you've still got packing-case furniture
+and live in huts. And you eat a lot of bully beef, now don't you?"
+
+"We do."
+
+"But that isn't what you came for?"
+
+"Still"--meditatively--"it's not a small thing to be in a country
+where a fortune may be won any day. It is that, of course, which keeps
+us going. It is better anyhow than a stool and one hundred and fifty
+pounds a year in England."
+
+"Are you sure?" And she watched him with keen eyes.
+
+He coloured slightly, but answered with firmness:
+
+"Quite."
+
+"But not better than something else, perhaps?"
+
+He saw that her interest was kindly and genuine, and suddenly drawn to
+expand he told her simply:
+
+"It's the isolation that hurts. Day after day, day after day, just
+this hollow and these kopjes, and never anyone to speak to except each
+other. We send for the mail once a week, but sometimes very little
+comes by it; and we get nothing fresh to read except a weekly
+Rhodesian paper. That is a gold mine to us for just one evening; but
+for all the rest there is nothing. Lionel is studying French, and I do
+a little also, but it palls after a time badly."
+
+"I should think so. It sounds as dry as dead bones."
+
+They were sitting upon a rocky knoll, and Diana had her hands clasped
+round her drawn-up knees, presenting a very attractive picture. "I'm
+not a true Imperialist at heart," she informed him. "I hate gush and
+talk and heroics, but between you and me I think an awful lot of you
+men making your solitary fight in the wilderness. It's always a lot
+easier to put up with discomforts when you know your next-door
+neighbour is jolly uncomfortable too. Of course, most people don't say
+so, but that's because they are conventional, and fondly try to
+persuade themselves, very unselfish also; but when they are honest
+they know quite well a misfortune is lightened when several others are
+in the same box. That's why, on a wet day, I console myself sitting at
+the window and watching folks struggling with drenched umbrellas and
+bedraggled skirts. It's so good to be safe inside."
+
+He waited with amused eyes.
+
+"And, of course, the trouble for you is just sitting down here among
+these monotonous kopjes and being uncomfortable all alone. No one to
+grumble to--ugh, how I should hate that!--no one to feel superior
+with; no one to envy you, even if there were anything to envy. It's a
+positive grave."
+
+"You've left out one of the worst contingencies. No one to discuss
+with; no friction of mind and opinions."
+
+"That comes under the heading of grumbling. When I discuss I almost
+always grumble about something. It is good for the progress of the
+world." And she laughed whimsically. Then, with one of her sudden
+changes, "How long do you expect to stay on trying to dig up a
+fortune, and pretending it is worth while when you know you hate it
+like Old Harry?"
+
+"We shall probably try another mine soon. That is what we want to do;
+but it cost so much to get our machinery down into this hollow we
+don't quite know where to find the money to get it out again. So we
+just go on hoping we shall strike a good reef soon."
+
+She remained thoughtful and silent some moments, and then, as if to
+change the subject, remarked, "Mr. Stanley seems happy enough in his
+solitary place. He says he used to be in Salisbury, but very much
+prefers Zimbabwe."
+
+"Most of the police prefer a quiet place with good shooting; and now
+that he has Major Carew there so much it must often be interesting."
+
+"Do you know Major Carew well?" and her quick voice failed to entirely
+hide her interest.
+
+"As well as perhaps anyone does. He comes to see us fairly often on
+Sundays."
+
+"But he is so silent, he can't be very interesting."
+
+"He is not always silent."
+
+"No, sometimes he snarls," with a little laugh.
+
+"Ah! you don't know him. Get him to talk to you about the natives;
+about their habits and legends and customs. There isn't a man in
+Rhodesia knows more, and there isn't one they trust more absolutely.
+He is down in this district now on their behalf, and before he set
+foot here they knew all about him. Natives a hundred miles apart
+communicate that sort of thing to each other. Every kraal here knew
+perfectly that he was stern and rigid, but absolutely just. If he once
+says a thing he stands by it, even if he gets into trouble at
+headquarters, which isn't so very unusual. Someone out of jealousy or
+pique or utter inability to understand stern justice, will
+misrepresent his actions and misreport him for doing his duty. It's a
+heart-breaking business for him sometimes; but he never gives in when
+it is keeping his word one way or the other with natives. He would
+sooner resign, and they know it; and fortunately they recognise his
+value and meet him somehow. Of course, he isn't in the Native
+Department, properly speaking, but he has done a lot of work with them
+for some time."
+
+"And what do you think he is down here for now?"
+
+"I don't know; but it is some abuse or other that has reached the ears
+of the administration. This sort of thing happens among the
+short-sighted, small-minded Native Commissioners. There was a man a
+short time back who charged his house boys five shillings for
+everything they broke. At the end of six months they had had no pay at
+all, and were pretty heavily in debt. He was magistrate as well as
+commissioner and had them brought before his court, and promptly
+sentenced them to work six months for nothing."
+
+"What a shame!" she burst out indignantly.
+
+"Or a Native Commissioner may terrorise a native into selling cattle
+to him for a mere song by nothing but a look. Of course, they are not
+allowed to buy cattle really, but if they are married their wives buy
+them instead sometimes, and then the Commissioner in an outlying
+district can fairly easily fix the price, if he has made himself a
+dread to all the kraals round. He can collect taxes, too, not strictly
+just, to make his accounts look well at headquarters."
+
+"But I thought Native Commissioners were always gentlemen?"
+
+"They are generally, but they don't all live up to the usually
+accepted standard. Some of them seem rather to glory in behaving like
+bounders and treating the native unjustly. It is bad for the country,
+but things are improving. Almost all new appointments now are made
+among public-school boys and Varsity men."
+
+"And do you think Major Carew is here about some such matters?"
+
+"Yes; but it isn't given out so, and no one knows just what. But the
+natives are fortunate to have him on their side. He is not in the
+least afraid, and he won't shelter any unjust steward. On the other
+hand, whatever complaints there are against the natives will be just
+as honestly examined, and woe betide the kraals that are in the wrong!
+He is no Exeter Hall sentimentalist, and they must know it pretty well
+by now."
+
+"Why do you think he is out here at all? Surely he might have been a
+general with his K.C.M.G. if he had stayed in the army?"
+
+"I rather fancy Carew would think that a small thing compared to what
+he has done in Rhodesia. After all, K.C.M.G.'s are pretty cheap
+nowadays, aren't they? But it isn't every man who can know a new
+country is grateful to him, and who has achieved all he has at a work
+he loves."
+
+"Why did he come?" Still Diana strove vainly to hide her interest. "Do
+you know?"
+
+"Adventure, probably. A good many men from crack regiments came in the
+early days."
+
+"There must have been something more."
+
+"Perhaps."
+
+"Don't you _know_?"
+
+"No." He looked at her with a little smile. "It isn't the game to ask
+questions out here."
+
+"That is just what Mr. Stanley said, and it is so dull of you both.
+The man's a perfect bear. I christened him 'The Bear' before I had
+known him an hour. But why is he? Why should he be? That's what I
+want to know."
+
+"I don't fancy you will. I doubt if anyone knows. He has never made
+friends, I think, out here, except with the Grenvilles, and they are
+some connection."
+
+"That's the missionary and his wife, isn't it? What in the world can a
+man like that see in a missionary? Of all the soppy, flabby
+individuals give me the usual specimen who goes out to preach
+Christianity to the heathen, and generally disgusts them and everyone
+else."
+
+"Not this missionary."
+
+"O, is he an original also?"
+
+"He's one of the finest men I've ever known."
+
+"Then what in the world is _he_ buried in the wilderness for? I never
+knew anything so absurd. A fine soldier and administrator, just a
+policeman; a splendid man, just a missionary. And you and your brother
+just grubbing about in a God-forsaken mine, apparently for nothing. It
+is enough to make anyone wild." And she faced him with that
+smouldering indignation she rarely allowed to come to the surface.
+
+"But they are both in Rhodesia"--ignoring her kindly inclusion of
+himself and his brother--"and Rhodesia wants good men."
+
+"And when she gets them just buries them at her outposts. I haven't
+much faith in your Rhodesia. She is a capricious jade. She absorbs a
+man's finest qualities and best years and gives him nothing in
+return."
+
+"Ask Carew if she gives him nothing. Probably she has given him more
+than anyone else could give."
+
+She got up impatiently. "All the more reason why he shouldn't be such
+a bear. People who have got what they want out of life ought to be
+amiable and friendly."
+
+She turned round, and found herself face to face with Carew himself,
+looking, if anything grimmer than ever.
+
+"I came to tell you that tea is ready, and the others have already
+commenced."
+
+Diana looked straight into his eyes, with a daring, challenging
+expression. "And you heard me discussing your amiable attributes? I'm
+sorry, but"--with a swift gleam--"I do discuss something else
+sometimes."
+
+"I heard nothing," he answered, returning her direct gaze, and stood
+aside for her to pass.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+AN EVENING RIDE
+
+
+As they rode home in the evening Diana, more nettled with Carew's
+impassivity than she would have cared to own, contrived to get a
+little apart from the others with her uncle, and in her frank,
+engaging way explained to him the rapaciousness of certain mining
+companies and her own promise on behalf of the donkeys. Mr. Pym
+regretted that he could not immediately grant her request without
+consulting his co-directors, but Diana knew perfectly, by the friendly
+gleam in his eye, that he meant to look into the question; and because
+he was impressed by the sturdy, plucky fight of the two brothers he
+would probably do a good deal more for them in the end.
+
+After which she prattled to him gaily, until Stanley was clever enough
+to distract her attention and remanipulate the party. He had been
+riding with Carew, and the engineer with Meryl; but on the party being
+disarranged the engineer joined Mr. Pym to discuss the mining
+properties they had been visiting, and Carew found himself unavoidably
+partnered with Meryl, while Stanley and Diana went gaily on ahead. It
+was the first time, what he was pleased to term "his luck" had
+deserted him. Heretofore there had been no single _tete-a-tete_
+between him and either of the cousins since Diana surprised him in the
+temple ruins. It was his fixed intention that there should be none. He
+argued in himself that he had no "small talk" in his vocabulary, and
+would only reciprocate the boredom he would himself suffer, and rather
+than either should be inflicted he steered a resolute course which
+partnered him with a man. In vain Diana, spurred by pique, had once or
+twice laid a trap for him; and Meryl, with growing interest, had
+sought to draw him into conversation. With masterly art he had steered
+clear of both, and continued his serene, impassive way.
+
+But on that homeward ride Fate, for once, got the better of him.
+Stanley and Diana were cantering gaily ahead along the narrow path,
+that meant smooth-going for one horse and a stumbling amid small rocks
+or long, dry grass for the other; while Mr. Pym and his engineer
+conversed with a solemnity no one could lightly disturb between the
+two front horsemen and the two back.
+
+At first Carew rode along with his eyes fixed rigidly on the horizon,
+and, except for its innate strength, an almost expressionless face.
+Meryl was a little amused. She realised thoroughly that the situation
+was none of his seeking, and she was in two minds whether to give him
+expressionless rigidity in return, or purposely tease him with
+questions. At first she chose silence, and looked around her with eyes
+of growing tenderness at the kopje-strewn country.
+
+And so, instead of being irritated with the "small talk" he dreaded,
+Carew found himself left entirely to his own cogitations; while,
+judging from her rapt expression, she scarcely realised his presence.
+And then, just because human nature is stronger, after all, than most
+things, memory, for the sake of a dream-face he would treasure while
+he had breath, made him look at her covertly with seeing eyes. He
+noted first that she was a perfect horsewoman--slim and upright and
+easy, almost like a part of her horse. Both girls rode astride,
+wearing long holland coats and specially made light top-boots, with
+large shady sun helmets; and because for a long time he had not seen
+anything much but slipshod garments among women riders, or exceedingly
+warm-looking correct home attire, he appreciated their cool smartness.
+
+Unconsciously it took him back to the old buried days, when the
+Devonshire moors and Devonshire lanes knew no hotter rider than Peter
+Carew. To the steeplechases, when he was so slim and wiry that, in
+spite of his height, he had ridden many a horse to victory. To the
+polo matches, when his matchless horsemanship had scored goal after
+goal for his regiment of picked riders. She recalled to his mind the
+stag-hunting in Devon and Somerset, where the first women had ridden
+astride to the meet, realising mercifully how the steep ascents and
+descents were eased for their horses, without the tightly girthed
+side-saddle, and for themselves without the side-seat strain. Almost
+as if it were a carefully permitted luxury, he saw the wide,
+wind-swept moors, heard the cheery shouts and the excited hounds, felt
+his thoroughbred sweeping gloriously along, as if its soul and his
+soul were both one in feeling the joy and exhilaration of the chase.
+What glories there were in those wind-swept, sun-bathed mornings in
+Devon! What joy of life! What lust of manhood! What splendid,
+whole-hearted young inconsequence! In his heart he smiled a little
+grimly. Peter Carew of the Blues had been no shunner of women in those
+days; no taciturn, silent, unappreciative onlooker. Rather he had
+loved too many, kissed too freely, ridden away too light-heartedly.
+
+Until the blue-grey eyes, so like Meryl's, looked shyly up, and then
+in their turn ran away from him. Of course, he had followed blindly
+like the hot-headed, hard-riding sportsman he was--followed blindly,
+wooed irresistibly, and won gloriously.
+
+And then ...
+
+Over the kopjes, over the vleis, over the veldt a black cloud came
+down, and suddenly all the picture was blotted out. An expression that
+was momentarily almost wistful left the fine mouth; the far-away
+softness left the keen blue eyes, and his face hardened strangely.
+Then he looked up at Meryl, riding beside him, and saw all the
+questioning interest in her face.
+
+"I'm afraid you have a very dull companion," he said; but it was in
+the voice that Diana usually called his snarl.
+
+Meryl smiled. "I did not for a moment suppose that you would talk."
+
+She could hardly say that his face relaxed, but at least there was
+that in it which suggested he liked her answer far better than any
+conventional politeness.
+
+Suddenly a wholly unlooked-for twinkle lurked somewhere in his eyes.
+
+"Bears don't usually," he said.
+
+Meryl laughed. "Diana is too fond of nicknaming her friends and
+acquaintances; but on the whole I think she has let you off lightly. A
+bear is a magnificent animal."
+
+"Not given to much amiability. No Prince Charming, for instance," and
+he smiled a little grimly.
+
+"But strong--and--well--dangerous, which is better."
+
+"You think so?" He looked at her rather curiously.
+
+"Decidedly."
+
+They rode on in silence, and, for a little way, the road being rough,
+he reined in his horse to the narrow path behind her. Then, when it
+grew smoother again, she waited for him to come alongside.
+
+"You haven't always been in this part of Rhodesia?"
+
+"No; only recently."
+
+"Long enough to get very attached to it."
+
+"More or less," and suddenly his voice hardened a little, as if
+scenting a discussion and wishful to ward it off.
+
+"I wonder why Rhodesia is so fascinating?" And her eyes roved with
+love in them from far horizon to far horizon. "I suppose you do not
+attempt to analyse it? You are content to care unquestioningly."
+
+"Yes"--with an effort--"after a time, one just cares."
+
+"And at first?..."
+
+"At first one has to find one's footing, so to speak. She is somewhat
+the bewildering, uncomfortable stranger to the new-comer."
+
+She marvelled that he should say so much, but hid her pleasure lest
+she should unwittingly change his mood.
+
+"She has never seemed that to me. Something has attracted me from the
+very first. I came, I saw, I loved."
+
+"You must remember that you came under exceptional circumstances."
+
+"And you?"
+
+"I was among the early pioneers."
+
+"How splendid! I wish I could say the same."
+
+"It was extremely uncomfortable."
+
+"But you didn't mind. I don't need to be told that. There was so much
+to make up for it. How good it must be to be a man!"
+
+"Yet the women are the true heroes out here."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"We get what we came for. Interest, excitement of a kind, freedom...."
+
+"And the women?"
+
+"There is not much for the women, but the plucky ones are often
+heroines."
+
+"Only no one tells them so?"
+
+"No one tells them so; therein lies the heroism."
+
+"I see. They put up a good fight, and no one says, 'Well done!' Isn't
+it the same with the men?"
+
+"The men get many compensations."
+
+"Compensations that make it worth while?"
+
+"Distinctly."
+
+They rode on in silence, both looking ahead to the blue mountain that
+guards the north of Zimbabwe. The peaceful loveliness soothed his
+spirit because he loved it, but in her it awakened a vague, swift
+ache. She felt somehow that he had a right to love the country,
+because he had made it his and given it of his best; that, for all his
+presumable poverty in many things, he was yet so rich in what he had
+achieved, and in what he had won for himself of interest and
+usefulness. While for her?... She was an alien, a mere tourist, a
+looker-on; the daughter of a millionaire who came to Rhodesia for
+wealth, and gave--how little in return!
+
+He might look at the tender outline of the lovely mountain with the
+glad, restful consciousness of work well done. She could only look at
+it with that ache of divine discontent: unplumbed, wordless longing.
+Even the heroism of the settler's wife was not for her. The women who
+were plucky enough to put up that good fight, although no one ever
+said "Well done!" Compared with them, in his eyes she was probably a
+mere cumberer of the earth; an ornament, intended only to be admired
+by the leisured classes. The young splendid country had no use for
+her, no place for her. She was an alien, an interloper; child of a man
+who came only for gain, and took his gain elsewhere, recognising no
+claim from a land that was no home to him, only an investment.
+
+Her soul cried out it was no wish of hers that it should be so; but
+only silent condemnation seemed to echo back to her from the far blue
+hills.
+
+She glanced at the strong, serene face of her companion, and because
+somehow he seemed a little less stern and uncompromising to-day she
+said to him simply, leaning a little to his side:
+
+"I envy you so, the sense that you have won the right to love her. I
+envy the plucky settlers' wives who are the mothers of her future. I
+feel myself so utterly an alien. Has Rhodesia any use for ... for such
+as I?"
+
+He looked at her strangely, and as he looked she saw an expression
+almost like hungry longing come into his eyes; then as suddenly vanish
+again, leaving him utterly amazingly stony. He turned his head
+sharply, and his gaze became fixed and rigid.
+
+"Millionaires' daughters can usually be pretty useful if they like,"
+he said almost brutally; and she felt as if he had struck her. In
+sudden anger and bewilderment she touched her horse with her whip and
+darted ahead. It was not the words, but the way in which he had said
+them. What did he mean?... What did he not mean?... She bit her lips
+to keep back the smarting tears that blinded her eyes. She felt as if
+she hated him. For a little space he had been so different to the
+cold, callous soldier, and in quiet response she had spoken from her
+heart; and in return he had said this cutting thing with cold intent,
+making her feel that he despised her. Did he see in her only a willing
+accomplice to her father's money-making schemes? The one perhaps who
+spent the gains heartlessly and carelessly elsewhere? Beside those
+settlers' wives he had said were heroines, was she but an idle,
+contemptible, useless heiress? She spurred her horse on, letting her
+thoughts run away with her, unwilling that he should overtake her
+until she had got herself well in hand; and Carew followed behind,
+feeling again that sense of a black, rayless abyss all about him. Why
+had he looked full and deep into her eyes like that?... Why had he not
+gazed only upon the mountains that soothed and refreshed him?... The
+mere discovery that the past he thought to have outlived slept so
+lightly was a shock to him. Had he not then outlived anything? Had he
+only put his memories lightly to sleep, and dreamt all the life he had
+lived since? He was scarcely conscious that he had said anything
+inconsiderate; he hardly knew what he had said. He only remembered he
+had looked full and deep into beautiful eyes, and suddenly it was as
+though his dead love Joan had come back to him.
+
+Presently she slowed down so that he came up to her, and it was
+noticeable that something in her whole attitude had changed. She was
+as upright as he now, and her eyes also looked rigidly ahead. He saw
+the change without understanding it and wondered a little, without
+troubling to probe.
+
+"Your friends, Mr. and Mrs. Grenville," she said coldly, "would they
+care to see us if we called, or would they think it perhaps just
+vulgar curiosity?"
+
+"They would be delighted; visitors are a very rare treat to them." He
+was puzzled a little at her manner, but let it pass. Meryl had it on
+the tip of her tongue to add, "They don't mind even millionaires'
+daughters?" but her own good taste saved her from a momentary
+satisfaction that a man of his breeding could only have considered
+bourgeoise.
+
+"Perhaps Mr. Stanley would take us," was all she suffered herself; and
+added, "From his account Mrs. Grenville is evidently one of Rhodesia's
+heroines."
+
+"She is," he answered so simply that Meryl felt a little nonplussed.
+
+When they reached the camp Diana had already dismounted and gone into
+their tent, whither Meryl followed her.
+
+"Well," she said, "how did you get on with The Bear? Did he chore you
+up over anything?"
+
+Meryl considered a moment before replying. "One moment I thought him
+the rudest man I have ever met, and the next ..." she seemed puzzled
+how to explain.
+
+"And the next I suppose he didn't seem a man at all, only a pillar of
+stone!..."
+
+For answer, she said thoughtfully, "I wonder if something hurt him
+very badly some time or other?"
+
+"If it did, it doesn't exempt him from the ordinary amenities of human
+intercourse. He isn't the only man who has been hurt." And Diana
+kicked off her boots impatiently.
+
+"No," said Meryl; "but it makes it a little easier to forgive him."
+
+"Don't do anything so foolish. You'll end by thinking him interesting
+and falling in love with him; which would be too utterly silly when
+you are as good as engaged to Dutch Willy, and when he, The Bear,
+would care about as much as my foot," with which dictum she put her
+head out through the tent flap, and called to Stanley and Carew,
+"Hey! Mr. Stanley! don't go away. Stay and keep us company in my
+uncle's absence. I believe he is venturing into The Bear's den
+to-night."
+
+Carew smiled quite frankly for him.
+
+"Can't I tempt you to come also? I daren't promise you a decent
+dinner, but I've some fresh Abdullah cigarettes out from home, if you
+care to come down afterwards."
+
+Diana was disarmed in spite of herself. "And will you promise to growl
+very prettily?" with an arch expression.
+
+"I'll try not to frighten you away too quickly."
+
+Diana withdrew into the tent.
+
+"O!" she said, "he's a bear with two faces; and that's the most
+difficult to cope with of all."
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+THE MISSION STATION
+
+
+They went to the Grenvilles' the next day, while Mr. Pym took another
+of his investigation trips. Stanley acted as escort, and Carew went to
+Edwardstown on business.
+
+Ailsa Grenville met them with her brightest smile, and ushered them
+proudly into her cool, picturesque drawing-room hut.
+
+"How charming!" they cried, with genuine delight; and Diana added, "O!
+why can't I have a hut in the wilderness?..."
+
+Then the khaki-clad, sportsmanlike missionary strode in, and after the
+preliminary greetings Diana asked with charming piquancy, "O! are you
+really and truly a missionary?"
+
+"Really and truly," he told her gaily, and came over to her side of
+the hut to sit beside her. "Why do you ask it like that?"
+
+She considered a moment, and then declared impishly, "Because it
+doesn't seem possible that a man like you should never say 'Damn.'"
+
+He laughed outright. "Well, I'm not going to tell tales out of school;
+but if you'd only got one pair of brown boots in the world and one
+pair of brown gaiters, and the boy tried to clean them with blacklead
+and paraffin oil!..."
+
+Diana moved nearer to him, with her prettiest and most ingratiating
+air. "O, tell me some more!... Tell me lots more."
+
+"I don't think that is half so bad as the boy washing the saucepans
+and the teacups all in the same water together," put in Mrs.
+Grenville.
+
+"How perfectly delicious of him!" cried Diana. "What else did he do?"
+
+"You ought to have been here this morning when our stores came out
+from Edwardstown," the missionary told her. "The boy carries them on
+his head, you know; and there was a tin of golden syrup ..."
+
+"Yes ... yes ... and it leaked!..." gleefully.
+
+"Trickled all down his head and neck; you never saw such a sticky
+mess! And as soon as the other boys discovered ..."
+
+"Did they duck his head in a bucket?..."
+
+"O, dear no!... _licked_ him!..."
+
+Diana fairly howled with delight; and then Stanley came in, after
+seeing that the horses were properly watered and fed, and was
+immediately accosted by Grenville with, "Hullo, Kid! you're quite a
+deserter! What have you been doing all the week?"
+
+"Do you call him Kid?" Diana asked. "What a capital name for him!"
+
+"He has been 'The Kid' almost ever since he came to this district."
+
+"It pays," remarked Stanley jocularly; "they give me sugar."
+
+"And he lives with The Bear; how comical! Instead of the lion lying
+down with the lamb, in Rhodesia you have The Kid feeding with The
+Bear."
+
+"Who is The Bear?" Ailsa Grenville asked, from the packing-case
+cupboard, where she was reaching down cups and saucers.
+
+"Need you ask?" queried Diana. "Doesn't Major Carew ever growl when he
+is here?"
+
+Ailsa looked much amused. "Not exactly," she said; "but I admit
+sometimes he rolls himself up into a ball, so to speak, and relapses
+into a sort of winter sleep."
+
+"I hope you prod him," said Diana.
+
+"Billy wouldn't let me," glancing affectionately at her husband.
+"There is only one Major Carew for him."
+
+"Still, it might do him good. We prodded him last night, didn't we?"
+addressing Stanley. "We went right into his den, and gave him a good
+baiting, while we smoked his new Abdullah cigarettes," and she smiled
+gleefully at the remembrance of the stern soldier, in an astonishingly
+sociable mood for him, humorously parrying her chaff. "You know," she
+ran on, "he simply hated our coming. I almost wonder he didn't dig
+impassable trenches across the road, or fortify himself in the
+Acropolis Hill. Anyone might have thought we were the bears, and he
+the woman."
+
+"I expect he was afraid of your charms," said Grenville smilingly. "We
+wilderness-dwellers have none of the townsmen's armour to withstand
+fair women."
+
+"Well, growling and scowling are very fair substitutes," quoth Diana;
+"and, besides, he didn't even trouble to observe if we had charms. As
+far as he decently could he looked the other way altogether."
+
+While she chatted on, delighting the missionary and his wife with her
+gaiety, Meryl sat in a low chair, and gazed through the doorway out
+over the smiling country, much as Carew usually did.
+
+"It must be very wonderful," she said at last, aroused by a
+sympathetic question from Ailsa Grenville, "to live day after day with
+such a scene as that in one's doorway."
+
+"Yes," Ailsa told her. "The wonder never grows less, nor the mystery,
+nor the beauty. Major Carew, when he is here, loves just to sit and
+look at it; and so do I."
+
+Diana, with the two men, had strolled outside; and Ailsa and Meryl sat
+alone in the cool interior.
+
+Meryl sat very still, with her hands lightly clasped on her knees, and
+her eyes always--always--to the lovely prospect that was like a mighty
+ocean in which the waves were blue, mystical kopjes; and over which
+the first clouds, that heralded the approach of the rainy season, shed
+entrancing lights and shadows. Ailsa sat a little behind, and her eyes
+roved back from the view that had grown into her being and become part
+of her life to the face of the young heiress. She noted at once its
+instinctive charm; the charm of a woman blessed with most of the
+traits that hold and bind men for ever. Strength was there without
+masterfulness; sweetness that would never cloy; a dreamy elusiveness
+that meant a closed book it would be a joy to study chapter by
+chapter; and some of the chapters would surprise with their lightness
+and mirth, while others would surprise with their depth of sympathetic
+understanding, and yet others would bewilder alluringly with their
+whimsical, irresistible uncertainty. She knew that society papers
+sometimes spoke of the well-known millionaire's daughter as beautiful,
+but to her it seemed the word was hardly the right one. Meryl's face
+had in it something too strong and too distinctive for actual beauty;
+and yet Ailsa thought of all the lovely women she had ever seen none
+were quite so attractive. And because she was a tender-hearted woman,
+the thought crossed her mind to wonder if perhaps, out of the dark
+shadow that she knew hung ever over Peter Carew's life, there might
+yet be a way of escape; a gracious healing, and a final joy. Could two
+such humans meet and not love? Could anything truly separate them if
+once the love were born?
+
+She mused a moment or two happily, sublimely ignorant of all the
+forces that warred between; of what caused the shadow; of the power of
+a dead face; of the pride of a resolute man; of that attractive
+Huguenot Dutchman biding his time down south.
+
+At last Meryl broke the silence. As she sat gazing through the open
+doorway her mind had lingered unconsciously over that last sentence.
+"Major Carew, when he is here, loves just to sit and look at it," and
+in her fancy she saw the silent, watching form of the grim
+soldier-policeman.
+
+"He is an interesting man," she said simply. "I think I understood he
+was some connection of yours?"
+
+"You mean Major Carew? Yes; he is a distant sort of cousin, but we are
+two entirely different branches of the family, and had drifted widely
+apart until we three met out here. Yet it was not surprising we should
+meet like this. The Carews were always wanderers and adventurers, like
+Drake and Frobisher and the other fine old pirates. A humdrum career
+in the Blues would hardly have continued to satisfy Major Carew, any
+more than the conventions and hide-bound prejudices of the Established
+Church could hold my husband."
+
+"Yet, if you will forgive my seeming rudeness, both of them apparently
+took a decided step downwards from the social point of view."
+
+"That would not trouble either of them for a moment. They sought
+Freedom, and found it."
+
+"Yet it meant, in a sense, what some people call being buried alive."
+
+"Ah, those people do not understand. That is how I took it at first.
+Shall I tell you a little, or will it bore you?"
+
+"Please tell me. I think it is kind of you to trust me so soon with
+your confidence."
+
+Ailsa smiled. "One always knows. Anyone with insight would trust you
+instinctively. But there isn't much to tell. Only that when I married
+my husband he held a living in Shropshire, with a sure promise of
+quick promotion; and then Doubt crept in which he could not overthrow,
+and after a long struggle he gave it up because his conscience would
+not let him be a hypocrite."
+
+"But he is still a Church missionary, is he not?"
+
+"In a sense; but he is not paid by any society, and works on his own
+lines entirely. He had a little money of his own, and I have also, and
+out here it is ample. But at first I was very bitter with him, and let
+myself be influenced by my people who were still more bitter, and I
+would not join him. I went back home and lived the old life of my
+girlhood. He never uttered one word of reproach, although he was just
+breaking his heart for me, and--for which I bless him every day of my
+life--he wrote every mail telling me about the country and his work.
+At first I scarcely read the letters, and often did not reply; but he
+wrote on patiently and waited. And at last my mood changed. The
+endless tea-parties began to pall, and the insipidity of my home life.
+Week after week, week after week, the same round of social gatherings;
+the same people, the same conversations, the same everlasting tea,
+buns, and gossip. In each parish around, so many, many unmarried
+women, so many empty, monotonous lives. I think the condition of
+England's country villages is becoming almost a tragedy; all the men
+seem to have gone away to a bigger and wider world, and all the women
+to have been left behind to feed on emptiness. There are the
+clergyman's daughters, the doctor's daughters, the solicitor's
+daughters, and perhaps a few retired veterans and their daughters; all
+struggling through the same old empty round; while the men go out to
+conquer the earth." She paused a moment, but seeing Meryl's rapt
+attention, went on uninterruptedly, "And one day I awoke to the fact
+that I had a special right to one of the finest men who had gone out
+to do his share, and a special place at his side. To cut a long story
+short, I won through the frantic opposition of my family, cut myself
+adrift, and came out here to see for myself what Billy was doing that
+gave him a satisfaction he had never found in his peaceful easy
+living; in spite of the hunger I had always known was wearing out his
+soul for me." She looked out across the country dreamily, before she
+finished. "I shall never forget when I first saw this," motioning to
+the sunny prospect. "We arrived here in the dusk, owing to a
+breakdown, and so I had a long night's rest before Billy first showed
+it to me. I must tell you I was already tremendously impressed, on the
+quiet, with my brown, stalwart, khaki-clad husband in place of the
+decorous, black-coated parson I had parted with; and although the
+journey had been very exhausting, for I had to travel in the
+post-cart, my interest in him and the country had never abated. Then
+he opened the door wide about sunrise, and said casually, 'Sit up and
+look at my view, Ailsa.' I sat up, and for a moment I could not speak
+at all. Do you know, Miss Pym, the country looked positively hung with
+diamonds that wonderful morning. I shall never forget it. Just outside
+the door, forming a sort of framework to the scene beyond, was some
+tall, dry grass, thin and straggly enough to let the light through.
+And where at the top it spread into graceful, hanging, feathery
+seed-ears, it was hung with large dewdrops, reflecting all the colours
+of the rainbow. Behind them was the bluest of early-morning skies.
+Beyond them, what you see here, a far dream-country of untold
+loveliness. I said, 'O, Billy! have you lived beside this all these
+months?' And then I began to cry, because I didn't know what else to
+do, and I was so glad that I had come."
+
+A fleeting shadow of sadness seemed to cross Meryl's face. "I envy
+you," she said in a low voice. "You can stay on with the man you love,
+and see it every day. I must go back to the tea-parties."
+
+"Most people pity me."
+
+"I dare say; and they envy me," with a little forlorn smile.
+
+"You have much power, and power is good," softly.
+
+"Have I?... How, why, where?... What shall I do with all this money my
+father makes? I wonder what I could do to take from my heart this
+feeling that I am an alien and an intruder in this lovely country,
+among you people who are quietly making history? If your husband
+wants money for his mission, I could get him a cheque for a thousand
+pounds from my father, I know; but what is that compared to giving
+one's life as you do, and growing right into the heart of the country,
+and feeling just that it is yours because of what you have given? I
+know that is how Major Carew feels also. One can see it in his rapt
+gaze. He does not care for very much else in the world. But we, my
+father and I, we just take riches out, and give nothing but cheques
+which we never even miss." She got up and moved to the doorway,
+controlling with an effort her sudden, unexpected show of emotion.
+"The others have been looking at your fowls and cattle," she said,
+"and now they are coming back. I hope Mr. Grenville will show us over
+the mission station."
+
+"He will be delighted," Ailsa answered, following her lead with quick
+understanding; "and another day you must come and sit in my doorway
+again."
+
+"I should love to;" and she stepped out into the sunlight to join the
+gay trio Diana was still the life of.
+
+Then Mr. Grenville took them into his workshops and his little mission
+hall, and showed them how he taught the boys carpentering and
+blacksmithing, and reading and writing and farming; making good,
+useful labourers of them with even greater zeal than that with which
+he made them Christians. Diana, the outspoken, could not resist a
+surprised comment.
+
+"I thought people who had been abroad always ran down missionaries,
+and scoffed at missionary work?"
+
+"They do very often," Grenville replied, with frankness, "and not
+without reason. A great many missionaries are naturally not very
+suitable men. It is almost impossible to pick and choose."
+
+"There are some," put in Stanley disgustedly, "who just confirm all
+the blacks they can, without bothering about how much they understand,
+and then make communicants of them so that they can send good figures
+home to their society for the missionary magazines. They don't teach
+them anything useful at all, and they do a roaring trade with the
+garments sent out by pious ladies' work guilds; as if the natives
+weren't better in their own natural state than they are ever likely
+to be dressed up in clothes and fuddled with doctrines."
+
+Mr. Grenville, standing very upright and looking every inch a man,
+said simply, "It isn't entirely their fault always. The home folk like
+the figures; they imagine they stand for progress, and they know
+nothing about the conditions. Many missionaries are very fine men, and
+they would do even better work if left a little more to their own
+initiative, and not cursed with this atmosphere of competition in
+figures. It isn't fair to damn the whole flock because a few of the
+sheep are black."
+
+"And don't you ever feel you are wasting your talents?" Meryl asked
+him a little shyly.
+
+He threw his head back and squared his shoulders with a characteristic
+movement. "It is better than the hypocrisy and feebleness of the
+condition of affairs at home; and I am very fond of the natives. They
+are most lovable, when one once gets their confidence and understands
+them. And the freedom is good, and the primitive conditions. The
+getting right down to the bedrock of nature, so to speak, without too
+much highly developed civilisation. Yes, it is a good life for a man.
+Sometime I should like to show you the mission farm. We've made
+tremendous strides lately."
+
+"And you?..." Diana turned with a winsome air to Ailsa Grenville. "Do
+you find the natives lovable, and the primitive conditions?... And are
+you proud of the mission farm?... Or doesn't it all sometimes make you
+just long to scream?... It would me!..."
+
+Ailsa smiled into her eyes. "One grows adaptable very quickly. I
+confess I am very happy here. Certainly there are times when one feels
+rather as if one had dropped off the world into space, but it doesn't
+take long to struggle through it. But then, of course, it is well to
+remember that Billy and I are rather an exceptional couple; quite
+absurdly, idiotically satisfied with each other's company. If it were
+not so our lives would be purgatory. The tragedies of these far
+countries are for the husbands and wives isolated from all other
+companionship, and having perhaps nothing in common with each other.
+There are few conditions worse than isolation under those
+circumstances. It breaks the woman's spirit and sours the man and
+brings shipwreck, where a little other congenial companionship might
+have brought them through in safety."
+
+They were interrupted by the sound of voices outside, and found that
+Mr. Pym and his engineer, having encountered Major Carew returning
+from Edwardstown, had persuaded him to show them the way to the
+mission. Mr. and Mrs. Grenville greeted them with eager warmth, and,
+the afternoon sun having sunk behind some trees, tea was spread
+outside the huts, so that they could drink it while admiring the view.
+Carew, though silent as ever, was less rigid, and Meryl saw how
+insistently his eyes strayed back to the blue vista of kopjes. She
+wondered what he thought of all day long, in his continuous silences,
+and behind the quiet, forceful eyes. It was noticeable that Diana
+seemed to have outgrown both her awe and chagrin towards him; and
+though at first he proved very unbending, she eventually won something
+like a repartee out of him. Ailsa watched them quietly from the
+background, and waited hopefully, but in vain, to see his eyes stray
+to Meryl. Indeed, he seemed almost to shun her, and she noted it with
+regret. Was it possible that already his preference was given to
+Diana, with her light raillery and ready laugh? Diana so pretty, so
+attractive, so original, and yet to Ailsa's thinking, so far less
+reliable and restful than Meryl. In the end, by a clever little
+manoeuvre, she brought Carew and Meryl together.
+
+"You are almost outvied, Major Carew," she told him lightly. "Miss Pym
+likes my view already, as much, if not more, than you. I told her you
+loved to sit and look at it, and that is exactly what she likes to
+do."
+
+Meryl smiled, but made no comment. Mere admiration seemed superfluous,
+and Carew was grateful that she spared him raptures. So they sat quite
+still, and instead of any constraint between them because of the
+silence, there was a vague sense of restfulness and understanding.
+Meryl spoke first, and then she made no allusion to his love of the
+spot.
+
+"I think you were right," she said simply. "Mrs. Grenville must be one
+of Rhodesia's heroines."
+
+"How do you specially mean it?"
+
+"I mean it, because one _knows_ there must be times when the isolation
+is almost unendurable, and when she must long for many of the things
+of her old life, however much she declares otherwise."
+
+"Yes, I think there are. She evidently had many friends, and she has
+almost lost them all. It is difficult to keep up friendships by post."
+
+Then Ailsa herself joined them.
+
+"Has Major Carew been with you into the temple, yet?" she asked Meryl.
+"He is better than any guide-book for information."
+
+Meryl coloured faintly, but looked a little amused. He had so
+persistently withstood every friendly hint or invitation to accompany
+them among the ruins.
+
+"He has been very much occupied ever since we came," she said,
+glancing towards him.
+
+Carew looked quite unconcerned, and merely assented, which made Ailsa
+rather want to shake him. "But it ought to be part of your business,"
+she told him, "to interest visitors in our wonderful old ruin."
+
+"I can hardly imagine anyone needing any incentive to that from me,"
+he said.
+
+Meryl glanced at him humorously. Some new phase she had detected in
+him, since Diana persisted in what she called "baiting" him, made her
+more ready to overlook his bearishness and less quick to feel
+repulsed.
+
+"Will you take me if I promise not to ask any silly questions?" she
+asked, with a smile.
+
+He looked up, and for a brief moment the past seemed to lie still as
+one that is dead. His keen, direct eyes looked straight into hers, and
+he said simply, "I should like to take you."
+
+Meryl felt her cheeks glow a little with sudden, swift, indefinable
+pleasure, and almost at the same moment Diana broke in upon them.
+
+"Do you know, Major Carew, your singularly appropriate nickname has
+been subjected to a little embroidery?... You are now called, after
+the Coeur de Lion, 'The Bear with two faces.'" All in a moment he
+stiffened and the shadow loomed; and while Meryl wondered Diana ran on
+unheedingly, "If I say to you when we meet, 'Which face is it to-day?'
+you will know that I mean, is it your day of lordly graciousness, or
+is it the cast-iron, beware-of-the-bull frown day?"
+
+"I think you are excessively rude, Diana," Meryl said, though she
+smiled with the rest.
+
+Carew smiled too, but he rose from his seat and moved away on some
+small pretence.
+
+And as he went, Meryl, watching with eyes that were daily gaining
+clearer sight, saw that the shadow was as of some deep, unfathomable
+pain.
+
+She too got up and moved a little away from the rest, gazing with
+grave, tender eyes across the kopjes, lying how bathed in a faint
+ethereal flush of rose and gold.
+
+"He had not always two faces," she said in her heart. "Something hurt
+him badly once, and ever since he has taken refuge behind the iron
+mask."
+
+"Rhodesia," her heart whispered, almost without her consciousness,
+"cannot you with your fairness reward him for his work by soothing
+away the memory so that the refuge is no longer needed?..."
+
+A little later, as they all prepared to ride home, she saw how
+resolutely he took his place with the engineer, and hastened on ahead,
+quenching even Diana by the stoniness of his mien.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+A DECISION THAT FAILED
+
+
+As Carew sat outside his hut that evening smoking a solitary pipe, two
+thoughts seemed to fill his mind. The one that he had told Meryl he
+would be pleased to visit the temple ruins with her; the other the
+warning unconsciously conveyed in Diana's raillery, reminding him that
+he was in danger of straying from the rigid pathway he had chosen of
+unsociable aloofness, and therefore in a measure, perchance, inviting
+trouble.
+
+But of course he need not go. A polite message by Stanley, or a call
+as he rode past perhaps, already starting on some convenient
+engagement. Yet as he sat on he knew it was not entirely his wish to
+resort to either subterfuge. Why, after all, should he not go with her
+just once, and no doubt Diana also, and tell them a little about the
+mysterious walls?
+
+He pulled hard at his pipe, staring into the darkness. Why not go and
+get it over, instead of troubling to send an excuse? Surely that were
+the simpler plan? One moment he thought he would, and the next he
+found himself shrinking unaccountably, warned again by Diana's chaff.
+He knew quite well she was right. He was a man, or a bear if she
+preferred it, with two faces; but the trouble was that she should so
+thoroughly have grasped the fact. He had only intended to show one
+face, the uninviting, frigid one; and yet unconsciously she had won
+from him more than one glimpse of the other.
+
+And if he unbent so far as to act as their escort to the ruins, he was
+yielding still further to an atmosphere of friendliness he had
+forsworn.
+
+He turned in at last, still in indecision, but the next morning he
+said he would not go.
+
+So Meryl waited a little forlornly through the morning hours. It was
+unusually cool for Zimbabwe, the hot sun being hidden by grey clouds,
+and she knew no question of heat could possibly be detaining him. She
+had hoped he would call for her about eleven and then come back to
+lunch; but the morning wore on, and no tall figure in khaki strode out
+from the clearing where the police camp stood.
+
+Neither did the afternoon bring any word or sign, until Stanley
+arrived for a cup of tea and to ask them to stroll up to the store
+with him at the head of the valley. Diana agreed readily, having found
+the hours somewhat tedious; but Meryl felt tired and headachy, and
+chose to remain behind. Once, as casually as she could, she asked if
+Carew had gone anywhere for the day.
+
+"No, he's grinding away at his report for the Native Commission, and
+as solemn as a judge. I don't think he has spoken two words all day."
+
+"Is there some special haste then?"
+
+"O no; it is just his mood. He gets a sort of black day sometimes,
+when he barely answers if you speak to him, and looks like a bronze
+figure. Then he grinds away at something or other as if his life
+depended on it, and Moore and I have to just shut up."
+
+When they had gone away up the valley Meryl sat on alone in the shade,
+thinking deeply. Evidently he had some reason of his own for not
+following up his promise, and she need not any longer expect him. He
+did not want to take her, and probably was vexed that he had said that
+he would. It did not seem very polite, but she hardly looked at it in
+that way. Somehow, with this stern-featured soldier-policeman, the
+ordinary amenities of conventional intercourse seemed to have little
+weight. If he regretted his words and did not want to go, she liked
+him better for calmly remaining away, than coming against his wish,
+because he felt he ought. Another man would have done that, any man,
+in fact; only Peter Carew, and a few like him, would calmly change his
+mind and remain aloof without saying anything.
+
+Yet how keenly she was disappointed. It was quite idle to pretend
+otherwise to herself, and with a strength like his she calmly faced
+the fact. When she went to bed the previous night she had lain awake
+thinking of the morrow, hugging to her consciousness with shy
+gladness that he was on the point of unbending at last and showing a
+little friendliness. In a few days now they would be journeying on,
+and she had begun to expect he would remain unbending to the last, and
+let them go away, perhaps never to meet again, with nothing beyond the
+official courtesy and the occasional sparring with Diana. And then had
+come this sudden hope, and she had been strangely glad. One might live
+a lifetime and not again meet a man quite like him. Even if their
+intercourse were to be of the merest afterwards, still it was better
+than nothing, better than a final end to all friendship when they
+journeyed on again, leaving him and the ruins behind.
+
+And now had come this swift disappointment. He must have regretted his
+move instantly, and made up his mind to be more rigid than ever.
+
+She hardly troubled to ask why. Doubtless he had his own reasons, and
+whatever they were, they were nothing petty or small. Her eyes strayed
+a little longingly to the police camp, and she watched the door of his
+hut from her chair securely hidden behind some low bushes.
+
+Was he still grinding at his report, she wondered, looking like a
+bronze figure? The simile pleased her, and she smiled. Yes, bronze was
+the right word to use, for his face and hands and arms were tanned
+almost to the colour of his khaki with exposure, so that he sometimes
+looked all of a piece, except for the close-clipped dark moustache and
+keen, intense blue eyes.
+
+Then as she looked she saw some movement in the camp. A boy appeared,
+apparently in answer to a call, and stood a moment receiving
+directions. Then the tall figure itself appeared, stood a moment to
+give an order, and strode down towards the little gate. She sat up,
+and her breath came a little unevenly. Was he really coming at last?
+Had he, after all, been seriously delayed?
+
+No; outside the gate, without one glance towards the tents on the
+hill-side, he turned to the left and disappeared in the direction of
+the Acropolis Hill.
+
+So there was nothing further to hope for. He would never come now. It
+was the end.
+
+She got up, feeling suddenly a new tiredness, and wishing vaguely that
+they were leaving on the morrow. Perhaps it would be possible to
+persuade her father to do so without exciting much comment. Diana was
+already a little bored with their camping-place and ready to be off,
+and she ... without daring to probe too deeply, Meryl felt, for the
+sake of her own peace of mind, it would be wiser to go quietly away
+from a presence so likely to disturb her peace.
+
+Yes, she would ask her father to plan a move as soon as he came in,
+and in the meantime she must do something herself to pass the next
+hour more helpfully than sitting alone in the shade.
+
+The greyness had rolled away now, and the evening grown exceptionally
+lovely, with clear skies overhead and great banks of pearly tinted
+clouds on the horizons. Where should she go? Only two ways lay open.
+Either she must follow Diana and Stanley up the valley, or she must
+stroll down to the temple alone. The third route lay to the Acropolis
+Hill, and that was formidably closed by the presence of the man who
+should have been her companion. Finally she decided on the temple, and
+tying on the large grey hat that blended so charmingly with her eyes
+and the soft tints of her skin, she walked along the little footpath
+skirting the police-camp vegetable-garden to the western entrance.
+
+Inside the temple walls all was very peaceful and still, while the
+sunshine made a network of gold through the leafy trees upon the
+antique masonry. Yet as she looked around upon the empty desolation
+her heart grew sad with a nameless sorrow; that old, old ache, and
+old, old tiredness, for the utter futility of work and of striving,
+that sometimes seems to fill the human heart, when in a depressed mood
+it looks upon the ruins of something that has once had strength and
+greatness. Meryl carried in her hand a little pocket edition of Omar,
+but she did not open the leaves nor read the lines. In a vague way it
+was enough to have it with her; it was like having in her hand the
+hand of a friend who understood. For of all poets the world has known,
+perhaps none have so perfectly voiced the cry of the human heart when
+it questions the why and the wherefore and the worthwhileness of its
+own mysterious existence. So she sat very still in the ancient temple,
+and pondered the old questions that live from age to age--unanswered.
+
+And because Sorrow seemed for the moment to have her in his keeping,
+all her thoughts were tinged with sadness. She looked around upon the
+broken walls, and it seemed to be brought home to her with sudden
+force, how little time was given to each one to play his part before
+he must make room for another.
+
+     The Bird of Time has but a little way
+     To fly, and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.
+
+And because there was that element of greatness in her, which was also
+in her father, she thought less of the "worthwhileness" of doing than
+of the poorness of _not_ doing. His talents were given to
+money-making, because it was the thing he had a genius for; but she
+knew that in a measure he fulfilled his trust, and besides subscribing
+generously to charities, helped many a "lame dog" over his stile in
+secret. But what had this to do with the trust that was hers? She who
+did not even bear the heat and burden of the day in making the
+money?... She who had but to spend it.
+
+In the ruined temple she sat on--thinking, thinking.
+
+How the spot fascinated her!
+
+In this far Rhodesia, how strange that she, the product of the most
+modern and presumably enlightened age, should linger there amidst
+these broken walls, and feel strange kinship and fascination about
+those old people in that remote age; should stretch a hand out to
+them, as it were, across the centuries, with this feeling that their
+thoughts had been even as her thoughts, and that the passing of the
+ages could never eradicate the essential likeness of one people to
+another in those old eternal questions of whence and why and
+wherefore.
+
+And they, the maidens of that day, had loved the man who was big and
+strong and true, even as the maidens of to-day; the man who achieved;
+who was ever fearless to do and dare; who gave his service to the
+world quietly, unostentatiously, indifferent to praise or reward. And
+what was the use of it all: the love, the heartache, the silent
+admiration.... The maidens were dust now, and all the strength and the
+heroism of the strong men could not give them one age longer to do and
+dare ere they too made room for others.
+
+Yet always--always--deep-rooted in the heart and mind of humanity, was
+this ineradicable belief in the simple act of _doing_; this
+half-contempt of the lives content to flutter their little way in
+aimless self-seeking. The spirit that took men through the terrible
+solitudes of untrodden places, that urged them across uncharted seas,
+that carried them fearlessly aloft to conquer the air--not for gain,
+not for notoriety, not for praise, but just that simple splendid need
+to be _doing_. How it appealed to her, how it enthralled her senses,
+how it made her ache with a great overwhelming desire to discover
+quickly what "doing" in a big sense there might be for her!
+
+Of course he, the stern soldier-policeman, was of the fearless band.
+In his quiet way he was "doing" with the foremost, though it might be
+a work that would never bring him anything in this world but enough
+pay just to live upon. But that was beside the point. The band to
+which he belonged did not linger in the shallows, counting the cost,
+counting the gain; they plunged straightway into the deep waters, and
+struggled to some mysterious, perhaps fugitive, goal ahead, finding
+their reward in the struggle itself and the difficult headway won.
+
+And afterwards!...
+
+O, what did it matter about afterwards, if one had put up a good fight
+and dared the deep waters? How much better to be overwhelmed there,
+than to fritter away a butterfly life in the shallows! How splendid to
+win through and stand on the far bank with the quiet band of strong
+workers, even though no one knew aught of the struggle, instead of
+being lauded to the skies by the playing butterflies!
+
+Only, what could she do; ah, what?
+
+A wave of hopelessness seemed to seize upon her, and back across her
+mind like a lash cut the dictum of the strong, rigid man, "A
+millionaire's daughter can generally be pretty useful if she likes."
+
+Of course, signing cheques, cheques, cheques--a mere machine--and
+never to get in touch with the deep need, the inarticulate sorrow of
+the world that her soul ached to comfort. It would seem that even to
+him, the figure of bronze, it was what she should seek as her
+_metier_. She almost wondered if somewhere in his heart he had a
+faint contempt for her, because she was a millionaire's daughter: a
+product of the new regime; someone who could not be permitted to stand
+in the same light as the women of his ancient, illustrious name; who
+had no part with the proud, patrician ladies of his great family.
+
+She rose to her feet suddenly, feeling unaccountably hurt by the
+thought, and her eyes roved half unconsciously, and fixed themselves
+upon the spot where the scarlet petals of the Kaffir boom showed
+blood-red against the ancient northern wall. The ache in her heart
+coloured all her mind for the moment, shutting out the glad sunshine
+with its golden evening glow resting tenderly upon the granite blocks,
+showing her only the splashes of scarlet like blood upon the ancient
+walls. Was it the altar of sacrifice? Did the Kaffir boom shed its
+great red flowers for ever, like drops of blood upon the altar of the
+world's pain?
+
+The sound of a step upon broken stones roused her suddenly; a man's
+firm tread close beside her. She looked round slowly as it stood
+still, and with the ache and the question lingering in her face, found
+herself looking into blue eyes of a disconcerting directness--the eyes
+of the soldier-policeman.
+
+"I saw you from the Acropolis Hill," he said, "and so I came."
+
+No word of why he had not come sooner; no explanation of his presence
+on the Acropolis Hill when she had a right to expect him with her; no
+preliminaries at all, no self-conscious excuses, no apparent
+realisation that he had behaved a little oddly; only the simple,
+direct announcement, "I saw you, so I came."
+
+Yet there was something more--a vague intangible something, that made
+the directness of his eyes disconcerting in a way it had not been
+before. Meryl felt a pink flush stealing over her face, and turned her
+head away to hide it.
+
+"I wonder what you were thinking about just then?" he said, with the
+slightest softening. "I awoke you from a very deep reverie."
+
+She raised her eyes, and they fell again upon the scarlet flowers.
+Something born of her own deep understanding told her, give this man
+straightness for straightness always if you would stand well with
+him; no begging the question, no subterfuge.
+
+"I was thinking," she answered simply, "that those scarlet petals of
+the Kaffir boom, falling on these ancient walls, suggest great blood
+drops offered, upon the altar of the world's pain throughout the
+ages."
+
+"Ah!..." The exclamation escaped him quickly, unheedingly--sharp,
+short, abrupt. It was as though she had struck him suddenly in a
+vulnerable place. It told her, as perhaps nothing else could have
+done, she had gauged rightly when she remarked to Diana that sometime
+something had hurt him very much.
+
+For a moment there was a tense, pulsing silence, and then he turned
+aside towards the sacred enclosure which stood behind them. Meryl
+turned also, and ventured as she did so to glance into his face. It
+was stern again now, but she knew for a brief moment as he made the
+exclamation it had not been so, and for a reason she did not seek to
+fathom her heart was strangely glad.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+THE ANCIENT RUINS
+
+
+When Carew had started up into the Acropolis Hill an hour previously,
+he had not had the faintest intention of fulfilling his engagement and
+going in search of Meryl. On the contrary, he had gone there to avoid
+her.
+
+All day long, as Stanley described, he had been grinding away at his
+native report in a gruff, determined silence: a silence even gruffer
+and more determined than usual. Because of his thoughts the previous
+evening and of his decision in the morning, he had finally made up his
+mind not to visit the temple with Meryl Pym, and not to run any
+further risk of slipping unconsciously into the friendly attitude he
+was so anxious to avoid. When Stanley set out towards the tents, he
+mentioned casually that he was going up the valley to the store, which
+is also a most attractive and comfortable hostel for Zimbabwe
+visitors, and should ask the two girls to go with him. A little later,
+glancing in the valley direction, Carew saw the khaki figure for a
+moment going up the pathway, and the flutter of a light dress, or
+possibly two, just ahead. He took it for granted that Meryl and Diana
+had both accompanied Stanley, and that his escort was no longer
+expected. He told himself he was glad, and decided to go into the
+Acropolis Hill, about that point of interest still unravelled between
+himself and Grenville, and so avoid any chance encounter.
+
+But when he found himself among the ruined fortifications, he became
+conscious of a flagging interest wholly unlooked for. Something seemed
+to have gone out of him, or out of the ancient stones, and he knew
+himself in some vague way not in tune. He gazed at the amazing walls,
+erected upon granite boulders two hundred to two hundred and fifty
+feet above the valley, and the marvel in him that never seemed to die
+was, at any rate, less arresting than it had ever been before.
+
+Here, on an isolated hill, rising to a height of three hundred and
+fifty feet, were fortifications which in their ingenuity, massive
+character, and persistent repetition at every point of vantage had
+astonished the highest experts of modern military engineering. Rampart
+walls, traverses, screen-walls, intricate entrances, narrow and
+labyrinthine passages, sunken thoroughfares, banquettes, parapets, and
+other devices of a people thoroughly conversant with military
+engineering and defence, and not one word, not one line, not one clue
+as to the identity of the builders nor the object of their colossal
+labours; labours which one felt could only have been achieved through
+the compulsory service of many slaves, for thousands of tons of
+granite blocks had been transported up the precipitous kopje to a
+height of no less than two hundred feet, which a careful examination
+of the rocks on the hill proves must mostly have been quarried from
+granite about twelve miles distant. And all this in spite of the fact
+that Nature alone had made the hill already impregnable, it being
+inaccessible on three sides and very difficult of ascent on the
+fourth. It is one of Rhodesia's mysteries, and one also of its
+fascinations; those mysteries and fascinations which so far have
+effectually baffled all efforts to find the clue and read the closed
+book. Who was it came for gold in those old, old days? Who was it
+built the line of forts to Solfala on the coast to guard the route
+along which the gold was undoubtedly carried, and of which remains may
+still be seen at regular intervals the whole distance? Where was the
+gold taken to from Solfala, and by whom?
+
+And no less strange perhaps is the absence of all clue to the
+burial-ground of this stalwart race; for only a stalwart people could
+have built those temple walls and those amazing fortifications. Where
+then are the bones of their dead? Strange and incomprehensible as it
+may seem, no excavations have yet unearthed human bones, or brought to
+light any spot that might be supposed to have been a burial-ground.
+
+To Peter Carew the mystery and the fascination had become such an
+ever-present companion in his thoughts, that it was not surprising a
+moment should come when he stood among the ramparts and found their
+interest for the time being crowded out. The surprising thing was the
+source of that crowding out. For it was not even the lengthy report
+for the Native Commission to which he was giving such infinite thought
+and pains that filled his mind; neither was it anything to do with the
+police force he had grown to care for as truly as his old regiment;
+nor any far-reaching, visionary dream for the welfare of the country.
+Chiefly it was a pair of grave blue-grey eyes, with a gleam in them as
+their owner said, "Will you take me if I promise not to ask any silly
+questions?" And he had said "Yes." Yet now he was here on the
+Acropolis Hill alone.
+
+He stared moodily at the broken walls and pondered within himself. Why
+had he not taken her? Or why, since he had chosen not to do so, could
+he not put the whole remembrance from his mind? Nay, why did he half
+begin to wish that he had not let himself be overruled by his own
+counsel of prudence? They would be going so soon now, and it might be
+long before he would again be given an opportunity to speak with any
+woman of Meryl's charm, or look into any face so full of attraction.
+And yet that was just what he wished; was actually the chief reason
+for his unsociable resolutions. His own inconsistency puzzled and
+worried him, and his eyes as he looked steadily to the horizon had a
+lurking cloud in them.
+
+Then quite suddenly and unexpectedly he had turned his gaze to the
+temple walls lying far below, and seen the figure seated idly on
+fallen masonry, lost in thought.
+
+Then she had not gone with Stanley and Diana? She had remained behind
+alone, nettled perhaps by his bearishness, and choosing to be
+independent, and still take her stroll to the temple without him.
+
+But it was not the thought of her possible censure that spurred him
+unexpectedly to a new decision. He had accustomed himself to be
+indifferent to that in most people. It was a perfectly simple and
+direct desire to join her. And because at heart he was a perfectly
+simple and direct man, he suddenly left off cogitating and started
+down the hill. Perhaps until that moment he had not truly known which
+way his desire lay. Perhaps in the first discovery he had purposely
+not chosen to give himself time to weigh and probe. Anyhow, he
+hesitated no more, until he stood at her side and looked into her
+eyes with that direct gaze that Meryl so unexpectedly found
+disconcerting. But the sensation passed rapidly, and in its place came
+a quiet content. Whether he had avoided her all day or not, at least
+he came now entirely of his own initiative, and for the time it was
+enough. She was too honest to pretend anything herself, and possessed
+too fine a nature to cover what might have held embarrassment by a
+coquettish taunt or feigned pique.
+
+"I had given you up," she said; "it seemed probable that you had
+spoken unthinkingly when you said you would come."
+
+"I have been working all day at my report," he replied simply.
+
+He seemed a little different somehow, and besides, he had come
+entirely of his own free will. She remembered it, and put away all
+sense of restraint, fought down and conquered the self-consciousness
+that sometimes seemed to grip her when he was taciturn and aloof.
+
+He had placed one foot on a low wall, and leaned back against a tree
+in a natural, unrestrained attitude, and quite naturally she seated
+herself on the wall before him.
+
+"You found it very engrossing?"
+
+"It is interesting work."
+
+"Has it any special object, or just a general one?"
+
+"A little of both. We want to benefit the natives as a whole and
+improve their conditions; and we want also to make some changes in the
+native administration of the country."
+
+"And you are fond of the natives? For you at least they are worth
+while?"
+
+"Emphatically so."
+
+"To any particular end?"
+
+His face grew grave and thoughtful, but the hardening stayed away
+still--the hardening that so often came when either she or Diana,
+sought to draw him. Only apparently to men would he speak of his work
+and his beliefs.
+
+"It is difficult to say. Probably nothing but time will show us the
+true solution of the problem of the black and the white race living
+together in one country. But meanwhile the black man is eminently
+worth while. With firm and just treatment he is capable of great
+development."
+
+He raised his eyes and looked out into the distance. "If only we could
+ensure it for him everywhere! Native commissioners and their clerks
+and the magistrates, all men of fine fibre, who honestly care about
+the natives under them and the welfare of the country. So much could
+be done if ... if ..." He smiled a little grimly. "We are so apt to
+expect the impossible," he finished. "How should numbers of men of
+fine fibre ever reach Rhodesia at all? In so many cases we must just
+take what we can get."
+
+"But the standard will improve as the country grows?"
+
+"O yes; it is improving steadily. All the signs are hopeful, if we can
+but light upon what is truly the best method of administering the
+native laws, and get good men to carry the work out."
+
+And still the heavenly sense of unrestrained mental kinship lingered.
+Happy, yet fearful, Meryl ventured a word of appreciation.
+
+"It must make you glad to feel you are doing such a useful work for a
+young country. It seems as if ... as if ... it is just what a man
+might ask to be doing."
+
+He drew himself up with a slightly taut movement, and she divined he
+did not wish for any personal praise; yet, because a tinge of red
+showed under the bronze, she was glad she had seized the opportunity
+to offer a tribute that might at some odd moment heal a passing sense
+of uselessness and appreciation.
+
+She stood up also, and they moved slowly round the ruins together,
+while he explained to her much that he had read and gathered and
+surmised in his leisure hours, not only about the temple itself, but
+about all the ancient remains and the mysterious people who had dwelt
+there long ago. Told as he told it, the listener could only find it
+enthralling, for the man's heart was in his subject; and where another
+might have rhapsodised or sentimentalised, he only stated certain
+remarkable facts, and gave her the simple reasons for and against
+certain deductions, that she might decide her own view for herself.
+
+"But you?..." she questioned at last. "In spite of the scientific men
+who have scoffed, and their followers who have thrown cold water upon
+all enthusiastic belief in the antiquity of the ruins, you are quite
+satisfied that they are really of a very great age, are you not?"
+
+"Absolutely."
+
+"Can you tell me why chiefly?" She smiled a little. "I believe it
+absolutely myself, but I am afraid it is partly a sentimental belief.
+Already I love them, and it makes me jealous for them. I feel I cannot
+bear anyone to throw doubt upon their antiquity."
+
+"It is not easy to explain in a few words, without a great many facts
+and a lot of detail, but I can tell you one or two salient points. For
+one thing, Zimbabwe was evidently connected with a gold industry on a
+very large scale. Mr. Telford Edwards, a well-known and able mining
+engineer in Rhodesia, measured up, about fourteen years ago, the
+length, breadth, and depth of most of the then known old workings in
+Rhodesia, and calculated the cubic contents of what had been taken
+out. And taking the assay value in each old working to be per ton the
+same as it is in the reef in each case now, he estimated that at the
+present value of gold more than one hundred million pounds' worth had
+been taken out. Even two hundred years ago gold was worth very much
+more than it is now; so that it is inconceivable that such an amount
+had been produced within the last two thousand years without any
+mention of it anywhere. Such a production of gold would have upset the
+markets of the world."
+
+"Yes," she said eagerly as he paused; "please go on."
+
+He did so, but without withdrawing his gaze from the distance.
+"Another point is that the workings are so widely dispersed and so
+numerous, requiring such an enormous amount of time and labour, that
+it seems only reasonable to believe that the gold-mining went on for
+many hundreds of years, probably before the age of writing at all. I
+am not prepared to agree offhand that Zimbabwe is probably the ancient
+Havilah of the Scriptures, but I see no very good reason why it should
+not be. On the other hand, the ancient workings and fortifications and
+temples may have been the work of Phoenicians or Mongols several
+thousand years ago. Certainly against Mr. McIver's theory, that the
+Temple was the work of Bantus a few hundred years ago, I think we may
+put the fact that an admirable drainage system has been
+unearthed;--drainage systems of any kind being more or less unknown to
+black races of a low order. In the meantime, we can but await fresh
+clues, which may put us upon the track of proofs, and hope that the
+day is not very far distant when much of the mystery will be cleared."
+
+"O, I hope so," she said; "and thank you so much for telling me all
+that you have. I shall think of it often when I am back in 'the cities
+of the plain,'" and she smiled a little wistfully.
+
+He did not answer, and she wondered what deep thoughts at the back of
+his brain made him always so grave. She felt instinctively he had not
+always worn this serious, preoccupied air, and her heart grew tender
+anew at the thought of that "something" which had hurt him long ago.
+
+Had he ever told anyone? she wondered. Would he ever tell anyone?...
+or would he go quietly on through his life, self-contained,
+self-dependent, aloof? Well, it was good to have met him and known
+him; a simple, strong soul going quietly about its appointed service
+is always good to have known. Perhaps the recollection of the meeting
+later would help her to do likewise, and in the maze of her life learn
+at least to do the simple, strong thing at the moment.
+
+They were moving towards the western entrance now, and she wondered if
+he would accompany her back to the tents, and perhaps stay a little,
+as Stanley did evening after evening. But just as they approached the
+opening voices were heard, and a moment later Diana and Stanley stood
+in the wide aperture. Diana's winsome face was lit with whimsical
+mischievousness, but it fell somewhat when she beheld Carew.
+
+"O goodness!" she remarked comically. "Who would have thought of
+finding you here?"
+
+Stanley and Meryl laughed at her apparent discomfiture, and even Carew
+relaxed as he replied, "You don't seem entirely pleased."
+
+"Well, no, I'm not; but if you are just leaving it doesn't matter."
+
+"I think I shall stay; I scent some vandalism."
+
+"O well," airily, "if you will have it, we were just coming to dig for
+corpses;" and she tossed her head with an independent air.
+
+"It is strictly forbidden to dig for anything on pain of various dire
+penalties," Carew told her.
+
+"I know it is, and that is just exactly why it interferes with my
+plans to find _you_ here."
+
+"I see. And what about Mr. Stanley, who is also a representative of
+the Government that made the laws?"
+
+"Mr. Stanley is only a trooper, and I am Diana Pym. It is not his
+place to interfere with my actions. It would only be mine to shield
+him if he was persuaded to help me and got into trouble."
+
+"And what in the world do you want with a corpse, Di?" asked Meryl.
+
+"Why gold, of course! Mr. Stanley has been telling me a perfectly
+thrilling theory about corpses with a lot of antique gold ornaments on
+them being buried in the ruins; and he knows where one or two are,
+because a gold-diviner showed him with his divining-rod, and he marked
+the places in case he wanted to remember later; and to-day is when he
+did want to remember later, and he's just strolled round with me to
+point out the spots; and if that isn't a long enough sentence for you,
+you must add some more yourself," drawing a long breath.
+
+The Kid, enjoying himself hugely, hastened to add for Carew's benefit,
+"It's only just a joke. Miss Pym wanted me to show her where our
+visitor of the other day said he had divined gold."
+
+"It's not a joke at all," declared Diana defiantly. "It's the key to
+the whole mystery. While all you scientific folks are arguing this,
+that, and the other, I want to look and see. Besides, if there are
+antique gold ornaments, perhaps a few thousand years old, I want some.
+I'm not specially in love with your old broken walls, but I'm ready to
+be in love with your jewellery, worn a few thousand years ago."
+
+"You Philistine!" exclaimed Meryl. "If you can't appreciate the ruins,
+you certainly ought not to be allowed to possess a single treasure
+taken from them."
+
+"O rot!... What's the use of decayed old walls anyway? You and Major
+Carew can have the heaps of stones. We don't want to rob you of so
+much as a pebble. But we do badly want to dig down and look for a
+corpse."
+
+"And when did you propose to begin?" asked Carew.
+
+"Well, I suppose a moonlight night would be best, when you're rolled
+up in your den or else when you've gone off to a distant kraal."
+
+"You would see a ghost in about half an hour," from Meryl, "and fly
+for your life."
+
+"O, are there ghosts?" looking suddenly dubious. "Did your diviner
+divine any ghosts while he was about it?..." turning to Stanley. "You
+never told me that. Of course, I shouldn't much like to be handling a
+corpse, and feel its ghost put a cold, clammy hand on my shoulder.
+What a horrible idea! Do you think there are any?"
+
+"There might be;" and The Kid's eyes twinkled. "Of course, I supposed
+you would imagine we ran risks of that sort."
+
+"Ugh!..." with a cold shudder. "I believe I can see one now. It must
+have overheard me saying I coveted those gold ornaments. Come away
+quickly. I want ... I want ... now don't look shocked, Meryl; I want a
+whisky and soda!..."
+
+They followed her out from the gathering gloom of the walls into the
+quick-coming darkness, and as she and Stanley pressed on ahead, Carew
+and Meryl could only follow. As they did so they spoke little. It was
+as though some bond of sympathy between them had slipped into being of
+itself outside their consciousness altogether, and with a blessed
+sense of quiet understanding neither attempted to make conversation;
+and neither questioned as yet whence came this unsought bond, this
+link forged as by a power outside themselves. The time for probing was
+near, but it lingered yet a little.
+
+As they approached the tents and joined the other two waiting to make
+their adieux, Diana's voice again broke in upon their quiet,
+dispelling its curious sense of unreality.
+
+"It wasn't you I was afraid of, Major Carew," she called lightly.
+"Baboons and owls and bears I dare tackle any day; but a ghost three
+thousand years old!... ugh!... I give it up!... You will not need to
+add to that precious native report another one, concerning the daring
+theft of a corpse from the ancient ruins of Zimbabwe by a well-known
+young lady from Johannesburg."
+
+He smiled into her laughing eyes in a manner that surprised her, and
+made his face extraordinarily attractive in a way she had not yet seen
+it.
+
+"And what would have happened to Stanley, do you suppose?... I'm
+afraid the police force might have considered it necessary to dispense
+with his services."
+
+"O, that wouldn't have mattered in Rhodesia in the least! He'd have
+opened a butcher's shop, or come on with us as our butler, or gone and
+dug a hole in a kopje and called it gold-mining. No one would have
+thought any the worse of him, and I'd have felt indebted to him for
+life. We'd both have had a run for our money, anyhow!..." and she
+laughed gaily as she turned away.
+
+But in their tent, alone together, she suddenly made the epigrammatic
+remark, "Dangerous, very dangerous indeed; like most bears. Mind you
+don't get badly clawed, Meryl!..." and then with her usual lightness
+ran off into another subject.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+CAREW RIDES AWAY
+
+
+With the coming of the dark, velvety southern night, resplendent with
+brilliant southern stars, it would seem the time for probing was at
+hand. By the tents on the hill-side Mr. Pym, the engineer, Meryl, and
+Diana sat outside in the starlight, rather a silent party, listening
+to the intermittent sound of tom-toms coming from some kraal near by.
+
+Then Mr. Pym alluded somewhat suddenly to their departure, and Meryl
+made the discovery that it was a topic she had been dreading all the
+evening. Diana, on the other hand, seemed relieved.
+
+"I have one more journey to make," he told them, "and then I propose
+to start at once for Enkeldorn and Salisbury. Unfortunately, I am
+afraid this journey will take two and possibly three days."
+
+"Then take us with you," said Diana at once.
+
+"It is an unhealthy district or I would. I do not think it would harm
+you, but I am afraid for Meryl." There was a slight pause, then he
+added, "As we returned to-day we stayed for a cup of tea at the
+mission station with Mr. and Mrs. Grenville. I happened to mention my
+journey, and Mrs. Grenville said she would be delighted if you would
+both go and spend the two or three days with her."
+
+"But I want to come with you," Diana cried; and leaning towards him
+added confidently, "Uncle, you will have to take me; don't make a
+fuss."
+
+"Why shall I have to take you?" with amusement in his small, keen
+eyes.
+
+"Because I have made up my mind to go," was the prompt rejoinder; and
+he gave an amused chuckle.
+
+"And what do you say, Meryl? Will you spend two or three days with
+Mrs. Grenville?"
+
+"I should like to, if Di really wants to go; otherwise we could quite
+well have remained on here, couldn't we?" There was a note of anxiety
+in her voice that she was unable to entirely hide. Only three more
+days, and they to be spent several miles away!
+
+"I do not particularly want to leave you here as long as that. I would
+rather you visited Mrs. Grenville, and I think it would be an
+interesting change. She invited you both."
+
+"It was very kind of her," said Diana, "but I am quite decided about
+wanting to go with you. I suppose we could both come?"
+
+"I think I would as soon go to Mrs. Grenville"; and Meryl sat very
+still, gazing at a distant star.
+
+"What do you think?" said Mr. Pym to his engineer. "Will it be all
+right for my niece to accompany us?"
+
+"Why, yes, certainly, if she takes quinine regularly. It is a
+beautiful neighbourhood. She can either ride her mule or be carried in
+a machila."
+
+Diana clapped her hands, feeling her point was won easily, and then
+added, "Couldn't we take Mr. Stanley with us? He would so love the
+shooting, and he is such good company."
+
+"As I came past to-night I called in and asked both him and Major
+Carew. Stanley accepted at once."
+
+There was a slight movement where Meryl sat, but she did not speak;
+and her father, almost as if with intent, kept his eyes turned away.
+
+"What did Major Carew say?" asked Diana.
+
+"He was uncertain. He thought he might be obliged to go to Edwardstown
+on business, and he left the question open."
+
+Diana laughed. "He wanted to make quite certain sure that there were
+to be no ladies in the party."
+
+"I don't know why he should suppose there were likely to be."
+
+"Possibly not, but he is a cautious man. Anyhow, when you tell him I
+am going he will make ready to start to Edwardstown on business."
+
+So they sat on under the stars, each busy with thoughts. Henry Pym's
+were a trifle anxious. So little ever escaped his clear eyes that it
+was not in the least surprising he had seen whither Meryl's mind was
+trending, almost before she knew of it herself. And much as he admired
+Major Carew, he feared, with the clear sight of a great love, that
+indefinable something that stood as a barrier between the man and his
+outlook upon certain phases of life. Whatever it was, his studied
+avoidance of social intercourse, and his turning his back so
+resolutely upon England and all his people there, suggested to the
+astute man of the world that he had taken out of his life's plan all
+thought of marriage, and was not very likely to turn from his purpose.
+Hence the shadow of anxiety in the father's eyes, for his deep
+knowledge of Meryl told him further that she would neither love
+lightly nor forget easily.
+
+And still the girl herself sat on and made no sign. The joy of the
+evening hour was still too new. Under the stars at present she asked
+nothing better than to live through it again and again in her memory.
+For whereas a woman is often fearful to anticipate a joy for dread of
+a disappointment, afterwards, when the realisation is sure and sweet
+and all her own, she will draw delight from it for many a silent hour
+in quiet contentment.
+
+And down at the police camp the two troopers and the officer sat
+likewise under the stars. Stanley was very full of his trip, for Carew
+had readily given him the two or three days' leave; and in the
+direction whither they journeyed were roan and sable and water-buck
+and probably lions to rejoice the heart of a game young British South
+African policeman with a bloodthirsty desire to kill. Moore, in his
+quaint, Irish way, chaffed him a good deal, as was his wont; for
+though one had received his education at the Bedford Grammar School
+and was a clergyman's son, and the other at a board-school and was the
+son of a small innkeeper, in the Rhodesia police force all troopers
+are equals, and there is a frank camaraderie which is very creditable
+to its members. Carew himself showed very little difference, and in
+the same spirit the homely Moore had received a cup of tea from
+Diana's dainty hands, poured out for him by Meryl.
+
+Only, as they twitted each other in slow, easy tones, neither of them
+attempted to include Carew, who sat a little apart in the darkness
+smoking his beloved pipe; and when they rose to turn in, he merely
+acknowledged their pleasant "Good night, sir," with a short "Good
+night" in reply, and made no movement himself. Even when the lights
+at the hill-side tents went out he still sat on, alone with the night
+and the stars. Later, because he knew he should not sleep, he started
+off up the valley towards the store, feeling a need for action.
+
+And all the time, under the covering darkness, his face seemed to grow
+graver and graver. He was too wise not to know when danger threatened,
+and too direct not to face it squarely at once. And the danger that
+seemed to threaten him now was the likelihood that if he saw much of
+Meryl Pym he would grow to love her, and perhaps she would reciprocate
+his love, and for them both there would be only a great pain. That it
+could by any possibility be anything else did not enter his
+cogitations. According to his own ideas he could not marry, and least
+of all could he marry the only child of a millionaire. And it seemed
+to him further that if he cut off all intercourse at once the danger
+would be averted. He was quite satisfied in his own mind that the
+evident attraction had not had time to sink very far down. In two or
+three days she would go away again and he would go on with his work,
+and it would all be the same as if they had never met. Manifestly the
+chief consideration now was to avoid any further friendliness
+whatever, except the merest courtesy which had obtained at the
+beginning. If possible, he decided it would be better not to meet any
+more at all. When a man is strong in one thing, he is usually strong
+in others; and the quiet strength that had enabled him to break away
+from an old life of leisure and ease and excitement, and build up
+another life for himself on entirely different lines in a new country,
+helped him now quietly to make his decision and try to take the
+simple, direct course, out of a threatening danger.
+
+And yet it was not entirely easy; the simple, direct way very seldom
+is. Byways are apt to have softer grass for the feet, deeper shade
+from the sun, smoother banks to rest upon. The direct, straightforward
+way often goes on mercilessly up the steep hill, having sharp flints
+in its pathway, cold winds, dry dust, untempered glare. But the man
+who dares it with steady eyes usually arrives first at the goal,
+tempered metal ringing true, while he who dallies in the pleasant
+byways may find his armour has grown rusty and his powers lax.
+
+As he walked quietly back to the police camp Peter Carew looked
+straight before him to the dim horizon, and in his eyes there was an
+expression that few, if any, had ever been permitted to behold. For
+the hidden sorrow that was his was his alone, and he had never sought
+nor asked the sympathy of a fellow-creature. In the starlight he
+looked back into the eyes of his dead love, and it was between him and
+her only the sorrow might be shared. As he had loved her memory all
+these years, he would love her still, though in the great loneliness
+of his heart he might be drawn to that one other woman who so
+strangely resembled her and so deeply attracted him.
+
+But Meryl was not for him, the penniless policeman, and he knew it.
+
+The hour spent together in the temple ruins had been too sweet, too
+dangerously sweet, and therefore he would run no further risk. He
+would not go with Mr. Pym, because that might forge a link of
+friendship it would be difficult to break; and he would not remain at
+the camp, because that might involve considerable intercourse if Meryl
+and Diana stayed behind at the hill-side home alone. He would instead
+retire to Segundi on the pretext of meeting the Resident Commissioner
+expected there, and stay until the millionaire's party had departed
+from Zimbabwe for good. It would be as well to start early, he could
+easily manage it; and if he saw no prospect of saying good-bye to Mr.
+Pym in person, he would write him a short note giving some sort of
+explanation.
+
+So it happened the next morning, before anyone at the hill-side camp
+was dressed, a Black Watch boy presented a note to Mr. Pym's boy, and
+a little distance off on the road Major Carew waited on his horse for
+a message.
+
+And in his tent, still in a sleeping-suit, Mr. Pym read the note, and
+looked hard for a moment at the sunshine beyond the open flap, as if
+seeking out there to read, not what was said in the little letter, but
+what was _not_ said.
+
+Then he stood up, slipped on some shoes, and went outside into the
+fragrant morning air. Directly he saw Carew on his horse, he took the
+little path through the scrub and rocks and went towards him. Carew
+alighted, and came a short distance along the path.
+
+Mr. Pym spoke first. The other had already done his speaking in the
+note.
+
+"This is very sudden. I hoped you would have accompanied us to Susi."
+He looked up hard into the soldier's bronzed face, though without
+seeming to do so. To any other man the steadiness of Carew's eyes
+might have been disconcerting.
+
+"I hardly expected to be able to. Mr. Jardine was almost certain to be
+at Segundi one day this week, and I knew I should have to meet him."
+
+"How long will you be away?"
+
+"Possibly a week."
+
+Henry Pym was a little taken aback, but he did not show it. The cool
+brain that had manufactured the income of a millionaire was fully
+alert now, not so much because he did not wish to be taken unawares,
+but because Carew interested him beyond most men, and he wanted to try
+and grasp the working of his mind.
+
+"Then we may not see you again before we start for Salisbury?"
+
+"Possibly not. Will you kindly say good-bye to the ladies for me,
+should I be prevented doing so in person?"
+
+"They will be disappointed not to see you."
+
+"I am sorry also." A little smile of grim humour played suddenly about
+his lips. "You must tell your niece The Bear sent her a farewell
+growl, and he hopes she will find more amiable Rhodesians at her
+future camping-places."
+
+"I think she is not one to care much about the average type of amiable
+cavalier. She will miss The Bear's growl a good deal. But we shall see
+you again shortly, I hope," he hastened to add. "Any time if you care
+to come to Johannesburg we shall be delighted if you will visit us at
+Hill Court."
+
+"Thank you. If I come that way, I shall remember."
+
+Then he held out his hand. Mr. Pym grasped it with unwonted warmth.
+
+"Good-bye, sir," said the soldier simply.
+
+"Good-bye, Carew; I have been glad to meet you," answered the
+millionaire. And then as the horseman rode away without one backward
+look, he walked slowly along the little path to the tents.
+
+At breakfast he broke the news quite simply, but once more he did not
+look at Meryl. He told them Major Carew had been called away to
+Segundi, and would not return before they had departed north.
+
+"Gone?..." echoed Diana blankly. "Do you mean he has gone already and
+without saying good-bye?"
+
+He felt Meryl's eyes upon him with a strained expression, and he
+turned lightly to Diana to give her time to grasp the news.
+
+"Yes; but he left you a message. He passed before you were up, and I
+went out to speak to him. He asked me to make his farewells to both of
+you, and particularly to tell you that The Bear sent you a growl, and
+he hopes you will find more amiable Rhodesians at your other
+camping-places."
+
+But Diana was in no mood for light messages; rather unaccountably, she
+received it with impatience.
+
+"O, he is simply odious!" she exclaimed. "I have no patience with him.
+Why can't he behave like an ordinary man just once in a way? Going off
+at sunrise, and never stopping to say good-bye! It is downright
+rudeness, and there is no reason why he should conclude he can be as
+rude as he likes with impunity. You don't seem to mind his
+bearishness, Meryl? but I hope you have spirit enough to resent his
+casual departure."
+
+Meryl was rather pale, but she managed to reply lightly, "I can't see
+why you seem so surprised. He is only acting as he has done all along.
+It is his affair, whether he keeps it up to the last, or suddenly
+changes altogether and becomes the polite, conventional society man.
+Personally, it would have surprised me far more to see the change."
+
+"O, you're just shielding him," with impatient disdain; "I suppose
+because he happens to be rather good to look at. But I call it rude;
+just plain, unvarnished rudeness to go off like that for some
+trumped-up reason and never say good-bye to you and me. I hope I
+_shall_ meet more amiable Rhodesians elsewhere, and I should like to
+have a chance to tell him so." Then she rattled off into another
+subject, leaving neither Meryl nor her uncle any necessity to help the
+conversation, for which, in their secret hearts, they were deeply
+grateful.
+
+And perhaps Diana's clever little head made an effort which had no
+appearance of an effort; for like the two brothers who had been
+respectively her father and her uncle, very little transpiring in her
+immediate circle ever escaped her notice.
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+"THE SHIP OF FOOLS"
+
+
+Meryl had not been long with the Grenvilles before Ailsa's sympathetic
+nature divined that some shadow seemed to be brooding upon the girl's
+spirit. She was so pensive and silent, with sad eyes turned often to
+some far horizon full of wistful thought. And then perhaps suddenly
+she would make an effort and be unusually gay, but the gaiety was not
+spontaneous nor the laughter frank.
+
+In truth, it had been a weary two days and nights for Meryl, since the
+early morning when her father and Diana, with the engineer and
+Stanley, rode away, after escorting her to the Mission Station and
+leaving her there to await their return. It was as though the very
+abruptness of Carew's departure had crystallised all her wavering,
+uncertain thoughts, and told her bluntly what he was to her. Before
+she had been half dreaming; now she knew.
+
+And it seemed to her that she knew also, beyond any questioning, that
+he had no feeling whatever for her beyond the merest friendliness; and
+since they would probably never meet again, she must, if possible,
+conquer her own foolish heart, and resolutely withdraw the love she
+had given unasked. It seemed to her, at any rate, the strongest thing
+to do, and while she made the effort she would turn a smiling face to
+the world and let no one suspect. If she failed--well, that would
+still be her own affair and no one need know. So she rallied herself
+often and talked gaily, encouraging an interest in all Mr. Grenville's
+plans and hopes that she did not always feel. What she liked best was
+to sit silently before the large sitting-room hut, with her hands on
+her knees, gazing at the wonderful prospect, while Ailsa sewed beside
+her and talked quietly. Ailsa who knew him so well, and loved him so
+well, and appeared to be the only woman friend he possessed. Ailsa
+also who loved this far country so well, the country he had adopted
+for his own land, and seemed quite content, as he, to give the best
+years of her life, in her small measure, to its welfare.
+
+Meryl thought much of the lives of these three quiet workers in the
+wilderness, and mused a little sadly upon what seemed but gilded
+pleasure-seeking emptiness to which she would presently go back.
+
+It was in one of these thoughtful moods she asked Ailsa with plain
+directness how she thought a millionaire might best benefit Rhodesia,
+supposing he were willing to make an effort in that direction. Having
+asked, she added with a light touch, "I imagine you are hardly ready
+yet for libraries and public parks and orphanages?"
+
+"No," Ailsa answered; "but we want settlers badly. Think what it would
+mean to the country if just one rich man or company, instead of
+acquiring large tracts of land and holding it until the price mounts
+to a high figure, were to make a genuine effort to get a white
+population upon it as quickly as possible, even though it meant small
+or no profits. It is too much to expect from any company naturally,
+but there are individuals holding up their land, and therefore holding
+back the country, who might show a more generous spirit. I could name
+a well-known man who owns immense tracts, one of them two hundred
+thousand acres not far from a town, and there it lies in idleness,
+awaiting a land boom. Not long ago it was given out through the
+newspapers that he had a great scheme in hand for getting settlers,
+but nothing has come of it yet, and no one has much hope that it ever
+will."
+
+"I wonder if my father owns land here? Do you happen to know?"
+
+"I think he does."
+
+"And it is lying idle?" divining that her companion knew more than she
+implied.
+
+"As far as any outsider knows, it is."
+
+"I see." Meryl got up and moved down the rustic verandah, standing a
+moment at the far end and looking across the country with grave eyes.
+Then she came back. "Has anyone ever thought of a Rhodes Scholarship,
+that might take the form of grants of land and be won by competition,
+I wonder? Would a scheme like that work, do you think?"
+
+"I have often thought that it would. Besides bringing the settler, it
+would more or less ensure a desirable one, if he had to prove himself
+a useful, hard-working youth of good sound education. But, of course,
+it would mean a big outlay. A man might inaugurate such a scheme to be
+carried out by his will, but he would hardly be likely to do it in his
+lifetime."
+
+"Still, I suppose something of the kind might prove workable if the
+owner of the land were content to forego a large profit, and let
+settlers have farms or plots on exceptional terms, if they could prove
+themselves capable, useful men?"
+
+"Yes, that is very much what we want. The owner of the land a patriot,
+keeping an eye on the scheme himself, and helping it forward for love
+of the country, not holding it back and keeping it idle for the sake
+of his own already well-filled pocket."
+
+"I will sound my father about his possessions," the girl said simply,
+looking to the far blue hills.
+
+Ailsa watched her a moment covertly, and then asked with a little
+wonder in her voice, "The country seems to have taken hold of you very
+quickly. You speak as one who already loves it."
+
+"I love all South Africa. I have always been happier out here than in
+England. In some way it seems more thoroughly my own land."
+
+"Why is that, do you think?"
+
+"I hardly know, unless it is the remembrance that all we have we owe
+to Africa. I believe my father was penniless when he came out here."
+
+"It has been the same with many, but they do not remember. It is more
+usual to come here for gain, and go away to spend it in more luxurious
+countries."
+
+"Perhaps, but it has never seemed to me to be fair. My father is not
+like that. He loves Africa as I do, but he is a very hard-working man,
+and perhaps some things do not occur to him. I think he is up here now
+to see the country, as well as acquire fresh mining properties, and
+all the time he seems so busy and preoccupied, he is probably thinking
+out development schemes of general benefit."
+
+"I hope so," and Ailsa spoke very earnestly. "Your father is a fine
+man; one has only to talk to him to perceive that quickly, and it
+would be a good day for Rhodesia if he began to take a genuinely
+practical interest in her welfare. I know he has talked much of it to
+Major Carew, and no one could tell him more of our hopes and needs."
+
+They were silent a few moments, and then Ailsa added with a touch of
+emotion, "You know, when one thinks of the service some men give so
+quietly and unquestioningly to the far-off lands, it seems, after all,
+but a small thing for rich men who have benefited by them to give of
+their riches. Yet how few ever do! There are more men ready to risk
+their lives than to put their hands in their pockets. But then that is
+just perhaps because they are fools, and fools never make any money to
+give; have nothing, in fact, except their lives to offer."
+
+She smiled with a little twist to her lips, playing fitfully with a
+thread in her fingers. Evidently it was a subject that moved her
+deeply. "Of course, you know the verse from 'The Ship of Fools':
+
+     'We are those fools who could not rest
+     In the dull earth we left behind,
+     And burned with passion for the West,
+     And drank strange frenzy from its wind.
+
+     The world where wise men live at ease
+     Fades from our unregretful eyes,
+     And blind, across uncharted seas,
+     We stagger on our enterprise.'
+
+"Those are the men who appeal to me; the men to whom gain is the
+secondary consideration; who come blindly out just as much to give as
+to take. My husband is one, Major Carew is another, Stanley under
+Carew's influence will become a third. Think of them all, all over the
+world; guarding the frontiers, making the paths, exploring the
+danger-zones!
+
+"Think of the little band now gone into the sleeping-sickness belt to
+investigate the disease, and try to learn how best to cope with it!
+How little reward will they get! how little acclaim! But that is just
+a side issue. They did not go for reward. Disaster shook a
+threatening hand at a splendid young country, and instantly some from
+The Ship of Fools were ready to risk their lives in going to the
+rescue. God bless them for it, and bring them safely back! But in any
+case one knows they will be content, if but the work is carried
+forward and the new pathways rendered safe.
+
+"Those types of men are the heroes of to-day, because the spread of
+the Empire, and the welfare and progress of the colonies, grows every
+year a more important factor to England; yet many a good football
+player, and many a popular actor, will win an honoured name, while the
+man who died at the outposts in some dangerous investigation work will
+pass away unknown and unheard of. But they do not mind, that is the
+splendid thing. They are just fools, fools, fools
+
+     'Who burned with passion for the West,
+     And drank strange frenzy from its wind.
+       *       *       *       *       *
+     And blind, across uncharted seas,
+     They stagger to their enterprise.'
+
+"How many threw up everything at home and came out in the time of the
+Boer War! Think of the men who carried the railways across Canada and
+America, fighting for the pathway, step by step! Think of them in the
+awful climate of West Africa, laughing and playing and singing one
+evening and dead the next! Think of them struggling up here in the
+early days, and undaunted by the horrors of the Matabele rebellions,
+going steadily on with their railways, making their homes! Think of
+them in India! Ah! what The Ship of Fools has achieved in India is
+beyond telling. Only one doesn't feel it in the same way at home. One
+has to come out oneself, and see the path-finders at their work, to
+realise all it means. It does one good just to hear them grumble. How
+shall I explain? It makes you understand that they are the sort of
+heroes who hate to be thought heroic; so they grouse and swear and
+grumble; and talk about a God-forsaken country and a God-forsaken
+existence, and wonder what in the name of all that is wonderful they
+are here for. And perhaps they go off home vowing never to return;
+until the 'strange frenzy' catches them again, and back comes the dear
+Ship of Fools, with every berth taken and the stoutest grumblers
+hurrying to be the first ashore. Fools or heroes, it is much the same.
+I think I have read somewhere that a man couldn't be a hero unless he
+were also a fool."
+
+Meryl got up, and moved behind her companion's chair that she might
+not see the glisten in her eyes, for the longing for that one
+Fool-Hero who had brought such sudden desolation in her heart. Placing
+her hands on the back of it, she leaned over her affectionately and
+said, "It doesn't carry men only, that ship of yours: some of the
+fools are women. O, I know, I know; you are one of the chief among
+them and I envy you." In a whisper, "God knows, I envy you."
+
+Ailsa reached a hand back and laid it over the girl's. "It is very
+sweet of you to say so, but I mayn't accept it. Seeing I have a
+husband like Billy, I should be a very real fool in the most literal
+sense if I stayed away. No, the women-heroes in this land are those
+who face it with a careless, selfish husband, or perhaps in a home
+having no love, and who win through their little day and make no
+plaint. God help them!"
+
+"And you mustn't envy me," she added after a moment, "for presently,
+you will be doing far more than I can ever hope to do. Because it is
+in your heart it will find a way, and then your money will give you a
+great power and influence. Be hopeful, you sweet child," with a little
+playful pat. "Your eyes are over-sad for twenty-four, and sometimes
+when you smile it goes no further than your lips."
+
+Meryl brushed her hand quickly across her eyes, and tried to laugh
+with an attempt at lightness.
+
+"O yes, I will. When I get back home I'll sign cheques, and more
+cheques, it is so easy for me. And I'll persuade father to plan out a
+scheme to bring settlers on the land; land scholarships for
+public-school boys, or something of that sort; and I'll try and
+comfort myself with the thought that in this way he is giving back for
+what he has received. I think I'll take a stroll now it is cooler. The
+others will no doubt come back to-morrow, and this may be my last
+evening in this part of the world. I know you want to worry your
+cook-boy and your head about the dinner, so I'll just go a little way
+alone."
+
+"Very well," Ailsa answered cheerily, guessing that she wished to take
+the stroll in solitude; but as she moved away towards her kitchen she
+said to herself, "Poor little girl! you will comfort yourself you are
+helping your father to fulfil his trusts, and at the back of it all
+quietly, silently, you will be breaking your heart for a man of iron
+who unbends to none."
+
+And along the rocky pathway, that was a short cut to Edwardstown and
+led along a low ledge of kopjes commanding a lovely view of the valley
+which lay between the Mission Station and Zimbabwe's lofty northern
+mountain, Meryl walked slowly, with a sense of desolation she could
+neither gauge nor dispel; and over and over through her mind as she
+looked to the far kopjes passed the lines of England's strong
+woman-poet, Emily Bronte:
+
+     "What have those lonely mountains worth revealing?
+     More glory and more grief than I can tell:
+     The earth that wakes _one_ human heart to feeling
+     Can centre both the worlds of Heaven and Hell."
+
+What have those lonely mountains worth revealing? was the dumb,
+inarticulate cry in her heart. Ah! what?... what?... And it seemed as
+if all the loneliness in the world were brooding over the blue kopje
+and over the spot where the ancient ruins lay, and creeping into her
+heart and her life for ever.
+
+Would he ever come again, that grim soldier-policeman, who just once
+or twice had shown her a glimpse of the strong man's heart behind the
+barrier, and the strong man's everlasting charm?... Or was it indeed
+all finished for ever? Just an episode that came and went and had no
+sequel, except in that brooding sense of a great loneliness upon the
+distant hills and upon the path of her life. She told herself again
+that it must be so; that evidently the momentary softness had been
+only passing moods; that she counted for nothing at all to him, not
+even a friend it was worth while saying "good-bye" to.
+
+With the deep sadness still in her face she turned, because a step was
+approaching round a tall boulder beside her. And a moment later she
+was looking full and deep into Peter Carew's eyes.
+
+"You?..." she said. "_You?_ ..." as if she could not believe her own
+eyes.
+
+He said nothing. Suddenly speech seemed to have gone from him, but an
+expression in his face that was new to her quickened her pulses with a
+strange glad quickening.
+
+After a moment he spoke, and it was as though his whole expression and
+figure stiffened.
+
+"I did not expect to find you here," he said. "I was told you had gone
+with your father."
+
+"Not I; Diana only." And her eyes fell, and a faint colour dyed her
+cheeks.
+
+There was a moment's awkward pause: she remembering his unceremonious
+departure, wondering at his unceremonious return; he nonplussed at the
+trick Fate had played him, bringing him again, in spite of his
+decision, into the sphere of her beauty and her quiet charm.
+
+"I was going to the Grenvilles'," he told her at last.
+
+And suddenly a tiny smile played about the corners of Meryl's mouth.
+"I thought you could not possibly return from Segundi for a week?"
+
+She looked away as she said it, so she could not see the swift
+contraction of his face and the swift gleam in his eyes. For one
+moment, of all things in heaven and earth, he felt suddenly that he
+wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her--roughly perhaps; yes,
+roughly and masterfully, for daring to aim her little shaft at him.
+Instead he replied gravely, "I had to come, because Mr. Jardine wanted
+Grenville's opinion on a particular native question, and it was a
+difficult matter to explain in a letter."
+
+"Then I mustn't hinder you." And she stood aside. "Of course you are
+thinking of starting back to-night and are in a great hurry?"
+
+And then for once the man's armour failed him. "No, I am not going
+back to-night, and I am not in any special hurry. If you were going on
+to the top of the kopje, may I come with you?"
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+AN EVENING CONVERSATION
+
+
+As they climbed slowly up the zigzag path, neither of them troubled to
+make conversation. All in a moment it had come back--mysteriously,
+unaccountably--the sense of understanding, the quiet kinship of
+minds--for her, the sudden utter content at his nearness. While he was
+there beside her, by his own seeking, what did the future matter?--the
+future might wait. It is generally so with women. In the "afterwards,"
+the deepest pain is usually theirs, because it is not given them to
+break away and drown the ache and the longing in action and change;
+but in the present, if he, the loved, is with her, she can forget so
+much in that blessed sense of nearness. The man's ache, perhaps,
+spreads more uniformly over both presence and absence, for in each,
+for him, there is the very human craving to possess.
+
+So they reached the summit, and stood a moment gazing at the prospect
+outspread. A sunset in a novel has become too banal for repetition; it
+seems, indeed, almost the last word in literary mediocrity; and yet at
+the evening hour in Rhodesia, in September, when the rains are nearly
+due, and great masses of cloud begin to gather on the horizon, there
+is again and again a pageant of wonder and colouring to steep man's
+senses afresh at every renewal, as if it was the first time of
+beholding. Nothing banal, nothing mediocre in the actual
+phenomenon--just a riot of colouring, a riot of splendour, a riot of
+revelation. It is not a glory in the west spreading a little way
+overhead. It is an all around, north, south, east, and west, colouring
+beyond all telling--something aloof, overpowering, incomprehensible,
+with the remote majestic splendour of the Rockies, or the Sahara, or
+the Victoria Falls.
+
+Neither Carew nor Meryl spoke. They were of those who know that the
+highest appreciation of all is in silence. But to herself Meryl
+whispered:
+
+     "Lord, Thy glory fills the heavens."
+
+At last he turned and glanced at the little book in her hand.
+
+"You read Omar?"
+
+"Yes. And you?"
+
+"I like Adam Lindsay Gordon better. Omar is apt to undermine a strong
+purpose. Gordon inspires one."
+
+"Doesn't Omar help one to see things as they _are_, and dare to be
+strong in spite of it, while Gordon avoids many essentials, and writes
+chiefly of how we would have things be?"
+
+"But surely the inspiration is the chief thing. The man who inspires
+is better than the man who reveals, and in revealing unnerves." She
+was silent, and he added, "I suppose it is the difference between the
+aesthetic and the practical, and so they appeal to the aesthetic or the
+practical side of man."
+
+She wondered if it were possible such as he should have an aesthetic
+side, and presently said:
+
+"You are all practical, I should imagine."
+
+He glanced at her half humorously. "I wonder why you say that?"
+
+"I don't know, except that one does not usually associate aestheticism
+and strength." Another man might have asked her if she was satisfied
+he _was_ strong, but Carew only looked to the horizon. He was asking
+it of himself instead.
+
+And he asked it, because he was leaning there beside her, alone on the
+kopje top. Suddenly yielding to an impulse he did not seek to analyse,
+he said quietly, "I have never been a great reader of poetry, but long
+ago I was engaged to be married, to some one who cared very much for
+it. Omar was one of her favourites, and sixteen years ago he was very
+little known compared with to-day."
+
+Meryl felt the colour ebbing from her face, and averted her eyes.
+Without any telling, she knew that this woman he had loved sixteen
+years ago was the cause of that mysterious shadow on his life to-day.
+When she felt she had complete control of her voice, she asked, "And
+you were never able to be married?"
+
+"She died." There was a pause, before he added, "You remind me of her
+more than anyone I have ever known." And for both their sakes he
+finished, "That is one reason why I have been glad to talk to you one
+day, and found it perhaps too painful the next."
+
+Meryl felt suddenly as if an icy hand had closed on her heart. His
+meaning to her was so obvious. But she managed to say naturally, "I am
+afraid it has been a great sorrow to you. Was she ill for long?"
+
+"She died suddenly. There was a tragedy. Afterwards I came out here."
+
+"And you have never been back?"
+
+"No, I have never been back."
+
+"But you will go?"
+
+"I think not. When I came away it was like closing a book and writing
+'Finis.' I do not want to reopen the book for many reasons."
+
+"But your people?" she ventured, longing to hear more, yet fearful of
+staying his unexpected confidence.
+
+"I have no people," and his voice was suddenly stern.
+
+"But your home?..." bravely; "your country?..."
+
+"My home is here. My country is here. I am a Rhodesian."
+
+Still with her face averted, she looked to the far kopjes lost in
+thought. She seemed to be realising slowly all that his words meant;
+feeling throughout her consciousness the utter exclusion of herself
+from any plan of life he might formulate. It was as she had seen
+before. His work, the country were everything to him--would continue
+to be everything. Any unusual softness he had shown to her, any
+unexpected pleasure in her company, was just for the sake of a certain
+memory he held very precious, for the sake of what the book contained,
+upon which he had written "Finis."
+
+Of course, she might have known. What should such a man as he be drawn
+to except in friendly intercourse in a girl as young and simple and
+undeveloped as herself? What a madness it had been, what a
+foolishness! and yet how it hurt, how it hurt!
+
+With a sudden blind sense of ineradicable pain, she breathed over to
+herself one verse of the "Immortal Persian" that is not contained in
+many editions:
+
+     "Better, oh better, cancel from the scroll
+     Of universe one luckless human soul,
+     Than drop by drop enlarge the flood that rolls
+     Hoarser with anguish as the ages roll."
+
+What pain there had evidently been for him! What pain for her now--and
+to what end....
+
+     "Tis all a chequer-board of nights and days
+     Where Destiny with men for pieces plays;
+     Hither and thither moves, and mates and slays,
+     And one by one back and closet lays."
+
+She stood up suddenly and brushed her hands across her eyes. This was
+a weakness, and she knew it. He must not know, he must not guess.
+
+But he saw enough to cause him to say suddenly, with quick concern,
+"You are not well. Something is troubling you."
+
+"O no," and she gave a little laugh that he could not but know was
+forced. "I've been rather bothered with a headache to-day. Shall we go
+back?" She had been carrying the large grey hat slung over her arm,
+but now she tied it on, pulling it down over her face, so that he
+could see nothing but the small, firm chin and sensitive mobile mouth.
+And neither could she see that, under or through the rigidity, his
+face wore now a troubled aspect, and his eyes looked to the horizon
+seeing nothing. Why had he come back? he was asking. Why was he
+hovering in the grip of it again, that strong need of the human,
+however resolute, for sympathy, for companionship, for understanding?
+For now, as they stood together alone on the kopje, all the ache of
+the last sixteen years seemed to be merged into one great longing for
+her. And then in his heart he laughed harshly. He, the British South
+African policeman, not even a regular soldier; and she, the only
+child, and sole heiress, of a millionaire father who adored her. He,
+with his tragedy in the background, that he could not speak of, in his
+forty-third year. She young, beautiful, fresh, with all the world at
+her feet. Ah, of course, he had been a fool to run any risk of another
+encounter; and he was sore with the fate that had led him thither in
+ignorance.
+
+And Meryl, walking a little stumblingly over the rough pathway, was
+glad of the big shady hat that hid her eyes and gave her time to pull
+herself together. Of course, that other woman he had loved sixteen
+years ago had been one of his own people--one of those whom the great
+Fourtenay family of Devon regarded as an equal. Whereas she was just
+Meryl Pym, and though many needy peers chose rich wives from across
+the sea, anyone might know Peter Carew was not of these, and would
+sooner shun such riches than seek them.
+
+So they walked back, mostly in silence, only no longer the silence of
+quiet, contented understanding, but rather a silence which she showed
+no inclination to break, and he felt baffled, and worried, and
+anxious. And at dinner, though Meryl made one of her spasmodic efforts
+and contrived to be gay, he remained somewhat preoccupied and
+taciturn. And Ailsa looked from one to the other secretly, and
+wondered what had been said before they reached the Mission Station;
+and felt again that womanlike desire to shake the man for the very
+resoluteness she most admired in him.
+
+When she said good night to Meryl she could not refrain, from just one
+little delve into the perplexing situation. "If you and Major Carew
+met at six o'clock and did not get back until seven, you must have had
+quite a long chat together. Such a new thing for him! I don't think
+even I, his trusted friend, can boast of such an incident."
+
+"We just stayed to watch the sunset," and Meryl turned away on some
+slight pretext. "He certainly was a little more communicative than
+usual. Did you know he was once engaged to someone who died?"
+
+"No," in slow surprise, "I had never heard of it. But then, he never
+speaks of himself, and I did not know his branch of the family at all.
+We lived near London about that time, and seldom went into Devonshire.
+Still, I wonder Billy did not know. Probably he heard it, and took no
+notice. That would be so like Billy. He was perhaps scheming some new
+move for his boys, as he used to call his parishioners."
+
+"Perhaps he would rather I had not mentioned it," Meryl said.
+
+"It will be safe with me, dear. I shall only speak of it to Billy. How
+terrible it must have been! It is impossible not to feel it has
+shadowed all his life. And for her!--he must have been a very
+striking, attractive man in those days. One hears rumours without
+attaching much interest to them at the time, but looking back now, I
+remember my father alluding once or twice to the two brothers as if
+they were very well-known men. But that would be when I was but a
+schoolgirl, and soon afterwards I went abroad for a year with an
+aunt." She lingered a moment longer. "I am glad he told you. It was
+nice of him. And he tells so little. It was a great compliment. Good
+night, dearie. Sleep well."
+
+Meryl sat on the little bed, in the round wattle and daub hut, and
+pressed her fingers against her eyes to still their throbbing. Then
+she looked round at her surroundings, and a little wry smile twisted
+her lips. A rough floor of ant-heap composition and cow-dung hardened
+to cement, with some native reed matting laid down; a small stretcher
+bed; a packing-case for a washhand-stand, and enamel ware. Another
+packing-case for a dressing-table, and a little cheap glass nailed to
+the wall. Walls of baked mud, which had fallen in places, laying bare
+the wattle stems, and a door made from packing-cases which fitted
+badly, and was fastened only by a string and a nail. For ceiling long,
+thin wattle stems converging upwards, and outside a thatch of dried
+grass. And against this in her mind she placed the Johannesburg
+bedroom, with its costly appointments, its beautiful windows opening
+to a wide, flower-decked verandah, which commanded a lovely view of
+distant hills; its lavish display of wealth and luxury. And she smiled
+that little wry smile, because for the sake of just one man, a mere
+soldier-policeman, this room might have been a paradise, and the other
+a grave. In truth she had learnt much from her sojourn in the
+wilderness--much beyond the life and aspect of a far country.
+
+Then she crept to bed feeling tired and disheartened, but finding a
+little comfort in the thought that she would see him in the morning.
+
+But at sunrise Carew aroused Grenville and said good-bye, and rode
+away before breakfast.
+
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+THE CHARTER FLATS
+
+
+Later in the day the party arrived back from Susi, and in the cool of
+the afternoon a last good-bye was said to the mission station, and
+they all returned to the Zimbabwe camp for their last night.
+
+It had been casually mentioned that Carew had paid a flying visit the
+previous evening and gone again early that morning, but very little was
+said about the circumstance. Stanley was already beginning to look and
+feel disconsolate over the approaching exodus, and Diana was very full of
+the fact that she had shot a duyker. "I didn't really aim at him, you
+know," she told Grenville naively; "I just held up the gun and pulled the
+trigger. I couldn't believe my own eyes when I saw the buck lying dead.
+All the same I did shoot him, and I've got his horns, and they will
+occupy the place of honour when I get back in my own private sanctum. I
+shall not tell the Jo'burg folk about not aiming; why should I? If I
+describe the buck going at full speed, and how I bowled him over with one
+shot, it won't be any more of a lie, if as much, as most of you colonists
+tell when you get home to civilisation."
+
+"Certainly not," agreed Grenville gravely; "but why not make it a lion
+while you are about it, or even a rhinoceros?"
+
+The Kid began to giggle. "And let it be just charging you," he
+suggested joyfully. "And first you must take a snapshot of it
+charging, and then you must fire into its mouth and blow its brains
+out."
+
+"And you might have its horns polished and mounted and its tail
+stuffed," added Grenville.
+
+"Silly idiots," scornfully. "You're both jealous. If you could have
+_seen_ the things The Kid _missed_!"
+
+"The Kid generally misses," chimed in Ailsa cheerfully. "He gets so
+excited, he quivers all over, and the wild beast, or whatever it is,
+just lollops away, throwing a grin over his shoulder at him."
+
+"If you don't mind," threatened Stanley, "I'll give away your hippo
+story."
+
+"It has increased," said Ailsa's big, schoolboy husband, chuckling to
+himself.
+
+"Impossible!..." ejaculated The Kid. "Surely it had already reached
+the limit of human ingenuity?"
+
+They both spluttered, and Ailsa threw a newspaper at them, but Diana
+demanded to be told the story.
+
+"O, it's only about a hippo in the Zambesi, above the Victoria Falls,"
+began Stanley; "a perfectly harmless hippo really, but it had the
+impudence to look at the canoe in which Mrs. Grenville was travelling
+back to the hotel in the dusk."
+
+"I thought it bumped the canoe up and down on its back," said the
+missionary, still chuckling.
+
+"That came later"; and Stanley addressed himself gravely to Diana.
+"But at one time the story really did stop at the hippo chasing them
+on to an island and off it again, and opening and shutting its mouth
+at them."
+
+"If you had been there you would have been terrified, and had
+hysterics or something," Ailsa flung at him.
+
+"I certainly should at the later period of the story," he assured her.
+
+"When it played catch-ball with them?" suggested the missionary.
+"Threw them all into the air and caught them again in the canoe."
+
+"That wasn't so bad, since it _did_ catch them," said Stanley. "My
+horror would have been when it climbed the tree after them!..."
+
+"That is the part that has increased," put in the schoolboy husband,
+beginning to shake again. "It now jumps after them from one tree to
+another," and then they both spluttered insanely, and Diana joined in
+because it was so infectious, and Ailsa called them all ridiculous
+children who ought to be given a sweetie and tucked up in bed.
+
+A little later the cavalcade got under way, and Grenville and his wife
+stood waving to them somewhat sorrowfully from their wilderness home.
+
+"They are dear people," Ailsa said; and added, "O, Billy, if Major
+Carew would but come out of his shell and love Meryl!... I am sure she
+cares for him ... and she is so sweet ... and he--O, he is just like a
+figure of stone."
+
+Grenville pinched her ear affectionately. "Little matchmaker! No one
+by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature; and no one by just
+wishing it, I am inclined to think, can influence the little god Cupid
+whither he will aim his arrow. Perhaps, perhaps not; that is all there
+is to say ever."
+
+The next morning after a very early breakfast, the travellers started
+on their way to Enkeldorn _en route_ for Salisbury. And at the top of
+the valley, whither they walked to save the mules, both girls stood
+and turned for a long last look at the grey walls of the ancient
+temple, lying in a soft haze of morning mists. It seemed to Meryl it
+had never held a deeper fascination, a stronger allurement. Just those
+old, old walls, and the soft enfolding mists which must have enfolded
+them even so for perhaps three thousand years. The red of sunrise was
+still in the sky, for Mr. Pym was an early starter, and it tinged the
+mist with a soft flush where the sun's rays had not yet lit a clearer
+light.
+
+"It was good to come," said Diana simply. "I have to thank you for
+it."
+
+But Meryl only smiled in response. She had nothing to say. She felt
+she was leaving behind with the ruins the best memory her life would
+ever hold. Then they climbed into the ambulance waiting for them, said
+"good-bye" charmingly to the lonely dwellers at the store and hotel,
+with whom they had had some pleasant chats, drinking tea and admiring
+the lovely view from their delightful huts, and went clattering away
+down the road, their faces turned to the north.
+
+And in the valley they left behind there was desolation.
+
+Carew arrived back at his quarters, grim and taciturn, in the evening,
+to find Stanley looking a veritable image of disconsolate hopelessness
+in spite of Moore's persistent droll badinage.
+
+"O, what did they want to come for," he groaned, "if they had to go
+away again?"
+
+"Faith!..." said the astute Irishman. "Did ye ask either of them to
+share your little wooden hut?..."
+
+But The Kid paid no attention. As Carew stood a moment beside him,
+filling a pipe, with a cold, expressionless face, the youngster
+glanced up with a momentary gleam, and remarked, "Eh, sir? But women
+are the devil, aren't they?"
+
+Carew said nothing; but with a low chuckle Moore ejaculated, "Come,
+give the divil a chance; we find him very accommodating sometimes in
+auld Erin."
+
+Stanley got up and stretched himself. "Days and weeks of desolation
+now," he moaned; "and we were so happy and content before. Moore, old
+chap"--giving that harmless individual a smack on the back that nearly
+knocked him over--"yours was the wise choice when we spoke of gifts
+from heaven. I said, 'Give me millionairesses,' and you, with the
+wisdom of the ages, said, 'Give me whisky.' I'll take a little now and
+hope for the best."
+
+And still Carew said nothing. The pipe was filled and he slowly lit
+it. Then unexpectedly he tapped it with light significance. "This is
+the best friend of all," he said, and went away into his hut.
+
+Stanley glanced after him a moment with a curious expression.
+"Gad!..." he murmured. "Was our bronze image a bit hit too? He looks
+fierce enough and stern enough to be resenting a dent."
+
+In the meantime the travellers reached the Charter Flats, and decided
+to camp there for the night. They had travelled for some time along
+the sandy tracts, enjoying the sense of space all around and the wide
+horizons, and both Mr. Pym and the girls were loth to hurry away. It
+is customary to dread these wide sandy tracts, and either hurry across
+them or avoid them; but to these city-dwellers their vast calm held a
+deep allurement; for though only scrub and sand stretched from horizon
+to horizon, with occasional little strips of stunted trees, the clear
+southern atmosphere lent a lovely effect of light and shade and
+colour. Many large patches here and there were blackened with veldt
+fires, but these in the distance formed delicate shadings that
+enhanced the charm of a strip of yellow sand or young green grass or
+purple-shadowed wilderness. It was like a world that contained only a
+colour scheme; no dwellings, no humans, no landmarks, no hills and
+valleys, no roads: just delicate shadings and haze as far as the eye
+could see, with no clear line between earth and heaven. They might
+have been looking over the edge of the world into a delicately tinted
+space, so boundless it seemed, so unfathomable, so remote. They
+pitched their camp on a little rising ground, near a slow meandering
+stream that crept lazily across the miniature desert. And when the
+dusk came down the effect was more unusual still, for the flats are on
+high ground, and the heavens seem to stoop down all round, hanging a
+dark curtain, decorated with brilliant stars, on every side. Across
+all the world no sign of human life, no sound; only vast emptiness
+everywhere--above, around, below; and for companions, worlds and suns
+and solar systems.
+
+It is a scene in which a man may seem to get very close to his God;
+not a remote, incomprehensible Deity, dwelling vaguely beyond the
+stars, but a Presence that is in the breathing silence and the velvety
+deeps at hand. And a man may meet himself there also; not the aping,
+grinning, chattering mask of a personality custom more or less compels
+him to wear in the crowd, but the hidden, mysterious being, conscious
+of a soul beyond his ken, that in such quiet hours desires eternally
+some goal, some good, afar off. The indestructible, incomprehensible,
+infinite hunger, that lies as a germ in every human heart and is man's
+best attribute, in that it raises him for ever incontestably above the
+beasts that perish, and stands serene and steadfast as the Rock of
+Ages, the one barrier past which the materialists and the scientists
+cannot go: the divine spark within the human, which no theory can
+account for and no learning of sage or cynic obliterate.
+
+The travellers sat round a glowing fire, for the night air was keen
+and cold; and much that is inevitably disturbing in the friction of
+daily being and daily doing seemed to fall away from them and cease to
+exist for that one wonderful night. And the next day, when the small
+black attendant brought their early tea and opened wide the tent-flap
+to a brilliant morning, yet another picture awaited them. This time it
+was a world decked with enormous diamonds. Tall, sparse grasses leant
+over and whispered to each other outside the tent, and every ear and
+every seed was hung with a lovely brilliant dewdrop. Out beyond was
+that same vague, remote, fathomless horizon, painted now with
+wonderful rose tints, where the rising sun caught the lingering mists
+and merged the dark streaks of blackened veldt into the general scheme
+with a softness of shading beyond all description. Meryl lay still,
+gazing with her soul in her eyes, but after a time Diana sat up.
+
+"It makes me ache almost like the Victoria Falls did. I wonder why God
+painted such lovely scenes where no one ever came, or scarcely ever,
+to see them?"
+
+She was silent a moment, then ran on again, "We fight and sweat and
+struggle for diamonds, and God hangs them on the dry grass, in the
+wilderness. Meryl, I wonder if we shall ever see anything quite like
+this again? And they told us to avoid the Charter Flats!... I suppose
+God feels about it something as we do. He knows most people like
+Brighton parades and Durban sea-fronts, so He lets them arrange their
+own sights; and for Himself, in far wonderful places, He paints scene
+pictures, and plants lovely gardens, and fills them with birds and
+flowers and sunshine, and splashes down upon the world, in some remote
+corner, a glorious colour scheme, just for his own delight."
+
+Meryl raised herself on her elbow, with a little tender smile. "And I
+suppose He said to Himself, 'I will let Diana and Meryl Pym see one of
+my secret, treasured places'?"
+
+"Yes, exactly. And though I don't hold with saying grace before meals,
+because, since God made us, it seems the least He can do to enable us
+to obtain food to keep us alive, I will say a grace this morning to
+Him for letting me see His colour scheme on the Charter Flats at
+sunset and sunrise."
+
+A little later they had a fragrant breakfast of liver from a buck the
+engineer had shot about daybreak; and that is a delicacy known only to
+those who fare forth across the veldt, and have a bright wood fire
+burning in readiness for the spoils of the hunt directly they are
+brought in.
+
+Then they started away again across the flats, once more moving in a
+vague world of soft shadings, with only the long sandy road
+stretching away into space behind them and before. And sometimes,
+before the sun mounted too high, they found themselves moving across a
+space of gold and bronze, where grass that had not been burnt shone
+like amber in the morning glory; and again presently a space of
+loveliest emerald-green, where the grass had been burnt early and the
+new blades were already sending up joyous blades into the sunlight.
+And sometimes a Kaffir-boom tree added a splash of brilliant scarlet,
+painted upon a canvas of soft, hazy shadings; and sometimes the veldt
+showed them a little piece of her flower-carpet--the carpet that was
+to spread broadcast presently--of delicate-tinted lovely flowers in
+reckless profusion upon a ground of rich terra-cotta soil.
+
+Neither girl talked. It was not a scene to talk in. It did not call
+for raptures and exclamations; only for dreaming and absorbing. It
+seemed as if it might have been the spot where God rested upon the
+seventh day, so utter and absolute and complete was the sense of
+detachment from all the exigencies of being and doing.
+
+Two verses of a poem by Arthur Symons repeated themselves in pleasant
+rhythm in Meryl's mind:--
+
+     "I leave the lonely city street,
+     The awful silence of the crowd;
+     The rhythm of the roads I beat,
+     My blood leaps up, I shout aloud,
+     My heart keeps measure with my feet.
+
+     "A bird sings something in my ear,
+     The wind sings in my blood a song
+     'Tis good at times for a man to hear;
+     The road winds onward white and long,
+     And the best of earth is here!"
+
+
+
+
+XIX
+
+THE CONVENTIONALITIES ONCE MORE
+
+
+Later in the day they reached Enkeldorn and once more pitched their
+tent beside the police camp; but the place is not inviting, and they
+were glad to leave early the following morning; for Enkeldorn is the
+centre round which many Dutch people congregate to farm small farms,
+in what it must be confessed is often the most slovenly and lazy
+fashion conceivable. And some of them speak quite openly of how they
+hate the English, and look forward to a day when they will be strong
+enough to turn them out of the country.
+
+But before that day can come, before union with a South Africa in
+which there is Dutch predominance, it is to be hoped England will send
+out more and yet more strong, vigorous young settlers, to put brains
+and heart and energy into the virgin soil, waiting only for the
+craftsman's hand; and so ensure for ever, in union or out of it, an
+unswerving predominance of Cecil Rhodes's countrymen: holding his high
+aims and hopes and splendid Imperialism in Cecil Rhodes's land.
+
+Two days later the party arrived in Salisbury, and not a little to
+their regret, the fashionable garments that had travelled thither by
+train to await their arrival had to be duly unpacked and worn. Diana
+glanced at herself disconsolately the first afternoon, dressed in an
+elegant summer frock, awaiting tea in a drawing-room, and one or two
+lady callers known to Mr. Pym who were likely shortly to arrive.
+Meryl, seeming lovelier than ever, though perhaps a trifle frailer, as
+if some sadness in her mind weighed upon her waking and sleeping
+hours, stood at the window, looking over the pretty, well-kept town.
+
+"Why are we here? This is not the wilderness," Diana said grumblingly;
+"this is suburban mediocrity. It was not fair to bring me all this way
+from home, to have to dress up and look pleasant, and talk banalities
+to people I have never seen before and probably shall never see
+again."
+
+"You are so inconsistent, Di," Meryl said, with a little affectionate
+laugh. "When we arrived at Zimbabwe you said you did not want only old
+ruins, you wanted a man. Judging by the number of cyclists in
+flannels, carrying tennis racquets or golf clubs, who have passed this
+window in the last half-hour, you will find more men, ready no doubt
+to hang upon your lightest smile, than you will know what to do with."
+
+"I don't want them," with an impish pettiness. "I hate young men in
+flannels. I hate houses. I hate afternoon frocks. I hate clean hands.
+I hate having to be polite. I want The Kid, giggling insanely at his
+own silly jokes. I want The Bear's den and The Bear inside it. I want
+to have grubby hands and old shoes and a red face, and eat things in
+my fingers, and forget I have heaps and heaps of money for the simple
+reason that it is no earthly use if I have."
+
+Meryl smiled softly and wistfully. "I wonder what they are doing?... I
+think they will miss us. It is extraordinary how Zimbabwe gets into
+one's heart. I have never seen anything anywhere that appealed to me
+quite like those old walls, with their untold story and their patience
+of the ages. The Sphinx in Egypt may be older, but we know how it came
+to be there and who built it. One of Zimbabwe's fascinations seems to
+be the absence of all knowledge about it, of all why and wherefore."
+She broke off as a Cape cart drove up to the door. "Here is someone
+coming to call. I think it is Mrs. Cluer, by father's description."
+
+"Then bother Mrs. Cluer!" snapped the peevish one. "In this country I
+wonder if people say they are 'out' or 'asleep' when they do not want
+to be found 'at home'?"
+
+But Mrs. Cluer knew both Major Carew and Stanley, so the conversation
+was not quite so uninteresting as Diana had anticipated. She was,
+moreover, a woman of exceptional charm, and at any other time they
+would both have lost their hearts to her.
+
+"You probably did not see much of Major Carew," she said. "He is the
+most unsociable man in the country. One can get him to a man's
+bridge-party, but not much else; and most of us have given up trying.
+I expect it is partly his own doing that he is down there. He always
+manages to get work that takes him out on the veldt, if possible."
+
+"He appears to like it," Meryl commented; "and Mr. Stanley and his
+companion are very fond of him, in spite of his unsociable ways."
+
+"O, all the men are fond of him," she told them, evidently glad of an
+opportunity to sing his praises. "He never gives himself any airs with
+them for one thing, and he's just a man all through, living a clean,
+sportsman's life; and whether they do the same themselves or not, they
+all look up to him and admire him for it, without being afraid he will
+come down like a sledgehammer upon their failings. One knows the tone
+of the whole police force is better for having an officer like Major
+Carew, and it is a thousand pities there are not more like him. And
+Cecil Stanley is just the dearest boy in the world. Every one in
+Salisbury was fond of him. He is so good at games and dancing, and
+always so jolly and boyish and natural. We miss him badly, but I
+believe he likes being down there better than in the town."
+
+"I think he does; he seemed perfectly happy."
+
+They went on to speak of the gaiety of Salisbury; its golf and tennis
+and polo and dancing; and their visitor urged them to stay for a
+fancy-dress ball, when four hundred guests all in costume were
+expected. But neither of them were in the mood for balls, and the only
+attraction they cared about was an early-morning gallop with the
+hounds after jackal. Nothing could solace them for the careless, happy
+days they had left, and as soon as Mr. Pym had transacted his
+business, they persuaded him to take them out to Lomagundi with him,
+rather than be left behind in the town.
+
+"They seem to be rather touchy ladies here, and so superior," Diana
+urged, when he demurred; "and you know I am never safe for two minutes
+with that type. I should be driven into saying appalling things, and
+our reputation might be ruined for ever."
+
+In the end, as usual, they won him round, and departed one morning
+gleefully in the little toy train that runs out across the Gwebi Flats
+to the Eldorado Gold Mine. And to Diana's joy, they had a luggage-van
+fitted up as an impromptu saloon for them, and were able to spin along
+with both doors wide open, enjoying the air and the country. The
+Eldorado is the show mine of Rhodesia, having a native compound equal
+to any in South Africa, and charming bungalows for the staff, and an
+airy, comfortable hospital. But mines were not likely to hold much
+interest to lady travellers from Johannesburg, and all their eagerness
+was to go out to Sinoia to see the limestone caves, where, like an
+exquisite jewel in a massive setting, an underground lake, of
+wonderful colouring, lies in lonely loveliness.
+
+Or perhaps it were better likened to a butterfly, with its wings
+closed, and only the more or less drab outside showing. The veldt,
+somewhat uniform and colourless, with its surrounding hills, is the
+butterfly with its wings closed. Enter the wide hole in the ground,
+beside the hidden lake, and descend the rough natural staircase of
+rocky boulders, to where the sun through an opening in the ground
+above shines down on to the translucent water, and there lies the
+butterfly with its wings open, and all their exquisite design and
+colouring and blending unfolded to the eye.
+
+"You have some rare treasures in this far Rhodesia," Meryl said to
+their guide and host as they reluctantly left the hidden jewel behind;
+"treasures that your children and your children's children will be
+very proud of some day."
+
+"If they have time," he answered a trifle cynically. "Not many
+Rhodesians to-day have time to care for any but the treasures that
+they can work for and grasp and carry away. The time for natural
+beauties to be appreciated is not yet. Why, we do not even pay a
+native half-a-crown a week to keep the caves free from the baboons and
+bats that defile them. I am afraid, at present, Rhodesia lives almost
+entirely for to-day," he continued. "The spirit ready to sacrifice
+itself for the good of future generations has yet to be developed." He
+was a clever-looking man, with quiet, thoughtful eyes, and he and
+Meryl had talked much together during her short stay. "The nobility of
+the bee is not found much among humans. In all the annals of the race,
+is there anything to compare with their service to the coming swarm?"
+
+"Only that we do not know it is the result of calm reasoning," she
+answered. "The bee perhaps comes into existence, permeated through and
+through with this one idea, and lives solely to fulfil it. The service
+humanity asks of humanity is something even higher, surely--a
+willing, conscious sacrifice of present ease to future good. The
+spirit of heroes and fools"; and she smiled a little sadly,
+remembering Ailsa Grenville's verse and her enthusiasm for the dear
+Ship of Fools. "But you have some fine men out here," she added. "I
+think your future looks exceedingly hopeful."
+
+A few days later they started on their return to Bulawayo, and the
+tour was practically ended. There was nothing more now but dusty
+railway journeys and elegant garments and conventionalities.
+
+"No more grubby hands and red faces and 'anyhow' clothes that did not
+matter," was Diana's constant lament. Meryl said nothing. What was
+there to say? But the pain that dwelt in her eyes sometimes, when she
+thought no one was looking, sent deep stabs to her father's heart.
+With all his money, and all his power and influence, what could he do
+in this one thing that seemed to matter beyond all other things?
+Nothing except to look quietly on, and hope the wound was not too deep
+for healing. That, and to humour her in anything she asked. Which was
+partly why some of the long hours of the hot, dusty journey were spent
+in discussing plans for the settlement of young men upon his land, on
+exceptionally easy terms. He was not quite sure that the country was
+ripe for such a scheme yet; but Meryl's great wish for it, and obvious
+pleasure in the discussions, took him to lengths he might otherwise
+have avoided.
+
+So they came to Bulawayo, and as they stepped out on to the platform,
+Meryl saw suddenly among the other passengers a tall form in khaki
+that caused her to draw in her breath with a little catch, while her
+eyes grew strained and anxious. Diana was still in the saloon, only
+half dressed, and her father was talking aside to someone who had come
+to the station to meet him. She was quite alone, rooted momentarily to
+the spot, waiting for the tall man to turn in her direction, if he
+chanced to look that way at all before hurrying off.
+
+Then someone accosted him, and she saw the strong, self-contained
+face, as he turned to the speaker. A moment's suspense followed; then
+the man who had accosted him went towards the station entrance, and
+Carew came slowly in her direction, with his helmet low over his eyes.
+Thus he did not see her until they were face to face, and in the
+first moment of recognition she saw him start, as one taken in swift
+surprise. Then a slow colour crept up under the sunburn on his cheeks,
+and something came into his eyes that she had never seen there before.
+
+But he only came forward with a formal air and saluted her solemnly.
+"I joined the train in the night," he said. "I had no idea you would
+be coming to Bulawayo so soon."
+
+It was all very ordinary, very sedate, and a little wooden, but Meryl
+paid no heed to that, paid no heed to the obvious conclusion he had
+taken no chance journey hoping to see her again. For what his lips
+could not say, and his manner would not, his eyes had revealed to her
+in that first swift moment of surprise. She knew that whatever came
+between them in the future, whatever was between them now, Peter Carew
+was not indifferent to her.
+
+
+
+
+XX
+
+FAREWELL
+
+
+"Did I hear the growl of a bear?" sang out a voice from behind a drawn
+blind of the saloon coach beside which they were standing.
+
+"I'm afraid you did," said Carew, addressing the blind.
+
+"O, joy! joy! Growl again, growl again--like the Christmas bells. How
+would it go?... 'Growl out, wild bear'--I forget the rest, but it's a
+silly song I learnt to sing when I was young. Don't go away; I shall
+be dressed directly. If these God-forsaken railways had not such a
+mania for landing you at your destination when all respectable people
+are snug in bed!..." and sundry sounds suggested the impatient speaker
+was flinging things about. Then a face with bright eyes appeared over
+the blind, which was a wooden shutter, and could be lowered to a
+discreet distance. "Hullo!... I simply had to take a look at you. I've
+been pining for a glimpse of The Kid's smile and your scowl. It's been
+deadly since we left Zimbabwe. Ugh!... how I hate civilisation!"
+
+Carew looked at her with his rare, slow smile. "Is that why you keep
+the whole train waiting in the station, and the station-master,
+conductor, and guard in a state of ferment, because they cannot clear
+the line until you are dressed?"
+
+"Rude man!" came back the quick retort. "You haven't yet said, How do
+you do?"
+
+"How do you do, Miss Diana Pym?" gravely. "I hope I see you well! And
+how did you leave Salisbury?"
+
+"I do very nicely, thank you, Major Carew. You cannot see me very well
+through a wooden shutter, I imagine. And how is your old heap of
+stones?" ... with which she vanished again to the interior. "Tell the
+conductor I've come to the last curl and the last hook and eye," she
+called, and a few minutes later stepped out on to the platform, a
+vision of fresh daintiness. "I'm rather glad," she remarked to Carew,
+with a twinkle, "that you will have an opportunity of seeing us in our
+best clothes"; then running on, "I see you look as fierce and
+awe-inspiring as ever; but having learnt, in Rhodesia, to keep quite
+calm with cockchafers and beetles running about in my bed, I am not
+likely to be afraid of a bear."
+
+"Are you going to the Grand Hotel?" Mr. Pym asked him, having joined
+them while Diana was finishing her toilet, "because there is plenty of
+room in our motor."
+
+Carew thanked him, and they all moved away together. At the hotel,
+however, he vanished, and it was only after a little adroit persuasion
+later that Mr. Pym got him to accept an invitation to dine with them
+in their private room in the evening.
+
+And after accepting, Carew went about the work that had brought him to
+Bulawayo with an uneasy mind. The fortnight that had elapsed since the
+evening he found Meryl unexpectedly at the Grenvilles' had been a
+somewhat disturbed one for him. For many years now his life had flown
+so evenly in all big essentials. Little worries, little disturbances,
+disappointments, were inevitable for a man whose heart was so
+thoroughly in his work, and for whom the conditions of work were often
+so trying. But these had only ruffled the surface; underneath the
+smooth river flowed along strong and self-contained. After the
+upheaval that had been as a volcanic eruption upon smiling
+sunshine-flooded fields in his life, and the black desolation that
+followed, there had succeeded a long quiet period of calm action that,
+if it held nothing which could be termed joy, held nothing either that
+was sorrow except his buried memories. And he had been well content
+that it should be so; well content to contemplate just that and
+nothing else to the journey's end.
+
+And now, suddenly, had come this vague unrest. He sought for its
+source and its reason, and could not find a satisfactory answer. For
+though it dated from the coming of the millionaire and his party, he
+would not admit himself capable of the folly of falling in love with
+Meryl. To him it was such inexcusable foolishness, in view of many
+things. Rather he chose to believe it was a voice from the old life,
+reawakened in his heart, and calling to him across the years. When he
+smoked his pipe outside the huts, and pondered deeply some knotty
+point in his report and in the work of the Native Commission, he found
+himself suddenly remembering that it was September. And away in his
+beloved Devon they would be out after the partridges--striding
+through the heather and across the stubble-fields, ranging over the
+purple moors with purple horizons all round, and in the distance a
+strip of turquoise, which was the sea. He could almost hear the whir
+... rr of wings and the shots on some far hill-side. And he knew that,
+though the shooting in a wild, vast country like Rhodesia is a far
+finer and more sportsmanlike affair than shooting driven birds in
+England, he yet felt, and would ever feel, that intense British love
+of the soil that had reared him, and the moors where he fired his
+first gun and shot his first bird. And, of course, upon the heels of
+the shooting came the hunting, which had once been the joy of his
+life, ever after he first put his pony at a stiff fence, entirely on
+his own, and sailed gloriously over, in spite of an anxious groom
+shouting caution to the winds.
+
+And then all the woodcraft and fieldcraft he had learnt from his
+uncle's keepers and his uncle's farmer tenants. He remembered how it
+had been part of his education as a youngster, and how in pursuit of
+knowledge he had been up early and late and in the middle of the
+night, picking up information about the woodland creatures from anyone
+who could teach him or finding things out for himself. There was the
+poacher who had shown him, for love of the sport, if sport it could be
+called, how he got the pheasants silently off the boughs in the
+night--taking them from their roosting-places and never a sound. He
+had given that poacher a bright half-crown, he remembered, and his
+firm lips twitched a little over the recollection. He had not seen the
+humour then of paying the man who was stealing his uncle's
+pheasants--the pheasants that would some day be his. He wondered if
+the boys in England now, the future landowners, were taught woodlore
+as he had been taught it, because it was good for an English gentleman
+to know all the scents and signs and sounds of his estate.
+
+And after all, he was no landowner at all. By his own act, instead,
+merely an officer in the British South Africa Police, with a few
+hundreds a year income, and nothing but a meagre pension ahead.
+
+Ah well! he had had a good deal besides for what he had lost, and it
+had been a good life enough, dependent solely on himself, and far
+removed from the caprices of a rich uncle. He regretted nothing at
+this stage of what had transpired after the upheaval came. Of course,
+his brother was now owner of the estates that might have been his, and
+was married, and had children; whereas he was a soldier-policeman
+looking forward to a meagre pension.
+
+Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered. It was only that, seeing so
+much more of the Pyms socially than he had been wont to see of anyone,
+old memories had been awakened. He hoped they would soon go to sleep
+again, for, in passing, they had taken some of the restfulness out of
+Rhodesia's far horizons, and fretted the flow of the strong, silent
+river, with a vague discontent. Sometimes between him and those far
+horizons there was a face now--sometimes a voice--sometimes just a dim
+presence--the voice and the face and the presence of Meryl Pym. And it
+was a thing to be fought down and crushed and conquered--a weakness
+that was well-nigh a foolishness--a folly such as stern men trample
+underfoot.
+
+So when Mr. Pym asked him to dine with them privately, he made some
+excuse, and only yielded under pressure. And when he joined them he
+was in one of his gravest moods, as if he had barricaded himself round
+with impenetrable reserve. There were two other guests, so Diana did
+not twit him openly; she only murmured in an aside, for his ear alone,
+"I'm so sorry it's a party, and we shall feel obliged to be polite.
+This civilisation is becoming a positive burden."
+
+Meryl was a little late, and she wore a beautiful gown, of a classic
+cut, with exquisite classic embroideries and a filigree band on her
+lovely hair. It was the first time he had seen her in evening dress,
+and he took one keen, sweeping glance and then looked away. He had
+rather the attitude of a soldier on parade, to whom the colonel had
+said "eyes front." Only he was his own colonel, obeying his own laws
+and restrictions. And Meryl only dared to take a fleeting glance also,
+for fear her eyes might betray her. And though he looked as striking
+as a man may, in immaculate evening dress, with his strong, clear-cut
+features, and inches that dwarfed most men, with the inconsistency of
+a woman she decided she liked him best in khaki that had seen hard
+service, and that look of being all of a piece, because his hands and
+face were so brown. He sat on her left, while Lord Elmsleigh, who was
+passing through from the Victoria Falls, sat on her right; and though
+she chatted lightly to his lordship, she was conscious every second of
+the hour of the big, silent, rather grim soldier-policeman. He spoke
+very little. Just an opinion now and then when he was asked for it, or
+the corroboration or correction of a statement, when someone looked to
+him questioningly. The millionaire, chatting in his quiet, weighty way
+to his two other guests, noted everything. He knew that Carew and
+Meryl scarcely once looked at each other, or addressed each other
+direct, and with a deep sense of regret he had again that feeling of
+being brought up against some barrier where neither his money nor
+power nor influence could be of any avail. And at the same time he
+knew in his heart that he had never met any man to whom he would
+sooner entrust Meryl and the fortune that must be hers. For though
+their very silence together revealed to his astute brain that neither
+was indifferent to the other, he could not but see also that
+undercurrent of grim determination in Carew. True, he was almost
+always silent, but Henry Pym perceived that his silence to-day was not
+quite of that of yesterday. Something had gone out of it--some quiet,
+grave, unquestioning content. In the keen, direct, steel-blue eyes now
+there was a shadow lurking behind, that might have been of some old
+memory, or might have been of some new pain, but which vaguely hurt
+the millionaire host.
+
+Meryl's eyes were less smiling than her lips, turning a little
+unsteadily this way and that, with a restlessness that added a touch
+of vivacity to her quiet beauty. But that, he knew, was the thing we
+baldly name pluck. It was not to-night he need fear what he should see
+in her eyes, nor perhaps to-morrow. It was any day, any hour, any
+moment in the weeks to come, when she believed no one was observing
+her.
+
+So the evening passed, and the last rubber of bridge was played, and
+the first move made towards departure.
+
+"Shall we have your company for a day or two? I must stay here over
+to-morrow!" Mr. Pym said to Carew.
+
+"I leave early in the morning," was the quiet reply. "I only came here
+to see Mr. Ireson, and now I go to Salisbury."
+
+Meryl, with her face turned away, blanched a little in the shadow.
+This was the end then. This casual, conventional good-bye at a
+dinner-party. To-morrow he would go east before they were up; and the
+next day she would go back to Johannesburg, and later England. She
+turned quickly to make a gay remark. Something in her heart tightened.
+She felt suddenly appalled at the future, and was afraid she might
+show it.
+
+But the evening had still one little unexpected treat in store for
+her. Lord Elmsleigh had a big-game trophy in his room that he wanted
+to show Mr. Pym and their other guests--something that he had shot in
+the Kafue valley. And in consequence, while Diana and Carew and Meryl
+were standing together by the open window that led on to the wide
+balcony, he took them both off with him.
+
+And then Diana said to Carew, "As you are going to-morrow, I will give
+you those snapshots to-night. I have them in my room," and she went
+away, pulling the door to after her.
+
+So Carew and Meryl were left alone by the window, looking out into the
+pulsing southern night. Meryl, quite suddenly, felt a little dizzy,
+and she drew back into the corner, leaning against the woodwork,
+feeling glad of some support. Carew remained upright and rigid, with
+something in that very rigidity that suggested a special need to keep
+himself well in hand. If he had stopped to think about it, he might
+have felt that Fate was treating him a little unkindly. So far he had
+done the strong thing every time, and gone quietly away from danger;
+not because he was a coward, but because he knew it is sometimes far
+more cowardly to skate on thin ice, and hope it will be all right,
+than to remain in safety on the bank. For Meryl's sake as well as his
+own he had chosen to remain on the bank. And yet here, for the third
+time, was Fate deliberately bringing the danger zone to him, in spite
+of his efforts to avoid it. But he did not stop to cogitate either one
+way or the other. Sufficient for him that he knew himself in the
+danger zone, and therefore it behoved him to be very wary. Not by act
+or word, if he could help it, must he let Meryl see how she had
+disturbed his peace. And there, again, it would seem, Fate had played
+with him. A subtler man would have perceived that an added rigidity
+was not entirely the safeguard he needed now. Meryl already knew him
+too well for that. Had he talked and laughed a little, she might have
+been puzzled and baffled. But Carew was not subtle. He was simply
+sincere. And so he just stood very rigid and silent; not perceiving
+that in the circumstances that it was hardly the best way to baffle
+the eyes of love. Meryl knew instinctively he was putting some special
+restraint on himself, and the knowledge made her quietly glad,
+underneath the sudden pain of the knowledge that it was farewell.
+Back, in her vantage of shadow, she looked at him. And she saw, not
+for the first time, but perhaps more fully, that inner force in this
+man, which told any who had eyes to see and understanding to perceive,
+that nothing would turn him from a set purpose, if he were persuaded
+it was a right one; and whatever woman's arts she might possess, they
+would be as the waves against a granite rock. They might play round
+him, and sprinkle foam on him, and soften his aspect, but they would
+not _move_ him. So, with an inner strength not unlike his own, she
+accepted his decree. For some reason, or set of reasons, love might
+not come into being between them. He was determined that it should
+not. Very well, she would hide her hurt and face her future without
+it.
+
+And if she chose to cherish his image, hidden deep down in her heart,
+that was her affair. A laughing, mocking world need never know.
+
+She broke the silence first:
+
+"If you are going early to-morrow, we shall not meet again."
+
+"No." He looked at her a moment, about to say something else; then
+changed his mind, and looked out of the window in silence. Leaning up
+against the lintel, in the softened light, her outline and features
+and deep, true eyes made too fair a picture for him to trust himself
+to look upon.
+
+"Perhaps you will be coming to Johannesburg presently?"
+
+"I think not."
+
+"Nor England?..." with a little wistful smile.
+
+"Nor England."
+
+"You speak almost as if you never expected to go there again?"
+
+"I shall never go there again."
+
+There was a pause; then she continued:
+
+"Yet you are so absolutely an Englishman, and they say"--with another
+little smile--"an Englishman always wants to go home to be buried."
+
+"I am more a Rhodesian."
+
+"And you feel like Cecil Rhodes?... We went out to the Matopos this
+afternoon. It was a big thought, that of his, to be buried there. It
+gives you people in the north something that we of the south have
+not--your own special great man, lying in your midst. What a country
+you will be some day! I envy you your share of the building."
+
+"The south is a great country _now_. It is not a small thing to be
+building there."
+
+"Yes, but we have two races, and it spells division and weakens our
+enthusiasm."
+
+"Help to bridge over the gap. Help to make it spell union. That were a
+work that any man might be proud to give his life to."
+
+And at that slowly she became taut and rigid almost as he, with wide
+eyes gazing into the night. He had struck a hidden chord; struck it
+full and strong.
+
+"Do you mean," she said a little breathlessly, "that though my
+sympathies are so much with the north, my work, any usefulness I may
+attain to, ought to be given to the south?... that ... that ...
+perhaps it belongs to it?..."
+
+He was silent a moment, weighing his words.
+
+"I think," he said, "that you in the south are passing through a
+critical stage, and there must be much need for strong women as well
+as strong men. Dutch Predominance is the cry now, but the scales turn
+easily, and it may be English Predominance to-morrow. No country can
+make real headway, and consolidate its greatness, while there is this
+changing and interchanging of power. There must be no predominance but
+that of the country's good; and to that end Dutch and English _must_
+be merged into South African. It is the duty of every true patriot to
+look this way and that, and see how it can best be achieved; and to be
+ready to sink all personal aims and triumphs for the furtherance of
+the great end."
+
+"Is it possible," she asked slowly, "when it seems one side only is
+honest in its protestations?"
+
+"You cannot be sure about that. Seek out the strongest and best men of
+both sides, and help them to gain the power and hold it. Your own side
+is not without blame. At the first big election after the country was
+settling down again, you could not even stand together. At the polls
+there were three parties, where there should have been only two.
+Englishmen opposed Englishmen, mostly over a question of small
+differences, and for personal pride of place. South Africa has never
+yet recovered from that mistake. You must not hold two hands out to
+the Boers--the hands of differing Englishmen--but _one hand_, that is
+absolutely reliable and sincere."
+
+"It is what I have heard my father say, and others also, but progress
+is very slow. There is much racial hatred rampant still."
+
+"It will yield gradually. The fittest must prevail in the end; but
+obviously that fittest will prove to be neither Dutch nor English, but
+South African."
+
+"How do you think it will prevail?" She was white now, and her eyes
+were gazing very straight out into the night.
+
+"By intermarriage chiefly. It is almost the only solution to the
+problem. Speaking one tongue, owning one country, will never help it,
+as Dutch and English interests united upon one hearth. That is why you
+must be patient, and just go steadily on, avoiding dissension as much
+as possible, while trying to raise the tone of both races on every
+side."
+
+There was a little tremor in her voice as she said, "And are we to
+take it just meekly when Englishmen are ousted for Dutchmen and loyal
+service ignored?"
+
+"I think you can only be patient at present. The strong part will lie
+with you, though the others seem to triumph. If the party in power
+find the country is at a standstill, and not progressing as they want
+it to, they will end by rearranging the public posts, and the
+Englishmen will come back because they are the fittest. As a race, you
+know, we are inclined to be domineering and somewhat overbearing. We
+certainly have ourselves to thank for some of the trouble. Probably
+while the Dutchman is 'top dog' he is having his fling, and we are
+learning a little wholesome wisdom. When the reaction comes the
+country will be the gainer."
+
+"And in the meantime intermarriage?" she questioned slowly.
+
+"In the meantime intermarriage," he said, with quiet emphasis.
+
+But he little dreamt that at the cross-roads he was pointing her to a
+path of tears.
+
+They heard Diana returning, and he moved restlessly.
+
+"If I do not see you again"--with a hesitating voice unlike
+himself--"I hope you will be very happy.... Meeting you has been a
+great and unexpected pleasure."
+
+"Thank you," was all she could trust herself to say.
+
+And then Diana came into the room.
+
+A moment later the other men returned, and they all said good-bye. And
+when Carew shook hands with Meryl, he noticed that her hand was as
+cold as ice and her cheeks as white as snow, and that she scarcely
+raised her eyes to his face.
+
+And wondering and fearing, he walked away into the darkness, with the
+sense of a new shadow walking beside him--a shadow that had come to
+stay, in spite of all his resolutions and strong endeavours, the
+shadow of his love for the woman he had just left in silence and never
+thought to see again.
+
+
+
+
+XXI
+
+A "HOARDING HUSTLING"
+
+
+There was probably no family in Johannesburg better known or better
+loved than that of Henry Pym, the millionaire. Even Aunt Emily was
+something of a favourite, in spite of her peculiarities, perhaps a
+little for the sake of the delightful entertaining that took place at
+Hill Court. Diana was adored for her spirits, and Meryl was regarded
+somewhat as a treasure Johannesburg had a right to be proud of.
+Certain it was that if eventually she followed the example of her
+American cousins and enriched an English peerage with her wealth, she
+would hold her own amidst the loveliest and most charming of England's
+peeresses. At the same time, though many perhaps hoped that she would
+lead the way for the young South African heiresses, not many had much
+belief that she would lead it in the particular fashion they hoped;
+for there was ever that uncertain elusive quality about Meryl, that
+suggestion of the visionary and dreamer, that betold a nature not very
+likely to follow in any beaten path, or give overmuch value to the
+advantages of a high alliance from a worldly point of view. It was
+probable she would see things in quite a different light to the
+majority and act for herself. Nevertheless Johannesburg hoped for the
+best, and would have been pleased to number a peeress among her
+daughters; if it were only to show the world, for one thing, that some
+of South Africa's heiresses were every whit as refined and clever and
+charming as America's, whatever may have been implied to the contrary
+by scathing comments on Johannesburg's millionaires which have
+appeared from time to time in varied guise.
+
+Mr. Pym himself, however, was not among those who nursed such high
+hopes. When he took the Piccadilly mansion the preceding spring, and
+transferred his household to London for the season, he meant to
+entertain lavishly, and give the girls every possible opportunity to
+see the world of the highest London society, knowing full well he
+could do this because his friends numbered many among England's high
+names. That he should take them into the wilds of Rhodesia instead had
+certainly been the very last thought in his mind. On the other hand,
+as we have said, it did not greatly perturb him. He was inclined to
+think they might gain as much from their pioneer pilgrimage as from a
+rush of continuous gaiety. What exactly they _had_ gained it would
+have been difficult to gauge; nothing perhaps that Aunt Emily would
+detect, fussing and exclaiming round them upon their first arrival.
+
+Diana, in a mood for merriment, and possibly to cover a certain
+invisible shadow that rested as a dim cloud upon the party, rouged her
+face to a brilliant red with an alarmingly fiery nose end. When she
+lifted her veil and confronted her aunt with a perfectly unconcerned
+smile, that lady raised her hands in horror and bemoaning. "O, my
+dear!... my dear!... your complexion is ruined. How could you be so
+careless? How could Meryl let you?... It will take weeks of care to
+undo the mischief."
+
+"O, don't make a fuss, aunty! Complexions don't matter tuppence-halfpenny
+in Rhodesia. You surely didn't imagine I was going to carry a
+sun-umbrella about, did you?"
+
+"But my dear child!..." still in great distress. "It is a dreadful
+thing to say, but you really look as if ... as if ..." but there her
+courage forsook her, and she could not name the dreadful possibility.
+
+"As if I had been drinking!" finished Diana cheerfully. "Yes, it's a
+little awkward, but perhaps if I don't lurch or look foolish ..." Then
+she encountered the astonished eyes of a young footman, who had come
+in with some small paraphernalia from the motor, and unable to keep
+her face, turned hurriedly away.
+
+"I'm rather afraid James is going to have a fit," she remarked to
+Meryl. "I hope it won't incapacitate him for the rest of the day," and
+she chuckled to herself. Meryl had not yet raised her veil, and the
+anxiety on Aunt Emily's face, which she vainly strove to hide, was
+delighting Diana more than ever. "Better not take your veil off
+downstairs, Meryl. Aunt Emily has had rather a shock from my face; I
+don't think she could bear any more."
+
+But the poor lady's concern was too pitiful to Meryl, and she threw
+her veil far back, saying, "She is a wicked creature, aunty. Her face
+only wants washing"; and then Aunt Emily, reassured and comforted,
+joined in the general laugh.
+
+"But soap and water won't remedy all the defects," Diana told her.
+"I've acquired a violent dislike to houses and rooms and tableclothes
+and clean hands, and all the absurd paraphernalia of civilised
+existence. Of course, I suppose I shall become rational again in time,
+but at present I thought of having a tent on the lawn and becoming a
+hermit."
+
+"How is everyone, Aunty?" Meryl asked, as the poor lady seemed again
+somewhat overcome. "Have you had hosts of visitors while you were all
+alone?"
+
+"Yes, people have been very kind, and I have not had much time to be
+dull; and everyone is delighted you are back again. Mr. van Hert has
+called twice this week to know which day you would arrive."
+
+Meryl's lips contracted a little, but Diana murmured, "Oho!... Dutch
+Willie! ready to be on the doorstep, of course, in spite of the
+hullabaloo you've been causing in the country, unrestrained by my
+caustic criticisms."
+
+"I expect he thought he would make hay while the sun shone," Meryl
+told her, "and air his pet theories while they were not in danger of
+being stamped on."
+
+Then they both went upstairs, and Meryl stood awhile at the wide
+window, looking over the lovely garden; and though she still answered
+kindly to her aunt's flow of chatter, the good lady having followed
+them to their room, her heart was far away among distant kopjes, where
+mysterious grey walls basked in the sunlight with the silence and the
+patience of the ages.
+
+For the next two or three days a continuous stream of visitors passed
+up and down the drive, and invitations poured in, and the girls found
+themselves quickly in a very vortex of social life.
+
+William van Hert did not come until the third day, and then he chose
+as late an hour as he well could, hoping to escape the throng. This he
+succeeded in doing, but Diana he could not escape. If it had been his
+hope to see Meryl alone he was entirely frustrated. Diana's small,
+practical head perceived the wisdom of avoiding all haste in what
+these two might have to say to each other, and van Hert had to bow to
+her decision. Still further, he had to undergo a small fire of chaff
+with an edge to it, concerning some of his political doings and
+sayings during their absence. But this from Diana he could always
+take. Whether she knew it or not, and whether she cared or not, at the
+time she probably wielded a more direct influence over van Hert than
+anyone else living. Certainly a more direct influence than Meryl and
+her father, for whereas his liking for them only tempered his rashness
+and indiscretions, Diana aimed shafts straight at any of his rabid
+policies in a manner that caused him secretly to reconsider. Yet all
+his devotion was drawn to Meryl in her fairness and quiet strength,
+and the hope of his heart was still to win her.
+
+As it happened, it was a very white-faced, silent Meryl who sat on the
+deep verandah that afternoon of his first call, and was content
+chiefly to listen to Diana waging her usual war. That astute young
+person had much to say, in her own slangy phraseology, concerning
+certain utterances of the Dutch extremists, openly derogatory to the
+English, and seemingly opposed to any spirit of racial conciliation.
+
+"Why don't you try and teach your people to play the game?" she asked
+him, with a fine scorn. "Do you hear any of our eminent men haranguing
+about 'keeping down the Dutch' and 'steam-rollering the Dutch,' and
+without any hesitation openly speaking of themselves as a separate and
+superior race? Whatever our men think, they are at least sportsmen
+enough just now to keep it to themselves, for the sake of the hopes
+and aims of the country. But you apparently allow your following to
+say anything, and either pretend not to hear or take no notice. Listen
+to this, said by a predicant of the Dutch Reformed Church...." She
+picked up a pamphlet, lying near, and read aloud: "'We are a nation
+with our own taal, traditions, and history. We must now stand shoulder
+to shoulder and hand in hand for the rights of _our_ people.... May
+God give _our_ people strength to be unanimous!' Unanimous in what?...
+Why, forcing the issue of the language question according to their own
+ends, and retrenching English teachers, and generally looking upon
+themselves as the superior, chosen people whom God meant to reign
+alone in South Africa."
+
+"My dear young lady," he remonstrated, "can you blame me for the
+unwise, indiscreet utterances of every Dutch predicant who opens his
+mouth?"
+
+"Why, of course I do. You are a leader, and you ought to protest
+openly against any such utterance; but naturally, if you only consider
+it unwise and indiscreet, you don't regret the purport of the words at
+all, merely their being uttered at perhaps the wrong time. Well, that
+sort of spirit isn't 'cricket,' as we understand it; and your
+attitude, in professing to hold out a hand to the English section,
+while the other is making secret signs to the Dutch, is what we call
+trying to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds; and that is an
+experiment being attempted by far too many of your colleagues just
+now."
+
+"I am doing nothing of the kind," he repudiated indignantly. "I am
+standing by my countrymen, that they may maintain the dignity of their
+nation and not be trampled under foot by the English."
+
+"O fiddlesticks! No one wants to trample you under foot. We mostly
+want to raise you. We want to broaden your outlook and widen your
+views. But you know perfectly well that that means a great united
+country, for the back-veldters might learn at last where strength lay;
+and then your precious taal, traditions, and history will have to take
+their proper place in the general scheme, and that will be on a plane
+of equality and not blatantly on top."
+
+Again he protested with outspread hands. "But we have a great country
+now through union. You overlook the most important fact."
+
+"We should have had," she corrected, "if the Bond in Cape Colony, and
+Het Volk in the Transvaal, and the Unie in the Orange River Colony had
+not chanced to be powerful enough to work almost entirely in the
+interests of a Dutch South Africa all the time they were waving a
+flag, and cheering the colours, and delivering orations on the beauty
+of Union and their love for the great Mother Country, meaning the
+Liberal Government, who mostly, it would seem, told them to do as they
+like and please themselves and not make a fuss, so long as they called
+it Union."
+
+He turned to Meryl with a deprecating air, as if asking for her
+support, and she smiled rather a tired smile and said, "It is only
+that she has had to bottle it all up for a long time, as you were not
+at hand. The next time you come she will be ready to smile on you."
+
+"But I hope in the meantime you do not endorse the slander?..."
+
+"I have plenty of hope to balance a certain amount of doubt; and if it
+is any pleasure to you to know it, Diana never troubles to cross
+swords with a man she has not considerable regard for."
+
+He flushed and looked gratified, and Diana remarked coolly, "O, I've
+lots of regard for you. I'm only sorry that a man who might be
+brilliant is content to be mediocre because of his prejudices. Now
+when we were in Rhodesia ..." and she paused, regarding him with the
+bright, piquant eyes of a small bird.
+
+"Well, what about Rhodesia? You didn't find much brilliance there, I
+imagine? Brilliance does not thrive on bully beef and existence in a
+mud hut."
+
+"Neither does 'back-veldt' obtuseness and narrow-minded bigotry and
+indiscreet loquacity, Meinheer van Hert."
+
+He could not help laughing at the droll way she made the statement.
+"Well, what does thrive?"
+
+"Silence," thoughtfully.
+
+"But that did not appeal to you?" with significance.
+
+"Not perhaps so much as the growl," was her enigmatic reply.
+
+"And did you like this wild, wilderness land of silence?"
+
+She regarded him with half-grave, half-mocking eyes. "Well, we
+understood why _you_ want to have a finger in Rhodesia's pie, you and
+your various active organisations working in the interests of a Dutch
+South Africa. Any child could see what such a country would be worth
+to you. But you won't succeed, my friend. They've got a few strong men
+up there who believe in 'to-morrow' more than 'to-day,' and are not
+afraid to forego present honours for future progress. You won't bribe
+them, and you won't hoodwink them, and you won't get them. They may
+not have much weight or power or money to back them, but there's
+something in the atmosphere up there, something in the very air, that
+would tell anyone with a grain of perspicacity they could be dangerous
+if they liked. I shouldn't rouse the sleeping lion in Rhodesia if I
+were you, Meinheer, you and your colleagues, with coercion or anything
+else--that way lie explosives."
+
+At that moment Mr. Pym joined them, and the conversation at once
+became general, though van Hert laughingly told his host he had been
+undergoing a regular hoarding hustling. Then he told them of a few
+happenings since they went away, and because he was as glad as he
+could be to see them back again, all his natural versatility came
+uppermost, and one could easily perceive why he was a leader of men,
+and likely to remain so.
+
+"If only one could make him see straight," said Diana, when they spoke
+of it afterwards, "instead of with the warped vision of a one-idea'd
+fanatic."
+
+Later she tried to draw Meryl a little concerning her attitude towards
+him, but Meryl would only maintain an unrevealing silence, and Diana
+was baffled and troubled. She felt vaguely that some new thought was
+forming in Meryl's mind, some thought that held danger, but she could
+not grasp in what direction it tended.
+
+And van Hert smoked his pipe with a very thoughtful air that evening,
+pondering deeply. Meryl had neither encouraged him nor repulsed him,
+and she seemed just the same and yet different; and once more that
+half-formed dread came back to his memory that through Rhodesia he
+might lose her.
+
+And then he thought he would put the uncertainty at an end quickly and
+learn his fate as soon as possible; for he was treading on rather thin
+ice in his public capacity just now, and a strong coalition against
+him, which was rumoured in the air, might place him in an unpleasant
+position.
+
+On the other hand, Mr. Pym's support and Meryl's charm might prove
+weapons which would see him safely through, and help him to mould his
+position anew on broader lines.
+
+But for another three weeks Diana successfully baffled his intention,
+influenced by that vague fear she could not fathom, and a futile,
+helpless desire to ward off some pending destiny. And in the meantime
+she puzzled her small head daily concerning the invulnerable silence
+and aloofness of Peter Carew, and the blue shadows deepening under
+Meryl's eyes, though she strove hourly to be ever her old self and
+show no sign.
+
+
+
+
+XXII
+
+MERYL'S DECISION
+
+
+Although van Hert had no opportunity to reopen the subject of his
+hopes to Meryl during those three weeks, she knew quite well that he
+had in no wise changed to her. His every look showed it, and an
+intangible something in his manner whenever he addressed her. And all
+the time, though her heart was given hopelessly elsewhere, she felt
+herself in the grip of circumstances that might determine her action
+against her inclination.
+
+It would be difficult to relate just what passed in her mind through
+those three weeks, while outwardly she moved in the whirl of social
+happenings dependent upon their return with all her usual charm and
+dignity. Certainly she was rather quieter than usual, but as Diana
+talked and laughed faster, possibly with intent, the change was not
+noticed. She was specially quieter when van Hert was there, and Diana
+was specially talkative; entertaining him, rallying him, teazing him,
+in a way that, at any rate, brought out his best side, and in a sense
+buffeted the bigot good-naturedly into the attractive companion. And
+it seemed to show Diana at her best too, for behind all her flippancy
+there was undoubtedly a purpose and a depth which she would not for a
+moment have admitted, but which nevertheless was sincere and true.
+
+"Of course, I don't really care either way," she would tell him
+mockingly. "You may have a Dutch South Africa and welcome, if you
+won't interfere with my personal schemes and general affairs. I've
+nothing modern about me, in the sense of wanting to reconstruct the
+world generally and be a Joan of Arc to my retrenched compatriots. But
+when some of you talkers get up and express high-flown sentiments of
+brotherhood and union for the benefit of the public Press one moment,
+and swerve right down and wink at such sentiments as steamroller the
+English or the finances or the language question the next, it is time
+you had a little wholesome plain speaking. Anyhow, who _did_ vote the
+money for the new Government buildings?..."
+
+But whether Diana cared or not, one thing was certain: the utterances
+of that well-known minister William van Hert were showing gradually a
+higher and broader tone, and an atmosphere of conciliation was
+beginning to spread over his hitherto rabid sectarianism.
+
+And van Hert himself found it went well with his feelings to exchange
+wordy battles with Diana and keep his dreams for Meryl. The younger
+girl invigorated and enthused him, while the elder, curiously enough,
+appealed more to his senses. He wanted her fairness, as a strong, dark
+man often feels himself drawn to a woman who is frail and fair. And
+yet even while he wanted her he was a little afraid of her, a little
+baffled, a little uncertain of himself.
+
+Thus the three weeks passed, and the moment of the inevitable decision
+came near.
+
+And all the time Meryl felt herself rather as one who stood upon a
+difficult, stony place, with the forbidden land behind her and the
+clear call of a great need before. She believed that she would never
+see Carew again; that definitely and forever he had cut the threads of
+deep sympathy both had known existed. It was his dictum and she could
+only abide by it. What then should she do with her life? To what end
+turn this existence, blessed by fortune with wealth and the power
+wealth brings, though suddenly swept bare of joy?
+
+And ever and again back to her mind came Carew's words that last
+evening at Bulawayo: "Help to bridge over the gap. Help to make
+division become union. That were a work that any man might be proud to
+give his life to."
+
+And every day, more and more fully, she recognised that whatever she
+had to give she owed to South Africa. She gradually thought herself
+into a state in which she existed for herself and her own inclinations
+no more, but only for that sacred claim upon her.
+
+For the spirit of noble deeds, the spirit that carried Joan of Arc to
+the rescue of her country and to martyrdom, is not dead in the world,
+though no modern historian may depict a woman in armour leading allied
+armies on the battlefield. In quieter guise, in hidden corners, in
+unsung self-forgetfulness, women still answer to the divine call that
+sounds in their hearts, more inspiringly perhaps than in a man's; and
+for the everlasting good of the human race let us hope it will never
+cease to sound.
+
+Lamartine has said: "Nature has given woman two painful but heavenly
+gifts which distinguish her from the condition of men, and often raise
+her above it: pity and enthusiasm. Through pity she sacrifices
+herself; enthusiasm ennobles her. Self-sacrifice and enthusiasm! What
+else is there in heroism? Women have more heart and imagination than
+men. Enthusiasm arises from the imagination, self-sacrifice springs
+from the heart. They are therefore by nature more heroic than heroes."
+
+Enthusiasm and a divine spirit of self-sacrifice held a very deep part
+in Meryl's heart, though never for a moment would the thought of
+heroism have occurred to her. Where Diana, out of her mocking, but
+staunch and loyal heart, amused herself dashing cold water and playful
+satire upon all heroics, Meryl said nothing at all, but at a critical
+moment both were equally capable of _acting_.
+
+And it did not require much thought on Meryl's part to see now where
+this spirit of enthusiasm and self-sacrifice seemed to call her. South
+Africa was at the cross-roads; she was at the period of her most
+urgent need for great women as well as great men. The only question
+that seemed to arise was, what did she specially want of the women
+ready to serve her?
+
+In her own case Meryl found an answer from the lips of Carew himself.
+"Intermarriage," he had said; "that is the real solution to this great
+barrier of racialism. The same hopes united upon the same hearth." And
+it did not need much thought to perceive that should she, the admired
+and beloved heiress, fondly expected to marry an English nobleman and
+blossom into a peeress, marry instead a Dutchman and devote herself
+absolutely to South Africa, she would give a tremendous impetus to
+this question of intermarriage which was to consolidate the great
+South African Union. She saw herself giving this impetus, because it
+seemed to be the service life asked of her, and following it up by a
+wise and steadying influence upon the man who was likely always to be
+in the forefront of South Africa's politics.
+
+And yet, sometimes in the silence of the night, how her spirit
+shuddered and shrank from it, lying bare and desolate and bleeding
+under the hopeless, unconquerable ache for that strong Englishman in
+the north--that soldier-policeman for whom she would willingly have
+foregone all pride of place, all luxury of wealth, all satisfaction of
+achievement! Yet this he would never know, seeing her, as he ever
+must, framed in a vast fortune from which she could not extricate
+herself. She thought if she might choose, she would remain quietly
+with her father for ever, doing good, as he, by stealth and without
+ostentation, feeding her heart on a memory that would never die; but
+here the spirit of self-sacrifice intervened, and gave her no hope of
+rest but in fulfilment of what she believed life asked of her.
+
+And so the day of decision came, and all unconsciously Diana struck
+the final note. In the morning, glancing through various papers,
+magazines, and pamphlets with an extraordinary skill to glean any
+little essential point without wading through column upon column of
+matter, she came upon a paragraph that aroused her instant
+indignation.
+
+"O listen to this!" she cried. "If they are not at it again! Somewhere
+or other General Grets has been making a speech, and here is part of
+his noble sentiment: 'I earnestly appeal to parents to prevent their
+children marrying any of the English race. They must not let this
+colony become a bastard race the same as the Cape Colony. If God had
+wanted us to be one race, He would not have made a distinction between
+English and Dutch.' Well, I wonder what Dutch Willie will have to say
+to that?" and she smiled grimly to herself in anticipation of some
+satisfaction to come. "This man Grets is certainly one of his
+supporters. If he comes this afternoon I shall have a nice little bomb
+ready for him!"
+
+But instead of waiting for his usual late hour, van Hert came early,
+and asked to see Miss Meryl Pym alone; and when Diana returned from a
+game of golf ready for the fray, she was presented to van Hert as her
+future cousin.
+
+For once even she was nonplussed and at a loss for words. "O well, it
+would be silly to pretend to be surprised, wouldn't it?" she said
+rather lamely, and crossed to the tea-table to pour out her own cup of
+tea. "And it is superfluous to hope you'll be happy and prosperous and
+all that; so I'll just say, my dear future-in-law, I think you're a
+devilish lucky man!..." And Diana snapped it out as if an
+unaccountable sensation demanded an explosive of some sort.
+
+"My dear!... my dear!..." cried Aunt Emily in outraged horror. "Do try
+to remember where you are and who you are! If you indulge in such
+vulgar, disgraceful language on the golf course, you certainly cannot
+expect to repeat it in the drawing-room." But Diana paid no heed. She
+had already observed that Meryl, though blushing faintly, avoided
+meeting her eyes.
+
+"And what about this brilliant speech of General Grets' reported this
+morning? Will your party allow you to consummate the match, do you
+think?..." with biting sarcasm.
+
+But van Hert only laughed good-temperedly. "Could it in any way better
+be given the lie?" he asked, and before that irrefutable logic Diana
+was silent.
+
+Neither could she see her way to raising any reasonable objections,
+when a little, later the engagement was announced broadcast with
+considerable beating of big drums, but she flung a few sarcasms about
+with some violence.
+
+She flung one or two at her uncle, being at a loss to understand his
+taking the engagement so quietly; but if she had been present at the
+interview between him and Meryl before the final sanction was given,
+she would have seen that he too could hardly act otherwise. In truth,
+Meryl perplexed them both in those first few days, for she was so calm
+and quiet and self-contained they both felt a little dumb before her.
+It was as if, having finally made up her mind, she was determined to
+avoid all paths that might weaken her and take her stand alone. She
+was far more quiet and composed than either her father or Diana. These
+did not say much, but they showed perhaps the more. Henry Pym's hair
+whitened perceptibly, as if from some stern mental trouble, and Diana
+was uncertain, peevish, and difficult to please. Only once the subject
+was alluded to between them.
+
+"I confess the news took me rather by surprise," her uncle admitted in
+reply to some sally of hers, "and I was a little at a loss to follow
+her actions."
+
+"Actions?..." sniffed Diana. "What actions?... None were needed; it is
+the result of meditation."
+
+"You mean?..." questioningly.
+
+"Heroics and martyrdom," she snapped, and flung out of the room,
+leaving him perplexed and grave.
+
+"If I thought so," he said in his heart, "if I were sure of it, I
+would forbid the banns myself."
+
+He moved to the window, and stood for a long time looking silently and
+sadly to the far blue hills. He was thinking that, though he had given
+his life almost to be all in all to Meryl since she was left
+motherless, there was one part now he could not play.
+
+"A mother would have seen through anything and known what to do," he
+finished, and sighed heavily.
+
+
+
+
+XXIII
+
+CAREW'S STORY
+
+
+The news reached Carew through a newspaper. He was back in Salisbury now,
+attending the renewed sitting of the Commission, giving invaluable
+assistance. Whatever he said was instantly listened to. The chief members
+of the Commission, men of note and weight, wondered a little over this
+distinguished-looking man, merely a soldier-policeman, who knew such an
+extraordinary amount about the black races in Rhodesia; but if they
+sought enlightenment they were disappointed. No one knew anything about
+Major Carew, except that he was once in the Blues and now in the British
+South Africa police, and that the natives were more or less his hobby.
+
+But there was one morning when he was more silent than usual; when he
+seemed a little _distrait_ and very difficult to approach. And the
+moment the sitting was over he declined, somewhat curtly, an
+invitation to dinner that evening, and rode out across the veldt
+alone. That was the morning the daily newspaper contained the news
+that the only child of Henry Pym, the well-known millionaire, was
+engaged to be married to Mr. William van Hert, the eminent politician.
+
+And Carew's comment was to ride out across the veldt alone.
+
+The news was undoubtedly a shock to him. Of course, he had known she
+would marry, but, more or less unconsciously, he had pictured her with
+an English home and a permanent place in English society.
+
+The reality,--what actually had happened,--had not entered his head at
+all. Of course he knew van Hert by name; everyone did. And because of
+his reputation for anti-English views Carew both marvelled and at the
+same time gleaned a probable motive. And the result of his cogitations
+was that added sternness which always came into his face when he was
+seriously troubled.
+
+Yet what use to fret and trouble now? She had gone out of his life for
+ever, and with her his last chance of glad renewing. Henceforth he
+must go back to his quiet life of service which asked and gave nothing
+else, and to the companionship of those old memories which sometimes
+awakened from their sleep.
+
+He rode far across the veldt, and for the first time for many a long
+year turned back the leaves of the closed book. And the reason he did
+this was the remembrance of Meryl's face, as she leaned up against the
+lintel of the window that last evening at Bulawayo, when they both
+felt it was a final parting. Something that had been in the depths of
+her eyes, and which she had been powerless to hide, although she made
+no other sign. It was a remembrance that called that added sternness
+to his face: the sternness of deep trouble suppressed. For he knew no
+woman of Meryl's nature would look as she had looked that evening and
+love another man in a month. Therefore it was probably for some
+altruistic motive and not love that she had consented to marry van
+Hert; no shallow, selfish motive he knew well enough, but perhaps some
+call she had found the courage to answer.
+
+But if it was also a sacrifice, an offering of herself and her
+happiness upon some altar of need, ought he to let her fulfil it?
+Between her and the husband he had pictured for her he could not allow
+himself to stand; between her and van Hert, whom he was convinced she
+did not love, was another matter. Yet he knew in his heart that he
+could not save her now; the die was cast, both of them must abide by
+it. And in any case, how could he tell her his story? How could he go
+to her with that story and empty-handed as well; she the heiress of
+great wealth, and he without even a name and position?
+
+Away out in the kopjes he rode his horse slowly up a steep hill-side,
+and on the top dismounted and sat upon a boulder, looking over a vast
+tract of lovely country to infinite blue distances. As ever in moments
+of stress, he had chosen the height, with wide horizons, fresh-blowing
+winds, far spaces of sunlight; and in the flickering shade of the
+thinly foliaged trees he took off his helmet, baring his head to the
+breeze. And it could be seen that the grey about the temples had been
+increasing, while the strong lines on the face had deepened already,
+as if it had gone hardly with him of late.
+
+He sat very still; so still that a little squirrel ran down almost to
+his feet to investigate the strange figure, and little birds chirped
+all kinds of personalities about him to each other close at hand. He
+was taking a journey into a far land--the far land of the buried past.
+He was thinking of that story he would have had to tell Meryl Pym. Of
+Joan's sad life, sad love, sad death. Of how long ago she had lain
+dead upon the heather, as far as anyone could tell, slain by his hand.
+
+He went back to it now, page by page; it seemed in some sort of
+penance that he must give. The first pages dealt with those two gay
+young brothers in the Blues; the elder, Peter, the recognised heir to
+the rich bachelor uncle, who now made life gay for them with an
+allowance of two thousand a year each; but he was an autocrat and
+something of a tyrant, the old uncle, and his will had to be law. He
+did not mind their sowing of wild oats if they were what he called
+gentlemanly wild oats, and merely got them talked about as gay young
+dogs, and he was always generous with an extra cheque if they got into
+difficulties; but he would not have foolhardy, quixotic affairs at
+all. There he put his foot down. When the younger brother, Geoffrey, a
+youth of small, mean aims and temperament, led the pretty daughter of
+one of the keepers into trouble, he told his uncle he was going to
+give her a fixed sum out of his own allowance yearly while she was
+unmarried, and something always for the child.
+
+"Nonsense," said the old gentleman tartly; "the girl shouldn't have
+been such a fool. I will pay one hundred pounds into the bank for her,
+and she shall not have another penny." Geoffrey thought himself well
+out of the scrape, but before the incident closed there were words
+between the brothers that neither ever forgot. Peter took a different
+view of the matter entirely; he knew the girl, and he knew that she
+was gentle and confiding, and that Geoffrey had won her round with
+promises. So he called his brother a cur, and a few other things with
+strong adjectives, and because he knew he was in the wrong Geoffrey
+never forgave him. He went further, and hated him from that time
+onward.
+
+But the incident was destined to bear fruit of a far more searching
+nature. Because he heard the girl was very ill and quietly fretting
+herself to death, Peter went one day to see her, prepared to make any
+amends in his power for his brother's sin. And beside the sofa where
+the girl lay he met Joan Whitby. And such are the vagaries of human
+nature, with its beginning on that day, the gay, light heart, the
+fickle fancies, light loves, wild escapades of the devil-may-care
+young sportsman, all vanished away into thin air before a love that
+filled his whole being. Lovelier, gayer, cleverer women, ready enough
+to meet the heir of Richard Fourtenay-Carew halfway, had left him only
+gay and careless. Joan Whitby, shy, distrustful, reserved, won the
+prize unsought. She had run away from him, avoided any spot where they
+might meet, hidden if she saw him in the distance, tried to hurry past
+if they met unawares; more than that she could not do, because she was
+the governess at the agent's house, and she and her charge must often
+cross the park. But Captain Peter Fourtenay-Carew was a hot-headed,
+determined young man, and having lost his heart to Joan's grey eyes
+and delicate, lovely face, he was not very likely to be abashed by the
+fact that she hid from him; rather it whetted his determination to win
+her. And in the end, because Joan perceived he was an honest gentleman
+and that he truly loved her, and because with all her pure, strong
+soul she truly loved him, she left off running away and came shyly
+through the wood to meet him. And of course Geoffrey, the jealous,
+spiteful brother, discovered their secret, and carried the tale to his
+uncle in violent, indignant guise, precipitating anger for his own
+ends, where a little discretion might have found a compromise. Mr.
+Carew's lips curled a little cruelly as he remarked he would easily
+nip that peccadillo in the bud. He would have no penniless, unknown
+governess reigning at Dartwood Hall, having already quite other views
+for his future successor. Then he informed his agent the young lady
+holding the post of governess in his house must be sent away at once,
+with a quarter's wages which he would be pleased to remit. To Peter he
+said nothing; he merely waited for an indignant scene, easily to be
+squashed with cold and cursory logic concerning allowances and future
+inheritance if his wishes were disregarded. But it was just there that
+he misjudged this gay, handsome nephew of his, possessed also of a
+fund of spirit and strong character which his uncle had not had the
+perspicacity to perceive.
+
+The interview duly transpired, but there was no indignation at all. If
+he had looked for melodrama he was disappointed; the melodramatic did
+not appeal to Peter Fourtenay-Carew. He merely told his uncle quite
+quietly and respectfully that he intended to marry Joan Whitby.
+Richard Carew condescended to reason a little before he resorted to
+that cold, cursory logic, but he might just as well have saved himself
+both. Peter stood in the library window, looking across the grand old
+park, and heard, apparently unmoved, that all those rich acres and
+woodlands and well-stocked waters and preserves would pass from him to
+his brother, if he chose to remain obdurate and marry the poor
+governess, instead of the lady of high lineage his uncle had already
+selected for him.
+
+What he said was, "Do you wish me also to lose my career and leave the
+Blues?"
+
+For the moment his uncle had been too angry to reply. "Get out," he
+had said roughly. "You can't be yourself this morning. I will not
+believe you seriously contemplate losing anything."
+
+Peter had turned back from the window, and stood a moment looking
+squarely into his uncle's face. "I am going to marry Joan," he said,
+"and as you have brought me up to be perfectly useless, except in a
+crack regiment, I only want to know if you will continue my allowance
+long enough to give me time to find out what I can be useful at," then
+he had walked quietly out of the room.
+
+And Richard Carew, distrusting his own ears and far more upset than he
+would ever for a moment admit, remembered that he had seen just that
+look on the face of Peter's mother when he had had to break to her
+that her husband had been killed in the hunting-field--a look of
+desperate finality and unswerving resolve. Within the year he had
+stood beside her grave also, and taken the two baby boys home to his
+own house.
+
+Then Geoffrey had come to him, and because he was clever and
+unscrupulous he fanned the flame easily to white-heat. Finally the
+uncle had decreed, "I will give him a week to think it over, and in
+the event of his remaining obdurate I will offer him one thousand a
+year for five years, and at the end of that time the allowance to be
+renewed or decreased, or stopped, according to my pleasure."
+
+At the end of the week Peter's reply was "I am going to marry Joan on
+the 25th by special licence, in London. If you will not receive us
+together, I should be glad if my man might pack my clothes and bring
+them to me, with a few other belongings."
+
+And Richard Carew's answer to that had been a lawyer's letter,
+politely enquiring of Captain Peter Fourtenay-Carew to what address he
+wished the allowance sent, which was to be his for five years. Peter,
+not yet too angry to be cautious, asked if the five thousand pounds
+might be invested for him in entirety, and made arrangements at once
+to exchange into a far cheaper regiment, aware that as a soldier he
+might still keep a home for his wife, whereas any experiment in the
+untried fields of labour might swallow up all he had. In due course
+the solicitor replied that the request would be granted. But ere the
+wedding was solemnised the unlooked-for hand of fate dealt him a
+pitiless blow. He had many friends in the neighbourhood of his uncle's
+estate, friends who were glad and willing to receive Joan for his sake
+and her own; and in an unhappy hour he received a pressing invitation
+to meet her at the house of one of them, and have a week with the
+pheasants before he had to rejoin his regiment. It was a bitter cold
+month that year, and every sportsman's temper was a little on edge at
+having to face December blasts in October. And one day when they were
+out in a preserve that adjoined Richard Carew's, he and his friend
+heard shots and voices over the dividing hedge; and it brought up the
+subject of young Geoffrey's cold-blooded delight in his good fortune
+at becoming his uncle's heir, and unthinkingly the friend commenced to
+repeat a report of something he had said in the local club when a
+little the worse for drink. Then he had stopped short abruptly, trying
+to turn away the subject, but with a sudden dangerous light in his
+eyes Peter had demanded to be told; and because the other man's heart
+was sore for his friend, and he wanted to give Peter an excuse to
+cross swords with his brother, he told how Geoffrey had implied his
+relations with Joan had been exactly the same as his own, Geoffrey's,
+with the keeper's daughter in the beginning, but that he had not been
+clever enough to get clear of the affair as he had done, and that now
+he was nicely sold for his high-flown superiority.
+
+And then the wrath in Peter's face had been a terrible thing to see.
+It was as if his very nature reeled. He ground his teeth together, and
+his eyes had a red look as he muttered savagely, "God damn him; he
+shall pay for this!" He was standing with his face towards his uncle's
+preserve, and even as he cursed there was a sound of shots, and a
+second later a hare dashed out and fled past them.
+
+Scarcely knowing what he did in the blind white-heat of his passion,
+but possessed suddenly with an awful desire to kill, he swung
+completely round and fired at it. And just at that moment Joan and
+their hostess were coming up behind, hidden by the brushwood and
+shrubs, to go with them to the luncheon-place,--and Joan fell, shot
+through the heart. In the first awful moment no one seemed able to
+grasp the appalling fact. Peter threw himself down on his knees beside
+her, and was like a man struck dazed and speechless. He had a feeling
+that it was some horrible dream or hallucination, and presently this
+bewildering dazed sense would pass away and he would find the horror
+had not been real. Then across his torment he heard a voice that stung
+him alive with dreadful venom. His uncle and his brother had climbed
+the fence and had come to see what had happened, hearing from a scared
+keeper that someone was shot. Peter looked up and saw them. It was a
+dreadful moment for the three to meet. His friend, Maitland, seeing
+the unnatural ferocity in his eyes, tried to draw him away. Even
+Richard Carew, the uncle, looked a little alarmed. But Peter in his
+madness took a step forward. "You cur, you libelled her," he hissed at
+his brother, and cursed him bitterly. And then Geoffrey lost his head
+too. An ugly sneer distorted his face as he answered, "Well, anyhow,
+you won't get your inheritance back now, just through a casual shot.
+Lady Lilton is going to marry me, and ..." But he had no time to
+finish, for Peter suddenly hurled himself upon him, and struggled
+fiercely to get his hands at his throat.
+
+The scene was terrible. Those who were present never forgot it, and by
+the time a keeper and Maitland managed to separate them Geoffrey was
+too much hurt to stand alone. They left him lying on the ground, while
+Richard Carew forced a little brandy between his clenched teeth, and
+Maitland dragged Peter away to where his wife and a keeper were
+watching with horror in their eyes beside Joan's lifeless form. For a
+moment they feared he had lost his reason, and then some dreadful
+tension in his brain seemed to snap suddenly and they saw he was
+himself again. Without a word to either of them he stooped down and
+lifted the still form in his arms, and carried her unaided back to
+the Maitlands' house.
+
+He did not lose hold of himself again, but for weeks suffered a mind
+agony that might well have permanently turned the brain of a weaker
+man. Night after night the Maitlands heard him leave the house, after
+all had gone to bed; and they knew that he went out to tramp the moors
+till morning, for it was only from utter physical exhaustion he ever
+slept. No word came from the Hall, but rumour said the younger brother
+was injured so that he would not walk for months. Richard Carew's only
+action was to lavish hush-money, and keep as much as possible out of
+the papers. One mistake he made. Through his solicitor he informed his
+nephew he was willing to give him his former income, that he might
+remain in his old regiment. In answer to that Peter wrote to the
+lawyer: "I am leaving England for ever, and I shall cease to remember
+from this moment that I have the misfortune to be related to Richard
+and Geoffrey Fourtenay-Carew. No letters will reach me. I leave no
+address," and then he signed himself "Peter Carew" without the
+Fourtenay, and used the second name no more. And immediately
+afterwards he joined one of the early pioneer bands setting out for
+Rhodesia, possessing nothing in the world but a little money gained by
+the sale of his personal possessions and a memory that would shadow
+his whole life.
+
+Sitting alone on the kopje-top, he leaned his elbows on his knees and
+buried his face in his hands, and it was as though the waters of
+bitterness overflowed him.
+
+No, of course he could never tell Meryl such a story as that. For
+sixteen years his path had lain alone and his bitterness been shared
+with none. It must go on so now to the end. When he could bear it the
+memory of Joan's dear face still came to him as in infinite love and
+compassion; but he seldom dared allow himself even that; it was better
+to have nothing in his life--no past, present, nor future except his
+work.
+
+He got up and stood for a moment leaning against his horse, resting
+his arms on the saddle and gazing far away. Then he rode slowly home
+under the stars, and by the time he reached the police camp his face
+was only rigid and mask-like.
+
+
+
+
+XXIV
+
+A RAIN-WASHED MORNING AND A DISCUSSION
+
+
+It was the first rain-washed morning of the wet season when Ailsa
+Grenville heard the news, through a letter from Diana.
+
+And the first rain-washed morning is an epoch in the Rhodesian year;
+therefore it cannot be dismissed with a curt announcement.
+
+All night long the vigorous, boisterous spring-cleaning had been in
+progress. Ailsa, snug in her little bed, with the rain slashing and
+banging and pounding on the corrugated-iron roof, and the trees
+swishing and swaying, and the wind rushing around like a mad thing,
+apparently from all four corners of the earth at once, had laughed
+softly to herself at the commotion Mother Nature was making upon the
+dusty, dishevelled, rubbish-strewn land. It was as if, having been
+very busy elsewhere for three months, she meant to stand no nonsense
+now, but get the whole country furbished up in one night. What a time
+they were having, those dusty, untidy-looking trees! Bucket after
+bucket, millions of buckets as big as a house, full of delicious
+rain-water, flung at their heads! And the dusty, disgraceful roads
+swept bare, with gallons upon gallons of water driving their refuse
+hither and thither, all of it, as if mightily ashamed of itself,
+scrambling along in masses; and, of course, in its haste choking up
+the drains, and becoming a serious hindrance until a veritable
+water-spout was necessary to clear the course.
+
+And then the dead branches and twigs that the trees had been too lazy
+to shed; short shrift for them on the first spring-cleaning night.
+Down they came, helter-skelter, and no notice taken of the tree's
+groaning, or its crackling cries of protest.
+
+And the little river-beds and stream-beds, carelessly left to get
+filled up with dead leaves and rank grass, such a turning out for them
+as the resistless water was driven in sweeping streams along their
+bosoms! And woe betide any carelessly thatched or unsightly roofs! Off
+they went, away with the general medley. The coming summer would have
+none of them. And the granite, which had allowed dust and dirt and
+dead grasses to accumulate upon it, how it got its face scrubbed and
+washed that first night, and the wind shrieking with glee all the
+time, dashing the sheets of rain against it with its whole might!
+
+But, of course, one could tell that everything liked it. The laughter
+in the trees and the wind was quite distinct, and the little rivers
+were fairly shouting with joy. It was not their fault that all that
+piece of the earth had grown so dusty and untidy; it was Mother
+Nature's own fault for being so long coming with those big buckets of
+hers. How could any land, however willing, look spruce and green and
+clean with no rain for four months? No wonder there was such a
+commotion, and it was such a noisy, vigorous business, when at last
+the rain did come! Every tree and every blade and every flower had a
+special little life-plan of its own to carry out, if only it could get
+enough moisture, to say nothing of all the myriad insects and birds
+and animals, who were too lackadaisical, after the long, dry heat, to
+thoroughly begin their summer preparations until the rain came. The
+activity among the humans, with their gold-mines and farms and
+fanciful erections, would be nothing, would not be worth mentioning,
+compared with the activity going on in the hidden world all around
+them on the morrow. Even the flowers had been chary of wearing their
+best dresses in such a dusty, untidy world.
+
+But wait till to-morrow, and then see them! Far, far outvying any
+assembly of Ascot frocks or Lords' cricket week or Henley Sunday. The
+boisterous rain was a little severe on the dainty blossoms, but one
+may be sure they bore it with the pluckiest patience, whispering to
+each other gleefully about the lovely frocks they were going to wear
+the next day. And there would be such eager, joyful cogitations in the
+bosoms of all the little males anxious to be off on their spring
+courting affairs. How could any self-respecting young cock bird or
+male insect go and pay his addresses in a dusty, dirty, faded coat? Of
+course, it wasn't to be thought of. The other chap, who waited, would
+get all the running. But to-morrow there would be no further need to
+wait at all. Plumage and coats would be spring-cleaned, and
+expectations for the coming summer of the highest. Well-filled
+storehouses, leaf-cosy nests, glorious hunting-grounds. Never mind
+these boisterous winds and the violent way they hurl the rain about;
+sit tight and make lovely plans for to-morrow.
+
+Ailsa, snug in her little bed, thought happily about the earth and its
+glad renewing, and woke up her precious Billy to say, "Are you awake,
+Billy? Can you hear it?... We shan't know our little world to-morrow."
+
+And Billy, who was sometimes of a very prosaic turn of mind, answered,
+with a grunt, "Just in time to save that top patch of mealies and the
+bed of onions, by Jove!..." and then rolled over and went to sleep
+again.
+
+"Bother your onions and mealies," said his adoring wife. "The world
+wasn't made for you to grow vegetables in!..."
+
+But the next morning they climbed a kopje together, just for the joy
+of it, and laughed softly, and exclaimed in hushed voices at all the
+wonder outspread.
+
+Such a glorious new heaven and new earth! In the heaven a rain-washed
+sky, resplendent with armaments of fairy cloud-vessels sailing across
+deepest, loveliest blue. On the earth every leaf and every blade
+flashing light, as if it had a little sun of its own; every flower in
+its loveliest court dress; the very stones gay with beautiful shades
+of lichen; the granite kopjes in the distance, with their faces so
+thoroughly scrubbed, gleaming with the dazzling brightness of
+new-fallen snow. Dark, rich soil where the plough had been, renewed
+with the richness of velvet. Sullen, colourless veldt, radiant in a
+few short hours with the first outposts of its coming spring glory.
+Far, blue hills, bluer and intenser than ever in the rain-washed
+atmosphere. Little cock birds and male insects away off soon after
+sunrise about those courting affairs that had been delayed. A whole
+world rejoicing; a whole world singing Te Deums of praise and
+thanksgiving in its own dear, happy, overflowing way.
+
+No wonder the big fellow in the well-worn khaki, with his vigorous
+enthusiasms and wide sympathies, thought a little regretfully of the
+hide-bound, clause-bound, doctrine-bound, sober-minded black cloth he
+had felt himself obliged to put off. Would humanity ever sing again
+as the sons of the morning? Ever burst into Te Deums of overflowing
+thanksgiving to the Giver of all good, such as echoed and re-echoed
+from a long-parched earth on its first rain-washed morning.
+
+Well, he could but try to keep the long face and depressing atmosphere
+and thin air of superiority safely out of his own little sphere, and
+while he taught the natives to be active, useful members of society,
+try to help all the settlers about him, hard cases or otherwise, to be
+honest, fearless, clean-living men, whether they achieved it to the
+accompaniment of good round oaths and a Sunday morning spent in bed,
+or on their knees between consecrated walls in the accepted way. Of
+course, he liked them to come to his little stone tabernacle with its
+thatched roof, and he made his service just as attractive as ever he
+could on their behalf; but if they were too lazy or too busy to
+come--well, it didn't follow they couldn't be honest, clean-living
+fellows without it; so then he went to them, and sat over their camp
+fire, and told them a good story or two, and in the end there wasn't a
+camp within twelve miles where the "bloomin' sky pilot" wasn't one of
+the most welcome guests.
+
+But to do them justice, they mostly liked going to his little
+tabernacle, for it was always a pleasant meeting-place, and men in
+exile, even "hard cases," like to sing a good old-fashioned hymn just
+once in a way; to say nothing of the big home-made cake, full of
+plums, which was usually ready to be handed round afterwards on the
+"sky pilot's" verandah, and which he teasingly informed Ailsa was her
+way of bribing his congregation to come to church, rather than suffer
+the ignominy of hearing him preach to empty benches.
+
+But that was as it might be; anyhow, if a settler within reach chanced
+to be ill, he might be sure he would get a jelly or soup or milk, even
+if he had never put a foot inside the little wilderness church. And if
+Billy could not take it The Kid or Moore had to, for Ailsa ruled her
+little sphere with a rod of iron, and the two troopers had long been
+her willing slaves.
+
+But though she had cut herself adrift from the pleasant world of her
+girlhood, and won a real satisfaction out of life that would be death
+to most women, she had never lost her sympathies with all that went
+on in that existence, where
+
+     Life treads on life
+     And heart on heart;
+     We press too close in church and mart
+     To keep a dream or grave apart.
+
+And when they came back from their ramble on that joyous morning,
+Diana's letter caused a shadow to come over all the sunlight, and a
+quick anxious ache to grow up in her heart. After baldly stating the
+news of Meryl's engagement her cousin wrote:--
+
+"Was it you, or was it that bearish policeman, who suggested to such a
+dreamer as Meryl the desirability of a martyr's crown?... She is far
+better suited to love in a cottage and babies, but just because that
+is the case and it is easy to obtain, she chooses to break her heart
+on some vague altar of sacrifice. I have no patience with these
+high-falutin ideas myself, nor with the cottage and babies either, for
+the matter of that; but I suppose a few people had to be practical and
+selfish and commonplace, to keep the world going round without violent
+bumps and jerks. Don't send Meryl congratulations; send her an In
+Memoriam card. Believe me, it is better suited to the auspicious
+occasion."
+
+Ailsa showed the letter to her husband, feeling that it was the worst
+news she had had for many years. "What does it mean, Billy?... What
+can have influenced her?... My sweet Meryl! What is it?... What can it
+be?... that keeps Major Carew so aloof? It was easy to see how they
+attracted each other."
+
+"He is a proud man," her husband said, gravely. "It is not easy for a
+proud man with nothing to choose a wife with a large fortune."
+
+"Ah, but there is something more," she cried, "it cannot be only that.
+What has kept him so reserved in every particular all these years?"
+
+But Grenville could not help her, and all the afternoon she worried
+and fretted in silence.
+
+In the evening she said to him anxiously, after again discussing the
+news, "Mrs. Fleetwood has often asked me to visit her in Salisbury.
+Shall I go now? Perhaps if I could get Major Carew to talk?..."
+
+"You will never get him to talk," with quiet conviction.
+
+"Nevertheless, my husband, I feel I must try. We have so much, you and
+I. One can but make the effort."
+
+She got up from her chair and went round to him, and climbed on to his
+knee and hid her face, because she was troubled and unhappy.
+
+"Tell me something I can do to help them, Billy?" she pleaded.
+
+He fondled her hair in silence a moment, and then, because he thought
+it might comfort her afterwards to know she had tried, he said, "There
+is no harm in your going to Mrs. Fleetwood's. I think the change would
+do you good."
+
+And Ailsa went to bed a little comforted that at least he sanctioned
+her journey.
+
+
+
+
+XXV
+
+AILSA LEARNS CAREW'S SECRET
+
+
+Ailsa had to journey to Selukwe in the post-cart, and she found it
+very trying; all the more so because her tender heart, which loved all
+animals, suffered agonies of compassion for the poor underfed,
+overworked mules, some with sores, urged pitilessly along by their
+black driver. She wished vainly that she was the happy possessor of a
+fortune, and might at once finance in Rhodesia the Society for the
+Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, for which funds are so urgently
+needed. At Selukwe she had some little time to wait at the hotel
+before taking the train, and she went round to the posting-stables to
+interview any white man she could find who might be in a responsible
+position towards the post-cart mules on the subject of their
+condition. The man, of course, complained of the roads, which were in
+a hopeless condition, and beyond satisfying in a measure her own sense
+of compassion, she knew she had done little good. But while she talked
+to the white man at the stables, a thin, scholarly looking,
+grey-haired gentleman chanced to overhear their discourse, and raising
+his hat to her with grave courtesy, expressed his admiration of her
+action.
+
+"But can nothing be done, do you think?" she asked him dolefully.
+
+"I'm afraid not. You see, the Government do not particularly wish that
+route used, and so they have allowed the road to lapse. Let us hope
+there will very shortly be a railway, at any rate, to Edwardstown, and
+that then visitors will be encouraged to go and see your wonderful
+Zimbabwe ruins, instead of discouraged by the discomforts of the way."
+
+They moved towards the hotel together, and Ailsa asked, "Have you seen
+them?"
+
+"Only for a few short hours, which were all I could spare from some
+research work I was doing elsewhere in Rhodesia. I was tremendously
+impressed by the little I had time to see, and look forward to a long
+sojourn there presently."
+
+They talked on, their conversation drifting from one subject to
+another, and then he discovered her name was Grenville, and she that
+his was Delcombe, and they greeted each other anew as both hailing
+from lovely Devon. After that he proudly assumed the role of escort,
+and waited upon her hand and foot. As it chanced, he also was
+journeying to Salisbury, so they became travelling companions, and the
+chance acquaintanceship ripened rapidly. In the evening they dined
+together in the restaurant-car and sat long over their meal; and then
+it was that Ailsa chanced to mention the name of Major Carew.
+
+Henry Delcombe at once remarked, "There was a Major Carew at the
+Zimbabwe police camp, I think, when I visited the ruins, but I did not
+see him. I should like to have done. I understood from the young
+trooper there that he is some relation to the Fourtenay-Carews?" and
+he paused interrogatively.
+
+"It was the man I am speaking of. He _is_ a Fourtenay-Carew."
+
+"Ah!..." and Ailsa saw instantly the swift interest in her companion's
+eyes; a wave as of thought-telepathy that this man probably held the
+key to Peter Carew's past. Delcombe read in her sparkling eyes that
+her interest in the soldier-policeman was no casual one, but of the
+warmest friendship.
+
+"Did you know him before he came out here?" she ventured.
+
+"I knew his father well; I lived near to them in Devon. I was doing
+some research work, and I had a quiet little home in a lovely valley
+close to the little place that was then this man's home, and quite
+near also to Dartwood Hall, where the elder brother, Richard
+Fourtenay-Carew, lived. They are not a rich family at all, you know.
+Dartwood Hall and estates and money came to Richard Carew through a
+very eccentric godmother, who brought him up, and he could do as he
+liked with it all. His younger brother, Peter Fourtenay-Carew, and his
+wife had, I think, only a very small income between them besides his
+pay as a captain. They rented a pretty little place in Devonshire
+close to Dartwood Hall, and came there for the hunting whenever he was
+able. The brothers were good friends, and he always had the run of
+the Dartwood stables. They were an interesting pair, but it was the
+younger whom I regarded as a friend, and that was why I was anxious to
+find out if I had stumbled across his son. As you may have heard,
+Captain Fourtenay-Carew, the father, was killed in the hunting-field
+and his wife died within the year. The two boys, then quite babies,
+were adopted by Richard Carew and brought up as his own sons."
+
+He paused and studied Ailsa's face gravely. She was almost breathless
+with interest, and he seemed a little taken aback by it. She saw the
+question in his eyes, and hastened to add frankly, "I cannot tell you
+how interested I am to hear this. My husband and I think there is no
+one in the world like Major Carew; in fact, in some vague, distant way
+I believe we are related. But he never speaks of his past life at all.
+For some reason he seems to regard it as a closed book; he even
+persists in calling himself a Rhodesian, and resolutely ignores the
+fact that he is anything else as well."
+
+"Ah!..." and the thin, scholarly face of her companion looked as if he
+were obtaining a clue he wanted. There was a pause, and each seemed to
+be weighing something in his and her mind. Then Ailsa spoke: "I
+conclude he has some reason for his extreme reticence, and I hope I
+should be one of the last to pry into anyone's secrets; but for a
+reason I can hardly explain, I should be very glad to know something
+now that might possibly help me to do a special service for him. I
+shall see him in Salisbury."
+
+"What I know is no secret in a general sense," said Delcombe, speaking
+with grave deliberation; "but the facts of it were cleverly hushed up
+by his uncle, and you will easily understand that Major Carew would
+never speak of it now. My own interest in the matter is because of my
+regard for his father, and, I think I may say, admiration for himself.
+Anyone seeing the two brothers together as I did--that is, the younger
+men--must have felt deeply drawn to the elder and repulsed by the
+younger. A finer young fellow than Peter Fourtenay-Carew never
+stepped. The other brother was good-looking also, but he was cunning
+and crafty and little liked. Yet, such are the mysterious ways of
+Providence, the younger brother, by an unlooked-for turn of events,
+became the possessor of wealth and place and influence, and the elder
+went out from his country penniless, exiled, and alone. As far as I
+can judge, no one in England has ever heard of him since. I don't
+think it is even known where he is. A few of us knew that he came out
+to South Africa, and journeyed to Rhodesia with one of the pioneer
+columns, but that is quite sixteen years ago, and events at home move
+quickly, and his utter silence lost him the warm places he might have
+held in most hearts, or, at any rate, left them in abeyance. I only
+came out to Rhodesia a few months ago, and I have been much on the
+veldt, studying ancient relics; but I have kept my ears open. I heard
+of the man you are speaking of at the police camp at Zimbabwe, but the
+young trooper, Mr. Stanley, was not communicative. With a very
+praiseworthy _esprit de corps_, he declined to be drawn into any
+discussion whatever concerning his officer. I heard after I left that
+he, Major Carew, was a very reserved, taciturn man, but it was
+generally credited he had once held a captaincy in the Blues; that and
+a personal description persuaded me he was my old friend's son."
+
+"Yes," Ailsa said, "there can be no doubt about it. I suppose you knew
+that he was going to be married just before he came away, and
+something rather dreadful happened?"
+
+"Ah; he has revealed that much, has he?" in some surprise.
+
+"Not to me; to a great friend of mine."
+
+"I see."
+
+He seemed perplexed, uncertain evidently, how much to tell her. Ailsa
+understood, and was a little at a loss how to act herself.
+
+"I should not have mentioned the fact to anyone else," she said, "as
+he evidently wishes to keep all personal matters entirely to himself;
+but, of course, you were very likely to know it. I also learnt from my
+husband that he was the elder brother and originally his uncle's heir,
+but something happened to cause Mr. Carew to change his mind."
+
+Then Mr. Delcombe said thoughtfully, "I think there is no reason why I
+should not tell you a little more about him. I have always felt
+exceedingly sorry for his determined exile, and the isolation from all
+his old friends and old delights. I know that he dearly loved Devon,
+and one feels it is time now that he came back to try and pick up the
+threads. You and your husband appear to be his only friends, and as a
+distant connection you might be able to approach him upon a subject
+where a stranger, or shall we say a forgotten friend, would be
+diffident." He paused, then added, "I wonder if he has the remotest
+idea that, owing to several deaths, he is now the next heir to the
+Marquis of Toxeter?"
+
+A sudden joy seemed to sweep Ailsa through and through, and her eyes
+shone, and she clasped and unclasped her hands with excitement as she
+breathed, "O, is that _really_ true? It seems too good; too much like
+a story-book."
+
+"Yes, it is a fact. Major Carew's family was a younger branch, and
+sixteen years ago it would never have entered anyone's head that the
+marquisate might fall to them. Time makes many changes, and three
+heirs have died in succession. The present marquis is old and has no
+children, therefore the next heir was Richard Fourtenay-Carew, also
+childless, and after him Major Carew's father. Richard Carew died very
+shortly after this man left England, and young Geoffrey Carew then
+succeeded to all his possessions. I believe something was left to
+Major Carew, but he refused to touch it. It is since then that (his
+uncle being dead) he has become the heir of the present marquis, and I
+think it highly probable he has no notion of the fact whatever."
+
+"I am almost certain he has not," Ailsa intercepted, "for I think he
+would have mentioned it to my husband."
+
+"Unfortunately there is very little money with the title, but he is
+not a man to trouble much about that; and, of course, the present
+marquis may live some time. But I have thought sometimes if he _knew_
+it might wipe out a little of the past bitterness. His brother robbed
+him of so much, but in the end it would seem Nature is making things
+even again. Geoffrey would give half his wealth to have the title, and
+I have reason to believe that it is a great bitterness to him to know
+that his brother, who cares nothing at all about it probably, must
+inevitably inherit it if he outlives the present owner."
+
+"And you will tell him?..." eagerly.
+
+"Perhaps. Or it may be that you!..." He hesitated, and looked at her
+thoughtfully.
+
+And then Ailsa said impulsively, "Let me give you trust for trust. I
+am taking this journey now chiefly on Major Carew's account. There is
+trouble in the air. I cannot tell you the facts; I scarcely know them.
+But he has lived his isolated, reserved life so long, I feel it has
+perhaps warped his view a little, and if he could be persuaded to open
+his heart to a friend he might see things in a clearer light, and save
+himself and a dear friend of mine great unhappiness." She paused, then
+added sadly, "But I am so much in the dark concerning him I hardly
+know how to win his confidence. There appears to have been this
+something before he left England, something rather terrible, that has
+shadowed all his life."
+
+"There was; I will tell you in confidence. Richard Carew hushed it all
+up, but there were a few of us who _knew_. His quarrel with his uncle
+was because he insisted upon marrying a poor governess, a most lovely
+and charming lady, instead of the bride his uncle had chosen. He was
+disinherited, and his allowance so curtailed that he would have to
+leave his regiment; but none of that troubled him in the least. He
+adored his fiancee, and was supremely happy, as anyone could see. Then
+the tragedy fell. I cannot tell you all the details, probably no one
+knows them except his friends the Maitlands and his brother, and uncle
+who is now dead. He was out shooting with Maitland, and the other two
+were near at hand; and Maitland had repeated something to him his
+brother had said, which was a deadly insult to Miss Whitby. He was in
+a blind fury, and scarcely knew what he was doing, when he swung round
+and fired at a hare behind him...." There was a moment's intense pause
+before he finished in a low voice--"and the shot killed the poor girl
+he was to have married in a week."
+
+"O, how terrible!..." Ailsa gasped, and went white to the lips. "How
+terrible! Poor man! O, poor man!" Tears came into her eyes, and she
+turned away to hide them, and for some moments both were silent.
+
+Then Delcombe continued, "It is no wonder that he has been always
+reserved and silent. I suppose in a way it killed the part of him that
+could be anything else. He just went right away to a strange country,
+dropped the double name they had always been proud of, and cut himself
+adrift altogether from everything connected with his old life. It is
+no doubt his intention to remain apart, and take up the old threads no
+more. But I loved his father, and I loved him in my old-fashioned way
+which he was not likely to perceive; and when the Royal Geographical
+Society offered me a chance of a trip to Rhodesia I took it gladly.
+One of my first thoughts, when the decision was finally made and I was
+appointed, was, 'Perhaps I shall come across Peter Carew's son.'"
+
+Ailsa rested her elbow on the table and leaned her head on her hand,
+still with the glisten of tears in her eyes. "It makes one feel there
+is surely a Providence," she told him softly, "for my chance meeting
+with you may save him, and that other, from everlasting regret."
+
+A little later, when they went to their separate compartments for the
+night, she thanked him again. "You have made me feel quite
+broken-hearted for our dear soldier-policeman. Think what his memories
+must have been all these years! But perhaps his dark day is finished.
+I am very hopeful now. God bless you for remaining so staunch a friend
+to him and giving me your confidence!"
+
+And in Johannesburg that night Meryl said simply and quietly to van
+Hert, "I will marry you as soon as you wish. As you say, there is
+nothing to wait for, and, afterwards, there is much that we can do
+together."
+
+"In a fortnight?" he urged, and she assented.
+
+But Diana insisted otherwise. "It is simply indecent haste," she
+exclaimed, "and nothing in this world will persuade me to decide upon
+my bridesmaid's frock and have it ready in less than three weeks, and
+it may be a month."
+
+And Meryl--a quiet, white-faced Meryl nowadays, with little enough
+enthusiasm for frocks and wedding-presents--let her have her way.
+
+
+
+
+XXVI
+
+"HOW CAN I GO TO HER!..."
+
+
+The first meeting between Ailsa and Carew was a very difficult one for
+the woman. Directly she saw him she realised that he had drawn back
+into his shell further than ever, and the increased greyness on his
+temples spoke for itself of anxious, troubled hours. At first he had
+been difficult to entrap. In reply to her note came just a vague
+regret that he was exceptionally busy, and often out on the veldt,
+with a hope that he would see her before she left. One or two other
+attempts failed entirely to procure the interview, and she was almost
+at her wits' end. Finally, she had to resort to strong measures, and
+gain her end by subterfuge. Carew went to the house of a man friend by
+invitation, and was shown into his friend's den to find Ailsa awaiting
+him alone. The expression on his face told her instantly that he felt
+himself trapped, and resented it. But she could be very disarming when
+she liked, and she had tact enough to follow the straight course most
+likely to appeal to him now that she had gained her interview.
+
+"You must not be angry with me," she said, with engaging frankness. "I
+simply had to see you."
+
+He stood very upright, with a cold, unresponsive face, and waited for
+her to proceed.
+
+"Won't you sit down? You make it difficult for me when you are ... so
+... so ... distant and unbending."
+
+He moved away to the window, and stood looking out, with his back to
+the room. "Will you tell me what it is you have to say?" he asked very
+quietly. He knew perfectly well it had to do with Meryl, and he did
+not want her to see his secret in his face. In fact, he did not wish
+to speak of the subject at all.
+
+Ailsa stood silently a moment, looking at his back, and then she said
+very quietly, "I have heard the story of your past life. I ... I ...
+know it all."
+
+For a moment there was such a stillness in the room that one could
+almost hear heart beats. The figure in the window never moved.
+
+"Who told you?..." he asked at last.
+
+"Mr. Henry Delcombe, the scientist, who was a great friend of your
+father's."
+
+Another silence. At last--
+
+"Is he in Rhodesia now?"
+
+"He is here, in Salisbury. He will not tell anyone else," she added.
+"He told me because ... because ... he perceived that Billy and I
+cared for you very much, and for your happiness." She moved a little
+nearer to him, and continued gently, "I felt almost as if I could
+break my heart with sympathy for you,--and that you should have borne
+such memories all these years, _alone_."
+
+"I have put them behind me," he said, speaking almost harshly. "The
+past is dead. What does it matter who and what I was before?... To-day
+I am a Rhodesian, and my work is _here_. I shall remain here now until
+I die."
+
+"You may not be able to do that," and her voice had suddenly a ring in
+it that seemed to arrest him.
+
+"Why may I not?"
+
+"Because presently--very soon perhaps--you will have to answer to a
+call that requires you in England."
+
+He half turned to her, waiting silently and unmoved, with grave eyes
+fixed on the distance.
+
+She came a step nearer. "Mr. Delcombe told me also, that because of
+many changes that have taken place in the sixteen years since you cut
+yourself adrift from home, you are now heir to the marquisate of
+Toxeter. When the present marquis dies you will succeed him."
+
+It seemed at first as if he heard without understanding. Once more
+there was a silence in which one might hear heart beats.
+
+"Will you let me congratulate you?" Ailsa asked a little timidly.
+
+"I think he must have been dreaming," he said in slow comment.
+
+"No; there is no doubt about it whatever. He will tell you himself if
+you will let him. He wants to see you very much."
+
+And still he was only silent, gazing, gazing to the far distance. If
+it was true, how was it he had never heard?... Could it possibly all
+have transpired during the times he had been away shooting in the far
+north, or out on the veldt, away from newspapers for months?
+
+"There is something else I want to speak about," and her voice
+trembled somewhat. "This news concerning your future will make it a
+little easier. You know, of course, that Meryl Pym has become engaged
+to Mr. van Hert, the well-known Dutch politician?"
+
+Instantly he stiffened. "I saw it in a newspaper."
+
+She came close up to him suddenly. "O, Major Carew"--and there was an
+infinite pleading in her voice--"Billy and I thought you cared for
+her, and we believed she cared for you. Don't let her wreck her whole
+life now.... Don't stand by and let her marry a man she does not love.
+Go to her before it is too late!"
+
+Under his iron control his face seemed to work strangely. She saw the
+swift compression of his lips, the swift pain in his eyes, the strong
+hunger he could not entirely hide.
+
+"It is impossible," and the usual steadiness of his voice was shaken.
+"You say you know my story!... How can I go to her and tell her that
+once I killed the woman I loved?... How can I speak to her of love--I,
+the policeman, she the heiress?... How can I tell her that story which
+was told to you?... The story of damnable hate and passion, when I
+tried to strangle my own brother. I tell you she would shrink away in
+horror. She must shrink. Why did you speak to me about it at all! Your
+thoughts are folly and madness. _I_ offer love to Meryl Pym?... My
+God! I have some decency--some pride left." And the pain and
+bitterness in his voice shocked and stabbed her.
+
+But in spite of her inward shrinking she answered him boldly, drawing
+on a courage lent her by love and sincerity.
+
+"And I say that if you love her truly, you ought to be able to trust
+her with your story. It is not noble and spirited of you to stand
+aside as you perhaps think. It is cowardly. Pride is generally
+cowardly. For the sake of your pride, of your own personal feelings,
+you will let her go on with this marriage and never say a word and
+never move a finger to save her from shipwrecking her whole life.
+First you will let your own sad past come between you; then you will
+let her hateful gold drive you away; then you will talk of yourself
+as just a policeman. And in any case--you must know it as well as I
+know it--none of these things would estrange Meryl Pym from the man
+she loved. There is nothing whatever between you except your pride,
+and you think that demands a renunciation from you, careless or no
+whether it brings heart-break for her."
+
+He had grown deathly white now, with dark hollows round his eyes, and
+she could almost see how his teeth were clenched behind the firm lips.
+She had taken him entirely by surprise in her outburst, and her news
+concerning himself; and he discovered she had swept his secret from
+him concerning his love for Meryl, almost before he knew what he was
+speaking of.
+
+"There might be something in what you say if Miss Pym cared for me in
+return. That she does is the merest supposition."
+
+"And how do you know that with such sureness?" she cried. "No, no,
+Major Carew; in your heart you know otherwise. But you just let her go
+away without a word, without a hope, and one or two of us know what
+this hasty engagement means. Diana calls it martyrdom. She wrote me to
+send Meryl an _in memoriam_ card instead of congratulations, for it
+was more in accord with the occasion."
+
+His face worked visibly, in spite of his stern suppression, but he
+still stood rigid and upright, looking away from her--out over the far
+shadowy veldt, seeing nothing.
+
+In the pulsing silence that followed he beheld again that terrible
+October scene, when his love lay dead upon the heather. Could he ask
+any other woman to share that with him?... let the burden of such a
+memory faintly touch her life?... He knew that at the inquest it had
+been decided no one could possibly say who fired the shot. His uncle
+and brother were both shooting at the time, in the same direction; but
+though his friend Maitland had insisted upon a verdict of accidentally
+shot by someone unknown, and Richard Carew had resolutely supported
+him, in his own heart he had stood condemned. Yet if penance were
+required, what had he not given?... Exile, loneliness, nonentity for
+all the best years of his life; and her image, the beloved face of his
+lost Joan, the only woman's presence in his life. And yet now, as he
+stood gazing, gazing to the far blue hills, it seemed that her face
+and Meryl's were strangely blended. From the very first their eyes
+had been as the eyes of one woman, infinitely comprehending,
+infinitely true. Was it possible that Ailsa's accusation was true? One
+woman had been sacrificed more or less to his mad, insensate fury
+against his brother. Was the other perhaps to be sacrificed to his
+rigid, indomitable pride? One picture seemed to stamp itself upon his
+brain with ever-increasing strength and clearness: the picture of
+Meryl, leaning up against the window lintel that last evening at
+Bulawayo, white as a frail, exquisite lily, with the anguish in her
+deep eyes that she could not entirely hide. That, and the iron control
+he had needed to put upon himself, making him seem grim and unfeeling
+for fear one instant's weakness should make his longing arms enfold
+her. Well, he had played his man's part as well as he could; ridden
+away from her, disappointed her, openly avoided her, only in the end
+to love her with the deep, wise, understanding, all-embracing love of
+a man past his first youth, and with a wide knowledge of human nature.
+
+And this engagement of hers to van Hert! What might it not result
+from?... What hopelessness, what despair, what heroic resolve to play
+her little part in the country's good, and win some satisfaction
+perhaps, since she might not have happiness!
+
+Standing silently at the window it all seemed to pass through his mind
+with piercing clearness, and Ailsa's spirited attack rang still in his
+ears: "First you will let your sad story come between you, then her
+hateful gold, then your lowly position, answering to the call of your
+own pride, careless whether it wreck her life's happiness or no."
+
+Yes, she was quite right, it _was_ his pride. Even now the thought of
+the gold was hateful to him.
+
+Still, if some day he would indeed be the Marquis of Toxeter!... if he
+could at least offer her a high position!... if it was no longer a
+question of going to her empty-handed....
+
+The silence continued, and in the background Ailsa waited and watched.
+She could read nothing from the tall figure in the window, except that
+his thoughts were far away and he was probing deeply. She leaned back
+in a low chair, feeling suddenly very tired and overwrought. She had
+come all the way from far Zimbabwe for this interview, just to say to
+this man, before it was too late, the spirited things she had said.
+And now?...
+
+She looked round the den of the man who was her friend, and his, and
+had helped her to win the interview, noting each trivial detail, each
+attempt at decoration and hominess, each cunning substitute such as
+every Rhodesian contrives out of his ingenuity for some trifle not
+easily procured in that far land. And all the time she was tensely
+painfully aware of that strong man in the window, and of the issues
+that hung upon his decision. How, in the event of his deciding to
+approach Meryl, the recognised fiance was to be treated, was beyond
+her. She was too tired to probe further. She only cared that Meryl's
+happiness should be saved. Her own had been so nearly lost, she had
+seen so much unspeakable bitterness arise out of one great mistake,
+made once by many women at the altar, and she only waited to know if
+she had lost or won.
+
+At last the silent figure moved. At the window Carew turned and came
+towards her. She watched him with all her soul in her eyes, unable to
+rise from her chair for very tension.
+
+"What are you going to do?..." she asked, hoarsely.
+
+"Can you tell me where I can find Henry Delcombe?" he said.
+
+
+
+
+XXVII
+
+DIANA BEGINS TO GROW PERPLEXED
+
+
+In the meantime the household at Hill Court was a restless, uneasy,
+depressed one. No person in it, except Meryl, seemed undisturbed by
+the unsatisfactory atmosphere. She by taking thought, had, contrary to
+the old dictum, added to her stature; but it was the stature of her
+mind. The spirit that takes a woman through the troubled waters at
+hand, with all her consciousness set upon the great goal ahead, upheld
+her now; and in the presence of onlookers gave her a grave serenity,
+not in any way akin to joy, but baffling to those who would fain have
+seen her show a stronger feeling either of gladness or regret.
+
+It baffled even van Hert himself. To him she seemed so strangely the
+same, yet different, from the woman he had loved before the Rhodesian
+tour. In all his work, his plans, his schemes, she was as earnest and
+interested as he could possibly wish; but that fairness his dark
+strength had coveted seemed to elude him at every turn. When he kissed
+her, he felt vaguely that she suffered his caress; on one or two
+occasions it almost seemed as if she went further and shuddered, and
+yet she never actually repulsed him. And then the dainty, light humour
+that had been hers as well as Diana's!... What had become of it?... It
+seemed now as if Diana had absorbed it all, for Meryl was nearly
+always quiet, while the younger girl was almost boisterous. And yet
+even in Diana there was a note that puzzled him. She was so jumpy and
+uncertain. Childishly gay one moment, and cuttingly brilliant the
+next. He was glad she was there. After the first week of the
+engagement he found himself quite willing to further Meryl's obvious
+wish for her company upon every occasion. So if she rose to leave them
+alone they deterred her with vague requests and excuses; and when they
+went in public together, Diana was always with them. And when she was
+snappy, they laughed at her and did not mind. Diana snappy was better
+than no Diana at all.
+
+Aunt Emily thought otherwise, and was deeply grateful to them in her
+heart whenever they took her refractory niece safely out of her way.
+Her escapades were apt to be so wild nowadays, and her language so
+horrifying; and whenever the poor lady remonstrated, she was always
+told that it was the result of the Rhodesian trip.
+
+"It will take me quite a year to get over it," Diana informed her.
+"You can't eat rats, and sleep with a frog in your bed, and go
+unwashed for weeks on end, without suffering from it in some way. God
+bless my soul!... is it likely?..."
+
+At the end of the second week, anyone watching with keen insight might
+have seen a still more significant change creeping over the three most
+noticeable inmates of the house; for Mr. Pym was only silent and grave
+and retiring, going early to his study and feigning to be much
+occupied. And Aunt Emily had acquired a habit of going to sleep after
+dinner during her solitariness, which Diana wickedly called a
+dispensation from Heaven to bless the household of Henry Pym.
+
+So the lovers and Diana were left to themselves, and usually sat upon
+the deep verandah. And it became apparent presently that all the
+talking was done by Diana and van Hert; Meryl was merely a silent
+listener. Perhaps she was not even a listener; one could not tell. She
+sat so still, with wistful eyes looking out beyond the stars. But
+Diana, on the other hand, exceeded herself; and in doing so she made
+van Hert exceed himself also. She was brilliant, mischievous,
+reckless, serious, satirical, nonsensical, all in a breath. She drove
+him hither and thither; led him on one moment, and withered him with
+her satire the next. It was obvious the man very soon left off
+treating her with any careless levity; if he did he was outwitted in
+no time; torn to shreds, and cast to the four winds on merry logic
+that had ever the sting of satire behind its laughing lightness. Very
+quickly he was on his guard, with thrust and parry; keen, watchful,
+alert--the politician to whom South Africa listened. And finally there
+came a day when, after unfolding a plan to Meryl, he added, "That is
+my idea, but I thought I would consult your cousin first." It seemed
+to strike him that it was a little odd, and he added, "She is
+extraordinarily observant. She may see some weak point we have
+overlooked."
+
+"Yes, consult Diana," Meryl had replied at once; "she knows a lot
+about statistics of that kind. She has often had arguments with father
+over them."
+
+So in the evening van Hert came in eager haste to have his talk with
+Diana. And Diana had taken herself off to a dinner-party and was not
+forthcoming. So the lovers sat on the verandah alone, and after a
+little they began to feel at a loss for anything to say, and wished
+devoutly that Diana would return.
+
+As she was likely to be late, van Hert got up and spoke of departing.
+He said he had a measure to study carefully, ready for the reopening
+of Parliament at Cape Town. And while he was still explaining, Diana
+returned. She had made an excuse and left the party early.
+
+"It was so dull," she said. "I have no patience with people who let me
+bite them, and do not try to bite back. I bit them all, more or less,
+in the end, and left them bathing each other's sores, so to speak, and
+exclaiming with bated breath at my cleverness. Fools and blockheads!
+just because I've got a banking account that would buy half of them
+up, and never miss it. As if I didn't know, when I'm in that mood, I'm
+a cattish little spitfire!..."
+
+"So you came home to worry us?..." and the pleasure in his face was
+suddenly illuminating.
+
+"Well, you have the pluck to hit back," and she looked at him with a
+flash of her eyes that made his senses reel a little. She threw her
+costly evening-cloak on to a chair, and pushed it a little aside with
+her foot, with a graceful action that displayed a dainty slipper and
+ankle, in no wise lost upon him. "I always hit back myself," she
+continued. "I've no sympathy with the 'other cheek' theory. I hit
+twice as hard as the attacker if possible. If Aunt Emily were here, I
+should say I give a dickens of a smack; but as she isn't, it is not
+worth while." She came forward with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.
+"Poor dear Aunt Emily! I sometimes have her conscience very much on my
+mind; but there ... I can bear it." And her comical enunciation in the
+poor lady's exact tones set both Meryl and van Hert off laughing.
+
+The laughter was coming back to her own eyes too. When she entered
+they had been clouded, and her lips pouting. If they only knew it,
+she had been bored to tears at the party; bored utterly and
+completely, longing to be back on the verandah fighting a wordy, keen,
+good-tempered battle with van Hert; and she felt sure he would have
+gone when she returned. She had noticed he never stayed late when she
+was absent. But she was just in time. He had not gone, was only just
+going, and she perceived the face of each was tired and depressed.
+
+"What have you been doing?" she rallied them. "You looked as if you
+had been intending to read the marriage service through together, and
+had read the funeral one by mistake; or possibly because it appealed
+to you more!... You both seemed doleful enough for anything."
+
+"We missed you," Meryl said, simply. "William wanted to ask you about
+a new measure he is planning."
+
+Van Hert said nothing, but he was looking at her unconsciously, with a
+light in his eyes that staggered her. Other men had looked at her with
+admiration, but this man had an expression that seemed to envelop her
+with himself. She felt throughout her pulses that he was all fire and
+eagerness and intensity, a strong, wilful, obstinate, fierce, virile
+personality that reached out mute, unconscious arms to her
+level-headed coolness. The fire in his eyes was only smouldering as
+yet, but it seemed to tell her that he was a fine-toned, brilliant
+instrument that she, and perhaps she only, could play upon as she
+liked, bringing forth both thundering chords and enveloping sweetness.
+
+And in the sudden silence that had fallen upon the verandah, Diana
+knew that she liked to play, would always like to play, that with this
+man at least boredom would never fret her restless soul.
+
+Then she plunged into words with him, and they sparred delightedly,
+and that work he had spoken of as awaiting him at home was left to
+take care of itself.
+
+Later, Diana went outside on the verandah of her room and Meryl's and
+looked at the stars. The tables had turned utterly, but it was
+doubtful if either of them perceived it. Meryl went quietly to bed
+with only a few words, and either slept, or feigned sleep. Diana
+loitered on the verandah, and looked at the stars. She hardly knew
+why, only some strange half-consciousness was springing up inside her
+that made her restless. Somehow van Hert seemed to be gaining a hold
+over her. She could not gauge how, nor why, nor wherefore; but as she
+thought of his fine dark eyes in the starlight, with that luminous,
+glad expression when he looked at her, she had a sense of violent
+antipathy one moment, and of a gladness that made her blush secretly
+the next.
+
+But within three days the date of the wedding was fixed, and all the
+papers paragraphed it far and wide.
+
+It appeared in Salisbury the day after Ailsa had had her talk with
+Carew, and it came as a shock to both of them. It left just three
+weeks for action, and no more. What was to be done? Ailsa tried to get
+another interview with Carew at once, and found he had had to ride to
+some place twenty miles distant, and might not be back until the
+morrow. So, in distress, she sought Henry Delcombe. What he had to
+tell her was faintly reassuring. Carew had gone to see him after he
+left Ailsa, and had asked for proofs of his heirship to the marquisate
+of Toxeter. Delcombe had been able to satisfy him, and he had been
+gravely friendly, but that was all. At last, in desperation, Ailsa
+decided to write to Diana. The mail left that morning, and would reach
+Johannesburg in three days. Diana was full of resource, and she might
+think of a plan. Ailsa decided to tell her as much as she could
+without betraying any confidence. She said no word of the tragedy.
+That only concerned Meryl, and if she were to hear it at all, she must
+hear it from him. Neither did she mention his changed position; that
+also he should tell himself. She contented herself with letting Diana
+know that he had admitted he loved Meryl.
+
+In the meantime she waited anxiously for Carew to return, but heard no
+word of him until the Sunday afternoon. In reply to an urgent little
+note he came to see her. She had wondered if he would be changed at
+all; if his new position would shed a ray of gladness in his steady
+eyes. But he seemed exactly the same, and she could read nothing.
+
+"Did you see the announcement yesterday?" she asked. "There is so
+little time. I had to see you."
+
+"I did."
+
+"And what are you going to do?"
+
+He looked down at the carpet, lost in thought. "I hardly know," he
+said.
+
+"O, won't you at least go to Johannesburg?..." she pleaded. "See Meryl
+once. If you fail her now, perhaps you will never forgive yourself."
+
+"On the other hand, I may only disturb her mind. How do you know she
+has not cared for this man for a long time? In any case, what right
+have I to cross _his_ path now?"
+
+"O, your logic!..." she cried. "The way you men think this and that
+and the other, when a woman just _knows_! Go and see her. Go and make
+sure of things for yourself."
+
+But he shook his head in doubt and perplexity. To him it seemed almost
+like stealing to go and attempt to take from this other man what he
+had won fairly and openly; and though Ailsa tried other arguments, she
+could not move him. Only one half-hope she extracted from him.
+
+"Perhaps," he said, "I will write to Mr. Pym and ask his advice."
+
+Then he went back to the hours of desperate mental stress, that were
+steadily increasing the grey about his temples. To Ailsa he might have
+seemed cold and self-contained as ever, but if she could have known
+it, all his being was torn with conflict. With the hourly growing ache
+and longing to throw everything to the winds and to try to carry Meryl
+off while there was yet time there was the fear lest a wrong step on
+his part should shatter for her some newly found content.
+
+
+
+
+XXVIII
+
+DIANA'S PERPLEXITIES INCREASE
+
+
+The two days after Diana came home early from her dinner-party were
+chiefly noticeable for the fact that for the first time since the
+engagement van Hert remained away from Hill Court. No one knew why,
+and the excuse he sent was of the vaguest. Diana asked her own heart
+and was troubled. When he came on the third day, he walked into the
+drawing-room to look for Meryl, and found Diana reading in the window
+alone. They discovered each other suddenly, and it was almost as if he
+gave a guilty start; and he looked unusually pale, with haggard eyes,
+as if he had slept badly of late. Diana saw it all, but gave no sign.
+
+"You are something of a stranger, Meinheer van Hert," she said
+lightly. "My sword had almost time to rust."
+
+"It would never do that. The best of swords is none the worse for an
+occasional rest; unless"--with a somewhat tired gleam of humour--"you
+have been keeping it bright at the expense of poor Aunt Emily."
+
+"No, it has had a real rest. I am saving it again for the best
+swordsman worthy of it."
+
+His eyes came suddenly to her face, and she realised at once that
+until that moment he had scarcely looked at her; and in that second's
+flash she saw something in them that hurt: a swift, deep trouble that
+he was struggling to hide. He looked away again quickly, noting the
+lovely shades of the room, the masses of violets, the general airiness
+and elegance.
+
+"Is Meryl at home?"
+
+"Yes. I will go and tell her you are here."
+
+Diana went upstairs very slowly, lost in thought. And when she had
+told Meryl, she stood a long time at the window, thinking still.
+Presently Meryl came back. "William came to ask me to definitely fix
+the date of the wedding. We decided on the fifth; that will give us
+just a week before he must go to Cape Town." Then, as if she did not
+expect Diana to make any comment, she added, "The invitations must go
+out to-night."
+
+That evening van Hert came as usual, but, simply because he was gayer
+than usual, Diana perceived that his gaiety was forced; and she saw
+also that he shunned meeting her eyes, looking anywhere, nowhere,
+rather than into her face.
+
+The next day she rode in a direction where she and Meryl often met and
+joined him for a gallop. Meryl had suggested coming as usual, but
+Diana had contrived to put her off. She wanted if possible, without
+quite knowing why, to see van Hert alone; and as it happened, Fortune
+favoured her, for he appeared up a side road suddenly, and had no time
+to escape her, even had he wished. So they rode together, and he tried
+to talk to her as usual. When they came to a spot where they often
+dismounted, and sat to enjoy the lovely view of distant hills, Diana
+prepared to get off her horse. She saw him hesitate, and then he
+muttered something about an important engagement.
+
+"O, nonsense!..." with a gay, airy smile. "If I'm not in a hurry, you
+can't be. I only want to sit for about fifteen minutes."
+
+So they gave their horses' reins to the smart black groom, who always
+rode with the girls, and sat on the rustic bench where the three had
+several times sat together.
+
+And suddenly, Diana, giving rein to her impulsive temperament, said,
+"What is your opinion of a man who marries one woman and loves
+another?"
+
+She saw him start and stiffen, but he tried to parry the thrust. "What
+a question to ask a fiance of a few weeks, on the eve of becoming a
+bridegroom!..."
+
+"Well, that's why! I thought you would have formed many opinions on
+the subject of love and marriage."
+
+"And why do you want to know?"
+
+"O, just a fancy! I know men sometimes do that kind of thing.
+Personally I think it is rather cowardly."
+
+"Why cowardly?..."
+
+"Because it shows a man hasn't the pluck to own he has made a mistake.
+He would rather go on with it, and pretend everything is all right."
+
+She saw him bite his lip, and felt more thoroughly that he would not
+meet her eyes.
+
+"It is hard on the other woman, the one he _does_ love, too. It might
+make her very happy to be told. One joy is better than two miseries
+any day, even if his lordship did have to own to a mistake and look
+rather silly!..." with a little laugh.
+
+"Perhaps I shall know more about it when I am married," trying to
+speak carelessly. "You must ask me later."
+
+"Probably I shall not want to know then; my fancies are always
+varying. What should _you_ do, for instance, if you suddenly found you
+cared for someone else more than Meryl?"
+
+She was watching him closely, and she saw the swift, tell-tale blood
+rush to his face.
+
+"I'm sure I don't know," he answered, with a forced, unnatural laugh.
+"It is rather a remote probability now."
+
+"O, one never knows!..." Diana spoke with assumed lightness, and
+looked away to the hills, feeling a little unnerved by the sudden,
+swift palpitating in her blood. "Shall we go on now?" rising and
+turning her back to him. "I mustn't keep you any longer from that
+important engagement."
+
+She might have added that she had learnt what she came out to learn;
+but instead she put her horse to a smart gallop, and rode back without
+scarcely speaking, flinging him a gay good-bye over her shoulder when
+their roads separated.
+
+When she reached home she found Meryl surrounded by dressmakers, and
+trying hard to assume an interest in the proceedings; but Diana's
+clear eyes saw the effort as plainly as if it had been written across
+her forehead. She saw that she looked ill, too; ill and worn and
+joyless, as if something had damped for ever her natural fount of
+gaiety. And withal she was so sweet-tempered and considerate, studying
+everybody else's feelings in this wedding of hers; everyone's
+apparently except her own. Diana wanted to shake her one moment, and
+howl round her neck the next. Instead of doing either she was a little
+more snappy than usual.
+
+"Will you have your dress fitted now?" Meryl asked her. "Madame has it
+all ready."
+
+"No," shortly. "I haven't time this morning; and besides, one can't be
+fitted just after a ride. I'm going to have a hot bath and a
+cigarette," and she flung out of the room, leaving Meryl a little
+perplexed and Madame considerably perturbed.
+
+In her own apartment she tossed things about, and was very irritable
+with her maid. Later, she went out into the garden to a shady nook
+where she was not likely to be disturbed, because she wanted to think.
+But thinking was no easy matter. On every side were perplexities.
+
+"It's just the devil's own mess," she summed up at last, unable to
+think of any other sufficiently strong description. "Meryl doesn't
+want to marry van Hert, and van Hert doesn't want to marry Meryl; they
+both want to marry someone else; and yet they both mean to go on to
+the bitter end, because of some rotten-cotton notion about serving
+South Africa. O! I've no patience with these heroic attitudes! They
+are not suited to commonplace everyday life. If they'd a little more
+sound common sense, and a little less of the noble and lofty soul
+spirit, they would perceive they will only do more harm than good by
+going against nature and trying to force inclinations. But the absurd
+thing is, that neither has yet had the perspicacity to perceive the
+other's unwilling frame of mind. That exactly bears out my point.
+These heroic attitudes do not suit the exigencies of everyday life. If
+they weren't both so bent on doing the noble thing, they would
+perceive they are merely making fools of themselves, and incidentally
+straining my powers of resource beyond all reason. Of course it can't
+go on; but what in the name of all that's wonderful can I do to stop
+it?... Send for The Bear, and compel him to make the best of the awful
+fact that Meryl possesses a fortune, and console dear Dutch Willie
+myself, I suppose!..." And she smiled grimly. Then her face softened,
+and tears unexpectedly gleamed in her eyes. She brushed them away,
+apostrophising herself impatiently. Then she swallowed down a sob,
+murmuring, "I can't bear the thought of Meryl, standing with that
+smile on her lips and that expression in her eyes, to be fitted for
+her wedding-dress. It makes one want to tear the whole world to
+pieces, and sink South Africa in the nethermost ocean. No wonder uncle
+shuts himself in his study so much nowadays. He must be just as hard
+put to it as I am to know what to do." A step disturbed her
+cogitations at that moment, and Aunt Emily came into view.
+
+"Ah, my dear, I thought I saw you come down the garden. There is a
+letter for you with a Rhodesian stamp. I thought you might like to
+have it." And she handed it to her, at the same time sitting down on
+the garden-seat beside her.
+
+"Have you seen Meryl's dress," she enquired, with an expression that
+had suddenly grown sentimental. "The dear child. To think of her in
+her wedding-dress, so soon to be a bride!"
+
+"Well, that's a commonplace enough event! Girls like Meryl usually do
+become brides, and later on they wear shrouds, and have a nice little
+coffin all to themselves. There really isn't very much difference!..."
+
+"O, my dear!... What a dreadful remark to make! I am sure it is
+unlucky to speak like that."
+
+"Then I hope it will be unlucky enough to postpone the wedding
+indefinitely."
+
+Aunt Emily turned and looked at her niece as if she thought she had
+taken leave of her senses, but that was not by any means a new
+expression upon the face of Henry Pym's sister confronting Henry Pym's
+niece.
+
+"Really, Diana!..." she expostulated. "I think it is hardly a subject
+for jesting. Marriage is a very serious thing. I hope God will bless
+dear Meryl with great happiness. I confess, at first, I was
+disappointed that she chose a Dutch husband; but Mr. van Hert has very
+good Huguenot blood in his veins, and he is undoubtedly a very
+charming man; and then, of course, her children will only be half
+Dutch."
+
+"Her children ought to be bear cubs!" snapped Diana, wishing her aunt
+would go away and leave her to read her letter in peace.
+
+For a moment Aunt Emily was too horrified to reply, and then Diana
+added, "Don't trouble to expostulate any more. I'm not really mad,
+only eccentric. I never could see why people make such a silly fuss
+about weddings; anyhow, they are all the same and all commonplace.
+When I marry, I shall give all my friends the shock of their lives,
+something to talk about for a year, and then for once in my life I
+shall be a public benefactor. I see Helen looking about on the terrace
+as if she wanted you. Shall I ask her?..."
+
+"No, I will go in to her"; and she got up and walked towards the
+house, still wearing a shocked expression.
+
+"I wonder if Helen will have the sense to manufacture some request?"
+thought Diana, glancing after her. "As if I could see the terrace from
+here!..."
+
+Then she opened her letter.
+
+When she had read it through once, she turned back to the beginning
+and read it through again. And all the time she was so rigidly still,
+that a little bird hopped close up to her foot to investigate.
+
+Then she laid the letter down and looked out across the garden. Five
+minutes later she got to her feet.
+
+In a moment of crisis Diana was the type who courageously follows an
+inspiration, without overmuch weighing and sifting. She had faith in
+her own keen woman's instinct and she knew there were times when
+sharp, decisive action is better than lengthy, minute attention to all
+the laws of war, and far-reaching considerations of what might or
+might not result.
+
+A gate at the far end of the garden led out to the main road, and not
+very far down was a post office. Diana went straight to it, and sent a
+wire, with prepaid reply, directed to Major Carew, which ran:--
+
+"Can you come at once? Urgently wanted. Go to Carlton and send message
+on arrival to me.
+
+"DIANA PYM."
+
+
+
+
+XXIX
+
+A USEFUL BLUNDER
+
+
+The railway journey from Salisbury to Johannesburg takes three and
+sometimes four days; so that whether Carew responded to her urgent
+message or not, Diana had rather a long time to possess her soul in
+patience and make up her mind what course to take next. She was in two
+minds whether to take her uncle into her confidence or not, but
+decided men were always apt to bungle, and she had better trust
+entirely to her own guidance. Beyond a doubt the situation required
+the most delicate and skilful handling. First of all, she felt she
+must convey to van Hert some suggestion that would prepare him for the
+shock of what might be expected to follow upon Carew's arrival,
+supposing he came. Meryl she did not worry greatly about. She might be
+expected to be swept off her feet and go with the tide, by the very
+suddenness of it all. The two men presented the obstacles. Carew would
+have to be inveigled with the greatest finesse into an interview with
+Meryl, without ever letting him perceive a woman was leading him. In
+her heart Diana was a little afraid of the steady, unbending face. He
+was not likely to prove pliable; he might even refuse to come. Nothing
+she could say could alter the fact that he was a policeman and Meryl
+was burdened with a fortune, and that was the only barrier Diana was
+aware of. She laughed a little to herself as she wondered whether it
+would help matters if Mr. Pym made a will disinheriting Meryl, and
+dividing his money between her and charities. She could easily give it
+back to Meryl later. Then she sighed. "More heroics!... and they tell
+us it is a base world. Here am I driven out of my senses nearly,
+positively suffocated with high-mindedness, because three delightful
+people can't come down from their unlivable altitude and exhibit a
+little practical common sense."
+
+Then, of course, there was van Hert's pride to consider. What in the
+world, at this time of all others, was to be made of an English girl
+jilting a prominent Dutch politician a week before the wedding day!
+"It's almost enough to cause another war!" sighed poor Diana. "I'm
+really beginning to wish I had let them all go their own foolish ways.
+If I don't mind I shall end in becoming a heroine myself, and that's
+really too alarming!..."
+
+However, the bull having been taken by the horns, it was wiser to keep
+a firm hold of them; though more than once Diana felt herself very
+entirely in sympathy with Mark Twain when he says, "It is better to
+take hold by the tail, because then you can let go when you like."
+
+Obviously van Hert must be tackled first, but she waited until the
+morning after sending her wire, hoping for a reply. It came early, and
+fortune favoured her in that she received her orange-coloured envelope
+unknown to anyone. She carried it upstairs and opened it with a
+beating, anxious heart. It contained only two words, and was not
+signed:--
+
+"Arrive Saturday."
+
+For a moment she felt a little dazed. He was coming then, the stern
+soldier-policeman. What in the world was she to say to him?...
+
+Then a flood of gladness began to well up in her heart. After all, it
+meant before all things, that a day of great joy might be at hand for
+Meryl. Did anything else really matter?... If she personally came
+through the transaction a little battered--well, it wouldn't really
+matter, if Meryl and The Bear were safely off the rocks. Rather than
+let any shadowy good for South Africa come between them now she would
+marry van Hert herself, and at that she gave a little low laugh. In
+the meantime she had three days to think out a plan and convey to van
+Hert some sort of preparation.
+
+When he came that Wednesday evening it was easily seen that he was
+feverish. His eyes were unnaturally bright and his face flushed, and
+at dinner he only played with his food and ate nothing. He talked and
+laughed gaily, but with intermittent shivering which he tried hard to
+hide. Everyone saw it, and Meryl grew concerned. He tried to laugh it
+off, but was not successful. Finally Mr. Pym advised him to go home to
+bed. And then Aunt Emily made the crowning blunder of her life, and
+like some other big blunders now historical, it proved a blessing in
+disguise.
+
+She glanced at Diana with a scared face and exclaimed in perturbation,
+"Now if the wedding is put off it will be your fault, Diana. I told
+you it must bring ill-luck to speak about it as you did."
+
+There was an awkward pause, and in spite of herself Diana flushed
+scarlet.
+
+"What did Diana say?" van Hert asked of Aunt Emily, half grave and
+half casual.
+
+The poor lady, having quickly discovered she had made an unfortunate
+remark and become considerably flurried, made matters worse by
+stammering guiltily, "O, it was nothing much; she was only talking at
+random. She ... she ..."--distressfully discovering van Hert's eyes
+still fixed upon her--"said something about hoping the wedding would
+be postponed, and I said it was unlucky."
+
+For a moment the constraint was painful. Meryl had grown as white as
+the tablecloth, and Mr. Pym looked thoroughly worried. Diana, however,
+had quickly recovered herself, and was now the most composed of any.
+She gave a little sniff and glanced defiantly at van Hert. His eyes
+roved round the table and finally fixed themselves upon hers. She did
+not waver, but looked steadily back at him. He gave a self-conscious,
+constrained laugh. "I presume you had your reasons?" he said.
+
+She narrowed her eyes a little as she replied with a directness
+probably he alone understood, "Yes, I suppose I had. It was yesterday,
+Tuesday. Tuesday is often a queer day with me."
+
+And he knew she was referring to their conversation during the
+morning's ride.
+
+Then Meryl got up to relieve the tension, and because she began to
+feel a little uncertain of herself.
+
+"Di often has queer days, but they have nothing to do with your
+feverishness, William. Jackson had better go back with you, and we
+will telephone Dr. Smythe to look in and see how you are." She went
+away to order the motor, and van Hert seized an opportunity to speak
+to Diana unheard.
+
+"I know what you are alluding to," he said, gravely. "We cannot very
+well leave it like this. Will you ride the same way to-morrow?"
+
+"But if you have fever?" hesitatingly.
+
+"In the war I fought all day long with fever on me. Surely I can ride!
+You will be there?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+When van Hert arrived at the meeting-place next morning, he wore an
+overcoat and looked as if he ought to be in bed, and Diana's heart
+smote her. But she comforted herself with the thought that his fever
+was very much of the mind, and her medicine, if drastic, might still
+do him more good than any physician's.
+
+They rode side by side to the seat they had sat upon before, and
+without saying much he helped her to alight and gave the reins of both
+horses to the black groom.
+
+Once seated, however, he turned to her and said, gravely, "Of course,
+that remark of yours had to do with our conversation the last time we
+sat here?"
+
+"Of course," agreed Diana, calmly. The intricacies of the task she had
+set herself were beginning to interest more than scare her, and she
+was not afraid as to her skill in handling van Hert.
+
+"May I ask in what exact particular?"
+
+"Merely that you are the man about to marry a woman you do not love."
+
+He opened his lips to expostulate and deny, but she rested a little
+hand on his arm a moment and interrupted. "No, do not trouble to deny
+it. I should not have dared to say such a thing without being sure of
+my ground. Your face told me on Tuesday."
+
+He was silent, feeling himself unaccountably in the grip of something
+he could no longer thwart.
+
+"Now listen to me. When Meryl went to Rhodesia you _did_ love her. I
+think she was all the world to you. So she was when she came back, _at
+first_. You were in haste to win her, and she consented to be engaged
+to you. Afterwards...." She paused.
+
+"Well, afterwards?..." in a strained, unnatural voice.
+
+"Afterwards you found in some vague way she was changed. You had won
+her, but you did not possess her. Something had happened. You seemed
+to have seized the substance and found it shadow. I seem to be talking
+like a book, but we will let that pass! Instead of trying to find out
+whether this really was the case, you attempted to hurry forward the
+wedding. That, I think, was weak of you."
+
+"And something had happened?..." he asked, hoarsely. "What?..."
+
+Diana spread out her hands with a little French gesture. "It is
+sometimes just as poignant to say, '_Cherchez l'homme_' as, '_Cherchez
+la femme_.'"
+
+"You mean?..."
+
+"That what had happened was another man."
+
+"Ah!..." in quick surprise; and after a short, tense silence, "Then
+why in the world?..." But again she stayed him with a little arresting
+hand.
+
+"You wonder why she engaged herself to you?... When you have the clue
+it is quite simple. The other man loves her, but he has not told her
+so. I do not know that he ever will. He is a proud, obstinate
+Englishman, and has no position and no money. Apparently he is ready
+to let Meryl wreck her life, rather than bless his with herself and
+her fortune. Some men are like that. It is a mixture of pride and
+heroics very difficult for a well-meaning cousin like myself to cope
+with. I think it may even turn my hair grey yet." Again she spread out
+her hands. "Can you not see the rest?... You yourself led up to it.
+You urged your united service to South Africa (though why poor South
+Africa should be dragged in, I don't know), and she, having as she
+thought lost all hope of simple, personal happiness, decided to give
+herself to you and to her country. Now do you understand?"
+
+He was silent for a considerable time, thinking deeply; and then, with
+one of his quick versatile changes, he turned and pounced upon her
+with the question, "Granting all is as you say, what I want to know
+is, how have you discovered it?" He looked hard into her face with
+keen, searching eyes. "How did _you_ know that _I_ had changed?"
+
+He had taken her a little unawares, and suddenly she felt the hot,
+tell-tale blood mounting higher and higher up her face. She moved
+restlessly, impatiently, as if his gaze were intolerable, and then
+replied a trifle lamely, "You must have heard the English proverb,
+'Lookers-on see most of the game.'"
+
+"Ah! I wonder at what particular point you saw first?..."
+
+"In any case it is beside the question," she declared, anxious to get
+the conversation away from herself. "As I asked you on Tuesday, I ask
+you again, 'What do you think of a man who marries a woman when he
+does not love her?'"
+
+"That is not the question you asked me."
+
+"Yes it is," a trifle shortly. Diana was beginning to feel rather like
+a swimmer out of his depth.
+
+"I beg your pardon, it is not; but we will let it pass for the moment.
+Granting that what you have told me is true, what do you expect me to
+do?"
+
+"Tell Meryl the truth."
+
+"And what is the truth?" He was gazing hard at her again, and Diana
+began to wish she could run away and hide. She knew that her changing
+colour and averted eyes were telling him something he badly wanted to
+know.
+
+"O, you're very dense!" she cried, seeking to cover her discomfort.
+"Tell her you have discovered it is all a mistake; that you do not
+think she loves you better than all the world; and that you feel
+yourself wedded to your work, and ... and ... that kind of thing. Of
+course it won't be nice, but surely you can see it is a far _braver_
+thing to do, than just to go on because you are afraid of what the
+world will say?"
+
+"And suppose Meryl wishes to hold to her promise and give herself to
+her country?"
+
+"She can still do that, only in some other way."
+
+"And what do you think South Africa will say?"
+
+"O, that's quite beyond me!..." with a little comical grimace, "but,
+of course, at any cost, you must avert another war!..." They both
+smiled, and she added more seriously, "You can announce that you
+discovered in time you were not very well suited to each other, and
+mutually agreed to break off the engagement."
+
+Again he was silent for a long time, lost in thought. At last, "And
+when do you think I should say this to Meryl?"
+
+"It will not be any easier through waiting. Why not to-night?"
+
+Again he was silent, and something in the air, some secret, veiled
+magnetism, told Diana whither his thoughts were tending, and her
+cheeks grew hot in spite of herself.
+
+"If I speak to Meryl to-night, and she decrees that the engagement
+shall end, will you promise to ride this way to-morrow morning?"
+
+"What for?" trying to speak with nonchalance.
+
+"To answer the question I asked you just now."
+
+"Which question? I have forgotten it."
+
+"I will ask it again to-morrow."
+
+"But why all this mystery?... Ask me now. I will answer it if I can."
+
+"I would rather wait until to-morrow. Come, you have said all you
+wanted to say to me. Let me have my turn now." And she knew that his
+eyes, sharpened by love, were reading things she had scarcely yet
+admitted to herself.
+
+She got up suddenly, feeling a little breathless. She began to have
+again that alarming sensation of being mastered; as if he had some
+hold upon her, against which it was her instinct to fight, not because
+of any antipathy to him, but because, like all women of her
+independent character and fearlessness, she dreaded the mere thought
+of losing her liberty or yielding her independence. And at the same
+time she knew that the thought which held a dread held a charm also.
+Diana would never lose her grit and personality, she would never
+submit for a moment to any overshadowing, but deep in her heart she
+knew she was true woman enough to like to be conquered by the right
+man. Her instinct was to contradict van Hert in anything just then and
+deny any wish, but she was glad he quietly insisted upon her granting
+his request, and that when they finally rode away it was an understood
+thing she would come again the next morning.
+
+
+
+
+XXX
+
+DIANA IS RESTLESS
+
+
+It would be most difficult, indeed well-nigh impossible, for any
+chronicler to describe the state of Diana's feelings that afternoon;
+and very certain that under no circumstances would she have attempted
+to describe them herself. The swift coming into life of the love
+between her and van Hert was like the man who said he had not been
+born, he just happened. One could imagine Diana calmly stating their
+love had no explanation, it just happened. Perhaps it had been there
+longer than either of them knew; perhaps it took form suddenly when
+each realised the unsubstantial nature of the engagement to Meryl.
+Diana had always had a special liking for van Hert, and had said so
+openly; but as he had for some time been presented in her mind as her
+cousin's lover, there had been no reason why the liking should grow to
+anything warmer, and probably it never would have. But when she
+thoroughly realised how unsatisfactory a basis he was about to build
+his wedded happiness upon, a certain resentment on his behalf took
+shape in her mind, as well as troubled anxiety for Meryl. From this it
+was not a very far step to a warmer feeling still, and as we have
+seen, the old gaieties ceased to attract her if he was not a partaker.
+And then, knowing well that Meryl's heart was given elsewhere, she
+spent no anxious moments as to whether this warmer feeling of hers
+were unfair to her cousin. It was as though it was just held in
+abeyance waiting for something to happen; and when the something had
+happened, she swam out fearlessly into the deep water. With van Hert
+it had necessarily been different. He knew nothing of Carew, and only
+felt vaguely that Meryl had changed; nothing tangible that he could
+take hold of, and yet a something that was as an invisible barrier
+between their closer knowledge of each other. Puzzled and baffled, he
+turned with eagerness to Diana's frank camaraderie, to awake suddenly
+one evening to the fact that, unknown to him, his heart had slipped
+out of his and Meryl's keeping into hers. Yet even then he tried to
+deny the change even to himself; he would not believe he could so
+suddenly transfer his affection. It was not until later, seeing the
+whole from the vantage-ground of distance, that he realised his
+affections had not been transferred. His affection for Meryl still
+existed; he admired her profoundly as before. What had died was his
+desire, starved by the growing sense that she chiefly suffered his
+caress. But he had not the moral courage to go to her frankly and tell
+her this; and rather than face the consequences he attempted to stifle
+this strong longing for Diana and put himself beyond the reach of it.
+Fortunately for all three, that practical common sense of Diana's,
+which she was pleased to call selfish commonplaceness, dared swift,
+unconventional measures, careless of consequences, rather than to sit
+still and let the mistake pass beyond recall.
+
+But at the beginning she had not given much thought to her own
+personal feelings in the matter, and it was only after the ride with
+van Hert she found these suddenly confronting her in their full
+significance. And because the turn of events was becoming a little
+overwhelming, she spent the hours between parting with him and his
+coming interview with Meryl in a whirl of emotion wholly new to her.
+
+Once or twice Meryl asked her if anything was the matter, she was so
+extraordinarily restless, but she only laughed it off and tried to
+steady her feelings.
+
+In the evening, when they left the dinner-table after dessert, she
+mysteriously vanished; but later, swept with an inexplicable wave of
+longing and uncertain dread, she crept down to the dining-room to try
+and discover what had happened. It was growing in her consciousness
+with illuminating clearness that her own happiness depended upon what
+decision Meryl made.
+
+At last there was a movement in the drawing-room as of someone
+stepping in from the verandah, and she waited breathlessly for a
+glimpse of Meryl's face. She and van Hert came out into the hall
+together, and Diana saw that her cousin looked extraordinarily frail
+and white and rather exhausted. Van Hert was very gentle to her.
+
+"Shall I see your father to-night?" he asked, and she answered, "No, I
+will tell him myself. I expect he will see you to-morrow."
+
+"Good night," and Meryl held out her hand.
+
+Diana saw him hesitate; and then, with a movement that had in it the
+graceful courtesy of the Huguenot and the reverence of a fine spirit,
+he bent very low before her and kissed her hand. Afterwards he went
+quietly away, and Meryl stood alone in the hall. For one moment she
+waited, as if listening to his departing footsteps, and then very
+slowly turned and walked to her father's study.
+
+Diana slipped out and went upstairs, but presently her restlessness
+again caused her to descend. She could not settle to anything until
+she knew the truth and how Meryl took it. Thus she was again in the
+dining-room when the study door opened and Meryl came out. Her father
+came with her to the threshold, and it was evident that she had been
+crying. Diana saw her raise a white, tear-stained face, and saw Henry
+Pym kiss his child with ineffable tenderness. Then Meryl went slowly
+upstairs, and Mr. Pym went back into his study and closed the door.
+
+But something in his face, at her last glimpse of it, went swiftly to
+Diana's loyal, devoted heart; and because she loved him as if he were
+her own father, an impulse carried her straight across the hall with
+noiseless feet to the study door. Without knocking, she opened it
+softly and crept in. Henry Pym was seated at his writing-table, with
+his face hidden in his hand; and she saw, perhaps more poignantly than
+ever before, how the last few weeks had whitened his hair.
+
+As she softly closed the door and crossed the room he looked up. Diana
+warm-hearted to a degree when she deeply loved, slipped on to her
+knees beside him, and taking the hand hanging limply at his side in
+both hers, raised it to her lips.
+
+Henry Pym looked down into her eyes, and for the first time guessed
+from whence the solution had come.
+
+"You saved her?..." he said a little huskily.
+
+Diana nestled up against him. "I saved _them_," she corrected. "Van
+Hert is a fine man; he deserves a wife who gives him her whole heart,
+just as truly as Meryl deserves a husband who has no thought for
+anyone else in the world."
+
+"Then you knew he cared for someone else?"
+
+"Did he tell her so?" She lowered her head that he might not see her
+face.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did he say whom?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"Perhaps Meryl knew?"
+
+"She did not say."
+
+She kissed his hand again, and asked in low tones, "Why was she crying
+when she came out of the study? She ... she ... is not sorry about
+things?..."
+
+"No; she is glad. She sees she made a mistake."
+
+"Then why was she crying?"
+
+She saw him flinch, and read in his face all the pain in his heart.
+Evidently he knew of that hidden sorrow shadowing his child's life;
+evidently her sorrow was his sorrow. The wedding he so dreaded was
+safely prevented, but would the happiness come back?... the happiness
+that had been in that household before they went to Rhodesia? Could
+all his love and hope and tenderness bring back joy to the eyes that
+were his heaven and his earth?
+
+"Dearie," murmured Diana again, "was she crying because of that big
+soldier-policeman up north?"
+
+He did not reply, and suddenly she knelt upright, and took his sad,
+careworn face in her hands and nestled her soft cheek against it.
+
+"Because he's coming on Saturday, dearie. Hush! don't breathe a word;
+it is my secret; only I had to tell you because of what I saw in your
+face just now. He is coming because he loves her."
+
+Then slowly a great tear gathered in Henry Pym's eyes and fell
+unheeded upon Diana's hand. He held her fast and made no attempt to
+speak. And Diana hid her face because there were great tears in her
+eyes also.
+
+After a moment she got up, and shook the hair back from her face, and
+rallied him tenderly.
+
+"You see, Meryl must 'mother' something in the way of a country: it is
+her tremendous Imperial instinct; so I thought she had better 'mother'
+Rhodesia." And with a last tender kiss she went softly away and left
+him.
+
+In their own room she found Meryl had sent the maid away, and was
+waiting for her in the dark, standing in the window with her form
+dimly outlined against a moonlit sky.
+
+She went up to her at once and slipped her arm through that of the
+silent figure. Meryl pressed it, but for a moment or two did not
+speak. Diana did not speak either; for once in her life she had
+nothing to say.
+
+At last Meryl said, as if answering some thought deep in her own mind,
+"William told me to-night that there was someone else he loved. Di
+darling, I think there is only one woman it could be."
+
+And still Diana was silent.
+
+"I gathered also that something had been said between you and him;
+something that resulted in ... what has happened to-night...."
+
+"But you are not angry?..." Diana whispered.
+
+"O no. Every moment now I see more clearly what I ought to have seen
+before. I am afraid I have only been foolish, and ... and ... I wanted
+so to do what seemed the best," with a little break in her voice.
+
+"Of course you did; we all know that," said Diana loyally. "But I saw
+the mistake quickest, and I couldn't just sit still and do nothing; I
+am not made that way."
+
+Meryl pressed her arm affectionately.
+
+"Di," she whispered, "I want it all to come right as quickly as
+possible. I won't ask you any questions. Of course, I know it is you
+William cares for, and it seems so perfectly natural now that it
+should be. If you care for him, don't delay anything on my account. It
+would make me glad to hear that you were engaged to him to-morrow."
+
+Diana pressed the hand in hers. She felt strangely bashful with Meryl
+to-night; unable to say anything at all. In her heart she was a little
+shy with herself too. When she started out with a more or less light
+spirit to change the course of two lives, she had hardly realised how
+great a mountain she would be moving.
+
+"Do you love him, Di?..." Meryl asked her softly.
+
+"Yes," and Diana felt a little breathless as she made the admission.
+
+"God bless you! I'm very glad." And Meryl took the girl's face in her
+two hands and kissed her.
+
+Then they went quietly to bed, and Diana knew she had said no word of
+Carew's coming because she was afraid to.
+
+
+
+
+XXXI
+
+THE SOLUTION IS SEALED
+
+
+It was a rather sobered Diana who rode out the next morning to meet
+William van Hert, and when she saw him she felt suddenly conscious of
+herself in a way she had never done before and hoped she never would
+again. The glow in his eyes made it difficult for her to meet them,
+and they dismounted and went almost in silence to their usual seat.
+
+"You know, of course, what happened last night," he said, with
+ill-suppressed eagerness. "It has seemed like weeks and months since;
+every hour a week. I have not slept all night with longing for the
+morning."
+
+He was looking at his very best: another man almost since they last
+sat there; not good-looking, no one would ever call van Hert
+good-looking, but muscular and lean, with an air of virility and force
+always alluring. A man destined to be a leader in some way; one who
+must carry others along with him, if only because of his enthusiasm
+and fervour. The main point was, that he should carry them in a
+useful, practical direction. And hitherto there had been no special
+reason to hope this would be the case; it seemed more probable that,
+for the sake of making a noise in the world and gaining a following,
+he would identify himself with policies which the older and wiser men
+left alone; not from any indifference to the influence he was likely
+to wield, but because he was so full of warmth and intensity it must
+find an outlet. Some men are like that, especially politicians. They
+seem to be obsessed with the idea that they must make a hit somehow at
+once and come to the front _now_. And so they are apt to seize upon
+the first available policy likely to prove a good solid tub to stand
+and shout on; whether it is a durable tub, or one certain to be to
+their credit, is something of a side issue. The main point is a tub
+big enough and strong enough to bear them while they make the
+commotion and gain the hearing they are bent upon. And this spirit,
+like most spirits, may have its uses; it is not entirely to be
+deprecated. It may bring home very forcibly to the electors a weak
+spot that had otherwise been overlooked. In listening to the shouter,
+they may perceive how very entirely he is wrong; and, none the less,
+make the useful discovery that he is a good shouter. This then becomes
+the critical point. Having gained his hearing, will he condescend to
+moderate his views and listen to a little wisdom from older and more
+experienced men; or will he be obtuse enough to continue to stamp and
+shout on his tub, for fear people will call him a turncoat, or a few,
+who really do not matter, will leave off listening to him if he grows
+less noisy? And it is then perhaps a great politician is marred or
+made. Perhaps it often depends very much upon the main influence that
+held sway when the moment came to leave off shouting. That moment had
+come for van Hert, and he had the perspicacity to perceive it; though
+whether he would have acted upon his wiser judgment, left entirely to
+himself, it is impossible to say. It is, on the whole, pleasanter to
+think that, just because he was a clever, capable, sincere man and
+South Africa had need of such, the God of nations placed the matter
+beyond all doubt by sending the right influence across his path.
+
+Diana's mocking spirit loved to make game of heroics and big matters,
+but it was an affectation and nothing more: as Meryl and Henry Pym had
+long ago perceived, not van Hert himself nor Meryl cared more at heart
+for the great questions of the day affecting South Africa, and through
+her the Empire itself, since every year shows more clearly how
+tremendously England's colonies must matter to the mother country. The
+older and wiser men were already beginning to shake their heads over
+the grave and difficult problem of the white races and the black; over
+the tremendous increase of the latter in comparison, which threatened
+to swamp the white man out of South Africa altogether. One thing was
+obvious to all thinkers, the white races _must_ combine. Union must
+indeed be Union and not an empty name. The Englishman and the Dutchman
+_must_ join hands and sink differences, not only for the common good,
+but the common safety. So when Diana's practical spirit perceived how
+great and real an attraction van Hert had for her, she did not try to
+put it from her and struggle against it because he was a Dutchman. The
+moment she was sure, and the course was clear, she let herself go
+fearlessly; not as an act of sacrifice at all, she was far too
+practical to have much faith in a sacrifice such as Meryl had
+conceived, but because she loved the man and believed in him, and had
+no shadow of doubt as to his courage and sincerity if he were but
+influenced to move in the right direction.
+
+Well, he had stood on his tub and done his shouting right well; and
+now he had a goodly following and was the object of not a little
+execration, which is a usual thing for tub-shouters, and does not
+matter very much. What mattered was whether he possessed the genius to
+keep his followers and carry them along with him, after moderating his
+views and coming into line with the older and wiser men. Diana
+believed that he did, and as to be believed in is a very strong aid to
+all men, there was very little doubt that eventually the God of
+nations would prove to have given South Africa a fine statesman, even
+if he were built up upon a rabid politician. And if the instrument
+used was a woman, has not a great nation itself been built up through
+such instrumentality?
+
+And here one pauses a moment to think the old question, how often is a
+woman at the back of a man's greatness or a country's or any greatness
+whatsoever? Only these women do not need to do any shouting, because,
+as a rule, they only want to be heard by _one_. And when the result is
+a fine edifice, they are still content to go unnamed and unsung if
+that _one_ be lauded generously. For God made women in the beginning,
+the best women of all, to want love and be content with love, and care
+very little about fame. And so they go quietly on their way, creating
+great results, moving mountains, and saying very little about it. It
+is that old heroic spirit Lamartine wrote about. And there is a spark
+of it in the soul of every woman waging her solitary fight on the
+outposts of the Empire, whether she put new life and hope and spirit
+into a miner's cabin, or a farmer's little wattle-and-daub home, or in
+the heart of any servant of the Empire. What the colonies owe to their
+women is so little talked about, partly perhaps because words are all
+too inadequate to express it, and also perhaps because if the _one_ is
+there to listen and the _one_ to love, many women want no recognition.
+
+But all this time it only remains to be said that Diana believed in
+van Hert and believed in his work for her country, and that was why
+she had been able to give her love so frankly and absolutely, and was
+not in the least deterred by those mutterings of execration which
+there is very little doubt she intended shortly to put an end to for
+good and all; for if she had entertained any doubts as to how much he
+loved her and was ready to do for her, they must have been swept away
+utterly out of sight after the first moment of their meeting this
+morning. What he had fought to keep out of his face before was now
+flooding through it. Never at any moment, even when he first loved
+Meryl, had he looked at her as he now looked at Diana. In every pulse
+of her being she felt he loved her, not perhaps with the calm, strong
+love of her own countrymen, but with a fierceness and intensity,
+inherited maybe from some French ancestor, that appealed to her love
+of vigour. She at least had level-headedness enough for the two.
+
+But it would hardly have been Diana to sit demurely and listen to his
+outpouring, now that he might speak and she might hear. It was far
+more natural that the very certainty of everything should make her
+feel contrary and want to tantalise him; particularly when, after his
+first question had been answered with a quiet affirmative, he plunged
+into the subject filling his heart without any preliminary, and with
+all that quick enthusiasm of his bursting its bounds.
+
+"Then we need not say any more about it. Why should we?... There is
+only you and I now. It seems for the moment as if there were no one
+else in the entire universe. But I want the answer to that other
+question of mine"; and he leaned near to her, with his whole attitude
+a sort of inspired interrogation.
+
+"What question?..." A shade of lightness had crept into Diana's voice;
+the shadow of a smile into her eyes. She felt on the verge of being a
+little unnerved, and a feigned or real inconsequence was ever her
+refuge.
+
+"The question you were not willing to answer yesterday, and which I
+told you I should ask again to-day. You said that you had asked me
+what I thought of a man who married a woman when he did not love her.
+And I said that was not what you had asked. Do you remember the
+original question, or must I tell you what it was?"
+
+"I don't remember anything about it. I'm afraid I'm rather given to
+asking questions."
+
+"That means I must tell you. Diana, what you asked me was, what did I
+think of a man who married one woman and loved another? Now, I want to
+know how and when you discovered that I loved another?..."
+
+"It was the obvious conclusion"--studying the toe of her smart
+riding-boot with exaggerated interest. "Otherwise you must have loved
+Meryl; you could not help it."
+
+"I see." The smile dawned in his eyes now. "And was it equally obvious
+who the other woman was?"
+
+She glanced away to hide her tell-tale mouth. "It might have been if
+it had interested me."
+
+"But, of course, it didn't?..." and he laughed a low, happy laugh.
+
+"Not in the least. Why should it?..."
+
+"Ah, why?..." and his hand suddenly closed over hers, and at the
+strong, possessive touch the magnetism of the man made her blood race
+through her veins. She tried to draw her hand away, but he only held
+it more tightly, and his face was very engaging as he said, "I've a
+good mind not to tell you who the other woman is as you are not
+interested."
+
+"Then I shall conclude she will not have anything to do with you,"
+came the quick retort. And then her fascinating mouth twitched at the
+corners in a way that threatened to undo van Hert entirely. He looked
+away with a half-fierce expression. "If you don't want me to crush you
+in my arms out here in a public road, don't do that."
+
+"Don't do what?..." innocently; and then they both laughed.
+
+When they were serious again his voice sounded a deeper and more
+forceful note. "Dearest," he said, still imprisoning her hand, "it
+seems superfluous for me to tell you how much I love that other woman,
+as superfluous as to name her. I seem as if I had neither a thought
+nor an idea nor a feeling that does not love her."
+
+"Then let us hope she is not a stiff-necked Britisher," quoth Diana,
+still as if a little afraid to be serious.
+
+"Ah!..." and he raised her hand to his lips. "I believe you will make
+me love the whole race."
+
+"That would complicate matters exceedingly for you," with a
+mischievous taunt in her eyes. "You seem to have hated them so very
+satisfactorily up to now. What shall you say to your colleagues the
+next time they are expecting you at one of their fiery denunciation
+meetings?... I have married a wife, an English one, therefore I cannot
+come?..."
+
+"Shall I have married her?..." and he looked hard into her face,
+blissfully indifferent to her shafts.
+
+"Married whom?..." she asked, provokingly.
+
+He clenched his teeth together. "I feel as if I could shake you!..."
+and he glanced round to see if anyone were in sight.
+
+"O, if you're going to be that sort of a tyrant!..." Diana began. But
+she got no further. No one was in sight, not even the boy with the
+horses. And van Hert just gathered her into his arms and crushed her
+for the sheer joy of it until she cried for mercy. "Say you will be
+good and treat me with proper respect," he demanded before he released
+her, and Diana was compelled to promise.
+
+"But I won't marry you," she added, wickedly, the moment she was free.
+And then to save herself from a second undignified surrender she had
+to capitulate quickly, and add, "At least, not before next week."
+
+Then she raised her eyes, shining with happiness, to his. "Meinheer
+van Hert, if my memory serves me rightly, you have not yet asked me
+the most important question of all."
+
+He raised her hand again to his lips, with a movement of reverence,
+and said, very simply, "Diana, I love you with all my heart and soul
+and strength; will you do me the honour to become my wife?"
+
+And there was a little warm glisten in her eyes as she answered, "Yes,
+dear; I am ready to take the long trek with you."
+
+A little later she went home with an air of quiet radiance that told
+Meryl all she needed to know the moment she set eyes on her, and her
+embrace was full of warmest affection.
+
+Only Aunt Emily seemed thoroughly perplexed, and not able to entirely
+grasp the happy aspect of affairs when she heard it all for the first
+time.
+
+"How extraordinary!..." she exclaimed; and then, with an air full of
+mournful reproach, she looked at Diana and added, "I told you
+something dreadful would happen, my dear, if you spoke of the wedding
+so strangely."
+
+"Yes, aunty, so you did! and it was very clever of you," Diana
+replied. "But, of course, you ought to have warned me before I said
+it. Now, you see, I've got caught in the net myself. Ah well!..." she
+finished comically, "I can bear it."
+
+And Meryl's low laughter, as she hastened to soothe poor Aunt Emily's
+wounded feelings, had a happier note than it had known for many a day.
+
+"I don't think I quite understand," continued the perplexed lady. "It
+reminds me of a story I once heard about the aunt of a friend of my
+father's, that is to say, the aunt of a friend of your grandfather's...."
+
+"Yes, I remember," said the incorrigible; "but she didn't do it in the
+end, you know. And, anyhow, the great question just now is, having
+taken over the bridegroom, ought I to take over the wedding presents
+as well?..."
+
+"Of course, they must all be sent back," Aunt Emily replied, with
+great gravity. "Dear me, what a pity!... What a pity!... And he is
+really quite a nice man, although he is Dutch."
+
+"O, do you really think so?..." Diana asked, and went laughing out of
+the room.
+
+
+
+
+XXXII
+
+A CHAPTER OF SURPRISES
+
+
+In Diana's happy state of mind there was not the slightest doubt her
+interview with Carew, when it came off, would be the reverse of
+conventional.
+
+He arrived at the Carlton the day after it had been notified to the
+papers that the engagement between Miss Pym and William van Hert was
+broken off by mutual agreement. The new engagement was looked upon
+only as a secret understanding at present, and no announcement was to
+be made for some weeks.
+
+Carew saw the news in a paper he got at Kimberley, so that when he
+stepped out upon Johannesburg station, from a difficult, perplexing,
+somewhat equivocal situation he found himself suddenly and
+unexpectedly with a clear course.
+
+He had responded to Diana's urgent summons with alacrity, although it
+left him entirely in the dark as to what had transpired; his action
+had in fact something of the daring which had led to the sending of
+the telegram. Wearied out physically and mentally with the struggle,
+he seized swiftly the chance of a solution the message suggested, and
+trusting to Diana's resourcefulness let himself go with the tide. It
+was as though after sixteen years some spirit of the past suddenly
+re-entered him; some of that old reckless, dare-devil spirit that had
+distinguished him in his regiment long ago.
+
+Without doubt the news that he would some day inherit the Marquisate
+of Toxeter, if he outlived the present owner, had worked a wonderful
+change in him. He still hated Meryl's fortune, when he dared to let
+himself think of a future they might possibly share, but at least he
+could now offer her a position that might one day be among the highest
+in England. And all that it meant to him after his long exile and
+lonely life, apart from all the friends and delights of his youth, lit
+a new light in his eyes. And when he saw the paragraph in the paper,
+and realised Diana had indeed not sent for him for nothing, he seemed
+to let many years slip from his shoulders. Only a week earlier he had
+felt middle-aged, and looked every year of his forty-two. The man who
+strode down the platform on Johannesburg station, drawing all eyes
+after his upright, distinguished form, looked at the very prime of
+manhood, and the grey on his temples only enhanced whatever it was
+that caused those eyes to turn in his direction.
+
+Diana, waiting for his message in no small trepidation, went off at
+once to the hotel. Nothing was to be gained by hanging back, and she
+felt more sure of herself generally if she dashed headlong into a
+delicate situation.
+
+So she walked boldly up to the door of his private sitting-room, gave
+a little sharp knock, and entered.
+
+He was standing with his back to the door, looking idly from the
+window, but when he heard the door open he turned round and faced her.
+
+Diana closed the door and walked into the room, glancing about her.
+
+"What a nice den!..." she said. "I'm sure you could only growl
+prettily here."
+
+He came towards her with outstretched hand, and she was instantly
+struck with the change in his eyes. The steadiness was still there,
+the expression of unflinching purpose, but behind it all was that new
+light now: the light she had never seen in Carew's eyes before.
+
+"You look very well," she told him, warming swiftly to their old
+friendship and forgetting her moments of trepidation. "You ... really
+... you almost look as if you might have come into a kingdom!..."
+
+"Perhaps I have," with a humorous gleam.
+
+"Umh!... I'd be very sorry for the subjects; they would be ruled with
+a rod of iron."
+
+He pulled a chair forward, a large cosy one, such as he knew her soul
+loved, and she sank down into it. He still stood upright, watching her
+with kindly eyes.
+
+"Well!..." he began. "You sent me a very curt summons."
+
+Diana coloured a little, not quite clear where to begin.
+
+"Won't you sit down? You seem so far away up there. I feel a little
+lost somehow, you are so ... so ... Perhaps if you were to growl I
+should feel more at home with you!..." she finished.
+
+He smiled and took the chair beside her.
+
+"I never did growl really. It was all your imagination."
+
+"O, was it?..." emphatically. "Why, thunder in the distance was dulcet
+music beside it!..."
+
+"Well," he said again, "about that summons?..."
+
+"It's just this way," began Diana. "I had a letter from Mrs.
+Grenville...." She watched him keenly, and saw that he grasped at once
+something of what the letter had contained.
+
+"And she told you?..."
+
+"Not very much, but enough, in my mind"--with a sudden flash--"to
+justify my summons."
+
+"I don't think I quite understand." He was grave again now, with a
+line between the straight brows.
+
+"Well, don't get too serious or you will frighten me. I suppose I'd
+better be quite direct. You and I don't either of us care for much
+beating about the bush and subterfuge, do we?"
+
+He signified his agreement, and she ran on.
+
+"I knew that Meryl cared for you; I have known it a long time. Yet she
+was going to marry van Hert. And van Hert cared ... well, he cared for
+someone else too, yet he was going to marry Meryl. It was just a silly
+muddle altogether, do you see?... Honestly, I was at my wits' end-to
+know how to prevent them making fools of themselves. Then came Mrs.
+Grenville's letter. Mrs. Grenville had seen you. She had discovered
+that you cared for Meryl, and she told me so. I didn't stop to think
+then. I saw in a moment it was your business to help me help them out
+of the tangle. So I just sent you a telegram and asked you to come at
+once."
+
+"And now I am here?"
+
+Diana began to look roguish. "I just wanted to suggest," she said,
+demurely, "whether it wouldn't simplify things all round if Mr. Pym
+disinherited Meryl, and divided all the silly money between me and
+charities!..."
+
+He could not help smiling, but there was something more than mere
+friendship in his eyes as he looked at her. He understood perfectly
+that she had strained every nerve to bring him and Meryl together.
+
+"And in the meantime," he commented, "I gather from the newspaper the
+knot disentangled itself, and everything is smoothed out."
+
+"Well, I shouldn't exactly say there were no wounded left on the
+battlefield!..." with a low laugh.
+
+"I see; and you think it is for me to attend to the wounded?"
+
+"To _one_ of them," with significance; and then suddenly her
+unmanageable mouth began to twitch. Carew divined something lay beyond
+the remark.
+
+"And what about the other one?"
+
+"Well," with a little air of coyness, "I rather thought of attending
+to his hurt myself."
+
+He watched her keenly for a moment, and at last she raised a pair of
+laughing eyes to his face.
+
+"The only thing that's worrying me is that I may unintentionally find
+myself a heroine."
+
+His low laugh was full of amusement, and his eyes grew kindlier still.
+
+"You are evidently a most resourceful young woman. Have you made up
+your mind how you propose to heal him?"
+
+"Yes," with feigned gravity. "I thought on the whole it would simplify
+matters if I took Meryl's place at the wedding."
+
+He stared at her with undisguised astonishment. "You mean?..."
+
+"Just exactly what I say. I've taken over the prospective bridegroom,
+and incidentally I thought of taking over the wedding presents as
+well...." And then she threw her head back and laughed whole-heartedly
+at his incredulous face.
+
+"You have given me a great surprise," he said. "I suppose you are in
+earnest?"
+
+"Your surprise is nothing to what is coming upon my friends. Just
+think of it!... I can hardly think of anything else. I do so love
+giving people shocks. Do you remember our first meeting in the ruins,
+when I sat quite still and watched you until you looked up?... That
+was your shock!... You were frightfully disgusted with me, but I
+didn't mind, I'd had my bit of amusement and no one was hurt; any
+other silly girl would have coughed or walked away. Goodness!... how
+black you looked!..." And again she laughed mirthfully.
+
+He began to tell her he hoped she would be very happy, but she stayed
+him and suddenly sobered.
+
+"Not now. We haven't much time left, and we must plan something. Meryl
+will come here and call for me soon in the motor. She knows I have
+come to see a friend, but she does not know whom. She will not come in
+herself, because she is shy about being seen just now. What shall we
+do? When will you see her?"
+
+He got up, and walked to the window with a grave face, and for some
+time he did not speak.
+
+"Are you still worrying about that absurd money? My dear good man, she
+isn't stuffed with it, and she doesn't care tuppence about it. Isn't
+it enough that you know she could love you as a Rhodesian
+soldier-policeman? Why torture yourself unnecessarily?"
+
+"If I were only a Rhodesian policeman I should not have come."
+
+She looked at him with quick curiosity. Then something had happened!
+There really was some great change in him. He smiled into her
+questioning eyes. "Then Mrs. Grenville did not tell you?"
+
+"Tell me what?..." with swift eagerness. "O, do be quick, I love
+surprises. Have you found a gold-mine up there?... or the corpses in
+the temple hung with gold ornaments?..."
+
+"Neither."
+
+She took his arm and gave it a little shake.
+
+"Then what? O, do tell me quickly!..."
+
+"It isn't very much, but it gives me courage to hope, where a
+policeman might consider himself called upon only to renounce. And,"
+he added, quietly, "I owe the knowledge of it to Mrs. Grenville."
+
+"It must be a legacy?..."
+
+"Not exactly. It is only that when the present Marquis of Toxeter dies
+I shall succeed."
+
+"O, my goodness!..." comically. "Am I going to be own cousin to a
+marchioness?..."
+
+"That is as your cousin decrees." Then with a little smile he added,
+"So the shocks are not all given by you, you see."
+
+At that moment a knock sounded on the door, and in reply to Carew's
+"Come in," a hall-porter informed them that Miss Pym was waiting in
+the motor.
+
+"And we haven't decided what to do," said Diana, in dismay.
+
+He was thoughtful a moment, then told her he would endeavour to find
+Mr. Pym at his office and come to Hill Court later.
+
+So Diana went downstairs alone. But on the way, with that mixture of
+restlessness and level-headedness that was so characteristic of her,
+she decided Carew's plan was much too prosaic and dull, and speedily
+commenced to think out a better one. After which she accosted Meryl
+with the words, "I want to introduce you to my friend. It won't keep
+us long. She has a sitting-room upstairs, but she has a cold, and
+could not come down to you."
+
+Meryl looked unwilling, but finally yielded to persuasion and
+alighted. Outside the door of Carew's room, Diana was so afraid her
+face would betray her, she had to pretend to sneeze, in order to hide
+it with her handkerchief. Quite suddenly it had occurred to her
+humour-loving mind, that if shocks were the order of the hour, Carew
+and Meryl were going to have the biggest all to themselves for that
+day at least. Then she opened his door and half pushed Meryl in in
+front of her. They saw only a broad back at the window first, then he
+half turned. The next instant the door closed softly, and Meryl found
+herself alone in the room, face to face with Peter Carew.
+
+There were a few tense seconds in which they each seemed trying to
+realise the other; and then she understood. She went slowly towards
+him, seeing with unerring tuition all the love in his eyes, and
+without knowing it held out both hands.
+
+And across the long years, that self that he had thought for ever dead
+seemed to reawaken by leaps and bounds. He would always be somewhat
+quiet perhaps, a little grave, but the spirit of vigour and reckless
+daring was in him still, if sobered by sixteen years and all that the
+years had brought. He did not stop to explain. Quite suddenly it all
+seemed unnecessary. Between these two the hours of probing were ended.
+He took her outstretched hands in his and drew her into his arms.
+
+It was some time before he told her of his changed position; there was
+so much else to tell first. And when at last it was said she paid
+little heed.
+
+She only looked at him a trifle anxiously, saying, "But, of course,
+you could never give up Rhodesia? You wouldn't let any claim come
+before hers?"
+
+He kissed the finger-tips of the hand imprisoned in his, and murmured,
+"Bless you; it would have gone hard with me if you had wanted me to
+leave Rhodesia for good."
+
+"I shall never do that," softly. "It was the Rhodesian policeman I
+loved first. The other does not greatly matter, except that perhaps it
+brought us together." Then with one of her rare flashes of humour she
+added, "I'm not sure that we shall even have time for a honeymoon. We
+may have to go up there any time about this settlement scheme of
+father's and mine. As Diana is going to help William van Hert to run
+South Africa generally, we must get to work quickly with Rhodesia...."
+And her smile was a very happy one.
+
+
+
+
+FINIS.
+
+
+And so in the end Diana had her little jest, and gave Johannesburg its
+shock and its nine days' wonder, and was certainly the most surprising
+bride of the year; though, of course, afterwards most people said they
+were not surprised at all, and had expected it all along.
+
+Before the wedding a sufficiently characteristic letter found its way
+to a certain mission station in Rhodesia to delight the hearts of its
+contented occupants. After duly relating all that had transpired and
+how the problem had been solved, it added: "And now the only
+difficulty seems to be how to relieve Meryl of her superfluous
+fortune, in order that she and The Bear may live upon love and air,
+and how to save me from appearing in the guise of a heroine!..."
+
+To her old friend Stanley she wrote gaily of the perfectly splendid
+surprise she had succeeded in administering to about half the
+English-speaking population of South Africa.
+
+And Stanley wrote back, with many regretful qualms tugging at his
+heart: "The astonishment of South Africa is a mere detail. When the
+news reached Zimbabwe, bones that have lain buried for three thousand
+years rattled in their grave-clothes, and antiquities of the ages
+crumbled to dust. In the morning, over our coffee, Moore and I ask of
+the four winds and of the liquid butter and of the unyielding bread,
+'Which did he actually marry in the end, and what became of whom?'"
+...
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD.,
+
+BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E. 1, AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
+
+
+
+
+=Hutchinson's 1/- Net Novels=
+
+  _Bound in +Cloth+, with pictorial wrappers._
+
+=THE CAP OF YOUTH=            Madame Albanesi
+=THE SUNLIT HILLS=            Madame Albanesi
+=ODDSFISH=                    Robert Hugh Benson
+=INITIATION=                  Robert Hugh Benson
+=LONELINESS=                  Robert Hugh Benson
+=AN AVERAGE MAN=              Robert Hugh Benson
+=COME RACK! COME ROPE!=       Robert Hugh Benson
+=THE COWARD=                  Robert Hugh Benson
+=THE RETURN OF RICHARD CARR=  Winifred Boggs
+=THE WOOD END=                J. E. Buckrose
+=MEAVE=                       Dorothea Conyers
+=THE STRAYINGS OF SANDY=      Dorothea Conyers
+=THE SCRATCH PACK=            Dorothea Conyers
+=TWO IMPOSTORS AND TINKER=    Dorothea Conyers
+=A RASH EXPERIMENT=           Mrs. B. M. Croker
+=WHAT SHE OVERHEARD=          Mrs. B. M. Croker
+=IN OLD MADRAS=               Mrs. B. M. Croker
+=THE SERPENT'S TOOTH=         Mrs. B. M. Croker
+=SANDY'S LOVE AFFAIR=         S. R. Crockett
+=TWILIGHT=                    Frank Danby
+=LILAMANI=                    Maud Diver
+=A DOUBLE THREAD=             Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler
+=WE OF THE NEVER NEVER=       AEneas Gunn
+=BIRD'S FOUNTAIN=             Baroness von Hutten
+=SHARROW=                     Baroness von Hutten
+=MARIA=                       Baroness von Hutten
+=THE LORDSHIP OF LOVE=        Baroness von Hutten
+=THE GREEN PATCH=             Baroness von Hutten
+=PAUL KELVER=                 Jerome K. Jerome
+="GOOD OLD ANNA"=             Mrs. Belloc Lowndes
+=THE DEVIL'S GARDEN=          W. B. Maxwell
+=A BRIDE OF THE PLAINS=       Baroness Orczy
+=PETTICOAT GOVERNMENT=        Baroness Orczy
+=THE ELUSIVE PIMPERNEL=       Baroness Orczy
+=A TRUE WOMAN=                Baroness Orczy
+=MEADOWSWEET=                 Baroness Orczy
+=THE MONEY MASTER =           Sir Gilbert Parker
+
+
+=MABEL BARNES-GRUNDY= has rapidly come to the front as one of our most
+successful novelists. Her stories excel in wit, humour, observation
+and characterisation. The complete and uniform edition of her novels,
+as under, will be published at short intervals, =at the popular price
+of 1/-=
+
+
+  By
+
+=MABEL BARNES-GRUNDY=
+
+  _Each bound in +cloth+, with most attractive picture wrapper in
+colours, =1/-= net._
+
+  =An Undressed Heroine=
+    =Marguerite's Wonderful Year=
+      =Hilary on Her Own=
+        =Two in a Tent--and Jane=
+          =The Third Miss Wenderby=
+            =Patricia Plays a Part=
+              =Candytuft--I mean Veronica=
+                =The Vacillations of Hazel=
+
+Like Gertrude Page's Shilling Novels, +Mabel Barnes-Grundy's Shilling
+Novels for 1917 will be the outstanding success of the year+.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=London: HUTCHINSON & CO., Paternoster Row.=
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RHODESIAN***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 27950.txt or 27950.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/9/5/27950
+
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://www.gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
diff --git a/old/27950.zip b/old/27950.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b90ea3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/27950.zip
diff --git a/old/old-2024-02-15/27950-0.txt b/old/old-2024-02-15/27950-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..49c294f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/old-2024-02-15/27950-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10598 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Rhodesian, by Gertrude Page
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: The Rhodesian
+
+Author: Gertrude Page
+
+Release Date: January 31, 2009 [eBook #27950]
+[Most recently updated: January 22, 2022]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+Produced by: David Clarke, Erica Hills, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RHODESIAN ***
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+   Inconsistent spelling, particularly names of characters in
+   the original text, has been retained, as has variable
+   punctuation.
+
+   The table of contents has been added for the convenience of
+   readers.
+
+   In the advertisements at the end, text enclosed by equal signs
+   was in bold face in the original (=bold=) and text enclosed by
+   plus signs was underscored (+underscored+).
+
+
+
+
+
+THE RHODESIAN
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GERTRUDE PAGE'S NOVELS.
+
+  _In cloth gilt, 6s._
+
+SOME THERE ARE----.
+
+FOLLOW AFTER.
+
+WHERE THE STRANGE ROADS GO DOWN.
+
+WINDING PATHS.
+
+  _In cloth gilt, 3s. 6d._
+
+TWO LOVERS AND A LIGHTHOUSE.
+
+  _Also in cloth gilt, 2s. 6d. net._
+
+JILL'S RHODESIAN PHILOSOPHY.
+
+  _In cloth, uniform with this volume, 1s. net_.
+
+PADDY THE NEXT BEST THING.
+
+LOVE IN THE WILDERNESS.
+
+THE GREAT SPLENDOUR.
+
+THE EDGE O' BEYOND.
+
+THE SILENT RANCHER.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE RHODESIAN
+
+by
+
+GERTRUDE PAGE
+
+Author of "The Edge o' Beyond," "The Silent Rancher," etc.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+London: Hurst & Blackett, Ltd. Paternoster House, E.C.
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+
+        I  THE POLICE STATION
+       II  THE MISSION STATION
+      III  TWO HEIRESSES
+       IV  THE RHODESIAN PROJECT
+        V  WILLIAM VAN HERT
+       VI  THE JOURNEY
+      VII  CAREW IS DISTURBED
+     VIII   TWO UNEXPECTED MEETINGS
+       IX   THE BEAR
+        X  A MINING CAMP
+       XI  AN EVENING RIDE
+      XII  THE MISSION STATION
+     XIII  A DECISION THAT FAILED
+      XIV  THE ANCIENT RUINS
+       XV  CAREW RIDES AWAY
+      XVI  "THE SHIP OF FOOLS"
+     XVII  AN EVENING CONVERSATION
+    XVIII  THE CHARTER FLATS
+      XIX  THE CONVENTIONALITIES ONCE MORE
+       XX  FAREWELL
+      XXI  A "HOARDING HUSTLING"
+     XXII  MERYL'S DECISION
+    XXIII  CAREW'S STORY
+     XXIV  A RAIN-WASHED MORNING AND A DISCUSSION
+      XXV  AILSA LEARNS CAREW'S SECRET
+     XXVI  "HOW CAN I GO TO HER!..."
+    XXVII  DIANA BEGINS TO GROW PERPLEXED
+   XXVIII  DIANA'S PERPLEXITIES INCREASE
+     XXIX  A USEFUL BLUNDER
+      XXX  DIANA IS RESTLESS
+     XXXI  THE SOLUTION IS SEALED
+    XXXII  A CHAPTER OF SURPRISES
+           FINIS
+
+
+
+
+TO THE PATHFINDERS
+
+
+    "Fate lies hid,
+  But not the deeds that true men dared and did."
+
+
+
+
+THE RHODESIAN.
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+THE POLICE CAMP
+
+
+The velvety darkness of a southern night, with its sense of rich,
+luscious, breathing intensity, lay over that romantic spot in Southern
+Rhodesia where the grey walls of the Zimbabwe ruins, with a sublime,
+imperturbable indifference, continue to baffle the ingenuity and
+ravish the curiosity of all who would read their story. Scientists,
+archæologists, tourists come and go, but the stern old walls, guarded
+by the sentinel hills, give back no answer to eager questioning, eager
+delving, eager surmise.
+
+But in the meantime the Valley of Ruins no longer lies alone and
+unheeded in the sunlight; and no longer do the hills look down upon
+rich plains left solely to the idle pleasure of a careless black
+people. The forerunners of to-day's great civilising army have marched
+into the valley, and beside the ancient walls there is now a police
+camp of the British South Africa Police, presided over by two robust
+young troopers.
+
+In the velvety darkness on the night in question there is a single
+bright light pouring through the open doorway of a dwelling-hut.
+Through the enfolding silence breaks the bizarre music of an
+indifferent gramophone, recklessly mocking the sublime grandeur of
+the age-old antiquities. Laughter and gay music and devil-may-care
+colonists awaking echoes that have been more or less silent to
+civilisation for how many thousand years?
+
+But on this particular evening it is as though some shadow had fallen
+upon the little camp. Nothing tangible--nothing that changed the
+general habits or surroundings--but a vague regret and introspective
+sadness upon the faces of two young men, usually full of careless
+content. Cecil Stanley, the more refined, a gentleman by birth and
+education, lounged low in his chair, with his hands behind his head
+and his feet on the table, and ever and anon his eyes looked with
+pained regret into the surrounding depths of night. Patrick Moore,
+with a grave face, cleaned his gun in a deeper silence than usual,
+proceeding with an occupation that was his joy on many evenings,
+whether the gun needed cleaning or not, rather as if it eased his mind
+to have his hands busy.
+
+"I wonder if the Major will come through to-night?" he remarked, as if
+the silence were growing over-oppressive.
+
+"Sure to," laconically. "The moon will be up directly, and he can't be
+very far away."
+
+"I suppose he won't have heard?"
+
+"Not likely to have done. Gad! I feel as if I'd give anything to have
+had a chance to stand three hours in that queue. It will hit him hard.
+If it's bad for us, who have at least known all along, it will be
+worse for him, hearing it suddenly at this late hour. Those newspapers
+to-day have made me feel like a kid on his first day at
+boarding-school. I'd like to cry if I weren't ashamed to."
+
+"I liked that professor," said Moore, changing the subject. "Decent
+old Johnny, wasn't he? Jolly nice of him to bring all those papers in
+case he came across anyone glad of them."
+
+"Quite a good old bird. That's a rum theory of his about the corpses
+in the temple being buried deeper than anyone has yet dug, and hung
+with valuable ornaments. Wouldn't it be a jolly lark to dig down for
+one and have a look at it!..."
+
+He gave a low, half-hearted chuckle over his gruesome suggestion, and
+lazily getting to his feet, selected another tune for his gramophone.
+
+Moore, busy still with his gun, gave a corresponding chuckle, and
+remarked:
+
+"Begorra, lad!... if we could get a few out one at a time on moonlight
+nights, and fill up the blooming holes again, we shouldn't want any
+blasted machinery for our gold mine, except a pickaxe and a shovel."
+
+"We'd want a bit of pluck, though. The ghosts of the corpses might
+come dancing round to have their say in the matter."
+
+"We'd chance the ghosties. Shure! if they've been hanging round for
+three or four thousand years, they'd maybe like a new sensation by
+this time."
+
+Stanley put on "The Stars and Stripes," wound up the gramophone, and
+slid into his lounge chair again.
+
+Moore glanced up as the music started.
+
+"What!... that thing again!... I'm beginning to feel like those old
+ghosts about it. The same moth-eaten tune for three or four thousand
+years. I'd like a new sensation."
+
+"It can't be much staler than cleaning that old gun."
+
+"Shure, she's a daisy." The Irishman looked tenderly at his treasure.
+"An' she just loves me to be fondlin' her like."
+
+"If it weren't for the Major I don't know what is to prevent us
+proving the old man's theory," said Stanley, evidently harping again
+on his corpses.
+
+"Him, and the bloomin' Company! The old gentlemen sittin' on the Board
+in London suddenly find that the Yankees have been snaffling a lot of
+valuable trinkets and things from the ruins while they took forty
+winks, and then they up and says no one's to look for anything more at
+all; not even a _boney fidey_ Rhodesian, sweating in the police camp
+outside the walls."
+
+"Still, it would be a rare lark to find a corpse with gold ornaments
+on it, and say nothing at all."
+
+"And what should you be doing with the old corpse when you've taken
+the gold?"
+
+"Oh! put him in the soup!" And Stanley slid lower in his chair, with
+another chuckle.
+
+The gramophone ran down with a horrible grind, but its owner only
+looked at it dully and took no notice.
+
+"Shall I wind up again?" Moore asked.
+
+"No, let it rip. It sounds all wrong to-night. Everything is all
+wrong. The whole world gone awry. It's like being on another planet to
+be out here in this wilderness at such a time. I don't believe I've
+ever felt exiled before, but, begad! I do to-night. Let's turn in.
+Probably he won't come now."
+
+Moore carried his gun into one of the huts and stood it carefully
+beside his little stretcher-bed. Stanley took the gramophone into
+another hut, and planked it down somewhat roughly on a table,
+evidently made by an amateur. Without going outside again, he shouted
+"Good night," and after that no sound broke the silence, except sundry
+mutterings from the Irishman, who had discovered an enormous frog
+under his bed, and his beloved pointer pup inside the blankets
+serenely sleeping.
+
+All the next morning Stanley hung about the camp as one who waited,
+but it was not until three o'clock that Major Carew rode slowly up to
+the huts. As he dismounted, briefly acknowledging Stanley's salute,
+there was a characteristic absence of all superfluous words. The
+latter waited until the soldier-servant had led away the mule and
+another boy relieved the officer of his water-bottle, which he always
+carried himself, and then he looked hard at the thin, brown, resolute
+face, with an expression in his eyes that made Carew ask shortly:
+
+"Any news?"
+
+"Bad news from England. I suppose you haven't heard?"
+
+"I haven't heard anything."
+
+For one pulsing second the two men stood and looked at each other; and
+to a looker-on it might have appeared that, however laconic and
+indifferent their attitude, their relationship was not solely that of
+officer and subordinate. The elder man, in his gruff way, was the
+friend of the man under him. The younger had acquired a respect that
+held something deeper than casual liking, and his face showed it now
+as he hesitated before breaking his news. Then he said, very simply:
+
+"The King is dead."
+
+A quick, incredulous expression filled Carew's eyes.
+
+"The King?..." he repeated. "Not ... surely not ..." He paused,
+leaving his sentence unfinished.
+
+"Yes. King Edward. After a few days' illness."
+
+The man's mouth grew rigid. He stood like a figure of bronze, staring
+with unseeing eyes to the far horizon. Stanley drew in his breath a
+little sharply. Yes, he had been right, the news had hit Carew very
+hard.
+
+"When?..." came at last, abruptly.
+
+"A fortnight ago. Just after you left. The funeral took place
+yesterday."
+
+Carew made no comment. Evidently it was true. Little else mattered.
+Nearly all through this trek of his round those distant kraals his
+King had been lying dead, and he had not known it. Such a man as he is
+not stunned by tidings; but he recedes still further into his shell,
+if possible. There is no comment, no discussion, just a grim silence
+sealing a deep pain that cannot express itself.
+
+He stayed a moment longer, while Stanley told him a few details, and
+then he went away into his hut and shut his door to the sunlight--one
+of those exiles for whom the news had, as it were, an added sorrow,
+because during the first shock he had remained in ignorance, and had
+thus been prevented joining in the loyal homage of grief that had been
+offered by his countrymen from the four corners of the earth.
+
+It was thus with many of the far-off Empire-builders. They heard so
+late, so unpreparedly, so suddenly; and in the first shock, an exile
+which had been a calmly accepted condition, became almost a menace,
+seemed swiftly to develop a force. The men in the far places _felt_
+their aloofness; knew that their souls were beating vainly against
+prison bars, for the longing to annihilate space and stand beside the
+beloved dead. That quiet band of men whom we sometimes call "The
+Pathfinders," and who go away across the world to bring the wilderness
+into line; to smooth the rough, link the severed, subdue the untamed,
+and carry prosperity to the waste places. The men who cope with
+strange, deadly diseases; who fight fever swamps, and compel them to
+carry a railroad across their reluctant bosoms, though the swamps in
+turn exact a heavy toll of human life; who make the paths that the
+women and children will presently pass over, though no such
+soul-stirring cry urges their exhausting efforts.
+
+But it is not usual to laud these men, who win their colours at the
+dull, prosaic work of path-finding, as it is to laud those who
+encounter shot and shell in the lurid atmosphere of battle, and one
+feels they do not ask it. Yet now and then they must surely be glad to
+know that thoughtful women and thoughtful men follow their work and
+bless them in silence, sending across the world to them a homage of
+praise that is, perhaps, richer than the plaudits of the crowd. And
+not to them only, but also to the mothers who bid them go, accepting
+their hard part of lonely, anxious waiting without complaint.
+
+And if they fall by the wayside, unrecognised, unknown, but having
+carried the path forward, maybe a mile, maybe a yard, maybe an inch,
+how great a thing is that compared to the small happenings that of
+necessity make up most men's lives!
+
+In the sultry midday heat Carew sat alone in his hut, and certain
+memories, that for fifteen years he had tried to crush out of his
+mind, crowded back upon him with overwhelming force in the grip of his
+sudden sorrow. For that sad event which had plunged a great nation
+into grief had been to him a personal loss. In the silence and shadow
+he mourned deeply, not only the idol of his youth and dear object of
+his heart's best loyalty, but the memory of a friend.
+
+For long ago, or so it seemed, there had been a moment when a royal
+hand had clasped his, and a royal voice--the royalty all lost in the
+friend--had said, "Perhaps you are right. It is best to begin again.
+But do not imagine your life is over and its aims purposeless. Out
+there you will find renewing. Some day come back and tell me about
+it."
+
+That was fifteen years ago, but he had never gone back. Never sought
+the second hand-clasp that would have been his. Never unfolded to
+those interested ears his personal experiences with the pioneer column
+that led the way to do the path-finding in Rhodesia. In the hush of
+the afternoon, with his head bowed on his arms, the years between
+seemed to pass out of mind, and that which once had been to stand
+alone, awaking within him an infinite regret.
+
+He saw again certain lovely park-lands--the woods and hills and
+dales--of a rich inheritance that should have been his. He saw
+himself, the gay guardsman. He saw the dear face of the woman for whom
+he had chosen to cross that arbitrary will which would brook no
+disobedience, and sought to intimidate him with disinheritance.
+Through his mind passed in slurred detail the sordid story which had
+given him a brother's hate in return for a quixotic championing of the
+weak--a hate which proved to have power enough behind it to draw a
+devastating hand across the promise of his future.
+
+Lastly--and here in the silence it was as though his head sank deeper
+in its pain--he saw that woman's dear face, as he had last seen it,
+lying white upon the heather--_dead_.
+
+Ah, the memories were terribly alive to-day; not even fifteen years in
+a new life, with new interests, had done anything but draw a thin
+curtain of silence over the unforgettable pain. Would anything ever
+ease it in reality? Had he for a moment believed that it would? Or had
+he always known, that just as surely as his hand had held the gun
+which killed her, so to his last breath the tragedy would cast a
+shadow over the whole of his life?
+
+He might look out upon the world with quiet eyes and firm lips and
+fearless mien, but the gnawing ache would surely go with him to his
+grave.
+
+And because of it he knew that he had grown somewhat churlish; that
+men who did not understand his unsociable ways and extreme reticence
+looked at him askance. But what of it? How little such things
+mattered! The tragedy was his and the silence was his, and he had
+never asked anyone to share either.
+
+Only to-day, for just this one afternoon, fifteen years was as
+yesterday, and he seemed to realise thoroughly for the first time all
+that royal hand-clasp had meant, before he went to his voluntary exile
+in a far wilderness.
+
+But after a time, when it grew cool enough to walk, he came out into
+the sunshine and started off towards the steep rock pathway that leads
+to the summit of the Acropolis Hill, following an impulse to seek
+comfort in the fresh hopefulness of a height, and to lessen the pain
+in his heart by looking out across a world still living and loving and
+striving. So he climbed on up the winding pathway, enfolded with
+mystery and romance concerning the feet that trod it in the far-off
+centuries, and made his way between the mighty natural boulders out on
+to the high platform, where eyes, all those long centuries ago, must
+have looked out even as his, across the lovely land.
+
+Was it as lovely then?... Could it have been less so?...
+
+How the quiet beauty soothed and caressed him! Surely there were
+moments when the wilderness, tamed at last, like a lovely, wayward
+mistress become entrancingly docile, fondles the hand, and ravishes
+the senses of the strong man who conquered it.
+
+Is this one of the rich rewards Life holds in the palm of her hand for
+the path-finders?... This glorious sense of ownership. This winsome
+soothing of shy gratitude when the fierce first resistance to conquest
+is overpast. A man may call England his country because he was born
+there, and his father before him; but, perhaps, after all, that is a
+small thing compared to standing upon a high eminence, and looking
+across a quiet world which is your country because of all you yourself
+have given to it of hope and faith and steadfast purpose.
+
+In some such spirit soothing came to the quiet man on the top of the
+Acropolis Hill, whispering to him that, after all, this was _his_
+country, and if the beloved dead did indeed seem so far away in fact,
+in spirit he was perhaps nearer to his Empire-builders than he had
+ever been before.
+
+He turned his head at last, and his eyes rested upon the circular
+wall, four hundred feet below, that enclosed the temple ruins. Then
+for a moment a wave of depression swept over him, blotting out the
+landscape loveliness. Was it all, then, vanity, this building and
+striving?... The making of walls and fortifications for another race,
+centuries afterwards, to look upon with cold wonder and curiosity?
+Three thousand years ago perhaps another man had stood even there and
+mourned his king that was dead. And so soon ... so soon ... he also
+died, and the massive walls became ruins, and the dynasty, or empire,
+or era, passed away into oblivion. How soon might a similar fate
+overtake his own great Empire!... and the beloved King, Edward the
+Peacemaker, be perhaps but a legend to some strange new race.
+
+And then it was as though the land to which he had given so much rose
+up to give in her turn the might of hope and renewing. His eyes
+wandered again to the distant mountains and over the fertile plain
+lying between, and all the outspread richness called to him that at
+least there was no ruin here, no hopelessness, no decay.
+
+Progress spoke to him from the rolling plains and from the mysterious
+kopjes, and his blood warmed to that glad sense of possession--if not
+in fact, at least in the fancy born of what he had given. For it is
+when we give, and not when we take, we become the truest possessors,
+rich owners of so much that neither wealth, nor birth, nor striving
+can buy.
+
+In the quiet evening hour the stars were just beginning to light their
+brilliant lamps, and a glow like a rose-flush in the west marked the
+passage of the departed sun. Carew prepared to make the steep descent.
+And as he looked out across this country, that seemed so intensely his
+country, he felt himself heir of all the ages, the strong product of
+long eons of careful development, too rich in those vague splendours
+of the human and the divine not to realise the weak futility of musing
+sadly upon dead dynasties and bygone races.
+
+On the northernmost point, ere the path drops suddenly on its way to
+the valley, he stood still once more and gazed steadily to the north
+where England lay.
+
+Then, thinking deep thoughts of love and loyalty of the King who had
+been his friend, and the friend who had been his King, he gravely gave
+the salute.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE MISSION STATION
+
+
+Although only stationed for a short time at the Zimbabwe camp, Carew
+had chosen always to conduct his own _ménage_, and take his meals in
+solitary state apart from Stanley and Moore. This was in every case
+typical of the man, who rarely sought company, and was often quiet to
+taciturnity when he had it. He had not come to the wilderness for
+adventure, or for the companionship of the men he might find there; he
+had come because he wanted to forget. Not even to seek renewing and
+fresh hopes, but only to crowd out of his life the memory of that
+upheaval and tragedy that, it seemed, had placed a stern hand upon
+mere joy for evermore. And he believed he would achieve this best with
+the vigorous, interesting occupation of helping a young country
+struggle through to fulfilment.
+
+It was not until after the dinner-hour that he again showed himself,
+and then he came outside his hut, filling his pipe, and stood for a
+moment beside Stanley and Moore without saying anything.
+
+"Did you have a successful trip, sir?" Stanley asked.
+
+"Quite," dryly.
+
+The young trooper watched him a moment, and then added:
+
+"Did you have trouble with M'Basch?"
+
+"He tried to make trouble. He is a dangerous native."
+
+"And you gave him a lesson?"
+
+"I burnt his kraal."
+
+"Whew!..." and Stanley gave a low whistle. The man was courageous
+indeed who dare resort to such a step, now that it was necessary to
+pamper the natives if one wanted no trouble at headquarters.
+
+Carew took no notice of the significant rejoinder, but his firm mouth,
+if anything, grew a little firmer.
+
+"I gave him due warning, but he thought I dare not carry out my
+threat. He was mistaken. Never make a threat that you can't carry out.
+It matters more than anything with natives. He will not give trouble
+again at present."
+
+"But they may say a good deal at headquarters if he carries his story
+there!"
+
+"I had to risk that. But he is so entirely in the wrong, and so
+clearly aware of it, I don't think he will venture to say anything. I
+have three cases of diabolical cruelty against him, besides stealing
+and law-breaking generally."
+
+Stanley watched him with eyes of admiration. To him the man's strength
+was ever a source of delight, now that his unsociable ways were no
+longer a puzzle.
+
+"We had a scientific man here yesterday to view the ruins," he
+continued, as Carew still lingered while he lit his pipe. "He has a
+remarkable theory for divining corpses by the gold ornaments buried on
+them. He thinks there are probably several in the temple, deeper than
+anyone has yet dug."
+
+Carew did not look very interested. His eyes had still the
+retrospective, pained expression that had come into them instantly,
+when he grasped the import of Stanley's sad tidings.
+
+"Where did he come from?" he asked, half turning away.
+
+"I don't know. He was only here for a few hours. We gave him some tea,
+and he left us some interesting papers, if you would care to have
+them. He seemed rather interested in you!..." and Stanley looked
+keenly into his face.
+
+"In what way?" Carew pulled hard at his beloved pipe and spoke with
+studied carelessness.
+
+"Your name cropped up about something, and he wanted to know if you
+were a Fourtenay-Carew."
+
+The officer started very slightly, but made no comment, and Stanley
+added, "He particularly wanted to know if you were a Devonshire man. I
+said you were."
+
+"I _was_ a Devonshire man," Carew corrected; "I _am_ a Rhodesian."
+
+Then he turned and with a short good night went back into his hut.
+
+The next morning, directly his official work was finished, he started
+to ride over to the mission station, where some far-off connections of
+his, William and Ailsa Grenville, found by chance in the wilderness,
+lived the simple life with a contentment that surprised all who beheld
+them.
+
+It was the first visit he had been able to pay for some weeks, and
+almost before he dismounted a woman stepped out from the large rustic
+building, with its thatched roof, and came towards him with eagerness
+and sorrow strangely blended in her eyes.
+
+"Ah, how long you have been coming! I have watched for you ever since
+we heard the sad news. Billy and I so wanted someone from _home_ to
+talk to."
+
+"I could not help it. I have been right away into the Ingigi district.
+How are you?"
+
+He did not give her his hand because the formalities had long been
+dropped between them, but as he walked beside her to the building his
+face seemed a shade softer.
+
+"We are both well. We are splendid. But we have felt very cut off
+these two weeks. England seemed so terribly far away. The evening we
+heard, Billy and I just sat hand in hand under the stars, dabbing the
+tears away. Don't smile, it was the only thing to do, and we longed so
+to be in London." As she talked she passed into the cool shade of the
+hut and busied herself preparing a lemon squash for him, not needing
+to ask if it were his choice. "We were miserable for days. I'm sure
+all of you were too."
+
+"I did not hear until I came back yesterday."
+
+"Ah ... I was afraid so. Of course, that made it worse."
+
+She brought him the lemon squash and stood leaning against the table
+beside him while he drank it, with the gladness of seeing him still in
+her eyes, though they were grave now with sympathy. It was evident
+their friendship had in it a wide understanding.
+
+She was silent a few moments, and then added simply, "I suppose you
+knew him personally?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+He did not tell her more, and she did not ask him. There was one
+subject that no deepening of friendship had ever made it possible to
+approach, and that was the story of his past. She knew only, from her
+husband, who was extremely vague on the subject, that he had once held
+a commission in the Blues, and been, not only a well-known society
+man, but the heir of a rich old uncle. And then suddenly something had
+happened, and his brother became the heir, and England had known him
+no more. Even William Grenville himself was in the dark as to the
+cause of the lost inheritance, as he had been abroad at the time, and
+had never had much intercourse with Carew's branch of the family. He
+was supposed to be in disgrace himself, because his soul was too
+honest to allow him to continue in a comfortable country living, after
+his convictions lost faith in the tenets of the English Church; but if
+it were so it never troubled him, and he loved his wilderness home
+dearly. Ailsa had her story also, but she too, it was evident, had
+found a solution that held satisfaction.
+
+After giving Carew his drink she moved away and picked up some
+needlework, seating herself near the open door, with sympathy in her
+face and in her silence.
+
+"We had a splendid service," she told him. "We did all we possibly
+could to show our loyalty. But how little it seemed! The far countries
+hurt at a time like this."
+
+He assented in silence, looking out over the lovely landscape as if it
+were a sight his soul loved, and she bent lower over her needlework.
+
+"Tell me about your Ingigi trip, unless you would rather wait for
+Billy. He will be in directly, and he will want to hear everything."
+
+He glanced towards her a moment, noting half indifferently that she
+looked unusually pretty to-day; but he only said a few generalities
+about his work, with his eyes again on the landscape. Ailsa sewed on,
+not in the least dismayed. It was good enough to have him there,
+whether he were communicative or not, and she was glad she chanced to
+have put on her new, pretty dress from home. For, of course, all women
+liked to look fair in the eyes of Peter Carew, quite indifferent to
+the fact that in all probability he scarcely saw them.
+
+But Ailsa Grenville could not have looked other than fair to any man,
+though to some she looked so much more besides. Her frank grey eyes,
+full of expression, her low, broad forehead and chestnut hair, were so
+full of beauty that they seemed to counteract entirely a nose that was
+a little too small and a mouth a little too large. One felt that
+nature had intended to make her a beautiful woman, and then changed
+her mind and allowed a flaw in her beauty, possibly to give her more
+character and an attraction of a different order. To the lonely men
+within reach of the mission station she was goddess and angel
+combined, and knowing it was one of the joys of her uneventful life.
+
+Thus they sat on together in the doorway, speaking quietly of the loss
+they had chosen to make their own, in an intimate sense perhaps only
+possible to far-off Empire-builders. And while they talked the
+missionary himself appeared, and all his face lit up when he saw
+Carew.
+
+"By Jove! I'm glad to see you," he exclaimed, tossing his khaki helmet
+carelessly aside. "We hoped you would come soon. Ailsa was sure you
+would."
+
+He sat on the edge of the table, swinging one putteed leg, a fine,
+athletic, big fellow, with a khaki shirt open at the throat, and
+sleeves rolled up above his elbows, and a brown attractive face with
+honest eyes. "How are the others?... Going strong?... We had them all
+here for our funeral service: the Macaulays, White, Richards, Henley,
+the three prospectors out Chini way, everyone within reach. And
+afterwards we gave them a feed. A homely one, with cakes and jam, as
+Englishy as possible. By gad, Carew! how a loss like this makes you
+think of home and country; and how we Britishers in the colonies ought
+to hang together through thick and thin! If we all felt it more, it
+would be a great thing for the dear old Mother Country. She'll want
+her boys in the colonies to stand by her stoutly, if she is to go on
+holding her own, I'm thinking."
+
+He got up and strode about the hut, his hands in his pockets and his
+pipe in his mouth. "Hang it all!... since I came out here to try and
+do a little useful development among the blacks, I've grown more and
+more to feel that helping the settlers to live clean lives and pull
+together and care about the Old Country, is every bit as important, in
+fact far more so, than teaching Christianity to the heathen."
+
+He stood in the doorway, blocking the view with his immense bulk, a
+rarely attractive man, with boyish enthusiasm in his eyes, and
+fearless honesty in his whole aspect, and just that touch of the
+fanatic which helped him to soar above disappointments and keep his
+charming wife devoted and content with him out there in the
+wilderness.
+
+From his post in the doorway he swung round suddenly, and was about to
+launch upon one of his enthusiastic tirades on the natives or settlers
+or both, when Ailsa stayed him lightly, declaring that lunch was
+ready, and they all proceeded to the dining-room hut.
+
+Afterwards they lazed in a wide verandah, commanding one of the
+loveliest views in Rhodesia, and talked a little of the West Country,
+because the ache was still with each one to be at home at that sad
+time.
+
+When Carew, later, prepared to depart homewards, she gave a large plum
+cake carefully into the hands of his black soldier-servant, telling
+him, Carew, that it was for The Kid and Patrick, and not to let The
+Kid overeat himself, and tell him to come over and see her at once.
+
+"He is rather interested in the subject of corpses just now," Carew
+said, with something approaching a gleam in his eye, "but I don't
+encourage him, because, for two pins, I believe he would dig up the
+entire temple, if the spirit took him."
+
+"The scoundrel!..." with an affectionate laugh. "Tell him if he dares
+to touch one stone of my temple he shall never, never have a cake
+again."
+
+"Oh, I only surmise it from the expression in his eyes when he told
+me, rather wistfully, that some scientific visitor had described to
+him how the corpses, if found, would certainly be decked with valuable
+gold ornaments."
+
+Then he mounted and saluted her gravely as he rode away.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+TWO HEIRESSES
+
+
+In a Piccadilly mansion, about the same time that Major Carew returned
+from his long trek, two girls sat in a wide window-seat and looked
+somewhat disconsolately across the fresh spring green of the park.
+Both were the daughters of South African millionaires. Both were
+motherless, and one an orphan. They were also cousins, and the same
+roof usually was their home.
+
+Two months previously the father of the one and guardian of the other
+had brought them to England, that they might duly "come out" the
+ensuing season in London society. Their presentation at Court had
+taken place in April, followed by a splendid ball at the stately
+mansion taken for their stay, and both girls had looked eagerly
+forward to the festivities ahead.
+
+And now, a few weeks later, they found themselves suddenly dressed in
+black, with nearly all the expected gaieties cancelled, and this
+overshadowing loss weighing upon their spirits. Added to this the
+death of first one mother and then the other, followed by a period of
+ill-health to the guardian and father, had postponed that "coming out"
+long past the ordinary age for such functions; Diana, the orphan,
+being now twenty-two, and Meryl two years older.
+
+Meryl was the graver of the two; graver indeed than is at all usual at
+twenty-four, but with a quiet fund of humour and a romantic
+dreaminess, and withal a certain elusive quality that made her always
+interesting, and pleasantly something of a mystery. Diana was a
+sparkling, practical, outspoken young woman, much adored of young men
+whom she treated with scant courtesy, and with a great deal of common
+sense in her pretty head. The girls' influence upon each other, which
+was cemented by a very deep affection, was wholly beneficial; for
+whereas Diana awakened Meryl from too much dreaminess, Meryl's quiet
+dignity had a softening effect upon Diana's too great exuberance of
+spirits and occasional boyish lack of refinement, which was more the
+result of a boisterous capacity for enjoyment than inbred.
+
+Meryl, as became the dreamer, had been profoundly touched by the event
+which had called forth that swift grief; and whereas Diana could not
+refrain from bemoaning all she must necessarily lose through the
+season of mourning, Meryl thought chiefly of how they could get away
+quickly into the country and replace the lost gaieties with quiet
+delight.
+
+She had already spoken to her father about her wish to leave town, but
+he had been much occupied of late, and not yet had time thoroughly to
+discuss the question. And meanwhile she and Diana waited a little
+disconsolately to see what the days brought forth. Diana was disposed
+for a trip to Switzerland, or Norway, or even Iceland, but she wanted
+to go in a party, and not just they two and a chaperon. Meryl was not
+enthusiastic and it nettled her a little, so that, on the wide
+window-seat, there was a cloud on her face as she drummed idly with
+her fingers and watched the traffic go by.
+
+"If you would only say what you _do_ want," she asserted impatiently,
+"instead of just mooning about and making no plans whatever."
+
+But the fact was, Meryl could not quite make up her mind what she did
+want. In some vague way a kind of upheaval had been taking place in
+her heart, and left her high and dry upon the rocks of uncertainty and
+dim dissatisfaction. New thoughts, new questions, new desires had
+risen in her during that sad month of May, and she felt as one seeking
+vainly she knew not what. She looked beyond the trees of the Green
+Park to the far skies with wistful eyes, and asked herself deep
+questions concerning many things, born of the thoughts that arose in
+her mind when she stood amid a people mourning tenderly a dearly loved
+sovereign, and beheld how in hearts all over the world he had won love
+and admiration, in that, to the best of his endeavour, he had
+splendidly fulfilled his high trust.
+
+And a high trust was hers. How could she not know it, when she was
+sole heiress to her father's millions; and yet, what was she doing,
+or preparing to do, in fulfilment of that trust? That it was no less
+so with Diana did not weigh with her. Diana was different. When she
+was allowed a free hand with her fortune she would buy yachts and
+houses and diamonds, and scatter it right and left, which was good in
+its way; but it would never satisfy her, Meryl, the visionary and
+dreamer, who looked with grave eyes to the far skies, and asked vague
+questions.
+
+Presently, with an impatient little kick at a footstool, Diana broke
+the silence. "_Do_ you know what you want? Have you any ideas at all,
+or are you just a blank?"
+
+Meryl smiled charmingly. "I'm not exactly a blank, but something of a
+confusion. I confess crowded Swiss hotels do not sound alluring. I
+like Iceland better, but it seems rather ... well ... purposeless."
+
+"And what in the world do you want it to be? Do you want to go a
+journey to convert heathen, or preach Christian Science, or explore
+untrodden country? If so, you had better take Aunt Emily and go alone.
+I'm hoping for a little life and amusement."
+
+"We always have that. I want something bigger for a change."
+
+"O, now you're getting to high altitudes. Meryl, do come down and be
+rational. I just feel as if I could shake you." She got up and roamed
+round the room, then returned to the window-seat and leaned out of the
+window watching some workmen who were painting the balcony below them.
+Meryl sat on silently, still seeking some sort of a solution to
+something she could not name.
+
+"There's such a good-looking workman," Diana remarked presently, "I'm
+sure he's an artist. I wish he would look up, but he is too shy."
+
+"Too wise, perhaps. Why are you sure he is an artist?"
+
+"O, well, because he looks like it. He has a Grecian head, and his
+hair curls adorably, and I'm certain his eyes are blue. He'll be just
+underneath the window soon, and if he doesn't look up then I shall
+drop something to make him."
+
+"Come away to lunch and don't be a goose. The gong sounded quite five
+minutes ago."
+
+Diana withdrew her head reluctantly.
+
+"Who wants to eat cutlets when they can watch a Grecian profile!"
+
+"Perhaps you would sooner drop one on his head to make him look up?"
+
+"I would; much sooner. Do you think they've brought their lunch with
+them, or shall we send them some?"
+
+"I expect they've got their dinners in red pocket-handkerchiefs,
+hidden away somewhere at the back."
+
+"Except my Greek"--with a little smile--"and I'm sure his is in a
+Liberty silk square."
+
+They sat down to lunch in the big, oppressive dining-room alone, as
+their chaperon, Aunt Emily, was laid up with a headache, and Mr. Henry
+Pym, Meryl's father, was usually in the City at midday. And after
+lunch, for the sake of something to do, they ordered the motor and
+drove out to Ranelagh to see the polo.
+
+Then came dinner, and with it in quiet, unsuspected guise the news
+that would presently change their lives. Henry Pym, a small, dark man,
+with the keen eyes and quiet manner that so often go with success,
+told them that because there would be practically no London season at
+all that year he had decided to go back to Africa, and he would take a
+country house for them anywhere they liked and leave them there for
+the summer with Aunt Emily.
+
+Aunt Emily nodded her head with an approving air. A quiet country
+house instead of a season's racketing was quite to her taste, and she
+felt dear Henry, as ever, was showing the marked common sense for
+which she humbly worshipped him afar off. Meryl looked at her father
+inquiringly and with a thoughtful air. Diana remarked, rather
+disgustedly, "O, uncle, what rot! Why should we be condemned to some
+dull little hole of an English village, just because there is to be no
+London season?"
+
+"My dear Diana," remonstrated the lady who was supposed to fill the
+post of mother and chaperon to both girls, and was therefore in duty
+bound to express disapproval of Diana's English, "you surely do not
+imagine your uncle admires that unladylike mode of speech!"
+
+"But he understands it," said the incorrigible, "and that is far more
+important."
+
+There was a decided gleam in the millionaire's eyes as he inquired,
+"And what do you want to do instead, Di?"
+
+"Oh, yacht, or travel, or go in an aeroplane, or anything. I simply
+can't sit down in an English village until further notice."
+
+Then Meryl spoke:
+
+"Why can't we go back with you to South Africa, father?"
+
+"Because I'm going to take a trip north. I'm going up to Rhodesia
+about some mining claims."
+
+"And couldn't we go there with you?"
+
+"Not very well. I'm not going to the towns, except for a day or two. I
+shall have to do a lot of trekking in the wild, outlying parts. You
+couldn't manage that."
+
+"Of course not," murmured Aunt Emily. "How dreadful that you should
+have to go, Henry! Why, there are lions and elephants and things, and
+the natives are savages; surely no mines are worth running such
+risks?"
+
+"Not quite as bad as all that, Emily, but hardly the place for you and
+the girls. Would you all like to go to Norway?"
+
+"And fish?..." from Diana, with a sudden light in her eyes.
+
+"You could have a yacht and take a party," he continued, "and come
+back when you are all tired of it. I'll ask Sir Robert to let me have
+the 'Skylark,' because his captain is so reliable. What do you say,
+Meryl?... Shall you like that?..."
+
+"I wish you could come," was her rather evasive answer, and she gazed
+at the table decorations as if pondering something in her mind.
+
+"Well, you can think it over," said the millionaire quietly, "and if
+there is something you would like better tell me." He was peeling a
+pear in a slow, methodical fashion, and his face quickly seemed to
+assume the expression of one whose thoughts were already elsewhere;
+but not before, with a quick, characteristic movement, he had glanced
+keenly and surreptitiously into Meryl's face and read her indecision.
+Something was on her mind. He knew it quite well; and his busy brain,
+under its mask of complacent thoughtfulness, probed into the question.
+
+Ever since the day of the King's funeral she had worn that thoughtful
+air and baffled him a little with her wistful indecision. And though
+he said nothing, he thought about it in his leisured moments; for
+dearer than all his wealth and his power and his success was his only
+child.
+
+That night, trying still to probe the unrest in her heart, Meryl
+stepped out on to their balcony and looked at the stars. Straight
+before her, outlined in a misty moonlight that was almost overpowered
+by the glare of the city's lights, were the tall towers of
+Westminster. Down below the traffic passed ceaselessly to and fro.
+From all sides came the mysterious hum of a great city's life. And as
+she leaned listening, and gazing at the far-off stars that seemed such
+mere pin-pricks above the glare, there came to her a thought of the
+majestic stars that hung over Africa and the majesty of silence upon
+the African veldt. And then gradually there stirred in her a warm
+remembrance of Africa, and of how she had always loved it, and a
+swift, unaccountable feeling of kinship with all the Britishers
+scattered far and wide who called some colony "home."
+
+True, she was English born and English educated; but so also was she
+South African, for quite half her life had been passed in
+Johannesburg, and it was there that her actual home existed. And so,
+by slow imperceptible degrees, out of nowhere and without explanation,
+crept into her mind the sudden realisation of Africa's claim upon her.
+She remembered that it was there her father had amassed his wealth.
+There had been won for her all the smooth, luxurious ways of her life;
+and, but a step further, as it were, stood out the answer to her
+questioning doubts. Whatever trust is yours in the future, whatever
+life asks of you in return for all she has given, it must be for
+Africa. Her heart warmed and swelled swiftly, and her eyes glowed in
+the misty darkness. She felt in her blood that Africa was calling.
+Africa, so sunny, so gay, so breezy, so lovable, and withal with so
+great a need of strong women as well as strong men, to help her to win
+through to the great future that should be hers.
+
+She leaned lower, and it was as though her gaze looked beyond the
+darkness to some unseen horizon. She saw the veldt with its far blue
+mountains, that called to men again and again with such resolute
+calling. Overhead, in her fancy, she saw the luminous Southern Cross.
+All around were the wide, boundless horizons, the swift, scented
+winds. In her spirit she was back again in the sun-soaked land,
+breathing the sun-soaked atmosphere, looking far to the "never, never"
+country that called from the clear distance.
+
+And it was her Africa,--hers, hers, hers.
+
+What did she want with an English village? What to her was a yachting
+cruise in Norway? These might be won some day as restful leisure hours
+in a strenuous life; but without the just winning, what had they to do
+with her?
+
+Africa needed strong women as well as strong men; and, strong or weak,
+Africa was calling--calling.
+
+She had come to London for the season because it was what all the
+other rich men's daughters did; but was she honestly grieved that
+their plans had all to be changed? Surely, now she was free, she could
+find something to do that would fill her hours afterward with gladder
+remembrance than just a season's triumphs.
+
+But what?...
+
+She leaned on in the starlight, chin sunk in hands, thinking,
+dreaming.
+
+And so presently, still by those imperceptible degrees, through which
+works the hand of Fate, her thoughts came at last to the dinner-table
+conversation.
+
+As in a flash, she remembered Rhodesia; and, remembering, it was as
+though the romance of the land reached out strong arms to enfold her.
+
+Here in very truth was a young country, offering a wide field to all
+who sought work, adventure, achievement. Her thoughts ran on
+exultantly. She was rich, she was free, she was young, she was strong;
+why dawdle and dream among the fiords of Norway? Why scale Swiss
+mountains? Let that come later, when she had earned a playtime. In the
+first vigorous years of her youth, let her go out to the sunny land
+that was her home and give it of her best. Let her go north and see a
+young country struggling towards fruition, and perhaps win the joy
+and privilege, generally reserved for men, of helping it forward. All
+in a moment her decision was made. If she could anyhow win her
+father's consent, she would go with him on his trip to Rhodesia.
+
+She stood up, tall and slim, and the subdued light glowed more deeply
+in her eyes. The eyes of the visionary, who sees great things and
+dreams great dreams, and, alas! how often, breaks a heart that of its
+very fineness could only do or die.
+
+Yet better, how much better, to hope and dare and die upon the
+heights, than linger content in the warm, snug valley of little joys
+and little sorrows!
+
+And then across her dreams broke the sound of a sleepy voice from the
+room behind her.
+
+"If you stay out there any longer, Meryl, you will grow wings and fly
+away. Do be rational enough to come in and go to bed."
+
+"I thought you were asleep, Di. I'm sure I haven't been keeping you
+awake."
+
+"No, but you are doing so now; and, besides, it's so imbecile to stand
+out there and stare at the stars."
+
+"I've been thinking hard, Di." She came in and sat on the little gilt
+bedstead, with its dainty hangings, and looked lovingly at the pretty
+head on the lace-decked pillow.
+
+"That's nothing new. If you _hadn't_ been thinking hard it would be
+worth while mentioning it," and there was half a pout and half a smile
+on the winsome mouth.
+
+"But there was more object than usual to-night. Listen. If I persuade
+father to take me up to Rhodesia with him, will you come too?..."
+
+"O, golly!... to be eaten by lions, and tigers, and savages, and
+elephants, and things!..."
+
+"Well, there wouldn't be much apiece if they all had a bite."
+
+Diana sat up and shook the hair out of her eyes, looking very much
+like a small imp of ten, instead of a finished young lady of
+twenty-two. "There's just a chance they would eat Aunt Emily first,"
+said she, "and as that is a consummation devoutly to be wished, I
+think we'll go...."
+
+They both laughed, but Meryl soon grew serious again. "I'm awfully in
+earnest, Di. Who cares about Norway when they might go to Rhodesia!
+You'll perhaps fall overboard and be eaten by commonplace fishes if
+you go there."
+
+"What has given you the notion, Meryl? I thought only miners and
+farmers went to Rhodesia, except a few tourists to the Victoria Falls.
+Do you think there is anything to eat there except locusts and wild
+honey?"
+
+"Let's go and see. I ... I ... want to do some Empire work or
+something. I can't explain. But we've just got into such a maze of
+petty happenings and petty pleasures, and since the King died ..."
+
+"Of course!... you've been miles away ever since, dreaming and
+romancing and imperialising. But it won't last, and when you've landed
+us all high and dry in some Rhodesian wilderness we shall just hate
+each other and everything else, and be ready to murder you."
+
+"Nonsense. We shall explore all round, and study the natives and the
+animals, and make friends with the settlers; and it will all be just
+new and big and teeming with interest."
+
+"Not if you are chewing the mule harness, because you've had nothing
+to eat for days."
+
+"O yes, even that; why not?... We should love it all when we came
+safely back."
+
+"Well, I'll have the bridle, then. It won't, perhaps, be quite so
+greasy."
+
+"Now you're disgusting. Just put your head back on the pillow, and
+register a vow to see me through this craze, if you like to call it
+so, and I'll love you for ever. I like to think of it as Empire work.
+Come and do a little Empire work too."
+
+"But I don't want to. I'm bored to tears with the Empire. We hear a
+great deal too much of it nowadays; that and Standard Bread. I don't
+know which is the worst"--making a wry face--"and, besides, if you
+really want to do Empire work, your plain duty is to marry Dutch
+Willie and cement the races."
+
+A cloud flitted for a moment across Meryl's fair face, which Diana was
+quick to see, and she snoozled down into her cosy bed with a little
+chuckle.
+
+"Got you there, my fair Imperialist! Dutch Willie, or let us call him
+William van Hert, will drop this wild anti-British policy of his like
+a hot brick, if you will only make up your mind to be Madam van Hert,
+and bless his hearth with a Dutch doll or two, having good English
+blood in their veins as well as eighteen-carat Dutch," and the
+chuckles grew more and more audible.
+
+But Meryl only got up slowly and moved away to her own little bed.
+
+"Well, I shall ask father to-morrow, and if you won't come I shall try
+to make him take me without you. I think he will."
+
+"O, no he won't. If you are really quite obdurate, I shall do a little
+Imperial work also. I shall come along to keep watch and ward, and see
+that you don't fail the Empire by losing your heart to some
+fascinating young Rhodesian settler and forget your own South Africa
+altogether. Dutch Willie is a lot the nicest Dutchman who ever
+belonged to that obtuse people, and I foresee it will be my lot to
+guide you to your high destiny on behalf of the two races."
+
+Meryl only smiled dreamily, as if she scarcely heard. Swiftly,
+mysteriously, unaccountably, as is her way, Rhodesia had caught her
+senses and filled all her horizon for the time being. She nestled down
+into her own pretty bed, with the unrest already fading from her eyes,
+and a new gladness in her heart, as of one renewed with a great
+purpose and comforted with a wide hope.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+THE RHODESIAN PROJECT
+
+
+Aunt Emily represented what Diana was pleased to call "the family
+skeleton in the flesh." She was Henry Pym's only sister, and there had
+been a time when she shared a pound a week with him in a tiny cottage
+in Cornwall, while he worked as a miner in order to teach himself all
+he could about mining. After that she had taken a situation as
+housekeeper, while he went out to South Africa to make his fortune.
+Later she had spent a year or two with him, sharing his struggles in
+the new country, and then he had married, and she was once more left
+to take care of herself; for at that stage Henry's finances would
+barely keep himself and his wife. Three years afterwards, when his
+genius for finance was bearing fruit, his wife died, and at
+twenty-seven he found himself a childless widower just becoming
+prosperous. He again offered his sister a home, but her recollections
+of Africa were none to draw her back thither, and she chose to
+continue life in the comfortable situation she had procured as
+companion to an invalid lady. So Henry devoted himself entirely to the
+science of money-making, and at thirty-five he was a rich man. He
+married a second time, choosing for his wife among the gentlest-born
+Johannesburg could offer, and winning the sweet woman who was Meryl's
+mother. About the same time his brother came out from England and
+joined him, and in fifteen years they were two of Johannesburg's
+wealthiest millionaires. A few years later both were widowers, and
+very shortly afterwards John Pym died, leaving his only daughter and
+all the wealth that would be hers to his brother's care. Thus the
+household became as we have seen it, for Henry, remembering gratefully
+how his sister had stood by him in his days of struggle, now insisted
+upon her sharing his luxurious homes and acting as chaperon to the
+two girls. That she was a little trying he knew perfectly, but his
+sense of fair play and kinship resolutely turned a deaf ear to the
+half-spoken pleas of the girls, that he would give her instead a cosy
+home of her own, and procure a younger and brighter chaperon for them;
+and she had now become a fixture.
+
+But what irritated Diana so was the fact that had the good lady
+consulted her own taste, she would infinitely have preferred the cosy,
+independent home; but just as Henry's sense of fair play offered her a
+place in his, so her sense of duty to the two motherless girls made
+her accept it in spite of her inclination.
+
+"If people would but consult their comfort instead of their duty,"
+quoth poor Diana, "how much nicer it would be all round! Uncle doesn't
+really want her here, and she doesn't really want to come, and we'd
+give our heads to be rid of her; but just because Old Man Duty loves
+to make people supremely uncomfortable, here we all are!" and her
+expressive gesture made further comment unnecessary.
+
+But, as a matter of fact, she made a very easy and good-natured
+chaperon, and it was only some of her irritating little ways that
+troubled them. Without being really deaf, she usually failed to hear
+any opening speech, and this Diana coped with very summarily. "Aunt
+Emily," she would begin. "Eh ... eh ... eh ... eh ... ah," and when
+Aunt Emily had duly enquired, "What did you say, my dear?" she would
+speak her sentence for the first time. Or, again, with reference to
+her propensity to get exceedingly worked up upon a subject of very
+little general interest, she would say, "The great point is, not to
+start her off, and not to give her a chance to start herself off. A
+little perspicacity will soon tell you what subject to nip in the bud,
+or when to talk as hard and fast as you can about something else."
+
+"And as for her mournfulness," declared the matter-of-fact young
+heiress, "well, that's genuinely funny. If I've got a bit of a hump
+myself, and I hear Aunt Emily, with a face of heroic resignation, say,
+'I can bear it,' I begin to feel quite chirpy at once."
+
+But when the Rhodesian project came seriously under discussion, they
+were all a good deal surprised to hear Aunt Emily take part in it as
+one who must inevitably be of the party. Henry Pym was a reserved,
+undemonstrative man, and when Meryl begged him to let them accompany
+him on his travels, though he said very little, he was secretly a good
+deal gratified and pleased. His own early hardships had taught him the
+inestimable value of learning self-dependence and plucky endurance,
+and it was not without some regret he viewed a future for the girls
+entirely of rose leaves. Yet how could it very well be otherwise?
+When, however, Meryl pleadingly asked him to take them to Rhodesia
+with him, he perceived that the trip might be beneficial in more ways
+than one.
+
+"You probably don't understand," he told her quietly, "that I am going
+on a business, prospecting trip. I am going right away from hotels and
+railways to see mines, and I don't intend to be bothered with anything
+elaborate in the way of an outfit. I suppose I shall take a tent, and
+travel in a travelling ambulance, but certainly nothing out of the way
+in food or equipment. You would have to do the same, and as you know
+absolutely nothing in the world about 'roughing it,' you probably
+wouldn't like it at all."
+
+"But that is just what we should like," Meryl urged. "That is one
+reason why we want to come."
+
+They were sitting in the smoke-room with him, as was often their habit
+in the evening, preferring it, as he did, to the stately drawing-room.
+
+Meryl sat on a footstool near him, watching his face anxiously, while
+Diana, with an open book on her knee, listened from the depths of an
+enormous arm-chair in which she had curled herself.
+
+"Shouldn't we ever need to wash?" she asked suddenly, in a sprightly
+voice that set them all laughing.
+
+"Well, it's a hot country, you know," said her uncle, "but it might be
+more or less optional."
+
+"Scrumptious!" and Diana snoozled lower into her chair.
+
+"Uncouth," remarked Aunt Emily, disapprovingly.
+
+"Or do you mean unclean?" enquired the sinner.
+
+"It is quite the maddest idea I ever heard of." Ignoring her, and
+growing more and more mournful, the poor lady heaved a deep sigh.
+
+"But need you be bothered with us?" enquired Meryl, diplomatically.
+"Wouldn't you rather have a nice quiet summer in England?"
+
+"And let you go alone?... How could I?... Your father will be much
+engaged with his business, and it would be most unseemly for two girls
+of your age to be left so much alone. I believe it is a dreadful
+country, but if you can face it, I think I can find the courage to
+come with you."
+
+"Think you can bear it, aunty?..." chirped the voice from the
+arm-chair, and Meryl frowned in a little aside at the snoozler.
+
+"If they decide to come at all, they would be all right with me out on
+the veldt," put in Mr. Pym. "If they are prepared to eat 'bully beef'
+and probably do their own washing-up."
+
+"How horrible!..." from the arm-chair. "It sounds worse than chewing
+mule harness."
+
+"What do you mean, Diana?" her aunt asked, nervously.
+
+"Oh, didn't you know there was nourishment in mule harness?... It's
+simply splendid stuff when you've had nothing else for days."
+
+The poor lady shuddered, and her brother chuckled, but Meryl
+interposed with, "Don't listen to her, Aunt Emily. It isn't likely we
+shall ever have had nothing for days."
+
+"I once heard of a man ..." began the spinster, putting down her work,
+and raising her head with the air they all knew so well, denoting a
+long rigmarole about some exceedingly uninteresting person, and Diana
+immediately chimed in with, "Shall you wear a knickerbocker suit,
+aunty, or just a commonplace divided skirt?"
+
+"Neither will be in the least necessary," was the decided answer. "I
+have met people from Rhodesia, and they dress quite ordinarily."
+
+"Oh, that's when they're in another country," insisted the
+incorrigible. "Up there you simply must wear knickers, or a divided
+skirt; it's ... it's ... such a high altitude ... and so ...
+windy!..."
+
+"Diana, be quiet," interrupted Meryl, now sitting on the arm of her
+father's chair. "If you don't mind we shall leave you behind."
+
+"Well, I don't know that I particularly want to go. It doesn't sound
+very inviting except about the washing."
+
+"I think you had all better take a week to decide in," said Henry Pym,
+finally. "I won't say anything about the yacht at present, and you can
+change your minds and have it if you like. And if your aunt chooses to
+stay quietly in England, I'll take a house for her anywhere she likes,
+and I'll look after you both myself. You can take care of each other
+when I have to be absent for a day."
+
+"Would you like us to go?" asked Diana, screwing her head round
+impishly. "Or are we going to be a ... a ... frightful nuisance?"
+
+"I'd like you to come, if you can make up your minds thoroughly to
+take the rough and the smooth together, and make the best of it. I
+think it will be an experience for you, and a wholesome change from
+too much luxury. But mind"--and his strong, dark face looked very
+determined--"I want no grumbling and no fretfulness. If you think
+you've any real, genuine pioneer spirit in you, _come_. If you're in
+doubt about it, stay behind, and go to Norway and have your gaiety."
+
+"I don't think I've very much," said Diana, "but Meryl has enough for
+two, I'm sure; and for the rest, I never grumble, and I'm only peevish
+with very young men. That, of course, I might work off on the
+niggers."
+
+"Has Meryl a lot of pioneer spirit?" asked her father, watching her
+with quiet, affectionate eyes.
+
+"Stacks of it. She wants to become an Empire-builder. I don't. I'm
+bored with the Empire. But I don't mind sampling just one dive into
+the wilderness, to see how I like primitive conditions. I don't know
+what Aunt Emily wants with the wilderness though, unless she has a
+secret fancy for niggers!..."
+
+"I think that is a little coarse of you, Diana. I have no fancy either
+for a wilderness or niggers; but if either you or Meryl were ill, or
+anything happened to you, I should never forgive myself had I
+remained comfortably at home."
+
+"Nothing will happen to us, aunty. I think you are rather unwise to
+think of coming," said Meryl.
+
+"If you go, I shall come as far as Bulawayo anyhow. Then I shall at
+least be within reach."
+
+"Well, think it over for a week," said Henry Pym again, getting up and
+moving towards his writing-table. "I don't like hurried decisions at
+any time. If you like to come and take pot-luck with me I shall be
+glad to have your company, but do not let that influence you. Come for
+your own sakes, and prepared for anything, or remain behind."
+
+They understood that he wished to be left to do some reading or
+writing, and after kissing him good night, went upstairs to their
+room.
+
+But Meryl's eyes had already a new glow of hopeful anticipation, and
+it was easy to see she did not intend to waste much time in making up
+a mind already entirely decided.
+
+Diana found her a little irritating.
+
+"Really, Meryl!" she said, "you look as ridiculously pleased as a cat
+with kittens. You are quite the most unaccountable creature in the
+world. What, in the name of fortune, _is_ the good of going to
+Rhodesia? Frankly, I'd rather stay in England."
+
+But Meryl only smiled happily, and made no comment.
+
+"Oh, put the light out," snapped Diana. "I really can't stand that
+superior, complacent air of yours any longer."
+
+For answer the elder girl crossed the room and gave her a hug.
+
+"Don't be cross, Di. You know you'll love the atmosphere of adventure
+when you are fairly started. Anyone can go to Norway."
+
+"Adventure! Stuff! Heat and flies and sand, that's all we're in for;
+and uncle in a prosaic, 'I told you so' mood."
+
+"We may see lions when we are trekking."
+
+Diana put her head on one side, like a small, bright-eyed bird. "We
+can see those in the Zoo, beloved."
+
+"Well, and you can see Norway on a cinematograph."
+
+Diana turned away with a low laugh.
+
+"Clean bowled. Good for you, O wise Hypatia! Well, we'll go to this
+heathen land and be horribly uncomfortable for a time, and then we'll
+come back and make things hum in London as they never hummed before.
+Where is Jeanne, I wonder? If I've got to do my own hair for two solid
+months I'll never touch a wisp of it until we go," and she rang the
+bell peremptorily.
+
+Later, for a few moments, Meryl again stood out on the balcony,
+enjoying the June night, and as she looked at the stars she smiled
+softly. She was going back to Africa, after all--her Africa, and
+perhaps Life would give her something big to do yet.
+
+And half unconsciously, though with a sense of pleasurable possession,
+she stood with her eyes to the south.
+
+And away in a distant land, on a high hill, strewn with ruins of an
+ancient, mysterious race, a man stood with his eyes to the north.
+
+A taciturn, difficult, unaccountable man, who baffled the people that
+would fain be friendly with him, and chilled any who showed him
+warmth, and yet was invariably liked and trusted by all who had the
+perspicacity to see beyond the rigid exterior.
+
+Even to-day, though he was mourning his sovereign, he had shown no
+softening of grief to those who beheld him. Rather, if anything, he
+had been more silent, more taciturn, more aloof than ever.
+
+Yet the enfolding night and the quiet stars saw what none others saw.
+They saw the ache in the steady eyes, the compression as of pain on
+the resolute lips, the swift, unusual hunger, sternly suppressed, for
+something that had once been in some old life and was now for ever
+ended.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+WILLIAM VAN HERT
+
+
+They, that is, the Pyms, stayed in Johannesburg before they started on
+their travels. Mr. Pym had built for himself a charming house in the
+Sachsenwald neighbourhood, architectured, of course, by Mr. Herbert
+Baker, and having a lovely view to far blue hills.
+
+Few people who have never seen Johannesburg have the smallest
+conception of the charm of its best suburbs, with their wonderful far
+vistas to a dream country of blue mountains on the horizon. To most it
+suggests little beyond dump-heaps of white powdered quartz, tall
+machinery, tall chimneys, with a town of tramways and offices and
+wealthy people all struggling together for more wealth.
+
+Yet in a few minutes one may leave all this behind, and drive along
+tree-lined roads and avenues to where, probably amidst swaying firs, a
+"stately home" of South Africa is picturesquely standing.
+
+Mr. Pym's house was not of the largest, for he had never been
+ostentatious of his wealth, and much of it was represented by large
+tracts of land, where he generously experimented for the benefit of
+the country. As with several rich South Africans, he had his stud farm
+and his agricultural farm; and both were kept up to a very high
+standard, without any particular consideration for profit and loss.
+But his house in the Sachsenwald neighbourhood had more of charm and
+comfort in it than display. The rooms were very high and airy and well
+ventilated, with artistic colour effects which the girls had achieved,
+and something of an Italian air about it.
+
+Along one side, widening into an embrasure at the middle, where doors
+from the drawing-room and dining-room stood open to it, ran a broad
+tessellated terrace; and from the terrace one looked out over a
+lovely garden, gorgeous with the flaming flowers of South Africa, yet
+softened by velvety turf such as is seldom seen "over there," and can
+only be attained by much consistent care and attention.
+
+It was here the girls loved best to sit: Diana because the prospect
+was fresh and breezy and wide, and, true to her namesake, she loved
+the smell of the firs and the earth; Meryl because of those far blue
+hills which made so fitting a background to the dreamland thoughts
+that filled her mind; and, moreover, Aunt Emily did not particularly
+love light and air, so she usually remained in her own sanctum, and
+Diana was able to enjoy, not one cigarette, but two or three, after
+each meal without the tiresome accompaniment of a disapproving eye.
+
+They reached Johannesburg in the latter half of July, and those people
+who had not already fled from the high winds and driving dust were
+hurriedly preparing to do so. In consequence, few friends were there
+to welcome them on their return, and their plans proceeded apace.
+Diana had a smart khaki knickerbocker suit made, and a wonderful
+broad-brimmed hat with a long feather to go with it. When they
+laughingly told her she was not journeying to an uncivilised country,
+and could not possibly wear such a garb in modern Rhodesia, she merely
+asserted she was going into the wilderness to please them, and in
+return they must put up with her in any sort of garb she chose. In the
+end Meryl was persuaded to have a knickerbocker garb also, though she
+insisted that she would never wear it. Aunt Emily bought yards and
+yards of green and blue muslin, in which she proposed to tie up her
+head. "You must have a particularly ugly helmet, and a pair of smoked
+spectacles, and a butterfly-net as well," said Diana, "and then you
+will look as if you belonged to the British Association."
+
+Her uncle, sitting back silently in his big arm-chair, with the quiet
+twinkle in his keen eyes, remarked, "And you will look like the
+principal boy at a pantomime."
+
+"How heavenly!..." said outspoken Diana, and Aunt Emily raised her
+hands in horror.
+
+It was on one of the last evenings before their final departure that
+William van Hert came from a quiet sea-side place above Durban to see
+them. He was taking a long rest there, after a strenuous parliamentary
+campaign, and only discovered through a belated newspaper that they
+had returned from England, and were contemplating a journey north. He
+immediately took a day's road journey to the nearest railway and
+departed for Johannesburg.
+
+Diana saw him arrive, and executed a remarkable spring into the air,
+finished off with a little kick. "Oh, golly!..." she breathed. "Here's
+Dutch Willy come flying to the arms of his ladylove!"
+
+Meryl looked up with swift, questioning eyes.
+
+"Impossible!... He is down at M'genda."
+
+"A little bird whispered, 'She, the fair one of many millions, has
+returned,' and straightway the thousand white arms of M'genda failed
+to hold him."
+
+"Don't be spiteful, Di. Mr. van Hert cares nothing for anyone's
+millions. You know it well."
+
+"I do; and for that reason he should be kept in a glass case. Still,
+he cares for a fair Englishwoman who has been--well, kind to him."
+
+"He is interesting. Was there any special kindness in letting him know
+that I had the perspicacity to see it?" And they went downstairs
+together to receive him.
+
+William van Hert was at that time one of the most disliked, one of the
+most attractive, and one of the most disturbing men in South Africa.
+Gifted with brains and polish, he was yet, at present, marred by
+bigotry, narrowness of vision, and an unreasonable antipathy to the
+advance of English ways and customs. Furthermore, having obtained for
+himself a considerable following, he was, unfortunately, powerful.
+When genuine efforts were being made to bury the hatchet over the
+racial question, this man had more than once dug it up again; but it
+was not entirely clear at present whether he was actuated by motives
+of misguided patriotism, or whether, like far greater men, he only
+wanted to make himself thoroughly heard in the world first, and when
+that object was satisfactorily attained, he would modify his tendency
+to rabid policies and prove himself a reliable statesman. In the
+meantime he was dangerous.
+
+In England there were many who quite seriously believed the racial
+feud was over. There were others who knew that it was still
+exceedingly bitter. There were others again who said very little, and
+perhaps professed to know very little, but in the quietness of their
+own thoughts pondered deeply and patriotically how a real and sincere
+union, and not a merely public newspaper one, was to be wrought
+between two fine races, so that in true harmony they might bring a
+country of great promise to its day of fulfilment. The men who saw any
+solution in making both languages compulsory were not men of true
+insight; neither were those who retrenched Englishmen in one
+direction, and created new posts for Dutchmen in others. One could but
+suppose these men were content to be patriots, not in a big sense to
+the whole country, but in a limited one to their own countrymen. To be
+patriots of South Africa herself, in her widest sense, seemed too much
+to ask of them. Yet, because of the fine qualities many of these men
+possessed, one could but hope that ere long what was good for South
+Africa would be good for each individual, whether in private life he
+called himself English or Dutch.
+
+That William van Hert was ever a welcome guest in the Pyms' household
+showed that he had many excellent qualities besides his undisputed
+personal attractiveness to counterbalance his obstinate bigotry.
+Otherwise Mr. Pym would not have shown him the friendliness he did;
+for in his quiet way Henry Pym possessed greatness, and everyone
+throughout the land knew that he was of those resolute, reliable few
+who would let all their wealth go before they would pander to any
+government or any party to save it. Meryl talked to him because she
+perceived there was a rough sincerity in the man underneath his
+bigotry, and hoped because he was powerful he would presently expand.
+
+Diana alone crossed swords with him, and though perhaps he did not
+know it, it was no small thing that she thought it worth while.
+
+He stayed to dine with them in a simple, homely manner, and his
+conversation at the table was sparkling and vivacious. He told them
+some excellent stories, concluding with one in very broad Dutch that
+they had great difficulty in following. And then Diana opened fire.
+
+"Such a monstrous, face-distorting language," she remarked coolly. "I
+wonder you don't forbid its use instead of urging it."
+
+The gleam came quickly to her uncle's eye, though he appeared to take
+no heed. It was left to Meryl to frown cautiously, and shake a wise
+head.
+
+"Don't frown at me, Meryl," said the incorrigible. "It's a hideous
+tongue, and he knows it, and what's the good of pretending anything
+else? I don't hold with pretence in anything."
+
+"It is the tongue of my country," van Hert told her, more amused than
+annoyed. "Every true patriot loves his mother tongue."
+
+"O, nonsense!" with a charming insolence. "Meryl and I both have Norse
+blood in us. If you go far enough back we probably are Norse. But
+where would be the sense in our professing to love our country by
+talking her tongue, when it served every reasonable purpose in the
+world better to talk English? You're so one idea'd, you Dutch folk, at
+least some of you," pointedly. "The language and the Bible and your
+early-morning coffee!"
+
+They could not help laughing at her, but van Hert indignantly
+repudiated her charge.
+
+"O well!..." she continued, airily. "You know perfectly well you do
+make a fetish of the Language Question; and that your back-veldt
+followers believe the Bible was written in Dutch for the Dutch race
+alone; and that you start having coffee at daybreak, with relays up to
+breakfast-time. And you don't expect your natives or your women to
+possess such a thing as an individual will. That is a luxury for the
+strong sex only!... It all means just one thing. Out in the back veldt
+you are years and years and years, positive, æons, behind the times;
+and you'd sooner represent a big dam to the progress of the world than
+yield one little silly, rotten cotton prejudice to help it forward. So
+there!..." And having delivered herself of this piece of oration Diana
+got up, pushed her chair back with a jerk, and finished, "I'm going
+out on the terrace. When I think of your back-veldters, and your
+back-veldt policy of suppressing all individualism and all advance, I
+need the company of a few worlds and solar systems to regain my
+equilibrium. No, don't expostulate," as he rose in his eagerness to
+confront her. "I seldom argue. It is not worth while. I merely
+'express an opinion,' having the good fortune to belong to a race in
+which women are permitted such an indulgence," and she threw a
+laughing glance back at him from the window before she stepped out.
+
+Meryl watched her with a swift look of deep affection in her eyes, and
+then glanced at her father. Henry Pym's face was expressionless, but
+his eyes seemed to reply to her unspoken question, and tell her that
+he, too, recognised a little more thoroughly that under the surface
+flippancy and light raillery there was depth. In the meantime, feeling
+she had not been quite fair to her opponent, to go off without
+allowing him to defend himself, he purposely discussed the language
+question a little more openly than was at all his wont with such
+prickly subjects, speaking a few quiet truths in a way that even a
+firebrand like van Hert could not possibly resent. When they joined
+Diana she was sitting on a table, swinging her feet, and singing a new
+music-hall ditty.
+
+"Touching that slander of yours," van Hert began, good-humouredly, for
+few could ever be seriously annoyed with Diana, "I should like to say
+..."
+
+"No, I forbid it," she interrupted. "Arguments bore me. Have you heard
+that little song before that I was singing? It's a ripping little
+ditty. Chain Aunt Emily to the drawing-room sofa and I'll sing it all
+through to you; but if she were to hear it she might faint, and that
+is so tiresome."
+
+He laughed, and sat on the table beside her, and the rabid sectarian
+politician, so given to raising storms and creating scenes in that
+most remarkable of parliaments, the South African Union Assembly,
+forgot his pet injustices and prejudices, and was quickly the
+versatile, virile, engaging social man. Meryl sat a little apart, with
+some dainty crochet-work in her delicate fingers, and though the
+visitor chatted with Diana, his eyes were almost always upon her.
+
+They had purposely put out the electric light after their coffee was
+served, preferring only the lights in the rooms behind them and the
+splendour of the night before. And in the dimness Meryl's fair skin
+gleamed unusually white beside her dusky hair, and the velvety,
+blue-grey eyes, when she looked up, had caught the dreaming darkness
+of the heavens. Only now and then she glanced round. Mostly she sat
+with her eyes on the shadowy darkness and her work in her lap. And the
+Dutchman, gazing, felt with a sort of fierce reluctance that there
+were no women in the world for calmness and strength quite like the
+Englishwomen, nor more delicately, entrancingly fair.
+
+Then, suddenly, Meryl heard her name and looked up.
+
+"Why in the world do you want to go to Rhodesia?" he had said; and
+Diana answered, "I don't know that we do want to go; but Meryl has
+suddenly developed into a violent Imperialist, and we go at her
+desire."
+
+"What to do?" and he asked the question a little sharply of the dark
+eyes now turned to theirs. Quite suddenly and unaccountably he
+resented their going; resented, at any rate, that she, Meryl, should
+go. There had been so much "Rhodesia" of late. Everyone seemed bitten
+with a kind of silly craze for the place. Now it was gold; now it was
+land; now it was union or no union; now it was annexation and "twenty
+pieces of silver"; such a lot of fuss about some square miles of
+wilderness, containing odd outcrops of gold-bearing reef.
+
+"There is nothing worth seeing in Rhodesia, except the Victoria
+Falls," he asserted; "and you can run up there and see all you want to
+and get back in a week!" And still he looked enquiringly at Meryl.
+
+"We want to see the people," she said, half turning. "The pioneers,
+who went first to investigate, the settlers who followed, the women
+who went forward with their husbands into the wilderness."
+
+He got off the table and came and leaned against a verandah-post
+beside her with folded arms, looking down. "But that is what you won't
+see; how should you? You will only see dusty, upstart towns, with
+horrible corrugated-iron hotels, where you will swelter in heat and
+flies and eat abominable tinned stuffs. It is a barren, comfortless
+land at present, with a possibility of being useful some day. They
+want money, energy, brains to develop it thoroughly; and they won't
+accept them when they are offered, because a few stiff-necked
+Englishmen happen to be in power. It is absurd to go there at present.
+You will only get typhoid and malaria, and be excruciatingly
+uncomfortable."
+
+"It sounds a pretty rotten sort of place! What do you and your
+colleagues want it for so badly, anyway?..." asked Diana, throwing her
+head back and narrowing her eyes as she looked at him with a shrewd
+questioning air.
+
+He coloured slightly under the sunburn on his cheeks. "We want a
+United South Africa. Why should one country stand aloof!"
+
+"Meinheer van Hert," said she, coming down from her table and taking a
+step forward to confront him, "for any man with your political views
+to talk about including Rhodesia in the Union solely for the sake of a
+United South Africa and for her own good, is the veriest cant. There's
+gold up there, and perhaps tin; and there's land for farming, and land
+for ranching, and hunting grounds, and a big river. In your United
+South Africa you want your people to be 'top dog' always, and as long
+as Rhodesia stands out there's a menace in the north. That's one
+reason why you want her! Rumour tells us there's a fine race of men up
+there, who don't mean to have any tongue but Cecil Rhodes's tongue
+taught in Cecil Rhodes's country, so it certainly is no place for you!
+You've got to learn more thoroughly what an Englishman means by
+'cricket' before your overtures will be considered; and we're all
+hoping you'll learn it quickly, because we want to be friends, good
+friends, just as soon as ever we can."
+
+He bit his lip and looked angry, but she was already laughing the
+moment's tension aside. "You didn't know I was a politician, did
+you?... As a matter of fact, I'm not!... I'm sick of the whole bag of
+tricks, and the Empire that fills Meryl with heaves and swells isn't
+half so much to me as winning a tennis tournament or a golf
+championship. But when you Hollanders are bursting with pride of place
+and achievement, and offering energy and brains to help Britishers
+along, I just feel as if you'd got to be told a few home-truths for
+your good. Now I'm going to liven the meeting with a little operatic
+music," and she tripped indoors to the piano. Van Hert shrugged his
+shoulders expressively, and then stood silently beside Meryl for some
+moments looking into the night. And as he stood he became conscious of
+a vague sort of dissatisfaction with himself. It was a sensation he
+knew only at rare moments, and those moments were chiefly at the Pyms'
+house. He admired the two cousins more than any women he knew; he
+admired Henry Pym; he loved the homyness of their household; and he
+had to remember that they were English. There must, of course, be many
+others like them. Were there many like them among his own countrymen?
+When Diana told him his people had yet to learn more thoroughly what
+was meant by "cricket" she had hit him hard. He would never have
+admitted it for one moment, but, nevertheless, when he was at the
+Pyms' house he _wondered_.... Densely, stubbornly patriotic to his own
+people and his own tongue he might be, but he had travelled enough to
+recognise certain traits in the English "old public-school boy" which
+it was good for a country there should be in her young men, and which
+were not noticeably present in his countrymen of the back veldt.
+
+Then his eyes rested on Meryl, and all his pulses throbbed with her
+nearness. He had known for many months now that he loved her, yet he
+had never actually told his love. At first there had been a
+disinclination to marry an Englishwoman because of the unbending,
+resolute policy he had identified himself with in the Union
+Parliament. No one spoke of anti-British and anti-Dutch nowadays. It
+was impolitic. But whereas certain men genuinely tried to ease the
+forced situation and meet with fairness and justice upon common
+ground, others still kept the flag of discord in their hands, though
+they hid it under the table, so to speak, and only produced it when,
+as they chose to assert, some pet foible of their countrymen was
+overruled or some indignity threatened.
+
+And of this section in Parliament van Hert was the leader. If he then
+married an Englishwoman, not even South African born, would he not be
+held up to ridicule by his colleagues? And then he would see Meryl
+again, and all his feelings would merge into one great longing for
+her; not for her money--she had been right when she said such a charge
+was unjust, indeed, he almost wished she had been poor--but her quiet
+dignity and calm strength and the exquisite fairness that held all his
+senses.
+
+And as he stood beside her now he hated more and more, without knowing
+why, that she should go to Rhodesia. Whatever he had said to the
+contrary, he knew that there was a romance about that far land that
+might fascinate her. He knew that up there there were some of the
+cream of England's men. "The second son's country," he had heard it
+called, and that meant very often the well-born, high-bred gentleman
+who was not afraid to work, who had never been pampered, and was full
+of the best sportsman's spirit. The man of all others to attract such
+a woman as Meryl Pym. The mere thought of it seemed to fill him with a
+growing alarm, and presently, almost before he knew it, he found
+himself pouring into her ears the story of his love.
+
+Meryl was startled and taken aback. She had known perhaps that he had
+a special liking for her; seen it often in his eyes when he gazed at
+her. But that he should speak now was a little sudden, and she wished
+Diana had not left them alone. She tried to meet his eyes, but
+something a little too ardent in them abashed her, and she looked out
+into the darkness, nervously twisting and untwisting the thread of her
+work.
+
+He saw that she was taken aback, and tried somewhat to curb the eager
+intensity that he felt was unnerving her.
+
+"You are going away up there, and I shall be very anxious about you,"
+he pleaded. "If you would only give me your promise before you go, and
+let me have the right to follow at once if you are ill or anything, it
+would make it so much easier."
+
+She stood up, agitated, still gazing wistfully into the night.
+
+"It is very sudden.... I did not know.... I hardly thought.... Have
+you ... have you ... remembered everything?..."
+
+"That you are English and I am Dutch?... What of it, Meryl?... I may
+call you Meryl, mayn't I?... Are we not both South Africans?..."
+
+He tried to take her hand and draw her to him, but she shrank away and
+he did not urge it.
+
+"Have you remembered it long enough?... Thought it out thoroughly?...
+It all seems somehow so sudden."
+
+"I have known long that I loved you. Does anything else really matter
+if you can love me in return?"
+
+"Ah!..." she breathed and stopped short.
+
+She had liked him long. She had always liked him. Away from his
+politics he was liked by most people. Huguenot blood was in his veins,
+and it showed itself in a French charm of manner that came to him
+naturally when he could get away from that bigoted, narrow obstinacy
+that marred him. She felt he was a man who might be led to many
+things, though driven to none. Because he attracted her she felt she
+half loved the Huguenot side of him already. If only the other side
+did not so insistently repel! Could it perhaps be overruled? Could she
+love him truly enough to hold his love for ever, and through it lead
+him to heights he might never even sight without her? Yet her eyes
+were wistful, gazing out there at the dreaming stars, and her face
+gleamed whiter and whiter.
+
+This was not the love that whispered to her when she looked to the far
+blue hills. This was not the consummation the high stars in far
+infinities told her vaguely might some day bless her life.
+
+And then he pleaded again in low-voiced eagerness, and in distress she
+turned to him. "I'm so sorry. I can't bear to think of perhaps making
+you unhappy. But ... but ... I'm afraid I don't love you in the way
+you want. I hadn't thought about it."
+
+"I have been too sudden." He drew himself up, and his eyes followed
+hers out to the darkness. And a touch of latent nobility seemed to
+come out in him; a quiet dignity like her own that appealed to her
+strongly. "I won't take your answer to-night. I shall come to you
+again when you come back. Perhaps then ... when you have thought
+about it ..." He broke off abruptly. "May I write to you?... Will you
+sometimes write to me?... Perhaps I could follow ..."
+
+They heard steps and voices coming towards them from the drawing-room
+where Diana had wearied of her operas, and in sudden haste he caught
+her hand and raised it to his lips.
+
+"I think I have to thank you for a good deal," he told her a trifle
+huskily. "Men of all nations are better for being admitted to the
+friendship of women like you. If there were anything I could do to
+serve you?..." and he waited for her to speak.
+
+"Serve South Africa," she breathed tensely. "I could ask no more of
+any man."
+
+His hand tightened upon hers.
+
+"Serve her with me. Together we could do so much."
+
+He saw her waver.
+
+"Let me tell you when I come back. Yes ... together we might do so
+much...."
+
+"When you come back ..." he said, and pressed her hand in
+understanding.
+
+Then Diana stepped out of the brightness of the drawing-room.
+
+"How can you two stay sleepily there, looking at the stars like two
+cats, when I am trying to lure you indoors with the latest comic-opera
+music! Meinheer van Hert, Mister Pym says, will you drink with
+him?..."
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE JOURNEY
+
+
+As he had three ladies with him Mr. Pym decided to take a private
+saloon-car, but no saloon in the world could prevent them being nearly
+smothered with the dust through Bechuanaland and Matabeleland in
+August, and while Aunt Emily rent the air with her complainings and
+sufferings, Diana chose to pass disparaging remarks upon the
+long-suffering British Empire, which she considered responsible for
+her journey north. Meryl said nothing, but there was often a wistful
+expression in her eyes as they sighted a lonely farmstead, or stood in
+a little wayside station with perhaps one corrugated-iron building,
+where some white-faced woman looked listlessly at the train. When she
+tried to voice her sympathy with their loneliness, however, Diana
+snapped her up a little impatiently.
+
+"My dear Meryl, you will look at things always in the sentimental
+light. A woman with a husband and child in this freshness and sunshine
+is at least better off than if she were in a city slum, and her man
+probably out of work, and her child dying for want of fresh air."
+
+"But that is not the only alternative!... And in any case to suffer in
+company is almost always easier than to suffer alone."
+
+"But they don't suffer, or, at any rate, they needn't necessarily.
+That is where you are so short-sighted. The average woman wants a
+husband and a child, and I don't see that it matters much whether she
+has them in the wilderness or in a city; the main thing is to have
+them."
+
+"Well, for my part," put in Aunt Emily in an aggrieved voice, "if I
+could only have a man in a cloud of dust I'd sooner never see the
+species again," which tickled Diana hugely and caused her to horrify
+her aunt by adding, "But what an advantage for him never to be able to
+see what you were doing! One could have such high jinks!..." Then,
+changing her voice subtly, she enquired, "Is it too much for you,
+aunty?... I mean the dust and the journey? because there must be such
+very much worse things ahead, and ..."
+
+"That will do, my dear. I can bear it," and her expression of mournful
+resignation tickled Diana more than ever. On the day before they
+reached Bulawayo, however, when hour after hour brought very little
+but scrub and sand, she and her aunt were very nervy and irritable,
+and only Meryl, with her dreams and ideals, continued quietly
+interested. When they reached Bulawayo matters did not improve much,
+because a sand-storm was blowing and it was almost impossible to go
+out. Mr. Pym packed them off to the Victoria Falls as soon as
+possible, and remained behind himself to complete the arrangements for
+his trip. On the further railway journey the dust was worse than ever,
+and utterly out of heart with everything Rhodesian, Aunt Emily retired
+to a suite of rooms at the hotel on their arrival and said she should
+stay there until the cool of the evening.
+
+So Diana and Meryl stood on Danger Point alone, when they took their
+first long look at the amazing cataract of waters. Neither spoke for
+many seconds, and then Diana breathed, "I'm glad Aunt Emily didn't
+come. She would have called it 'lovely' or 'sweet.'"
+
+Meryl laid a sympathetic hand on her arm and murmured, "And you?..."
+
+"One couldn't call it anything. It just _is_." And Meryl with her
+understanding heart pressed her arm in silence.
+
+They walked together through the rain forest, getting drenched with
+spray and hardly noticing it, until they came to the opening near the
+Devil's Cataract at the south end, and sat down to gaze at the
+splendour and wonder outspread.
+
+Then Diana spoke a little in something of an undertone, half to Meryl,
+half to the air:
+
+"A god did it. I don't know which--Jupiter or Pan, or Apollo or
+Hercules--and when they grew tired of the earth and went off to other
+planets, they just left it behind as a child might a castle he has
+built in the sand; and by and by some crabs crawled along and found
+the castle, and sat down and looked at it because it seemed to them
+so wonderful; and by and by some humans found the gods' waterfall,
+crawled up to it, and sat down and wondered. That's all there is to
+do. O, Meryl, I wish I were a goddess and not a worm. The waters are
+mocking us. Don't you hear them?... I just feel as if there were
+something about it all I can't bear."
+
+Meryl smiled a little tender smile. To her Diana in all her moods was
+adorable. In her shy, fierce, tense ones, as now, she was best of all.
+
+"What does it say to you, Meryl?..." the girl went on. "Do you feel as
+if you hated it and worshipped it both together? Hated its remote
+magnificence and devilish cruelty, and worshipped it because you
+couldn't help yourself, either from fear or wonder? I don't know
+which, only I feel ... I feel ... as if I ought to throw over
+something I loved as a sacrifice of propitiation. And it goes on just
+the same--think of it--year after year, century after century, just
+calmly spilling magnificence on the desert air! I believe I'm
+frightened, Meryl. Tell me what it all says to you."
+
+Meryl looked dreamily along the glistening mighty cascades, and then
+spoke softly:
+
+"I feel I'm in the presence of one of the world's biggest things, and
+it is inspiring. You know that sentence of James Lane Allen's, 'When
+one has heard the big things calling, how they call and call, day and
+night, day and night!...' Here they call louder, that is my chief
+feeling. I look at this great natural wonder, and whatever there is in
+me most akin to it swells upward. I feel I must do great things or die
+... be great or not at all. And while I feel like this there is a
+sense of kinship, as if some spirit of the waters understands."
+
+"Perhaps that is why I am afraid," breathed Diana. "I don't care about
+greatness. I don't want to be great. It all seems so unreal. I like
+the sunshine, and flowers, and trees, and birds, and four-footed
+things. I don't want to be bothered with my fellow-creatures; they are
+a nuisance. If they are in difficulties, and can't find a way out for
+themselves, they might just as well go under."
+
+"You heartless little heathen!" affectionately.
+
+The girl brightened suddenly. "Why! it understands, Meryl!... The
+Spirit of the Waters heard me, and now it is laughing. It is great
+enough to understand and appreciate the feelings of both of us. Don't
+you hear the note of revelling now?... Why!... it's all revelling. The
+waters are shrieking with joy. They've come tearing down the Zambesi
+valley for the rapture of plunging over the precipice, and now they
+are just beside themselves with the excitement and delight of it.
+O!... they heard me say I don't care about my fellow-creatures, that
+they are just a nuisance, and they're shouting to me, 'Neither do we
+... neither do we!... Silly, wide-eyed, open-mouthed humans come and
+stare at us, and try to describe us, saying we are lovely and
+wonderful and pretty and such-like, and we just roar at them and their
+puniness and take our glorious plunge.' That is what the waters are
+saying to me now, Meryl. I feel as if I simply must plunge with them.
+Take me away. I can't bear any more to-day." And they went silently
+back through the lovely plantations to the hotel.
+
+But in the evening, in the moonlight, her mood changed again.
+
+"I feel a little like you to-night, Meryl. The big things do matter,
+of course. If I'm such a silly little goat I can't do anything big
+myself, I guess I'll help you whenever it's possible. And, of course,
+even humans matter a little, though I do like dogs and horses so much
+better; but there's something so calm and big and strong about the
+waters to-night, they are telling me all the time that the big things
+matter. O, Meryl, it's so lovely--so lovely--it hurts dreadfully...."
+
+And after a pause: "If it hadn't been for you I should never have
+taken the trouble to come and see it. I won't grouse at the dust any
+more."
+
+And later: "I'm glad there's no sign of a human habitation at hand,
+and that the wilderness is all round. They had to be splendidly
+isolated--magnificently alone--the god who did it understood that. One
+can think of the wide reaches of Africa afterwards, and the gem, like
+a priceless jewel, set in them. Deep silence, wide horizons, untrodden
+country on every hand, and this in the midst like a treasure tenderly
+enfolded."
+
+After three days they returned to Bulawayo, and found their pilot
+impatient to be off. He unfolded his plans, and the two girls listened
+eagerly when he said:
+
+"I am told there is every indication of gold in the Victoria district,
+and my engineer is anxious I should journey down there and see one or
+two properties. The railway does not extend beyond Selukwe, so if we
+go we must take a travelling ambulance and tents and sleep out in them
+for three or four weeks. I think there is a pretty good hotel in
+Edwardstown, where you could remain if you like while I travel round,
+and then we might all journey to Salisbury up the old pioneer route."
+
+The girls were delighted, but Aunt Emily's mournful resignation had
+reached its limit. She informed them, in a voice which implied, no
+matter how they pleaded with her, she should remain firm, that nothing
+would induce her to accompany them upon such a journey.
+
+Her brother said quietly, "Just as you like, Emily. I think I can take
+care of the girls. Will you stay in Bulawayo, or go back to
+Johannesburg?"
+
+Aunt Emily's face wore rather a reproachful expression as she replied,
+"I suppose I had better return to Johannesburg, and then if any of you
+get ill with malaria or typhoid, you must wire for me and I will come
+back."
+
+"You were very good to come so far," said Meryl gently, seeing the
+veiled disappointment that they could dispense with her so easily.
+
+"If it is any consolation," volunteered Diana, "you may be quite sure
+we are all going to be most horribly uncomfortable for the next month
+or two. The only illness I anticipate is an utter and complete
+weariness of life. I don't know which sounds the most dreadful: being
+bumped along dusty roads in an ambulance, and sleeping with snakes and
+toads under a tent; or being stifled in an odious little
+corrugated-iron hotel, living on poisonous tinned stuffs in a
+perpetual odour of stale roast nigger. If I am going to endure it for
+my country, I hope my country will give me the only fitting
+reward--the Victoria Cross."
+
+"Perhaps we needn't stay in the hotel," said Meryl hopefully. "We can
+probably camp out. Surely the wonderful old ruins are somewhere near
+Edwardstown, father? How splendid if we could camp beside them!..."
+
+"Quite near. We will certainly go and see them. They tell me there is
+a police camp there, and at this time of the year it is quite
+healthy."
+
+"But how glorious!..." cried Meryl. "I had no idea you were going in
+their direction."
+
+"I meant to if possible," her father said; and so the trip was decided
+upon.
+
+Three days later the cavalcade started off from Gwelo with great
+_éclat_. Two ambulances: one containing the two girls, a driver, a
+fore-looper, and a small black boy named Gelungwa, who was everything
+from ladies' maid to general adviser; and the other containing Mr.
+Pym, his engineer, driver, fore-looper, and the engineer's black
+cook-boy, who proved himself an invaluable asset.
+
+Each ambulance was drawn by eight mules, and carried its share of the
+paraphernalia necessary to a long sojourn in the wilderness, and being
+thoroughly well equipped, they had decided to dispense with any
+further railway service until they reached Salisbury.
+
+They started from Gwelo, with its wide, tree-lined roads, in the
+freshness of the morning, and leaving the surrounding bare,
+uninteresting common quickly behind, dived straightway into a track of
+Rhodesia that is like a vast, undulating park. The red road wound
+across a wide, breezy stretch of veldt to wooded hills and valleys,
+and beyond this was an enchanting vista of dreaming blue kopjes on a
+far horizon. Even Diana found nothing to grumble at. Like Meryl, her
+eyes rested often on that dreaming distance, and the unique charm of a
+journey into the unknown, independent of railways and hotels, held her
+senses. When two graceful buck sprang up in the grass near them, stood
+a moment to investigate, and then fled away, leaping and bounding to
+safety, she drew a deep breath of delight.
+
+"Di, it's going to be a glorious trip!" Meryl exclaimed in low-voiced
+ecstasy.
+
+Diana paused before she remarked in answer:
+
+"It seems so natural somehow, to be journeying out to an unknown
+bourne in this primitive fashion. I wonder if, in another existence, I
+was one of the wives or handmaidens in Abraham's caravanserai? Perhaps
+I was his favourite concubine!... How interesting!... I'm sure I've
+journeyed like this into a far land before."
+
+And again:
+
+"How jolly to have two drivers who don't understand a word we say,
+instead of a chauffeur who is all ears and an Aunt Emily who is all
+prejudices!"
+
+"Still," said Meryl, "you couldn't very well have a coachman in
+England wearing a sky-blue felt hat that was obviously meant for a
+lady, and with a large blue patch upon brown trousers."
+
+"He's just a dear," was Diana's laughing comment. "I love his awful
+solemnity. He's like a Hindoo idol. And what luck to have a side wind
+instead of a forward one!"
+
+At twelve they stayed in a welcome piece of shade for their first
+veldt meal. Lounge-chairs were untied for them to rest in, and an
+excellent little repast prepared by the cook-boy, while the small
+black imp waited upon them like a trained butler. Then they dozed
+through the hot midday hours, continuing their journey to those
+alluring blue distances after all were rested, until they reached the
+first night's camping place and pitched their tents near a rippling
+river--as Diana described it, "all mixed up with stars, and dreams,
+and niggers, and kopjes, and mules."
+
+For a week they journeyed on, each day seeming lovelier than the last,
+and the dreaming repose of a great content hovered over all of them.
+There was no need for haste and none was made. There was no pitiless
+urging of tired mules as in the post-cart; no shouting natives, no
+hurried pauses for a snatched rest. The mules jogged contentedly
+along, realising they were in good hands, and always through the
+midday hours everyone lazed. An early spring had brought many young
+leaves out, although it was still August, and these were often
+beautiful shades of red, bronze, orange, scarlet, gold, and
+emerald-green, beyond or through which blue kopjes took on a yet more
+dream-like, ethereal air. Sometimes the red road wound along through
+woods of loveliest colouring, carpeted already with spring flowers.
+Sometimes it ran out into open spaces where the trees stood back in
+line, revealing wonderful glimpses of the fascinating land to their
+eager gaze.
+
+Strange, fantastical, granite kopjes like mighty mausoleums adorned
+with ilex trees barred their path, and Diana was convinced some of
+the bones of her ancestors lay buried there, because she felt so
+weirdly at home with them.
+
+"This is my natural environment," she informed her uncle and the
+engineer. "I ought to be dwelling here in state, as the favourite wife
+of the greatest chief in the land."
+
+Meryl grew dreamier with every day, though sometimes her eyes were sad
+as she looked out over the country, as if she already loved it with a
+love that was akin to pain.
+
+Had he, that great Imperialist, looked at it with those calm eyes of
+his, and known just that sense of aching love?... When he journeyed
+out into its enchanting untrodden spaces, accompanied only by some
+kindred spirit, had the land risen up and enslaved and enfolded him,
+like some enchantress who bound men's souls for ever?... Had Rhodesia,
+in her sunny loveliness, been wife and child to the great man who went
+lonely to his grave?...
+
+As they drove along and the fascination increased, far outweighing any
+discomfort of glare and dust and jolting roads, Meryl felt herself
+engraving the sight and the sound and the freshness of it upon her
+soul, that she might have hidden pictures to gaze upon with closed
+eyes when the exigencies of life called her back into the throng.
+
+Her father was mostly silent as was his wont, planning and scheming
+with a brain that knew little other rest than following its natural
+bent, yet with that in his silence, and in his watchful eyes that made
+one feel he too loved the land for itself, as well as for what he
+could get out of it; and that when occasion came, like Alfred Beit and
+Cecil Rhodes, he would pay his debt a hundredfold.
+
+So they came at last to the wide, open veldt where Edwardstown was
+situated, and knew themselves in the district teeming with pioneer
+memories.
+
+Meryl and Diana descended reluctantly at the hotel, and looked round
+disparagingly at their little hot bedroom, thinking regretfully of
+their tent in the wilderness.
+
+"How awful," said Diana, "if we find ourselves never able to exist in
+an ordinary house again! We shall have to pitch two tents in Hyde
+Park. Ugh!... it positively smells of walls and doors and windows;
+how I hate them!"
+
+"We'll go on to Zimbabwe to-morrow and camp beside the ruins,"
+answered Meryl. "How splendid to be going there so soon!"
+
+"Ruins are not much in my line," quoth the outspoken. "Let's hope
+there'll be a man there as well."
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+CAREW IS DISTURBED
+
+
+The news that the millionaire Henry Pym with his daughter and a niece
+were journeying to Great Zimbabwe reached the police camp first
+through a letter from the Administration to Major Carew, requesting
+him to have the long, disfiguring dry grass burnt, and the
+surroundings of the temple tidied up a little, and to show every
+attention to the travellers. When he received the letter it was
+obvious at once that the information did not give him any pleasure. On
+the contrary, his expression as nearly approached a frown as he was
+likely to permit it on receiving orders from headquarters. He had
+opened the letter standing outside his hut, where it had been handed
+to him by the native runner, and Stanley was reading a newspaper near,
+while Moore affectionately handled an antediluvian gun he was thinking
+of buying from a prospector.
+
+Stanley glanced up, wondering what letters had come, and saw the
+hovering frown.
+
+"Any news, sir?" he asked frankly, for he was no longer in awe of his
+silent chief. As a matter of fact, he never had been to any degree.
+The Kid would have found it difficult to be in awe of anyone, but for
+a few days Carew had baffled him.
+
+"Henry Pym, you've probably heard of him, is likely to arrive here in
+a few days."
+
+Stanley opened his eyes a little. "What! the millionaire?... Good biz!
+We'll rook him at poker and bridge and shooting, and a few other
+things. It isn't right for him to have all that money. It would even
+things up a little if we could transfer some of it to poor, penniless
+policemen."
+
+"He is accompanied by his daughter and a niece," said Carew in even
+tones.
+
+"Lord love a holy duck!..." exclaimed the young policeman, and was
+fairly astonished on to his feet. "Coming here, sir?... Coming here to
+Zimbabwe?"
+
+"So the letter says. It also adds that they may wish to camp near, and
+they are to be shown every attention."
+
+"_They shall be_ ..." quoth The Kid, so comically that even Carew's
+lips relaxed. "I suppose the letter doesn't specify the attention?...
+Christopher Columbus!... Great Scott!... Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!...
+To think of two millionaires' daughters all at once in this benighted,
+thirsty land!... It fairly catches me in the breath," and he sat down
+again suddenly as if the news was too much for him.
+
+"By gad, Moore!... do you hear that?... a bloated millionaire and two
+millionairesses are about to descend upon us from the skies. Talk of
+manna and blessings coming down from heaven!... Give me
+millionairesses!..."
+
+The Irishman looked up with a knowing smile. "Shure!" said he, "give
+me whisky...."
+
+"Begorra, Pat!" laughed The Kid. "If you got the heiress you could
+swim in whisky." Then he looked again at Major Carew and observed the
+suggestion of a frown still on his face while he stood with the letter
+in his hand.
+
+"Heiresses are seemingly not much in your line, sir?" he suggested
+humorously. "You ... well, you don't quite look overjoyed!..."
+
+Carew in his quiet way had grown fond of the gay young trooper, and he
+showed no offence at the attitude of familiarity.
+
+"We shall have to consider a good camping-place for them, and probably
+give up two huts to the ladies. I gather they may be here in two or
+three days. Is the grass dry enough to burn to-night?"
+
+The Kid glanced round doubtfully. "Hardly; and the place won't look
+well all black."
+
+"That's why I thought we had better begin at once. If they are some
+days the ash will have had time to blow away. Arrange for a gang of
+boys to be ready at six o'clock, and we will light up and see what we
+can do."
+
+In the hut he tossed the letter down on to his table. "Confound
+it!..." he said under his breath. "Fancy women down here, staring and
+chattering, and prying! I suppose they will expect the entire police
+force in the neighbourhood to be at their disposal, and nothing else
+will matter at all." His face grew more and more gloomy. "If I had
+only started to M'rekwas yesterday, I could have been absent a
+fortnight, and by then they would have departed again." He stood a
+moment considering if he could start at once, and decided, as the
+letter was sent specially to him, he could hardly leave before
+carrying out his instructions.
+
+Stanley and the other trooper meanwhile made hurried preparations for
+a great fire. They lit up in the evening, having stationed boys at
+intervals to keep the flames within bounds, and themselves stood
+posted with their guns, hoping for a shot at wild pig or cheetah, or
+possibly a lion or leopard. Carew kept guard at the huts, with a few
+boys to beat off the flames that encroached to any danger points and
+watch for flying sparks that might ignite the thatch. It was a
+wonderful sight, and his eyes were full of appreciation as he watched
+it. The gathering darkness, the lurid flames lighting up with swift
+brightness the ancient ruins; the high Acropolis Hill on one side, the
+low granite-strewn kopjes on the other, and running between the Valley
+of Ruins, now a vale of fire.
+
+It crossed his mind that it was almost a pity they had not left the
+burning of the grass until the travellers arrived, that they might see
+the strange, fantastic sight. But he cogitated that the millionaires
+he had known hitherto had little appreciation for much beyond
+money-making, and no doubt they were merely taking a passing glimpse
+at the ruins; the man on some money-making quest, and the girls just
+to be able to say they had seen them. His eyes rested on the temple
+wall, and he felt suddenly absurdly resentful that these rich
+pleasure-seekers should come even there to gape and stare. He had
+grown to love the ruins dearly, until that moment he had scarcely
+known how dearly, and to him it seemed for the moment like showing
+some treasured personal relics to barbarians.
+
+There were so many other things for the pleasure-seekers. Let them go
+to the Falls, and Lake Nyassa, and the Himalayas, and those tourist
+treasures; but why come and chatter inane banalities about his ruins:
+his treasured, mysterious relic of perhaps the oldest civilisation
+the world has known?
+
+Of course, he knew perfectly that much controversy had raged round the
+question, and that one or two learned scientists had definitely stated
+their belief that the ruins were of comparatively recent date, and
+deduced more or less convincing proofs in support of their theory; but
+controversies and carefully worded reports were small things to the
+man who had dwelt beside the mysterious temples and fortifications,
+and learnt to love and treasure them. He had his proofs too and his
+deductions, and such as they were they satisfied him, in the face of
+all opposition, that the curious remains were indeed of great
+antiquity, quite probably the ancient Havilah of the Scriptures. To
+him every nook and every corner had its meaning and its history. In
+the play of his fancy he had seen the white-robed priests and acolytes
+in stately procession, amid the old, old walls; heard strains of
+far-off music when an ancient worship offered its votary of prayer and
+praise to that mysterious deity whom they believed in; heard perhaps a
+single lovely voice, or seen a single lovely convert kneel before the
+Sacred Enclosure. He had seen their strong men and their brave men and
+their great men marshalling a host of women and children and infirm
+citizens safely into the fastnesses of the Acropolis Hill, where, with
+a sufficient supply of food and water, three thousand people might be
+safely shielded for any length of time. He had seen them stand on the
+high battlements, and look out across the plain or into the rock-hewn
+kopjes for the hosts of the enemy. He had seen them, even when
+besieged upon that mighty hill, assembling together to worship in the
+temples they had laboriously raised upon the giant granite ledges.
+Were they fair, those women of that old, old day? Were they brave,
+were they mighty in stature, those men who evolved and achieved those
+wonderful defence works? Did they love the fair land that fed them
+with the love of home and country, or were they but sojourners for a
+while amid unfriendly, cruel tribes, that needed watchful eyes day and
+night? Led perhaps by a spirit of adventure, or by persecution
+elsewhere, or by the lust of gold, yet faithful always to the worship
+of their race, and building at infinite, incomprehensible pains those
+temples in the alien land. How they held him; how they fascinated; how
+they soothed with infinite soothing the bitter sorrow, the gaping,
+stinging wound that had driven him furiously away, all those years
+before, from the flesh-pots of a modern Babylon! Had he cared for it
+all very much then?... He wondered, looking full and deep into his
+hidden memories. Had the lights and the music, the song and dance, the
+laughing women and reckless men, the midnight orgies and morning
+headaches, really given him so much pleasure that he must needs fling
+it all aside with such bitter anger and harsh regret when the
+thunderbolt fell and the searching dart stabbed him awake? Outraged,
+hurt-maddened, he had flung away, as he believed, to outer darkness,
+and to a joyless, purposeless, colourless life. And he had found?...
+
+Ah!... when he looked at the ancient, mysterious ruins he had grown to
+love, and around upon a country that was life-hope and life-interest
+to him, he knew that it was the other life which had been purposeless,
+and all of one colour, and the self-chosen exile that had given him
+the things it is good to live and breathe and die for.
+
+And thinking of it all, with that shy softness which sometimes stole,
+as it were, stealthily into his strong face in moments of dreaming
+thought, he remembered with growing regret the advent of the party for
+which he was bidden to make preparations, and resented it yet more
+forcibly. Why need they come?... these women ... these spoiled,
+flattered, perhaps vulgar, heiresses. What did they want with ancient
+rites and wonderful relics of antiquities? What were they doing in
+Rhodesia at all, flaunting their finery and their possessions before
+the eyes of the hardy settlers and the plucky women who shared their
+difficulties and disappointments? In a young, struggling country what
+place was there for the idly, gracefully rich?
+
+In his goaded fancy he saw their elegant, costly garments, and he
+heard strident voices exclaiming shrilly at his treasure, perhaps
+calling it an interesting heap of stones. Was there still time to get
+away, he wondered? Could a sudden call be arranged?... a sudden need
+for hasty departure?...
+
+Let The Kid laugh the hours away with them, and take his fill of gay
+companionship; and let him return when the siege was over, and the
+soothing and the restfulness and the splendour had come back.
+
+Wondering still, and with the sore regretfulness growing, he looked
+round to make sure all was safe, and that no further danger need be
+feared from blowing sparks or creeping flames; and then went gravely
+into his hut to read.
+
+The next morning he told Stanley that he might be obliged to go east
+the following day on important business, and leave him to receive the
+travellers, and remained imperturbably grave and non-seeing when
+Stanley raised his eyebrows and regarded him with a little amused
+twinkle of understanding.
+
+But in the afternoon the party quite unexpectedly turned up, and
+somewhere away in the blue, dreaming kopjes the voice of a following
+fate laughed softly.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+TWO UNEXPECTED MEETINGS
+
+
+Early in the afternoon Carew rode to the mission station to tell Ailsa
+Grenville and her husband of the expected visitors, and of how he was
+likely to depart in the morning for M'rekwas and be away about a
+fortnight.
+
+Ailsa Grenville smiled at him archly when he told her. "Why do you run
+away when, for once in a way, you have the chance of a little
+companionship? It would do you more good to stay."
+
+"I think not; and besides," he added, hastily, "I am going on
+business."
+
+"A convenient sort of business, I fancy. Why not wait and see them
+first?"
+
+"Well, I could hardly go away immediately after their arrival, when
+Mr. Pym probably knows of the letter despatched to me from
+headquarters. It is far simpler to send a runner back with excuses."
+
+"But why go at all?" in a persuasive voice.
+
+Carew walked to the door and knocked the ashes out of his pipe against
+the heel of his boot; and Ailsa knew by his face that, though he did
+not resent her questioning, he would take no notice of it. And it made
+her a little sad, for of all the men she knew, next to Billy, her
+husband, she admired Carew, and she regretted deeply his insistent
+determination to stand aloof from mankind generally behind the
+barriers he had built up.
+
+Then Billy himself came in: khaki-clad, vigorous, and gay as ever; and
+when he heard the news he was less reticent, and exclaimed outright,
+"But what do you want to go away for? Why, it will be quite a treat
+for you to have ladies there; and who knows, one of the heiresses may
+be very charming--charming enough even for your fastidious taste!"
+
+"I prefer the company of the veldt," was all he said, without relaxing
+the fixity of his face; "ladies are more in Stanley's line."
+
+"The Kid must be awfully pleased," Ailsa said, smiling. "I'm sure he
+isn't going away."
+
+Carew, lying back in a big chair, was leisurely lighting his pipe, and
+he did not reply. All his attitude showed only cold indifference, and
+it would have been difficult to believe that, even in his heart, he
+had taken the trouble to be resentful. Ailsa, watching, felt a little
+impatient with him. She wanted to break through the shell in which he
+chose to hide that self which her instinct told her was so different
+to his outward seeming. What had become of the gay Londoner, who drove
+the smartest four-in-hand in the park, and rode the fastest horse to
+hounds? She longed to write home and ask her people of his story, but
+bitter things had been said when she elected to go into exile with her
+husband, and there had been almost no correspondence since. And Billy
+had been away in South Africa at the time of the crash and heard
+nothing about it. All he could tell her was that Carew of the Blues
+had been known as one of the gayest of the gay fifteen years or so
+ago, and that suddenly he had seemed to vanish off the face of the
+earth; and that Carew of the B.S.A.P. was the same man, only
+different, and he must be over forty years of age. So she had to
+content herself as well as she could, and be glad that, at any rate,
+while he remained in the Victoria district, they could have his
+companionship, though he chose to keep his own counsel as to why he
+was there.
+
+At first she had been rather afraid of him, and felt shy and awkward
+when he came to see them; but Billy's attitude of jovial good
+fellowship, in no way repulsed by the other's cold reserve, had helped
+to reassure her, and now they both appeared unconscious of any lack of
+warmth in their visitor. If he liked to be silent he could, and if he
+seemed in a taciturn mood they took no notice.
+
+When he called for his horse to return he said good-bye to her before
+mounting, and spoke of not coming again for a fortnight, and she
+watched him ride away regretfully. Evidently he did not mean to be
+sociable, even to the lady travellers, and it was no use hoping
+anything for him.
+
+In the meantime, the first ambulance, containing Meryl and Diana,
+arrived at the ruins. Mr. Pym was detained in Edwardstown with his
+engineer, and might not join them until the next day, but the girls
+begged him to let them go on, longing to be out in the open again,
+away from hotels and bungalows.
+
+So a police-boy from the town camp was sent on to escort them, and the
+Zimbabwe camp notified by runner of their approach. Stanley opened the
+letter in the absence of his chief, and much to his own delectation,
+was waiting alone to receive them upon the chosen camping-ground on
+their arrival. Diana saw him first, and remarked joyfully that he was
+white.
+
+"Hooroosh!..." said she, "there's a man as well as ruins." And a
+little later, "I'm afraid he's only a boy, but he looks a nice boy,
+and there are occasions when the 'half a loaf' proverb applies to
+'half a man.'"
+
+Then he helped her out of the ambulance after receiving them with a
+grave salute, and regretted that, in the absence of Major Carew, there
+was no one but himself to receive them. He was evidently a trifle shy
+and embarrassed, stammering a little as he offered his services to
+superintend the pitching of their camp, with eyes that would wander
+from the elder cousin to Diana's small, impish, alluring face.
+
+"Have some tea with us first," said she. "We've already acquired a few
+Rhodesian vices, such as an unlimited capacity for tea-drinking, and
+Gelungwa can make quite a decent apology for the beverage which cheers
+but not inebriates."
+
+They sat down, and laughed and chatted together until the kettle
+boiled, and before the tea was finished The Kid had fallen in love
+with both, and was congratulating himself that Carew had taken that
+afternoon ride. Then the girls said they would ramble while their tent
+was pitched, but disagreed as to which direction they would take
+first. Meryl had left her little guide-book with her father, and
+wanted to postpone the temple until she had it. Diana said it was too
+hot to attempt the Acropolis Hill. In the end they separated. Meryl
+strolled towards the Acropolis and Diana sought the cool shadiness of
+the temple.
+
+About the same time Carew started his homeward ride, and when he
+reached the base of the Acropolis Hill he gave his horse to the runner
+who had gone with him to carry some books for Ailsa Grenville, and
+climbed a little way into the hill to remark a point of investigation
+he had been discussing with Grenville; and, quite suddenly, round a
+sharp piece of masonry, he came upon Meryl Pym. She wore a large,
+shady hat, and she was standing quite still, gazing across the
+country. For a moment Carew stood quite still also. It was odd that
+she had not heard his steps upon the rough footpath, but apparently
+she was too absorbed to hear anything at all. He was exceedingly
+relieved and drew aside stealthily, prepared to return quickly the way
+he had come. But before he started he glanced once more, for something
+in her quiet pose struck oddly upon his heart. She looked very slim
+and graceful and girlish in a simple washing frock of some soft grey
+material, with little Quakerish cuffs and collar, and the big, shady
+hat tied on with a ribbon. And all in a moment he was transported
+years before, and there was a Devonshire wood, and a slim lassie, and
+little Quakerish cuffs and collar, and eyes that watched and
+waited--watched and waited for him.
+
+And then....
+
+No, not even in thought would he dwell again upon what followed. It
+was a weakness he had fought down. A weakness that even now, given
+rein, could unman him. The quick light vanished from his eyes, the
+mouth grew stern again, and he turned to descend.
+
+At the same moment Meryl turned also and came towards his
+hiding-place. He had just time to step further back and take shelter
+behind a low, bushy tree, which would hardly reveal his khaki, before
+she passed. And just in front of him she raised her head and glanced
+upwards, so that he saw her eyes, and for a moment his pulses seemed
+to stop beating. If her pose had reminded him of someone it was as
+nothing compared to her face with that upward glance. The delicate
+contour, the fine features, the wistful, dreamy, quiet eyes. Were they
+blue, or were they grey?... How came they with long, dark, curling
+lashes when her hair was a dusky, light shade, with soft waves and
+gleams of sunlight? In his hiding-place he stood very still and very
+rigid. For a moment he might have been part of the rock behind him.
+Then she passed on up the steep ascent, and he came out and retraced
+his steps, feeling a little dazed.
+
+Who could she be?... But, of course, the party must have arrived
+unexpectedly: had not remained in Edwardstown as they intended. And she
+was one of the heiresses--one of the flaunting, gaping, vulgar,
+dressed-up young women he had been secretly so resentful over. And, of
+course, she was none of these. Then suddenly he almost laughed; almost
+laughed aloud. For she was worse--far, far worse. The gushing,
+loud-voiced heiress he might have coped with. His frigidity froze most
+people if he chose; and avoidance was not difficult. But what could he do
+with Joan--his love, his dead love Joan--looking at him out of this
+girl's beautiful eyes, touching him with this girl's slender hands,
+speaking to him from this stranger's lips? It was impossible--impossible;
+all the careful training of that fifteen years in exile would be undone.
+His very life would be undermined again. For the moment it seemed
+incredible, preposterous. He felt stunned by it.
+
+Then his rigid self-control came to his aid, and his face grew stern
+and hard.
+
+The preposterous thing was that he should let a chance resemblance hit
+him so; should even admit the possibility of being undone after all
+his careful self-training. No, a thousand times no; he was not such a
+weak fool as that. The strength he had won was his still. He had only
+to go on being resolute and cold and the past would lie down again,
+and once more go quietly to sleep.
+
+He defied it to overcome him now. By every agonised pang, by every
+hour of unfathomable bitterness, by every solitary year of self-chosen
+exile, he insisted that he must prevail. He strode on, scarcely seeing
+anything about him, and his face grew sterner and sterner. Then he
+came within sight of the camping-place, and saw the white tent, and
+Stanley giving directions, while Moore and some black boys unpacked
+things from the ambulance.
+
+And he thought he would get more complete control of himself before he
+joined them; take this thing fairly by the throat and throttle it,
+that he might regain his peace of mind absolutely before the second
+encounter with the owner of the face and form that seemed for a moment
+to have made an upheaval in his life. So he turned aside and made for
+the temple, feeling glad and relieved at the consciousness that the
+mood was passing, and reassured that, being no more taken by surprise,
+he would successfully master it. Probably he could still go away on
+the morrow, and once away, Rhodesia would take him to her heart again.
+He knew it full well. Every day now the country was giving back to him
+of what he had given to her; lulling him, soothing him, revivifying
+him with her freshness and her charm.
+
+But his mind was very occupied still and his vision clouded as he
+passed into the cool shade of the temple, and he did not see a small,
+dainty person with an impish face perched high on a broken wall, with
+her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands, and a queer,
+fitful, half-serious, half-bored expression in her dark eyes. Instead,
+seeing no one and thinking himself alone, he sat down on a low wall
+quite near to her and stared gloomily at the ground. Diana, not a
+little amused, surveyed him at her leisure. "What in the world," she
+wondered, "was this smart, soldierly looking man, correctly booted and
+spurred, sitting down there for in the ruins?..."
+
+The great temple at Zimbabwe has never been roofed. The ruins consist
+of a wonderful outer wall, from twenty-two to thirty-two feet high and
+in some places fifteen feet thick, of an elongated shape, and within
+this wall are remnants of other walls which formed separate small
+enclosures. There is also the sacred enclosure with the conical tower,
+and leading into it from the north entrance the wonderfully contrived
+passage, between two high walls, scarcely more than a shoulder's
+breadth apart in one place. Amid the ruins trees have grown up, many
+of them higher than the outer wall, and these shade the glare of the
+sun, casting cool shadows and networks of sunlight upon the broken
+walls. And on the afternoon in question here and there were splashes
+of brilliant scarlet, where a Kaffir Boom tree flowered with a
+flaunting indifference to the passing of centuries and races.
+
+Diana, with her whimsical, artistic temperament, was fully alive to
+the fascination and uniqueness of her surroundings, but being a little
+tired with the drive, she felt for the moment somewhat impatient with
+ruins generally, and just a shade depressed with a certain air of dead
+forlornness that hovered all around. Then into the midst of this dream
+of antiquity strode a stern, fierce-looking, very up-to-date
+sportsman, who sat, for no conceivable reason, on a broken wall and
+stared at the ground. For one moment her sense of the ludicrous made
+her almost laugh aloud. Then, with sudden, upleaping interest, she sat
+still as a mouse and watched him. Once she half smiled to herself.
+There was a man, then, as well as a boy! She was not going to be
+entirely stifled in ruins, after all! She went on with her
+cogitations, staring hard, her head a little to one side. A real man,
+too, with a lean, brown face, and a square, determined chin, and a
+nose quite Roman enough to suit any novelist, and dark hair a little
+thin on the top and a little grey at the temples. She could not be
+sure if he were a soldier or not, but evidently he had been riding,
+for he still carried a hunting-crop; and also, judging by his face and
+attitude, something was considerably on his mind.
+
+Without the slightest movement she sat on and waited; and that was
+exceedingly characteristic of Diana. Where another girl would have
+felt embarrassed and made some sound to relieve the tension, she
+almost held her breath to retain it. The situation was unique. In a
+life that offered deplorably little of novelty and adventure she would
+not for worlds have thrown away such a chance. Meryl, on the other
+hand, would probably not have felt the tension; she would have quietly
+walked past him out at the entrance. Diana felt the atmosphere of the
+footlights and calmly waited.
+
+And, of course, in the end, vaguely conscious of some disturbing, not
+quite accountable element, Carew looked up straight into her eyes.
+
+Diana looked straight back and tried hard to keep her lips from
+twitching. She noticed pleasurably that he did not start; that he
+scarcely even showed surprise. Such a man, she felt, would not. Yet
+the very fact that for several seconds he remained perfectly still,
+staring at her, showed that he was quite satisfactorily astounded.
+Then he stood up, and waited a moment as if he expected her to speak.
+She thought he might have smiled. The hero on the stage, of course,
+would smile--divinely--and a blush like a tender dawn would overspread
+the heroine's rose-leaf cheeks.
+
+But he did not smile; to be honest, he looked excessively annoyed, and
+no tender blush of any sort could possibly have shown upon her
+sunburnt face.
+
+Still, she did not intend to flinch, and if the mischievous smile
+lurking at the corners of her mouth died away, she still regarded him
+with a calmness equal to his own, and with the impishness quite
+emphatically still in her eyes. Then suddenly she felt as if there had
+been some invisible sword-play between them. Her instinct told her he
+resented her silent watching, and that his cool, collected front now
+and his silence were the expression of his resentment. It was not in
+the least like a fairy story, of course; here was the prince, surly,
+stony, and bearish, and the princess, red and brown with sunburn, on
+the point of being caught at a disadvantage. But there Diana's native
+wits came to her aid, and she did a clever thing.
+
+"Would you mind helping me down?" she asked, sweetly. "I climbed up
+here to get a good view of the interior, and when I try to descend the
+stones slip so, I am nervous. I did not like to disturb you before,"
+she finished, unabashed and unblushing, but carefully lowering her
+eyes a moment.
+
+He stepped forward at once and reached his hand up to her, and she saw
+that his keen eyes were of that intense clear blue seen in so many
+strong, notable men, but that they looked at her in a cold, aloof
+manner which made her feel rather small and childish. "Surely," she
+thought, "he is not genuinely angry just because I did not tell him I
+was there?" Aloud she said:
+
+"Thank you," and placed her hand quite calmly in the strong, inviting
+brown one upheld to her.
+
+Then, taken with a fit of devilry out of growing exasperation, she
+added, "I'm not the daughter, I'm the niece."
+
+"Miss Pym, I presume," he said, coldly, and bowed to her.
+
+"Miss Diana Pym," she replied, and slightly inclined her head.
+
+"My name is Carew," he told her, with bluntness.
+
+"And are you ... er ... a scientist, evolving a theory about the
+ruins?"
+
+"I am a policeman." He said it brusquely, almost rudely, and Diana was
+taken with a sudden desperate inclination to laugh. All in a moment he
+reminded her forcibly of the uniformed autocrat holding up one lordly
+hand to stop the traffic. She moved towards the entrance, keeping her
+face averted. "The same sort of policeman as Mr. Stanley, I suppose?"
+she suggested, affably, but he seemed not to hear her, and a covert
+glance at his face was not reassuring. But the mere fact only spurred
+her on. If she was silent he might think he had overawed her.
+Goodness! how appalling! She quickened her step, and tossed her small
+head a little with a kind of challenging jerk.
+
+"I rather like your ruin," she said. "It's quite a nice old heap of
+stones."
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+THE BEAR
+
+
+Once more Carew vouchsafed no reply, but Diana knew perfectly well
+that his lips tightened slightly, which signified that in some way she
+had hit him.
+
+So pretending to be perfectly unaware of his non-responsive attitude,
+she ran airily on:
+
+"Such a mad idea to travel hundreds of miles to see a few old remains
+of a doubtful edifice, built by Bantus! or is the plural Bantams?...
+I'm sure when you heard we were coming you wondered if you had better
+prepare a dwelling for us with padded walls. Now, didn't you?..." and
+she looked up archly into his face.
+
+"I understood Mr. Pym had come to this neighbourhood about some gold
+claims," in cold, even tones.
+
+"Yes, so he has. But we haven't; at least Meryl hasn't. She came to
+see Rhodesia. I don't quite know what I've come for," naïvely. "I was
+just wondering about it sitting on that wall." And still he refused to
+be drawn. "You were looking very grave. Were you wondering what you
+are here for too?"
+
+At that moment they reached a spot where the path divided into two:
+one fork leading to their tent and the other to the police camp. He
+stood still. "I believe I was considering the best solution to a
+native problem that has lately arisen." He glanced towards their tent.
+"I see Mr. Stanley is helping to arrange your camp. Please let him
+know of anything you want. You will find him an excellent guide."
+Then, scarcely looking at her, he saluted and walked away.
+
+Diana returned to their tent feeling baffled and interested,
+half-inclined to be cross and half-inclined to laugh. And almost at
+the same time from the other direction came Meryl.
+
+"O, it's wonderful!" Meryl cried softly, with all her face aglow. "I
+never imagined anything half so fascinating; and I haven't even seen
+the temple yet. Mr. Stanley, do stay and dine with us. Our cook-boy is
+quite good."
+
+"All except his soup," put in Diana, "and he is only good at that in
+the sense of making it out of nothing. Sometimes I think he just boils
+a bit of the harness, or a corner of the tent-flap, or probably he
+makes it of rats if he can catch enough."
+
+Stanley looked at her with all his eyes and accepted the invitation
+eagerly, saying that he must first go back to the camp to change. Half
+an hour later he reappeared, looking quite smart in a white duck
+dress-jacket and a starched collar.
+
+As they sat down to their alfresco meal, taken under the stars, with
+two lanterns suspended on sticks for lights, Diana suddenly said to
+him:
+
+"Who is the bear?..."
+
+"The bear?..." doubtfully.
+
+"Yes. The bear who lives down there in the police camp, and rejoices
+in the name of Carew."
+
+Stanley, looking much amused, replied, "You must mean the Major; but
+you haven't met him, have you?"
+
+"I had the pleasure of being snarled at for about fifteen minutes this
+afternoon."
+
+Stanley laughed outright. "But where? He never said that he had seen
+you."
+
+"I don't think he did see me. We merely met. Most of the time he
+either looked away or looked through me at something beyond. Still, he
+might have mentioned the meeting. I don't feel flattered."
+
+"O, but that is nothing with Carew. He is an awfully silent chap."
+
+"Silent!... do you call it?... I never felt so ... so ... suppressed
+... in my life. I thought he seemed rather inclined to bite me."
+
+"But where did you meet him, Di?..." asked Meryl, with interest.
+
+"I was sitting on a wall in the temple, and he strode in and sat on
+another wall and stared at the ground ... and I stared at him ... and
+then he looked up and saw me ... and afterwards ..." she paused.
+
+"Do you mean to say you sat perfectly still in front of him, and let
+him sit on, thinking himself alone, and then suddenly discover
+you?..."
+
+"Yes. Why not?"
+
+"Well, it wasn't very fair on him."
+
+"Such nonsense, Meryl! That's just what he seemed to think. Why
+shouldn't I have a little romance if I want to? Such a dull, prosaic,
+commonplace old world as it is, generally speaking! I was having a
+lovely one. He was a great hunter who had lost his way, and dragged
+himself into the temple to die...."
+
+"I thought you said he strode in?..."
+
+"Don't be silly; he wasn't in the romance then. And I was a lovely,
+mysterious veiled lady who lived in the wilderness; but my veil
+happened to be thrown back, and when the dying hunter raised his
+eyes...." she stopped short.
+
+"Well?..."
+
+"That's where the romance stopped, where he brutally spoilt it,
+because when he raised his eyes and saw me there he just scowled
+horribly."
+
+Stanley and Meryl laughed whole-heartedly, but Meryl told her it
+served her right because she was unfairly taking him at a
+disadvantage.
+
+"But I did nothing of the kind. No one was at a disadvantage except
+myself."
+
+"I'm sure you weren't," Meryl remarked. "You never have been yet."
+
+"That's where you are mistaken, my dear. When you are sitting in a
+lovely romance, gazing at a dreadfully handsome, distinguished-looking
+man who is the hero prince, and will presently discover you and smile
+divinely with all his soul in his eyes, and when instead an
+iron-visaged person looks up at you, and scowls and grows as black as
+thunder, I defy any woman not to find herself at a disadvantage."
+
+"Well, how did you get out of it?... What did you do?..."
+
+The alluring twinkle shone suddenly in Diana's eyes, and her lips
+twitched mischievously, as she replied:
+
+"Well, I smiled divinely instead, and asked him to help me down from
+my high wall."
+
+"O, you are quite incorrigible," laughed Meryl. "If I had been him I
+would have left you there to get down the same way you went up. But
+who is he?..." turning to Stanley. "He sounds rather interesting."
+
+"He's a splendid fellow," The Kid asserted, warmly. "We couldn't stick
+him at first, Moore and I, but we soon found he only wants knowing.
+There's some history attached to his being out here that no one quite
+knows; but he is a Fountenay-Carew and used to be in the Blues."
+
+"But how nice!" quoth Diana. "This is much more interesting than the
+old ruins. Is he rich and haughty, with lovely estates left to
+dishonest stewards, and all that?..."
+
+"No very poor, I should imagine; nothing but his pay, anyhow. I
+believe when he was in the Blues an old uncle gave him a big
+allowance, but something happened, and he threw the money in the old
+chap's face, and the old chap chucked him out."
+
+"And what happened to cause the quarrel?" asked Diana, all ears. "Why,
+he is more romantic than my prince!"
+
+"That is what I fancy no one knows. Anyhow, in a country like this, no
+one asks. It isn't quite the game, you see; and, anyhow, no one is
+interested now. He has done a tremendous lot for Rhodesia in one way
+and another, especially for the police force and natives; and we're
+quite proud of him in our way for that, independent of his history."
+
+"How nice!" and Meryl's eyes grew very soft. "It is a much finer
+reward than he would probably ever have gained in the Blues. I hope he
+thinks so?"
+
+"I don't suppose he cares either way. Certainly, he doesn't appear to.
+He just loves the country, and seems only to want to stay here; but he
+never speaks even of that. Since he came here a few months ago he has
+done a lot of investigation work among the ruins privately. He is most
+awfully attached to them."
+
+Suddenly Diana asked, "I suppose he is pretty sick about two modern
+young women presuming to journey here to gaze at his treasure?"
+
+Stanley coloured up, and Diana laughed. "O, don't bother to deny it. I
+could feel it in my very bones when we met this afternoon."
+
+They finished their meal, and the boys moved the table away, so that
+they could sit round the glowing embers of a small fire, not so much
+for warmth as for the idea, and they lazed low in their chairs,
+talking idly and enjoying the cool, fragrant night.
+
+And presently, not à propos of anything in particular, Diana said,
+quite aloud, "I guess The Bear is growling and scowling away nicely
+to-night down there in his den. I expect the first time we meet I
+shall forget and call him Bear Carew instead of Major Carew, and then
+he'll shrivel me up with a glance."
+
+A sound beside them in the shadow made all look up suddenly, and the
+lamplight fell full upon Carew's face as he stood near Diana's chair.
+
+Meryl rose hurriedly, blushing to the roots of her hair, while
+Stanley, secretly much amused, stood up likewise. Only the culprit
+remained unperturbed to outward seeming, glancing archly round.
+
+"I'm afraid you overheard what I said ... _Major_ Carew.... I'm quite
+ready to apologise, only ..."
+
+"Please, don't...." For one instant the coldly even voice had a tiny
+inflection in it, as of humour, though he stifled it immediately, as
+he turned to Meryl and said, gravely, with a bow, "Miss Pym, I
+think?... A letter has come for you from Edwardstown by runner. I
+brought it on in case you might wish to send a reply, and to enquire
+if you are quite comfortable here for the night."
+
+Meryl took it from him, thanking him in her low, sweet voice, and with
+a rather shy, upward glance. And Diana, in the shadow, saw the soldier
+suddenly flinch and suddenly grow sterner, standing in an attitude of
+almost unnatural rigidity.
+
+"There is no heed to reply," Meryl said, after reading her note. "It
+is only a message from father to say he may be detained until
+afternoon. Thank you so much for bringing it. Won't you sit down? Can
+I offer you anything? I'm afraid there is not much choice. Father does
+not like luxuries in the wilderness, and we only carry whisky."
+
+"No, thank you." The tones were even again now, and he made no
+movement towards a chair. "Have you everything you need for the
+night? I hope Mr. Stanley has made himself very useful?"
+
+"He has been splendid. I am only afraid we have tired him out. Won't
+you sit down?" and she shyly motioned to a chair.
+
+"Thank you. I'm afraid I must get back. I have some despatches to
+write. Would you like a police-boy to keep guard here all night? There
+is nothing whatever to fear, but if it would add to your comfort?..."
+
+"O no, thank you," warmly. "We are not in the least nervous. I think
+there are no lions very near," with a little laugh.
+
+Diana, lying back in her chair, had scarcely taken her eyes off the
+tall soldier, though she watched him covertly, and without seeming to;
+and her quick brain perceived dimly that his aloof attitude was partly
+a mask which had become a habit, and that, however much he suppressed
+her, there was nothing whatever repellant about his chilly reserve.
+And then, suddenly, the little mischievous devil possessed her again,
+and she longed to try her arts upon him, just to see what happened,
+and to show him she was not seriously in the least afraid of him.
+
+And no sooner had Meryl remarked that there were no lions near them,
+than she could not for the life of her help murmuring, "No lions, only
+bears."
+
+Again there was an instant's answering gleam in Carew's eyes, but he
+only smiled very slightly, and said, "Perhaps a bear's growl, like a
+dog's bark, is worse than his bite."
+
+It was as though something altogether too much for him was struggling
+with an inclination to relax just the least bit on Diana's behalf and
+insistently conquering. With scarcely a second look at her he drew
+himself up tautly and said he must be going. Then he saluted gravely,
+said good night in a voice that included them all, and strode away
+through the darkness towards the police camp.
+
+For a moment there was silence round the glowing embers.
+
+"It was kind of him to say good night," said Diana, sarcastically.
+
+"What a fine-looking man!" commented Meryl.
+
+"He is gruffer than usual to-night. Perhaps something has happened to
+upset him. I think I must be going also," and Stanley reluctantly rose
+to follow his chief.
+
+"Of course he is gruffer," said Diana. "Two tiresome women have dared
+to journey to Zimbabwe to look at his ruins."
+
+In the darkness Carew strode on to where a light shone through the
+doorway of a hut, but his eyes were looking straight before him into
+the night, and had the expression of one whose thoughts were very far
+away. It had cost him an effort to go up there with the note, but he
+had made it purposely, determined to take in hand quickly that vein of
+weakness which threatened him at sight of Meryl. He would go up and
+speak to her and break the spell as quickly as possible, regaining his
+old fortitude. More particularly as he felt he could not now leave on
+the morrow, just as Mr. Pym was arriving expecting to find him there.
+Not that there appeared any reason why, just because he happened to be
+a millionaire, a police officer should be expected to wait on him, but
+no doubt the Administration had its own reason for showing special
+attention to a very rich man, and hoped for some benefit to the
+country thereby.
+
+So he had taken the bull by the horns and strode up to the lamplit
+camp, where the travellers sat over the glowing embers; and, of
+course, he had heard Diana's remark, and smiled grimly to himself, in
+no way displeased, for it suited him perfectly to be shunned as a
+bear. And then, keeping an iron control over himself, he had addressed
+Meryl, and looked straight into her face without flinching. The upward
+look, for one second, had shaken him, but the iron control held good,
+and before he left them he had spoken to her and looked at her with
+perfect calmness. The visit had been quite as he wished it, and for a
+few seconds, striding into the dark, he congratulated himself upon
+having so satisfactorily coped with a situation that had threatened to
+be a little difficult and had disturbed him so in the afternoon. Of
+course, she wasn't really like Joan, except in a very general way.
+Just her height and figure and graceful movements and colouring; and,
+of course, the upward glance from confiding, thoughtful, blue-grey
+eyes that had humour lurking in them, and power and possibilities, and
+were so curiously framed in dark lashes in spite of light hair. In the
+midst of his self-congratulation he remembered the upward look again,
+and all in a moment once more it shook him. His gaze went blindly to
+the stars, and his mind flew back. Ah! how sweet Joan had been; how
+strong, how true! How she had stood by him through the beginning of
+the storm, turning the clouds to sunshine, making everything worth
+while! And then, the swift tragedy, the climax; the awful, awful days
+and nights that followed. How he had trodden the lonely Devon moors,
+blindly, passionately seeking a dead weariness of body that would dull
+his mind! How he had cursed the two men who drove in the final barb,
+and vowed never to see their faces again!
+
+And then the little note-book he had found, in which Joan had
+inscribed some of her thoughts from time to time, and copied a few
+favourite passages from favourite authors! It had come to him like a
+voice from the dead--Joan's voice, calling to him to rise above his
+despair and prove himself still worthy of her. And out there on the
+moors at sunrise he had vowed that he would. Calmly, coldly, as an
+austere monk, he had laid down for ever the things that had made his
+life gay and joyous before, and prepared to turn his back on England
+and all that it held pertaining to him.
+
+And now there is a distant wilderness and great southern stars, and
+mysterious, antique ruins, and a man who has grown strong and silent
+in aloofness, and won a sort of soothing content out of what he has
+given, seeking no reward.
+
+Not, perhaps, that "renewing" a royal friend had spoken of fifteen
+years ago, for the contentment was void of hope and fear and joy, but
+balm upon the passionate, frantic bitterness and despair. But the
+"renewing" might come even yet, however much he scorned the thought;
+for forty-two is at the prime of years, and Life has a tender way of
+her own of healing when she will.
+
+But to-night the memories are bitter, and the reopened wound throbs
+and burns. Carew strode up to his hut, with only a curt good night to
+the trooper, and when Stanley arrived back there was no light burning,
+only darkness and silence.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+A MINING CAMP
+
+
+The following day Carew avoided the camp, after telling Stanley he
+might devote his time to the ladies if he wished. In the afternoon,
+however, he saw Mr. Pym and his engineer arrive, and then, presently,
+the party all went down to the ruins together. About an hour later
+they re-emerged, and while the two girls went back to the tents, the
+millionaire strolled towards the police camp. Carew, seizing his
+opportunity, came out, and went to meet him. He considered himself
+fortunate in being able to offer the necessary courtesies when the
+ladies of the party were absent. Mr. Pym hid his surprise at seeing so
+distinguished-looking an officer at such an out-of-the-way camp, and
+received his somewhat curt greetings in his own quiet, business-like
+manner. He thanked him for the attentions he had already rendered, and
+hoped they were not causing any inconvenience in pitching their tents
+near the ruins. Carew assured him they were not, and mentioned that
+Mr. Stanley would be happy to place his time at their service and do
+anything he could to make their stay agreeable.
+
+Henry Pym, noting the obvious intention of the officer not to place
+much of his own time at their disposal, looked quietly into the
+resolute face, and felt his interest growing apace. At the same time,
+following his lead, he made no attempt to lengthen the interview,
+which he felt was more or less regarded as an official duty; and with
+courteous thanks said good night, hoped Major Carew would dine with
+them one evening, and returned to his tent.
+
+"Well, uncle," was Diana's greeting, "what do you make of The Bear?"
+
+"The Bear?..." questioningly.
+
+"The cast-iron soldierman, who condescends to breathe the same air as
+ordinary mortals down there in the police camp."
+
+"O, Major Carew!..." with a quick gleam in his eyes. "I thought him
+rather a fine fellow. Don't you?" and he smiled at her slyly.
+
+"A fine bear," quoth Diana, with a little pout. "I prefer a man with a
+little more flexibility. A little more commonplace flesh and blood, so
+to speak."
+
+"I asked him to dinner to-morrow," her uncle remarked.
+
+"And is he coming?" with ill-concealed interest.
+
+"No. He is going to see two young miners named Macaulay a few miles
+away, and was regretfully compelled to decline," and the humorous
+smile on his face widened, for he knew that Diana would be piqued.
+
+"As if he couldn't go there any day!" she grumbled. "O, of course, he
+is perfectly odious."
+
+Meryl's eyes met her father's, and they both laughed, while he
+remarked, "Never mind; perhaps we can lay a trap for him another time.
+Evidently he has no particular fancy for ladies' company."
+
+"Do you know the Macaulays?" Meryl asked.
+
+"No, but I am going to see them in two or three days on business."
+
+"And you will take us?..." she pleaded. "I do want so to see all we
+can of the settlers as well as the country."
+
+"We will see later," he said, and made a move to prepare for dinner.
+
+During the next two days he and his engineer made sundry small
+excursions on business. Their investigation of several outcrops in the
+Victoria district had convinced them the gold was by no means worked
+out by that ancient people who had left so many traces of mining
+operations, and Mr. Pym was prepared to buy up claims and properties.
+On the fourth day he went to see the Macaulays, and took the girls
+with him, having procured a mule each for them to ride. Stanley and
+Carew were also to be of the party; the latter not a little to
+everyone's surprise.
+
+All through the four days he had held consistently aloof, personating
+merely the courteous official upon whom Mr. Pym had a certain claim
+because of the letter from headquarters. As a matter of fact, he had
+undertaken a journey of some length on two of the days to outlying
+kraals; and Diana, hearing of it from Stanley, had laughed a little
+grimly, and said, "He need not have troubled. We have no wish to speak
+to him"; and Stanley, not quite clever enough to understand, remarked
+regretfully, "But you would like him so much if you knew him
+properly."
+
+The reason was not very apparent for his accompanying them to the
+Macaulays' mine, but Meryl shrewdly suspected her father, who had gone
+quietly to smoke a pipe in the police camp with him on one or two
+occasions, had asked him to come more or less as a personal favour.
+For though Stanley knew the road perfectly he knew very little about
+the surrounding country itself; and Mr. Pym, with his unerring
+instinct, had quickly discovered that Carew's mind was a well of
+knowledge on most things Rhodesian. So the taciturn soldier joined the
+cavalcade, though he succeeded in attaching himself to Mr. Pym and
+riding well on ahead.
+
+The two Macaulays were "small miners," working on tribute a mine
+belonging to a block owned by a company in which Henry Pym had large
+interests. Complaints had come through to his ears concerning the
+difficult conditions upon which the two young miners, and many others
+like them, struggled to make a fortune or a livelihood, and he had a
+fancy to go and see them for himself. The mine was in a hollow, banked
+round by tall, gloomy kopjes, which seemed to stand like a bodyguard,
+sternly shutting them off from all sight or sound of the outside
+world. At the same time, the road to it was delightful. Sometimes they
+climbed nearly to the top of a kopje, the mules going up stairways of
+granite as if born to it, and the lovely country lay outspread in a
+glorious panorama before them.
+
+The party said very little, but their eyes told that the fascination
+had crept into their hearts already, though they could only appreciate
+in silence, wondering, perhaps, why they felt this strong attraction
+for a land that was chiefly kopjes and veldt.
+
+Was it, perhaps, the marvellous, translucent atmosphere, or was it the
+blue intensity of the dreaming kopjes, ornamented ever and anon by
+gleaming white battlements of granite, where the sun blazed down on
+giant boulders, or was it the unfathomable, mysterious, syren-like
+allurement of the country, that, without effort, without thought,
+steeped the senses in an irresistible fascination? Why does Rhodesia
+fascinate? Why does she call men back again and again to her manifold
+discomforts and unnerving disappointments, to her pests and glare, to
+her bully beef and unwashed Kaffirs? Who shall say?... Who shall
+attempt to explain?...
+
+There is no explanation; only the foolish would seek it. The country
+just gets up and takes hold of one and smiles, and men become enslaved
+to her. Ever after "the hazy blue of her mountains, the waft of the
+veldt-born scent," is like a germ in the blood. The discomforts are
+forgotten, the disappointments dissolve into air, the noontide glare
+and choking dust are a mere nothing: libellous creations of some
+discontented grumbler. And in the midst of the crowd, or in England's
+green lanes, or on some far shore, the wanderer is caught in the old
+mesh suddenly, and all his pulses beat with swift longing at just that
+heaven-sweet impression: "The hazy blue of her mountains, the waft of
+the veldt-born scent...."
+
+And she, the syren, lies there in her sunshine and her loveliness;
+locked in the arms of the deep, luscious, dreaming nights, whispering
+and murmuring softly under embracing, star-lit heavens; making wild
+riot when the splendid storms fling after each other across her bosom,
+while the thunders roll deafeningly amidst her kopjes, and the
+lightning pierces brilliantly the riotous clouds and makes a glory of
+the mighty scene. Sulky and colourless when she is waiting impatiently
+for the delayed rains; resplendent, and with a colouring that is like
+a Te Deum, when the renewing has come, and all her soul sings aloud in
+the joy of spring, and all her flowers and trees lend her loveliness
+past telling, and her hills a yet deeper blueness under yet intenser,
+rain-washed skies. All this--all her moods and whims and
+waywardness--going serenely on--splendidly, superbly indifferent to
+the men who come to tame her and stay to love in silent enslavement;
+as also to the men who come solely for gain and gold, and go away
+shrieking their complainings to the four winds. Because, perhaps, the
+enchantress has not troubled to show them her allurements, and
+ruffled, discontented minds have discovered only the dust and heat and
+pests.
+
+But what of it to the syren?... There are others who stay, as many,
+perhaps, as she wants, and to whom she puts out a shy hand of
+friendship, and presently soothes and consoles as the strong, silent,
+storm-tossed man who rode with so soldierly a bearing beside Mr. Pym;
+suffering no stab of love and longing any more as he looked over her
+fair bosom, because the shy hand was in his, because there was that
+subtle sense of understanding in his heart which seemed to tell him
+that even as he loved Rhodesia, Rhodesia loved him.
+
+And so they came to the Saucy Susan Gold Mine, at least to the ridge
+of the surrounding kopjes, and looked down to where a cluster of huts
+like beehives told them humans dwelt down there in the hollow.
+
+"It can't be a mine," said Diana. "It's just a hollow in the hills;
+the sort of place giants hide in when they play hide-and-seek."
+
+"But it is," Stanley assured her. "We shall see a little more as we
+wind down."
+
+And presently they came within view of a shaft, and two honest-eyed
+young Englishmen, both old Charterhouse boys, came forward to greet
+them.
+
+Meryl shook hands with her face all aglow with interest; and to their
+humble apologies that they had only huts to invite them into, she
+said, "But it is so nice of you to invite us at all. You wouldn't
+believe how proud I am to come here to see you, and how tremendously
+interested."
+
+And Diana, with a droll expression, remarked, "You seem to live rather
+in the nethermost depths. You must feel as if you were going to heaven
+literally and figuratively every time you ascend to the outer world."
+
+The elder brother laughed pleasantly, but the younger, who had a white
+face and a delicate, refined air, looked at her a little wistfully.
+Meryl chatted on with the elder, but Diana, with her quick perception,
+scented a silent, wordless, plucky endurance of adverse conditions in
+the younger, and gave her attention to him.
+
+Then they went into the dining-room hut, and found a meal spread on a
+roughly made table, with only two chairs for seats and all the rest
+packing-cases.
+
+"Who has to sit on a chair?" asked Diana. "I needn't, need I?..."
+
+"Why, they are quite sound!... Are you afraid of a spill?..." asked
+Lionel Macaulay, looking amused.
+
+"No, only I can sit on a chair any day of my life. I simply insist
+upon having a packing-case when such a good opportunity offers."
+
+So Meryl and her father were duly ensconced in the only two chairs,
+and Diana mounted gaily on to a tall, thin packing-case, which would
+certainly have gone over backwards if Colin, the rather sad-eyed
+brother, had not caught her just as she was overbalancing.
+
+"How clever of you!..." she laughed. "What happens when you two
+overbalance and don't happen to be near enough to catch each other?...
+Does the dinner come in and find you both sprawling on the floor?"
+
+"Well, we've had a good deal of practice, you see," he told her,
+already cheering visibly. "The tables are turned for us, and we choose
+a chair when we can get it, for a treat."
+
+Afterwards she made him show her all his clever contrivances for
+packing-case furniture, and admired his sackcloth curtain, barrel
+washhand stand, and made him feel vigorous and hopeful.
+
+Stanley was talking to Meryl, and Lionel Macaulay was showing Mr. Pym,
+the engineer, and Carew over the mine, so she gossiped away to him all
+by herself. And she drew from him a little of the bitter
+disappointments they had encountered in the country. A story of first
+one mine and then another failing them; of capital slipping away and
+bills mounting; of the gradual cutting down of comforts and increased
+austerity of living: a story common enough in all colonies where Life
+puts men through the mill again and again to prove and harden them.
+Acting perhaps on the lines:
+
+     "It is easy enough to be pleasant
+       When life moves along like a song,
+     But the man worth while is the man who can smile
+       When everything goes dead wrong."
+
+Life wants a lot of men and women whom she knows are "worth while" in
+carrying out her great affairs, and that is perhaps why so often
+"everything goes dead wrong."
+
+Diana maintained her rôle of gay inconsequence because it pleased her
+best.
+
+"It all sounds very superior and all that rot, and I'm sure Meryl
+would call you a hero; but I should swear myself black and blue in
+your shoes, and that's about what you do pretty often, I expect."
+
+His smile grew fresher and more genuine.
+
+"It doesn't do much good though."
+
+"O yes it does. Don't tell me! When things get into a silly stupid
+mess with me I just shut the door and say every swear word I know
+until I feel better. That's one advantage of living in a hollow in the
+desert. You needn't even bother to shut the door!... You can shout
+your ruffled feelings to the kopjes, and I suppose they echo the words
+back to you. How perfectly splendid! That's a thing about Rhodesia I
+hadn't thought of before. Of course, the echoes are sometimes
+wonderful; so if you were to shout a few swear words the kopjes would
+shout them after you; and that's much better than 'dreaming stillness'
+in my opinion. But why aren't you and your brother making a fortune? I
+thought everyone in Rhodesia was making one who had a mine."
+
+"We don't get up enough gold. By the time we have paid our royalty and
+the expenses there is nothing left."
+
+"Then the royalty must be too big. Who do you pay it to?"
+
+He coloured, and she watched him humorously.
+
+"Has my uncle something to do with your company? O, don't look
+uncomfortable. I'll just talk to him about it. There ought to be
+occasions when no royalty is taken at all. I'll tell him so."
+
+Colin Macaulay laughed into her smiling eyes.
+
+"As it is, there is a charge for everything, even the grass the
+donkeys eat!..."
+
+"O, monstrous! I never heard of such a thing. I'll interview the board
+about it if you like. Tell your donkeys they may eat anything they
+choose in future, it is not going down in the bill any more!..." and
+they both laughed gaily.
+
+In a more serious mood, however, she asked him presently, "I suppose
+it has been rather a disappointment?... This coming out to Rhodesia to
+make a fortune!"
+
+"Why do you think so?"
+
+"O, well, lots of reasons. You haven't come within sight of the
+fortune, for one thing; and you've still got packing-case furniture
+and live in huts. And you eat a lot of bully beef, now don't you?"
+
+"We do."
+
+"But that isn't what you came for?"
+
+"Still"--meditatively--"it's not a small thing to be in a country
+where a fortune may be won any day. It is that, of course, which keeps
+us going. It is better anyhow than a stool and one hundred and fifty
+pounds a year in England."
+
+"Are you sure?" And she watched him with keen eyes.
+
+He coloured slightly, but answered with firmness:
+
+"Quite."
+
+"But not better than something else, perhaps?"
+
+He saw that her interest was kindly and genuine, and suddenly drawn to
+expand he told her simply:
+
+"It's the isolation that hurts. Day after day, day after day, just
+this hollow and these kopjes, and never anyone to speak to except each
+other. We send for the mail once a week, but sometimes very little
+comes by it; and we get nothing fresh to read except a weekly
+Rhodesian paper. That is a gold mine to us for just one evening; but
+for all the rest there is nothing. Lionel is studying French, and I do
+a little also, but it palls after a time badly."
+
+"I should think so. It sounds as dry as dead bones."
+
+They were sitting upon a rocky knoll, and Diana had her hands clasped
+round her drawn-up knees, presenting a very attractive picture. "I'm
+not a true Imperialist at heart," she informed him. "I hate gush and
+talk and heroics, but between you and me I think an awful lot of you
+men making your solitary fight in the wilderness. It's always a lot
+easier to put up with discomforts when you know your next-door
+neighbour is jolly uncomfortable too. Of course, most people don't say
+so, but that's because they are conventional, and fondly try to
+persuade themselves, very unselfish also; but when they are honest
+they know quite well a misfortune is lightened when several others are
+in the same box. That's why, on a wet day, I console myself sitting at
+the window and watching folks struggling with drenched umbrellas and
+bedraggled skirts. It's so good to be safe inside."
+
+He waited with amused eyes.
+
+"And, of course, the trouble for you is just sitting down here among
+these monotonous kopjes and being uncomfortable all alone. No one to
+grumble to--ugh, how I should hate that!--no one to feel superior
+with; no one to envy you, even if there were anything to envy. It's a
+positive grave."
+
+"You've left out one of the worst contingencies. No one to discuss
+with; no friction of mind and opinions."
+
+"That comes under the heading of grumbling. When I discuss I almost
+always grumble about something. It is good for the progress of the
+world." And she laughed whimsically. Then, with one of her sudden
+changes, "How long do you expect to stay on trying to dig up a
+fortune, and pretending it is worth while when you know you hate it
+like Old Harry?"
+
+"We shall probably try another mine soon. That is what we want to do;
+but it cost so much to get our machinery down into this hollow we
+don't quite know where to find the money to get it out again. So we
+just go on hoping we shall strike a good reef soon."
+
+She remained thoughtful and silent some moments, and then, as if to
+change the subject, remarked, "Mr. Stanley seems happy enough in his
+solitary place. He says he used to be in Salisbury, but very much
+prefers Zimbabwe."
+
+"Most of the police prefer a quiet place with good shooting; and now
+that he has Major Carew there so much it must often be interesting."
+
+"Do you know Major Carew well?" and her quick voice failed to entirely
+hide her interest.
+
+"As well as perhaps anyone does. He comes to see us fairly often on
+Sundays."
+
+"But he is so silent, he can't be very interesting."
+
+"He is not always silent."
+
+"No, sometimes he snarls," with a little laugh.
+
+"Ah! you don't know him. Get him to talk to you about the natives;
+about their habits and legends and customs. There isn't a man in
+Rhodesia knows more, and there isn't one they trust more absolutely.
+He is down in this district now on their behalf, and before he set
+foot here they knew all about him. Natives a hundred miles apart
+communicate that sort of thing to each other. Every kraal here knew
+perfectly that he was stern and rigid, but absolutely just. If he once
+says a thing he stands by it, even if he gets into trouble at
+headquarters, which isn't so very unusual. Someone out of jealousy or
+pique or utter inability to understand stern justice, will
+misrepresent his actions and misreport him for doing his duty. It's a
+heart-breaking business for him sometimes; but he never gives in when
+it is keeping his word one way or the other with natives. He would
+sooner resign, and they know it; and fortunately they recognise his
+value and meet him somehow. Of course, he isn't in the Native
+Department, properly speaking, but he has done a lot of work with them
+for some time."
+
+"And what do you think he is down here for now?"
+
+"I don't know; but it is some abuse or other that has reached the ears
+of the administration. This sort of thing happens among the
+short-sighted, small-minded Native Commissioners. There was a man a
+short time back who charged his house boys five shillings for
+everything they broke. At the end of six months they had had no pay at
+all, and were pretty heavily in debt. He was magistrate as well as
+commissioner and had them brought before his court, and promptly
+sentenced them to work six months for nothing."
+
+"What a shame!" she burst out indignantly.
+
+"Or a Native Commissioner may terrorise a native into selling cattle
+to him for a mere song by nothing but a look. Of course, they are not
+allowed to buy cattle really, but if they are married their wives buy
+them instead sometimes, and then the Commissioner in an outlying
+district can fairly easily fix the price, if he has made himself a
+dread to all the kraals round. He can collect taxes, too, not strictly
+just, to make his accounts look well at headquarters."
+
+"But I thought Native Commissioners were always gentlemen?"
+
+"They are generally, but they don't all live up to the usually
+accepted standard. Some of them seem rather to glory in behaving like
+bounders and treating the native unjustly. It is bad for the country,
+but things are improving. Almost all new appointments now are made
+among public-school boys and Varsity men."
+
+"And do you think Major Carew is here about some such matters?"
+
+"Yes; but it isn't given out so, and no one knows just what. But the
+natives are fortunate to have him on their side. He is not in the
+least afraid, and he won't shelter any unjust steward. On the other
+hand, whatever complaints there are against the natives will be just
+as honestly examined, and woe betide the kraals that are in the wrong!
+He is no Exeter Hall sentimentalist, and they must know it pretty well
+by now."
+
+"Why do you think he is out here at all? Surely he might have been a
+general with his K.C.M.G. if he had stayed in the army?"
+
+"I rather fancy Carew would think that a small thing compared to what
+he has done in Rhodesia. After all, K.C.M.G.'s are pretty cheap
+nowadays, aren't they? But it isn't every man who can know a new
+country is grateful to him, and who has achieved all he has at a work
+he loves."
+
+"Why did he come?" Still Diana strove vainly to hide her interest. "Do
+you know?"
+
+"Adventure, probably. A good many men from crack regiments came in the
+early days."
+
+"There must have been something more."
+
+"Perhaps."
+
+"Don't you _know_?"
+
+"No." He looked at her with a little smile. "It isn't the game to ask
+questions out here."
+
+"That is just what Mr. Stanley said, and it is so dull of you both.
+The man's a perfect bear. I christened him 'The Bear' before I had
+known him an hour. But why is he? Why should he be? That's what I
+want to know."
+
+"I don't fancy you will. I doubt if anyone knows. He has never made
+friends, I think, out here, except with the Grenvilles, and they are
+some connection."
+
+"That's the missionary and his wife, isn't it? What in the world can a
+man like that see in a missionary? Of all the soppy, flabby
+individuals give me the usual specimen who goes out to preach
+Christianity to the heathen, and generally disgusts them and everyone
+else."
+
+"Not this missionary."
+
+"O, is he an original also?"
+
+"He's one of the finest men I've ever known."
+
+"Then what in the world is _he_ buried in the wilderness for? I never
+knew anything so absurd. A fine soldier and administrator, just a
+policeman; a splendid man, just a missionary. And you and your brother
+just grubbing about in a God-forsaken mine, apparently for nothing. It
+is enough to make anyone wild." And she faced him with that
+smouldering indignation she rarely allowed to come to the surface.
+
+"But they are both in Rhodesia"--ignoring her kindly inclusion of
+himself and his brother--"and Rhodesia wants good men."
+
+"And when she gets them just buries them at her outposts. I haven't
+much faith in your Rhodesia. She is a capricious jade. She absorbs a
+man's finest qualities and best years and gives him nothing in
+return."
+
+"Ask Carew if she gives him nothing. Probably she has given him more
+than anyone else could give."
+
+She got up impatiently. "All the more reason why he shouldn't be such
+a bear. People who have got what they want out of life ought to be
+amiable and friendly."
+
+She turned round, and found herself face to face with Carew himself,
+looking, if anything grimmer than ever.
+
+"I came to tell you that tea is ready, and the others have already
+commenced."
+
+Diana looked straight into his eyes, with a daring, challenging
+expression. "And you heard me discussing your amiable attributes? I'm
+sorry, but"--with a swift gleam--"I do discuss something else
+sometimes."
+
+"I heard nothing," he answered, returning her direct gaze, and stood
+aside for her to pass.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+AN EVENING RIDE
+
+
+As they rode home in the evening Diana, more nettled with Carew's
+impassivity than she would have cared to own, contrived to get a
+little apart from the others with her uncle, and in her frank,
+engaging way explained to him the rapaciousness of certain mining
+companies and her own promise on behalf of the donkeys. Mr. Pym
+regretted that he could not immediately grant her request without
+consulting his co-directors, but Diana knew perfectly, by the friendly
+gleam in his eye, that he meant to look into the question; and because
+he was impressed by the sturdy, plucky fight of the two brothers he
+would probably do a good deal more for them in the end.
+
+After which she prattled to him gaily, until Stanley was clever enough
+to distract her attention and remanipulate the party. He had been
+riding with Carew, and the engineer with Meryl; but on the party being
+disarranged the engineer joined Mr. Pym to discuss the mining
+properties they had been visiting, and Carew found himself unavoidably
+partnered with Meryl, while Stanley and Diana went gaily on ahead. It
+was the first time, what he was pleased to term "his luck" had
+deserted him. Heretofore there had been no single _tête-à-tête_
+between him and either of the cousins since Diana surprised him in the
+temple ruins. It was his fixed intention that there should be none. He
+argued in himself that he had no "small talk" in his vocabulary, and
+would only reciprocate the boredom he would himself suffer, and rather
+than either should be inflicted he steered a resolute course which
+partnered him with a man. In vain Diana, spurred by pique, had once or
+twice laid a trap for him; and Meryl, with growing interest, had
+sought to draw him into conversation. With masterly art he had steered
+clear of both, and continued his serene, impassive way.
+
+But on that homeward ride Fate, for once, got the better of him.
+Stanley and Diana were cantering gaily ahead along the narrow path,
+that meant smooth-going for one horse and a stumbling amid small rocks
+or long, dry grass for the other; while Mr. Pym and his engineer
+conversed with a solemnity no one could lightly disturb between the
+two front horsemen and the two back.
+
+At first Carew rode along with his eyes fixed rigidly on the horizon,
+and, except for its innate strength, an almost expressionless face.
+Meryl was a little amused. She realised thoroughly that the situation
+was none of his seeking, and she was in two minds whether to give him
+expressionless rigidity in return, or purposely tease him with
+questions. At first she chose silence, and looked around her with eyes
+of growing tenderness at the kopje-strewn country.
+
+And so, instead of being irritated with the "small talk" he dreaded,
+Carew found himself left entirely to his own cogitations; while,
+judging from her rapt expression, she scarcely realised his presence.
+And then, just because human nature is stronger, after all, than most
+things, memory, for the sake of a dream-face he would treasure while
+he had breath, made him look at her covertly with seeing eyes. He
+noted first that she was a perfect horsewoman--slim and upright and
+easy, almost like a part of her horse. Both girls rode astride,
+wearing long holland coats and specially made light top-boots, with
+large shady sun helmets; and because for a long time he had not seen
+anything much but slipshod garments among women riders, or exceedingly
+warm-looking correct home attire, he appreciated their cool smartness.
+
+Unconsciously it took him back to the old buried days, when the
+Devonshire moors and Devonshire lanes knew no hotter rider than Peter
+Carew. To the steeplechases, when he was so slim and wiry that, in
+spite of his height, he had ridden many a horse to victory. To the
+polo matches, when his matchless horsemanship had scored goal after
+goal for his regiment of picked riders. She recalled to his mind the
+stag-hunting in Devon and Somerset, where the first women had ridden
+astride to the meet, realising mercifully how the steep ascents and
+descents were eased for their horses, without the tightly girthed
+side-saddle, and for themselves without the side-seat strain. Almost
+as if it were a carefully permitted luxury, he saw the wide,
+wind-swept moors, heard the cheery shouts and the excited hounds, felt
+his thoroughbred sweeping gloriously along, as if its soul and his
+soul were both one in feeling the joy and exhilaration of the chase.
+What glories there were in those wind-swept, sun-bathed mornings in
+Devon! What joy of life! What lust of manhood! What splendid,
+whole-hearted young inconsequence! In his heart he smiled a little
+grimly. Peter Carew of the Blues had been no shunner of women in those
+days; no taciturn, silent, unappreciative onlooker. Rather he had
+loved too many, kissed too freely, ridden away too light-heartedly.
+
+Until the blue-grey eyes, so like Meryl's, looked shyly up, and then
+in their turn ran away from him. Of course, he had followed blindly
+like the hot-headed, hard-riding sportsman he was--followed blindly,
+wooed irresistibly, and won gloriously.
+
+And then ...
+
+Over the kopjes, over the vleis, over the veldt a black cloud came
+down, and suddenly all the picture was blotted out. An expression that
+was momentarily almost wistful left the fine mouth; the far-away
+softness left the keen blue eyes, and his face hardened strangely.
+Then he looked up at Meryl, riding beside him, and saw all the
+questioning interest in her face.
+
+"I'm afraid you have a very dull companion," he said; but it was in
+the voice that Diana usually called his snarl.
+
+Meryl smiled. "I did not for a moment suppose that you would talk."
+
+She could hardly say that his face relaxed, but at least there was
+that in it which suggested he liked her answer far better than any
+conventional politeness.
+
+Suddenly a wholly unlooked-for twinkle lurked somewhere in his eyes.
+
+"Bears don't usually," he said.
+
+Meryl laughed. "Diana is too fond of nicknaming her friends and
+acquaintances; but on the whole I think she has let you off lightly. A
+bear is a magnificent animal."
+
+"Not given to much amiability. No Prince Charming, for instance," and
+he smiled a little grimly.
+
+"But strong--and--well--dangerous, which is better."
+
+"You think so?" He looked at her rather curiously.
+
+"Decidedly."
+
+They rode on in silence, and, for a little way, the road being rough,
+he reined in his horse to the narrow path behind her. Then, when it
+grew smoother again, she waited for him to come alongside.
+
+"You haven't always been in this part of Rhodesia?"
+
+"No; only recently."
+
+"Long enough to get very attached to it."
+
+"More or less," and suddenly his voice hardened a little, as if
+scenting a discussion and wishful to ward it off.
+
+"I wonder why Rhodesia is so fascinating?" And her eyes roved with
+love in them from far horizon to far horizon. "I suppose you do not
+attempt to analyse it? You are content to care unquestioningly."
+
+"Yes"--with an effort--"after a time, one just cares."
+
+"And at first?..."
+
+"At first one has to find one's footing, so to speak. She is somewhat
+the bewildering, uncomfortable stranger to the new-comer."
+
+She marvelled that he should say so much, but hid her pleasure lest
+she should unwittingly change his mood.
+
+"She has never seemed that to me. Something has attracted me from the
+very first. I came, I saw, I loved."
+
+"You must remember that you came under exceptional circumstances."
+
+"And you?"
+
+"I was among the early pioneers."
+
+"How splendid! I wish I could say the same."
+
+"It was extremely uncomfortable."
+
+"But you didn't mind. I don't need to be told that. There was so much
+to make up for it. How good it must be to be a man!"
+
+"Yet the women are the true heroes out here."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"We get what we came for. Interest, excitement of a kind, freedom...."
+
+"And the women?"
+
+"There is not much for the women, but the plucky ones are often
+heroines."
+
+"Only no one tells them so?"
+
+"No one tells them so; therein lies the heroism."
+
+"I see. They put up a good fight, and no one says, 'Well done!' Isn't
+it the same with the men?"
+
+"The men get many compensations."
+
+"Compensations that make it worth while?"
+
+"Distinctly."
+
+They rode on in silence, both looking ahead to the blue mountain that
+guards the north of Zimbabwe. The peaceful loveliness soothed his
+spirit because he loved it, but in her it awakened a vague, swift
+ache. She felt somehow that he had a right to love the country,
+because he had made it his and given it of his best; that, for all his
+presumable poverty in many things, he was yet so rich in what he had
+achieved, and in what he had won for himself of interest and
+usefulness. While for her?... She was an alien, a mere tourist, a
+looker-on; the daughter of a millionaire who came to Rhodesia for
+wealth, and gave--how little in return!
+
+He might look at the tender outline of the lovely mountain with the
+glad, restful consciousness of work well done. She could only look at
+it with that ache of divine discontent: unplumbed, wordless longing.
+Even the heroism of the settler's wife was not for her. The women who
+were plucky enough to put up that good fight, although no one ever
+said "Well done!" Compared with them, in his eyes she was probably a
+mere cumberer of the earth; an ornament, intended only to be admired
+by the leisured classes. The young splendid country had no use for
+her, no place for her. She was an alien, an interloper; child of a man
+who came only for gain, and took his gain elsewhere, recognising no
+claim from a land that was no home to him, only an investment.
+
+Her soul cried out it was no wish of hers that it should be so; but
+only silent condemnation seemed to echo back to her from the far blue
+hills.
+
+She glanced at the strong, serene face of her companion, and because
+somehow he seemed a little less stern and uncompromising to-day she
+said to him simply, leaning a little to his side:
+
+"I envy you so, the sense that you have won the right to love her. I
+envy the plucky settlers' wives who are the mothers of her future. I
+feel myself so utterly an alien. Has Rhodesia any use for ... for such
+as I?"
+
+He looked at her strangely, and as he looked she saw an expression
+almost like hungry longing come into his eyes; then as suddenly vanish
+again, leaving him utterly amazingly stony. He turned his head
+sharply, and his gaze became fixed and rigid.
+
+"Millionaires' daughters can usually be pretty useful if they like,"
+he said almost brutally; and she felt as if he had struck her. In
+sudden anger and bewilderment she touched her horse with her whip and
+darted ahead. It was not the words, but the way in which he had said
+them. What did he mean?... What did he not mean?... She bit her lips
+to keep back the smarting tears that blinded her eyes. She felt as if
+she hated him. For a little space he had been so different to the
+cold, callous soldier, and in quiet response she had spoken from her
+heart; and in return he had said this cutting thing with cold intent,
+making her feel that he despised her. Did he see in her only a willing
+accomplice to her father's money-making schemes? The one perhaps who
+spent the gains heartlessly and carelessly elsewhere? Beside those
+settlers' wives he had said were heroines, was she but an idle,
+contemptible, useless heiress? She spurred her horse on, letting her
+thoughts run away with her, unwilling that he should overtake her
+until she had got herself well in hand; and Carew followed behind,
+feeling again that sense of a black, rayless abyss all about him. Why
+had he looked full and deep into her eyes like that?... Why had he not
+gazed only upon the mountains that soothed and refreshed him?... The
+mere discovery that the past he thought to have outlived slept so
+lightly was a shock to him. Had he not then outlived anything? Had he
+only put his memories lightly to sleep, and dreamt all the life he had
+lived since? He was scarcely conscious that he had said anything
+inconsiderate; he hardly knew what he had said. He only remembered he
+had looked full and deep into beautiful eyes, and suddenly it was as
+though his dead love Joan had come back to him.
+
+Presently she slowed down so that he came up to her, and it was
+noticeable that something in her whole attitude had changed. She was
+as upright as he now, and her eyes also looked rigidly ahead. He saw
+the change without understanding it and wondered a little, without
+troubling to probe.
+
+"Your friends, Mr. and Mrs. Grenville," she said coldly, "would they
+care to see us if we called, or would they think it perhaps just
+vulgar curiosity?"
+
+"They would be delighted; visitors are a very rare treat to them." He
+was puzzled a little at her manner, but let it pass. Meryl had it on
+the tip of her tongue to add, "They don't mind even millionaires'
+daughters?" but her own good taste saved her from a momentary
+satisfaction that a man of his breeding could only have considered
+bourgeoise.
+
+"Perhaps Mr. Stanley would take us," was all she suffered herself; and
+added, "From his account Mrs. Grenville is evidently one of Rhodesia's
+heroines."
+
+"She is," he answered so simply that Meryl felt a little nonplussed.
+
+When they reached the camp Diana had already dismounted and gone into
+their tent, whither Meryl followed her.
+
+"Well," she said, "how did you get on with The Bear? Did he chore you
+up over anything?"
+
+Meryl considered a moment before replying. "One moment I thought him
+the rudest man I have ever met, and the next ..." she seemed puzzled
+how to explain.
+
+"And the next I suppose he didn't seem a man at all, only a pillar of
+stone!..."
+
+For answer, she said thoughtfully, "I wonder if something hurt him
+very badly some time or other?"
+
+"If it did, it doesn't exempt him from the ordinary amenities of human
+intercourse. He isn't the only man who has been hurt." And Diana
+kicked off her boots impatiently.
+
+"No," said Meryl; "but it makes it a little easier to forgive him."
+
+"Don't do anything so foolish. You'll end by thinking him interesting
+and falling in love with him; which would be too utterly silly when
+you are as good as engaged to Dutch Willy, and when he, The Bear,
+would care about as much as my foot," with which dictum she put her
+head out through the tent flap, and called to Stanley and Carew,
+"Hey! Mr. Stanley! don't go away. Stay and keep us company in my
+uncle's absence. I believe he is venturing into The Bear's den
+to-night."
+
+Carew smiled quite frankly for him.
+
+"Can't I tempt you to come also? I daren't promise you a decent
+dinner, but I've some fresh Abdullah cigarettes out from home, if you
+care to come down afterwards."
+
+Diana was disarmed in spite of herself. "And will you promise to growl
+very prettily?" with an arch expression.
+
+"I'll try not to frighten you away too quickly."
+
+Diana withdrew into the tent.
+
+"O!" she said, "he's a bear with two faces; and that's the most
+difficult to cope with of all."
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+THE MISSION STATION
+
+
+They went to the Grenvilles' the next day, while Mr. Pym took another
+of his investigation trips. Stanley acted as escort, and Carew went to
+Edwardstown on business.
+
+Ailsa Grenville met them with her brightest smile, and ushered them
+proudly into her cool, picturesque drawing-room hut.
+
+"How charming!" they cried, with genuine delight; and Diana added, "O!
+why can't I have a hut in the wilderness?..."
+
+Then the khaki-clad, sportsmanlike missionary strode in, and after the
+preliminary greetings Diana asked with charming piquancy, "O! are you
+really and truly a missionary?"
+
+"Really and truly," he told her gaily, and came over to her side of
+the hut to sit beside her. "Why do you ask it like that?"
+
+She considered a moment, and then declared impishly, "Because it
+doesn't seem possible that a man like you should never say 'Damn.'"
+
+He laughed outright. "Well, I'm not going to tell tales out of school;
+but if you'd only got one pair of brown boots in the world and one
+pair of brown gaiters, and the boy tried to clean them with blacklead
+and paraffin oil!..."
+
+Diana moved nearer to him, with her prettiest and most ingratiating
+air. "O, tell me some more!... Tell me lots more."
+
+"I don't think that is half so bad as the boy washing the saucepans
+and the teacups all in the same water together," put in Mrs.
+Grenville.
+
+"How perfectly delicious of him!" cried Diana. "What else did he do?"
+
+"You ought to have been here this morning when our stores came out
+from Edwardstown," the missionary told her. "The boy carries them on
+his head, you know; and there was a tin of golden syrup ..."
+
+"Yes ... yes ... and it leaked!..." gleefully.
+
+"Trickled all down his head and neck; you never saw such a sticky
+mess! And as soon as the other boys discovered ..."
+
+"Did they duck his head in a bucket?..."
+
+"O, dear no!... _licked_ him!..."
+
+Diana fairly howled with delight; and then Stanley came in, after
+seeing that the horses were properly watered and fed, and was
+immediately accosted by Grenville with, "Hullo, Kid! you're quite a
+deserter! What have you been doing all the week?"
+
+"Do you call him Kid?" Diana asked. "What a capital name for him!"
+
+"He has been 'The Kid' almost ever since he came to this district."
+
+"It pays," remarked Stanley jocularly; "they give me sugar."
+
+"And he lives with The Bear; how comical! Instead of the lion lying
+down with the lamb, in Rhodesia you have The Kid feeding with The
+Bear."
+
+"Who is The Bear?" Ailsa Grenville asked, from the packing-case
+cupboard, where she was reaching down cups and saucers.
+
+"Need you ask?" queried Diana. "Doesn't Major Carew ever growl when he
+is here?"
+
+Ailsa looked much amused. "Not exactly," she said; "but I admit
+sometimes he rolls himself up into a ball, so to speak, and relapses
+into a sort of winter sleep."
+
+"I hope you prod him," said Diana.
+
+"Billy wouldn't let me," glancing affectionately at her husband.
+"There is only one Major Carew for him."
+
+"Still, it might do him good. We prodded him last night, didn't we?"
+addressing Stanley. "We went right into his den, and gave him a good
+baiting, while we smoked his new Abdullah cigarettes," and she smiled
+gleefully at the remembrance of the stern soldier, in an astonishingly
+sociable mood for him, humorously parrying her chaff. "You know," she
+ran on, "he simply hated our coming. I almost wonder he didn't dig
+impassable trenches across the road, or fortify himself in the
+Acropolis Hill. Anyone might have thought we were the bears, and he
+the woman."
+
+"I expect he was afraid of your charms," said Grenville smilingly. "We
+wilderness-dwellers have none of the townsmen's armour to withstand
+fair women."
+
+"Well, growling and scowling are very fair substitutes," quoth Diana;
+"and, besides, he didn't even trouble to observe if we had charms. As
+far as he decently could he looked the other way altogether."
+
+While she chatted on, delighting the missionary and his wife with her
+gaiety, Meryl sat in a low chair, and gazed through the doorway out
+over the smiling country, much as Carew usually did.
+
+"It must be very wonderful," she said at last, aroused by a
+sympathetic question from Ailsa Grenville, "to live day after day with
+such a scene as that in one's doorway."
+
+"Yes," Ailsa told her. "The wonder never grows less, nor the mystery,
+nor the beauty. Major Carew, when he is here, loves just to sit and
+look at it; and so do I."
+
+Diana, with the two men, had strolled outside; and Ailsa and Meryl sat
+alone in the cool interior.
+
+Meryl sat very still, with her hands lightly clasped on her knees, and
+her eyes always--always--to the lovely prospect that was like a mighty
+ocean in which the waves were blue, mystical kopjes; and over which
+the first clouds, that heralded the approach of the rainy season, shed
+entrancing lights and shadows. Ailsa sat a little behind, and her eyes
+roved back from the view that had grown into her being and become part
+of her life to the face of the young heiress. She noted at once its
+instinctive charm; the charm of a woman blessed with most of the
+traits that hold and bind men for ever. Strength was there without
+masterfulness; sweetness that would never cloy; a dreamy elusiveness
+that meant a closed book it would be a joy to study chapter by
+chapter; and some of the chapters would surprise with their lightness
+and mirth, while others would surprise with their depth of sympathetic
+understanding, and yet others would bewilder alluringly with their
+whimsical, irresistible uncertainty. She knew that society papers
+sometimes spoke of the well-known millionaire's daughter as beautiful,
+but to her it seemed the word was hardly the right one. Meryl's face
+had in it something too strong and too distinctive for actual beauty;
+and yet Ailsa thought of all the lovely women she had ever seen none
+were quite so attractive. And because she was a tender-hearted woman,
+the thought crossed her mind to wonder if perhaps, out of the dark
+shadow that she knew hung ever over Peter Carew's life, there might
+yet be a way of escape; a gracious healing, and a final joy. Could two
+such humans meet and not love? Could anything truly separate them if
+once the love were born?
+
+She mused a moment or two happily, sublimely ignorant of all the
+forces that warred between; of what caused the shadow; of the power of
+a dead face; of the pride of a resolute man; of that attractive
+Huguenot Dutchman biding his time down south.
+
+At last Meryl broke the silence. As she sat gazing through the open
+doorway her mind had lingered unconsciously over that last sentence.
+"Major Carew, when he is here, loves just to sit and look at it," and
+in her fancy she saw the silent, watching form of the grim
+soldier-policeman.
+
+"He is an interesting man," she said simply. "I think I understood he
+was some connection of yours?"
+
+"You mean Major Carew? Yes; he is a distant sort of cousin, but we are
+two entirely different branches of the family, and had drifted widely
+apart until we three met out here. Yet it was not surprising we should
+meet like this. The Carews were always wanderers and adventurers, like
+Drake and Frobisher and the other fine old pirates. A humdrum career
+in the Blues would hardly have continued to satisfy Major Carew, any
+more than the conventions and hide-bound prejudices of the Established
+Church could hold my husband."
+
+"Yet, if you will forgive my seeming rudeness, both of them apparently
+took a decided step downwards from the social point of view."
+
+"That would not trouble either of them for a moment. They sought
+Freedom, and found it."
+
+"Yet it meant, in a sense, what some people call being buried alive."
+
+"Ah, those people do not understand. That is how I took it at first.
+Shall I tell you a little, or will it bore you?"
+
+"Please tell me. I think it is kind of you to trust me so soon with
+your confidence."
+
+Ailsa smiled. "One always knows. Anyone with insight would trust you
+instinctively. But there isn't much to tell. Only that when I married
+my husband he held a living in Shropshire, with a sure promise of
+quick promotion; and then Doubt crept in which he could not overthrow,
+and after a long struggle he gave it up because his conscience would
+not let him be a hypocrite."
+
+"But he is still a Church missionary, is he not?"
+
+"In a sense; but he is not paid by any society, and works on his own
+lines entirely. He had a little money of his own, and I have also, and
+out here it is ample. But at first I was very bitter with him, and let
+myself be influenced by my people who were still more bitter, and I
+would not join him. I went back home and lived the old life of my
+girlhood. He never uttered one word of reproach, although he was just
+breaking his heart for me, and--for which I bless him every day of my
+life--he wrote every mail telling me about the country and his work.
+At first I scarcely read the letters, and often did not reply; but he
+wrote on patiently and waited. And at last my mood changed. The
+endless tea-parties began to pall, and the insipidity of my home life.
+Week after week, week after week, the same round of social gatherings;
+the same people, the same conversations, the same everlasting tea,
+buns, and gossip. In each parish around, so many, many unmarried
+women, so many empty, monotonous lives. I think the condition of
+England's country villages is becoming almost a tragedy; all the men
+seem to have gone away to a bigger and wider world, and all the women
+to have been left behind to feed on emptiness. There are the
+clergyman's daughters, the doctor's daughters, the solicitor's
+daughters, and perhaps a few retired veterans and their daughters; all
+struggling through the same old empty round; while the men go out to
+conquer the earth." She paused a moment, but seeing Meryl's rapt
+attention, went on uninterruptedly, "And one day I awoke to the fact
+that I had a special right to one of the finest men who had gone out
+to do his share, and a special place at his side. To cut a long story
+short, I won through the frantic opposition of my family, cut myself
+adrift, and came out here to see for myself what Billy was doing that
+gave him a satisfaction he had never found in his peaceful easy
+living; in spite of the hunger I had always known was wearing out his
+soul for me." She looked out across the country dreamily, before she
+finished. "I shall never forget when I first saw this," motioning to
+the sunny prospect. "We arrived here in the dusk, owing to a
+breakdown, and so I had a long night's rest before Billy first showed
+it to me. I must tell you I was already tremendously impressed, on the
+quiet, with my brown, stalwart, khaki-clad husband in place of the
+decorous, black-coated parson I had parted with; and although the
+journey had been very exhausting, for I had to travel in the
+post-cart, my interest in him and the country had never abated. Then
+he opened the door wide about sunrise, and said casually, 'Sit up and
+look at my view, Ailsa.' I sat up, and for a moment I could not speak
+at all. Do you know, Miss Pym, the country looked positively hung with
+diamonds that wonderful morning. I shall never forget it. Just outside
+the door, forming a sort of framework to the scene beyond, was some
+tall, dry grass, thin and straggly enough to let the light through.
+And where at the top it spread into graceful, hanging, feathery
+seed-ears, it was hung with large dewdrops, reflecting all the colours
+of the rainbow. Behind them was the bluest of early-morning skies.
+Beyond them, what you see here, a far dream-country of untold
+loveliness. I said, 'O, Billy! have you lived beside this all these
+months?' And then I began to cry, because I didn't know what else to
+do, and I was so glad that I had come."
+
+A fleeting shadow of sadness seemed to cross Meryl's face. "I envy
+you," she said in a low voice. "You can stay on with the man you love,
+and see it every day. I must go back to the tea-parties."
+
+"Most people pity me."
+
+"I dare say; and they envy me," with a little forlorn smile.
+
+"You have much power, and power is good," softly.
+
+"Have I?... How, why, where?... What shall I do with all this money my
+father makes? I wonder what I could do to take from my heart this
+feeling that I am an alien and an intruder in this lovely country,
+among you people who are quietly making history? If your husband
+wants money for his mission, I could get him a cheque for a thousand
+pounds from my father, I know; but what is that compared to giving
+one's life as you do, and growing right into the heart of the country,
+and feeling just that it is yours because of what you have given? I
+know that is how Major Carew feels also. One can see it in his rapt
+gaze. He does not care for very much else in the world. But we, my
+father and I, we just take riches out, and give nothing but cheques
+which we never even miss." She got up and moved to the doorway,
+controlling with an effort her sudden, unexpected show of emotion.
+"The others have been looking at your fowls and cattle," she said,
+"and now they are coming back. I hope Mr. Grenville will show us over
+the mission station."
+
+"He will be delighted," Ailsa answered, following her lead with quick
+understanding; "and another day you must come and sit in my doorway
+again."
+
+"I should love to;" and she stepped out into the sunlight to join the
+gay trio Diana was still the life of.
+
+Then Mr. Grenville took them into his workshops and his little mission
+hall, and showed them how he taught the boys carpentering and
+blacksmithing, and reading and writing and farming; making good,
+useful labourers of them with even greater zeal than that with which
+he made them Christians. Diana, the outspoken, could not resist a
+surprised comment.
+
+"I thought people who had been abroad always ran down missionaries,
+and scoffed at missionary work?"
+
+"They do very often," Grenville replied, with frankness, "and not
+without reason. A great many missionaries are naturally not very
+suitable men. It is almost impossible to pick and choose."
+
+"There are some," put in Stanley disgustedly, "who just confirm all
+the blacks they can, without bothering about how much they understand,
+and then make communicants of them so that they can send good figures
+home to their society for the missionary magazines. They don't teach
+them anything useful at all, and they do a roaring trade with the
+garments sent out by pious ladies' work guilds; as if the natives
+weren't better in their own natural state than they are ever likely
+to be dressed up in clothes and fuddled with doctrines."
+
+Mr. Grenville, standing very upright and looking every inch a man,
+said simply, "It isn't entirely their fault always. The home folk like
+the figures; they imagine they stand for progress, and they know
+nothing about the conditions. Many missionaries are very fine men, and
+they would do even better work if left a little more to their own
+initiative, and not cursed with this atmosphere of competition in
+figures. It isn't fair to damn the whole flock because a few of the
+sheep are black."
+
+"And don't you ever feel you are wasting your talents?" Meryl asked
+him a little shyly.
+
+He threw his head back and squared his shoulders with a characteristic
+movement. "It is better than the hypocrisy and feebleness of the
+condition of affairs at home; and I am very fond of the natives. They
+are most lovable, when one once gets their confidence and understands
+them. And the freedom is good, and the primitive conditions. The
+getting right down to the bedrock of nature, so to speak, without too
+much highly developed civilisation. Yes, it is a good life for a man.
+Sometime I should like to show you the mission farm. We've made
+tremendous strides lately."
+
+"And you?..." Diana turned with a winsome air to Ailsa Grenville. "Do
+you find the natives lovable, and the primitive conditions?... And are
+you proud of the mission farm?... Or doesn't it all sometimes make you
+just long to scream?... It would me!..."
+
+Ailsa smiled into her eyes. "One grows adaptable very quickly. I
+confess I am very happy here. Certainly there are times when one feels
+rather as if one had dropped off the world into space, but it doesn't
+take long to struggle through it. But then, of course, it is well to
+remember that Billy and I are rather an exceptional couple; quite
+absurdly, idiotically satisfied with each other's company. If it were
+not so our lives would be purgatory. The tragedies of these far
+countries are for the husbands and wives isolated from all other
+companionship, and having perhaps nothing in common with each other.
+There are few conditions worse than isolation under those
+circumstances. It breaks the woman's spirit and sours the man and
+brings shipwreck, where a little other congenial companionship might
+have brought them through in safety."
+
+They were interrupted by the sound of voices outside, and found that
+Mr. Pym and his engineer, having encountered Major Carew returning
+from Edwardstown, had persuaded him to show them the way to the
+mission. Mr. and Mrs. Grenville greeted them with eager warmth, and,
+the afternoon sun having sunk behind some trees, tea was spread
+outside the huts, so that they could drink it while admiring the view.
+Carew, though silent as ever, was less rigid, and Meryl saw how
+insistently his eyes strayed back to the blue vista of kopjes. She
+wondered what he thought of all day long, in his continuous silences,
+and behind the quiet, forceful eyes. It was noticeable that Diana
+seemed to have outgrown both her awe and chagrin towards him; and
+though at first he proved very unbending, she eventually won something
+like a repartee out of him. Ailsa watched them quietly from the
+background, and waited hopefully, but in vain, to see his eyes stray
+to Meryl. Indeed, he seemed almost to shun her, and she noted it with
+regret. Was it possible that already his preference was given to
+Diana, with her light raillery and ready laugh? Diana so pretty, so
+attractive, so original, and yet to Ailsa's thinking, so far less
+reliable and restful than Meryl. In the end, by a clever little
+manoeuvre, she brought Carew and Meryl together.
+
+"You are almost outvied, Major Carew," she told him lightly. "Miss Pym
+likes my view already, as much, if not more, than you. I told her you
+loved to sit and look at it, and that is exactly what she likes to
+do."
+
+Meryl smiled, but made no comment. Mere admiration seemed superfluous,
+and Carew was grateful that she spared him raptures. So they sat quite
+still, and instead of any constraint between them because of the
+silence, there was a vague sense of restfulness and understanding.
+Meryl spoke first, and then she made no allusion to his love of the
+spot.
+
+"I think you were right," she said simply. "Mrs. Grenville must be one
+of Rhodesia's heroines."
+
+"How do you specially mean it?"
+
+"I mean it, because one _knows_ there must be times when the isolation
+is almost unendurable, and when she must long for many of the things
+of her old life, however much she declares otherwise."
+
+"Yes, I think there are. She evidently had many friends, and she has
+almost lost them all. It is difficult to keep up friendships by post."
+
+Then Ailsa herself joined them.
+
+"Has Major Carew been with you into the temple, yet?" she asked Meryl.
+"He is better than any guide-book for information."
+
+Meryl coloured faintly, but looked a little amused. He had so
+persistently withstood every friendly hint or invitation to accompany
+them among the ruins.
+
+"He has been very much occupied ever since we came," she said,
+glancing towards him.
+
+Carew looked quite unconcerned, and merely assented, which made Ailsa
+rather want to shake him. "But it ought to be part of your business,"
+she told him, "to interest visitors in our wonderful old ruin."
+
+"I can hardly imagine anyone needing any incentive to that from me,"
+he said.
+
+Meryl glanced at him humorously. Some new phase she had detected in
+him, since Diana persisted in what she called "baiting" him, made her
+more ready to overlook his bearishness and less quick to feel
+repulsed.
+
+"Will you take me if I promise not to ask any silly questions?" she
+asked, with a smile.
+
+He looked up, and for a brief moment the past seemed to lie still as
+one that is dead. His keen, direct eyes looked straight into hers, and
+he said simply, "I should like to take you."
+
+Meryl felt her cheeks glow a little with sudden, swift, indefinable
+pleasure, and almost at the same moment Diana broke in upon them.
+
+"Do you know, Major Carew, your singularly appropriate nickname has
+been subjected to a little embroidery?... You are now called, after
+the Coeur de Lion, 'The Bear with two faces.'" All in a moment he
+stiffened and the shadow loomed; and while Meryl wondered Diana ran on
+unheedingly, "If I say to you when we meet, 'Which face is it to-day?'
+you will know that I mean, is it your day of lordly graciousness, or
+is it the cast-iron, beware-of-the-bull frown day?"
+
+"I think you are excessively rude, Diana," Meryl said, though she
+smiled with the rest.
+
+Carew smiled too, but he rose from his seat and moved away on some
+small pretence.
+
+And as he went, Meryl, watching with eyes that were daily gaining
+clearer sight, saw that the shadow was as of some deep, unfathomable
+pain.
+
+She too got up and moved a little away from the rest, gazing with
+grave, tender eyes across the kopjes, lying how bathed in a faint
+ethereal flush of rose and gold.
+
+"He had not always two faces," she said in her heart. "Something hurt
+him badly once, and ever since he has taken refuge behind the iron
+mask."
+
+"Rhodesia," her heart whispered, almost without her consciousness,
+"cannot you with your fairness reward him for his work by soothing
+away the memory so that the refuge is no longer needed?..."
+
+A little later, as they all prepared to ride home, she saw how
+resolutely he took his place with the engineer, and hastened on ahead,
+quenching even Diana by the stoniness of his mien.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+A DECISION THAT FAILED
+
+
+As Carew sat outside his hut that evening smoking a solitary pipe, two
+thoughts seemed to fill his mind. The one that he had told Meryl he
+would be pleased to visit the temple ruins with her; the other the
+warning unconsciously conveyed in Diana's raillery, reminding him that
+he was in danger of straying from the rigid pathway he had chosen of
+unsociable aloofness, and therefore in a measure, perchance, inviting
+trouble.
+
+But of course he need not go. A polite message by Stanley, or a call
+as he rode past perhaps, already starting on some convenient
+engagement. Yet as he sat on he knew it was not entirely his wish to
+resort to either subterfuge. Why, after all, should he not go with her
+just once, and no doubt Diana also, and tell them a little about the
+mysterious walls?
+
+He pulled hard at his pipe, staring into the darkness. Why not go and
+get it over, instead of troubling to send an excuse? Surely that were
+the simpler plan? One moment he thought he would, and the next he
+found himself shrinking unaccountably, warned again by Diana's chaff.
+He knew quite well she was right. He was a man, or a bear if she
+preferred it, with two faces; but the trouble was that she should so
+thoroughly have grasped the fact. He had only intended to show one
+face, the uninviting, frigid one; and yet unconsciously she had won
+from him more than one glimpse of the other.
+
+And if he unbent so far as to act as their escort to the ruins, he was
+yielding still further to an atmosphere of friendliness he had
+forsworn.
+
+He turned in at last, still in indecision, but the next morning he
+said he would not go.
+
+So Meryl waited a little forlornly through the morning hours. It was
+unusually cool for Zimbabwe, the hot sun being hidden by grey clouds,
+and she knew no question of heat could possibly be detaining him. She
+had hoped he would call for her about eleven and then come back to
+lunch; but the morning wore on, and no tall figure in khaki strode out
+from the clearing where the police camp stood.
+
+Neither did the afternoon bring any word or sign, until Stanley
+arrived for a cup of tea and to ask them to stroll up to the store
+with him at the head of the valley. Diana agreed readily, having found
+the hours somewhat tedious; but Meryl felt tired and headachy, and
+chose to remain behind. Once, as casually as she could, she asked if
+Carew had gone anywhere for the day.
+
+"No, he's grinding away at his report for the Native Commission, and
+as solemn as a judge. I don't think he has spoken two words all day."
+
+"Is there some special haste then?"
+
+"O no; it is just his mood. He gets a sort of black day sometimes,
+when he barely answers if you speak to him, and looks like a bronze
+figure. Then he grinds away at something or other as if his life
+depended on it, and Moore and I have to just shut up."
+
+When they had gone away up the valley Meryl sat on alone in the shade,
+thinking deeply. Evidently he had some reason of his own for not
+following up his promise, and she need not any longer expect him. He
+did not want to take her, and probably was vexed that he had said that
+he would. It did not seem very polite, but she hardly looked at it in
+that way. Somehow, with this stern-featured soldier-policeman, the
+ordinary amenities of conventional intercourse seemed to have little
+weight. If he regretted his words and did not want to go, she liked
+him better for calmly remaining away, than coming against his wish,
+because he felt he ought. Another man would have done that, any man,
+in fact; only Peter Carew, and a few like him, would calmly change his
+mind and remain aloof without saying anything.
+
+Yet how keenly she was disappointed. It was quite idle to pretend
+otherwise to herself, and with a strength like his she calmly faced
+the fact. When she went to bed the previous night she had lain awake
+thinking of the morrow, hugging to her consciousness with shy
+gladness that he was on the point of unbending at last and showing a
+little friendliness. In a few days now they would be journeying on,
+and she had begun to expect he would remain unbending to the last, and
+let them go away, perhaps never to meet again, with nothing beyond the
+official courtesy and the occasional sparring with Diana. And then had
+come this sudden hope, and she had been strangely glad. One might live
+a lifetime and not again meet a man quite like him. Even if their
+intercourse were to be of the merest afterwards, still it was better
+than nothing, better than a final end to all friendship when they
+journeyed on again, leaving him and the ruins behind.
+
+And now had come this swift disappointment. He must have regretted his
+move instantly, and made up his mind to be more rigid than ever.
+
+She hardly troubled to ask why. Doubtless he had his own reasons, and
+whatever they were, they were nothing petty or small. Her eyes strayed
+a little longingly to the police camp, and she watched the door of his
+hut from her chair securely hidden behind some low bushes.
+
+Was he still grinding at his report, she wondered, looking like a
+bronze figure? The simile pleased her, and she smiled. Yes, bronze was
+the right word to use, for his face and hands and arms were tanned
+almost to the colour of his khaki with exposure, so that he sometimes
+looked all of a piece, except for the close-clipped dark moustache and
+keen, intense blue eyes.
+
+Then as she looked she saw some movement in the camp. A boy appeared,
+apparently in answer to a call, and stood a moment receiving
+directions. Then the tall figure itself appeared, stood a moment to
+give an order, and strode down towards the little gate. She sat up,
+and her breath came a little unevenly. Was he really coming at last?
+Had he, after all, been seriously delayed?
+
+No; outside the gate, without one glance towards the tents on the
+hill-side, he turned to the left and disappeared in the direction of
+the Acropolis Hill.
+
+So there was nothing further to hope for. He would never come now. It
+was the end.
+
+She got up, feeling suddenly a new tiredness, and wishing vaguely that
+they were leaving on the morrow. Perhaps it would be possible to
+persuade her father to do so without exciting much comment. Diana was
+already a little bored with their camping-place and ready to be off,
+and she ... without daring to probe too deeply, Meryl felt, for the
+sake of her own peace of mind, it would be wiser to go quietly away
+from a presence so likely to disturb her peace.
+
+Yes, she would ask her father to plan a move as soon as he came in,
+and in the meantime she must do something herself to pass the next
+hour more helpfully than sitting alone in the shade.
+
+The greyness had rolled away now, and the evening grown exceptionally
+lovely, with clear skies overhead and great banks of pearly tinted
+clouds on the horizons. Where should she go? Only two ways lay open.
+Either she must follow Diana and Stanley up the valley, or she must
+stroll down to the temple alone. The third route lay to the Acropolis
+Hill, and that was formidably closed by the presence of the man who
+should have been her companion. Finally she decided on the temple, and
+tying on the large grey hat that blended so charmingly with her eyes
+and the soft tints of her skin, she walked along the little footpath
+skirting the police-camp vegetable-garden to the western entrance.
+
+Inside the temple walls all was very peaceful and still, while the
+sunshine made a network of gold through the leafy trees upon the
+antique masonry. Yet as she looked around upon the empty desolation
+her heart grew sad with a nameless sorrow; that old, old ache, and
+old, old tiredness, for the utter futility of work and of striving,
+that sometimes seems to fill the human heart, when in a depressed mood
+it looks upon the ruins of something that has once had strength and
+greatness. Meryl carried in her hand a little pocket edition of Omar,
+but she did not open the leaves nor read the lines. In a vague way it
+was enough to have it with her; it was like having in her hand the
+hand of a friend who understood. For of all poets the world has known,
+perhaps none have so perfectly voiced the cry of the human heart when
+it questions the why and the wherefore and the worthwhileness of its
+own mysterious existence. So she sat very still in the ancient temple,
+and pondered the old questions that live from age to age--unanswered.
+
+And because Sorrow seemed for the moment to have her in his keeping,
+all her thoughts were tinged with sadness. She looked around upon the
+broken walls, and it seemed to be brought home to her with sudden
+force, how little time was given to each one to play his part before
+he must make room for another.
+
+     The Bird of Time has but a little way
+     To fly, and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.
+
+And because there was that element of greatness in her, which was also
+in her father, she thought less of the "worthwhileness" of doing than
+of the poorness of _not_ doing. His talents were given to
+money-making, because it was the thing he had a genius for; but she
+knew that in a measure he fulfilled his trust, and besides subscribing
+generously to charities, helped many a "lame dog" over his stile in
+secret. But what had this to do with the trust that was hers? She who
+did not even bear the heat and burden of the day in making the
+money?... She who had but to spend it.
+
+In the ruined temple she sat on--thinking, thinking.
+
+How the spot fascinated her!
+
+In this far Rhodesia, how strange that she, the product of the most
+modern and presumably enlightened age, should linger there amidst
+these broken walls, and feel strange kinship and fascination about
+those old people in that remote age; should stretch a hand out to
+them, as it were, across the centuries, with this feeling that their
+thoughts had been even as her thoughts, and that the passing of the
+ages could never eradicate the essential likeness of one people to
+another in those old eternal questions of whence and why and
+wherefore.
+
+And they, the maidens of that day, had loved the man who was big and
+strong and true, even as the maidens of to-day; the man who achieved;
+who was ever fearless to do and dare; who gave his service to the
+world quietly, unostentatiously, indifferent to praise or reward. And
+what was the use of it all: the love, the heartache, the silent
+admiration.... The maidens were dust now, and all the strength and the
+heroism of the strong men could not give them one age longer to do and
+dare ere they too made room for others.
+
+Yet always--always--deep-rooted in the heart and mind of humanity, was
+this ineradicable belief in the simple act of _doing_; this
+half-contempt of the lives content to flutter their little way in
+aimless self-seeking. The spirit that took men through the terrible
+solitudes of untrodden places, that urged them across uncharted seas,
+that carried them fearlessly aloft to conquer the air--not for gain,
+not for notoriety, not for praise, but just that simple splendid need
+to be _doing_. How it appealed to her, how it enthralled her senses,
+how it made her ache with a great overwhelming desire to discover
+quickly what "doing" in a big sense there might be for her!
+
+Of course he, the stern soldier-policeman, was of the fearless band.
+In his quiet way he was "doing" with the foremost, though it might be
+a work that would never bring him anything in this world but enough
+pay just to live upon. But that was beside the point. The band to
+which he belonged did not linger in the shallows, counting the cost,
+counting the gain; they plunged straightway into the deep waters, and
+struggled to some mysterious, perhaps fugitive, goal ahead, finding
+their reward in the struggle itself and the difficult headway won.
+
+And afterwards!...
+
+O, what did it matter about afterwards, if one had put up a good fight
+and dared the deep waters? How much better to be overwhelmed there,
+than to fritter away a butterfly life in the shallows! How splendid to
+win through and stand on the far bank with the quiet band of strong
+workers, even though no one knew aught of the struggle, instead of
+being lauded to the skies by the playing butterflies!
+
+Only, what could she do; ah, what?
+
+A wave of hopelessness seemed to seize upon her, and back across her
+mind like a lash cut the dictum of the strong, rigid man, "A
+millionaire's daughter can generally be pretty useful if she likes."
+
+Of course, signing cheques, cheques, cheques--a mere machine--and
+never to get in touch with the deep need, the inarticulate sorrow of
+the world that her soul ached to comfort. It would seem that even to
+him, the figure of bronze, it was what she should seek as her
+_métier_. She almost wondered if somewhere in his heart he had a
+faint contempt for her, because she was a millionaire's daughter: a
+product of the new régime; someone who could not be permitted to stand
+in the same light as the women of his ancient, illustrious name; who
+had no part with the proud, patrician ladies of his great family.
+
+She rose to her feet suddenly, feeling unaccountably hurt by the
+thought, and her eyes roved half unconsciously, and fixed themselves
+upon the spot where the scarlet petals of the Kaffir boom showed
+blood-red against the ancient northern wall. The ache in her heart
+coloured all her mind for the moment, shutting out the glad sunshine
+with its golden evening glow resting tenderly upon the granite blocks,
+showing her only the splashes of scarlet like blood upon the ancient
+walls. Was it the altar of sacrifice? Did the Kaffir boom shed its
+great red flowers for ever, like drops of blood upon the altar of the
+world's pain?
+
+The sound of a step upon broken stones roused her suddenly; a man's
+firm tread close beside her. She looked round slowly as it stood
+still, and with the ache and the question lingering in her face, found
+herself looking into blue eyes of a disconcerting directness--the eyes
+of the soldier-policeman.
+
+"I saw you from the Acropolis Hill," he said, "and so I came."
+
+No word of why he had not come sooner; no explanation of his presence
+on the Acropolis Hill when she had a right to expect him with her; no
+preliminaries at all, no self-conscious excuses, no apparent
+realisation that he had behaved a little oddly; only the simple,
+direct announcement, "I saw you, so I came."
+
+Yet there was something more--a vague intangible something, that made
+the directness of his eyes disconcerting in a way it had not been
+before. Meryl felt a pink flush stealing over her face, and turned her
+head away to hide it.
+
+"I wonder what you were thinking about just then?" he said, with the
+slightest softening. "I awoke you from a very deep reverie."
+
+She raised her eyes, and they fell again upon the scarlet flowers.
+Something born of her own deep understanding told her, give this man
+straightness for straightness always if you would stand well with
+him; no begging the question, no subterfuge.
+
+"I was thinking," she answered simply, "that those scarlet petals of
+the Kaffir boom, falling on these ancient walls, suggest great blood
+drops offered, upon the altar of the world's pain throughout the
+ages."
+
+"Ah!..." The exclamation escaped him quickly, unheedingly--sharp,
+short, abrupt. It was as though she had struck him suddenly in a
+vulnerable place. It told her, as perhaps nothing else could have
+done, she had gauged rightly when she remarked to Diana that sometime
+something had hurt him very much.
+
+For a moment there was a tense, pulsing silence, and then he turned
+aside towards the sacred enclosure which stood behind them. Meryl
+turned also, and ventured as she did so to glance into his face. It
+was stern again now, but she knew for a brief moment as he made the
+exclamation it had not been so, and for a reason she did not seek to
+fathom her heart was strangely glad.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+THE ANCIENT RUINS
+
+
+When Carew had started up into the Acropolis Hill an hour previously,
+he had not had the faintest intention of fulfilling his engagement and
+going in search of Meryl. On the contrary, he had gone there to avoid
+her.
+
+All day long, as Stanley described, he had been grinding away at his
+native report in a gruff, determined silence: a silence even gruffer
+and more determined than usual. Because of his thoughts the previous
+evening and of his decision in the morning, he had finally made up his
+mind not to visit the temple with Meryl Pym, and not to run any
+further risk of slipping unconsciously into the friendly attitude he
+was so anxious to avoid. When Stanley set out towards the tents, he
+mentioned casually that he was going up the valley to the store, which
+is also a most attractive and comfortable hostel for Zimbabwe
+visitors, and should ask the two girls to go with him. A little later,
+glancing in the valley direction, Carew saw the khaki figure for a
+moment going up the pathway, and the flutter of a light dress, or
+possibly two, just ahead. He took it for granted that Meryl and Diana
+had both accompanied Stanley, and that his escort was no longer
+expected. He told himself he was glad, and decided to go into the
+Acropolis Hill, about that point of interest still unravelled between
+himself and Grenville, and so avoid any chance encounter.
+
+But when he found himself among the ruined fortifications, he became
+conscious of a flagging interest wholly unlooked for. Something seemed
+to have gone out of him, or out of the ancient stones, and he knew
+himself in some vague way not in tune. He gazed at the amazing walls,
+erected upon granite boulders two hundred to two hundred and fifty
+feet above the valley, and the marvel in him that never seemed to die
+was, at any rate, less arresting than it had ever been before.
+
+Here, on an isolated hill, rising to a height of three hundred and
+fifty feet, were fortifications which in their ingenuity, massive
+character, and persistent repetition at every point of vantage had
+astonished the highest experts of modern military engineering. Rampart
+walls, traverses, screen-walls, intricate entrances, narrow and
+labyrinthine passages, sunken thoroughfares, banquettes, parapets, and
+other devices of a people thoroughly conversant with military
+engineering and defence, and not one word, not one line, not one clue
+as to the identity of the builders nor the object of their colossal
+labours; labours which one felt could only have been achieved through
+the compulsory service of many slaves, for thousands of tons of
+granite blocks had been transported up the precipitous kopje to a
+height of no less than two hundred feet, which a careful examination
+of the rocks on the hill proves must mostly have been quarried from
+granite about twelve miles distant. And all this in spite of the fact
+that Nature alone had made the hill already impregnable, it being
+inaccessible on three sides and very difficult of ascent on the
+fourth. It is one of Rhodesia's mysteries, and one also of its
+fascinations; those mysteries and fascinations which so far have
+effectually baffled all efforts to find the clue and read the closed
+book. Who was it came for gold in those old, old days? Who was it
+built the line of forts to Solfala on the coast to guard the route
+along which the gold was undoubtedly carried, and of which remains may
+still be seen at regular intervals the whole distance? Where was the
+gold taken to from Solfala, and by whom?
+
+And no less strange perhaps is the absence of all clue to the
+burial-ground of this stalwart race; for only a stalwart people could
+have built those temple walls and those amazing fortifications. Where
+then are the bones of their dead? Strange and incomprehensible as it
+may seem, no excavations have yet unearthed human bones, or brought to
+light any spot that might be supposed to have been a burial-ground.
+
+To Peter Carew the mystery and the fascination had become such an
+ever-present companion in his thoughts, that it was not surprising a
+moment should come when he stood among the ramparts and found their
+interest for the time being crowded out. The surprising thing was the
+source of that crowding out. For it was not even the lengthy report
+for the Native Commission to which he was giving such infinite thought
+and pains that filled his mind; neither was it anything to do with the
+police force he had grown to care for as truly as his old regiment;
+nor any far-reaching, visionary dream for the welfare of the country.
+Chiefly it was a pair of grave blue-grey eyes, with a gleam in them as
+their owner said, "Will you take me if I promise not to ask any silly
+questions?" And he had said "Yes." Yet now he was here on the
+Acropolis Hill alone.
+
+He stared moodily at the broken walls and pondered within himself. Why
+had he not taken her? Or why, since he had chosen not to do so, could
+he not put the whole remembrance from his mind? Nay, why did he half
+begin to wish that he had not let himself be overruled by his own
+counsel of prudence? They would be going so soon now, and it might be
+long before he would again be given an opportunity to speak with any
+woman of Meryl's charm, or look into any face so full of attraction.
+And yet that was just what he wished; was actually the chief reason
+for his unsociable resolutions. His own inconsistency puzzled and
+worried him, and his eyes as he looked steadily to the horizon had a
+lurking cloud in them.
+
+Then quite suddenly and unexpectedly he had turned his gaze to the
+temple walls lying far below, and seen the figure seated idly on
+fallen masonry, lost in thought.
+
+Then she had not gone with Stanley and Diana? She had remained behind
+alone, nettled perhaps by his bearishness, and choosing to be
+independent, and still take her stroll to the temple without him.
+
+But it was not the thought of her possible censure that spurred him
+unexpectedly to a new decision. He had accustomed himself to be
+indifferent to that in most people. It was a perfectly simple and
+direct desire to join her. And because at heart he was a perfectly
+simple and direct man, he suddenly left off cogitating and started
+down the hill. Perhaps until that moment he had not truly known which
+way his desire lay. Perhaps in the first discovery he had purposely
+not chosen to give himself time to weigh and probe. Anyhow, he
+hesitated no more, until he stood at her side and looked into her
+eyes with that direct gaze that Meryl so unexpectedly found
+disconcerting. But the sensation passed rapidly, and in its place came
+a quiet content. Whether he had avoided her all day or not, at least
+he came now entirely of his own initiative, and for the time it was
+enough. She was too honest to pretend anything herself, and possessed
+too fine a nature to cover what might have held embarrassment by a
+coquettish taunt or feigned pique.
+
+"I had given you up," she said; "it seemed probable that you had
+spoken unthinkingly when you said you would come."
+
+"I have been working all day at my report," he replied simply.
+
+He seemed a little different somehow, and besides, he had come
+entirely of his own free will. She remembered it, and put away all
+sense of restraint, fought down and conquered the self-consciousness
+that sometimes seemed to grip her when he was taciturn and aloof.
+
+He had placed one foot on a low wall, and leaned back against a tree
+in a natural, unrestrained attitude, and quite naturally she seated
+herself on the wall before him.
+
+"You found it very engrossing?"
+
+"It is interesting work."
+
+"Has it any special object, or just a general one?"
+
+"A little of both. We want to benefit the natives as a whole and
+improve their conditions; and we want also to make some changes in the
+native administration of the country."
+
+"And you are fond of the natives? For you at least they are worth
+while?"
+
+"Emphatically so."
+
+"To any particular end?"
+
+His face grew grave and thoughtful, but the hardening stayed away
+still--the hardening that so often came when either she or Diana,
+sought to draw him. Only apparently to men would he speak of his work
+and his beliefs.
+
+"It is difficult to say. Probably nothing but time will show us the
+true solution of the problem of the black and the white race living
+together in one country. But meanwhile the black man is eminently
+worth while. With firm and just treatment he is capable of great
+development."
+
+He raised his eyes and looked out into the distance. "If only we could
+ensure it for him everywhere! Native commissioners and their clerks
+and the magistrates, all men of fine fibre, who honestly care about
+the natives under them and the welfare of the country. So much could
+be done if ... if ..." He smiled a little grimly. "We are so apt to
+expect the impossible," he finished. "How should numbers of men of
+fine fibre ever reach Rhodesia at all? In so many cases we must just
+take what we can get."
+
+"But the standard will improve as the country grows?"
+
+"O yes; it is improving steadily. All the signs are hopeful, if we can
+but light upon what is truly the best method of administering the
+native laws, and get good men to carry the work out."
+
+And still the heavenly sense of unrestrained mental kinship lingered.
+Happy, yet fearful, Meryl ventured a word of appreciation.
+
+"It must make you glad to feel you are doing such a useful work for a
+young country. It seems as if ... as if ... it is just what a man
+might ask to be doing."
+
+He drew himself up with a slightly taut movement, and she divined he
+did not wish for any personal praise; yet, because a tinge of red
+showed under the bronze, she was glad she had seized the opportunity
+to offer a tribute that might at some odd moment heal a passing sense
+of uselessness and appreciation.
+
+She stood up also, and they moved slowly round the ruins together,
+while he explained to her much that he had read and gathered and
+surmised in his leisure hours, not only about the temple itself, but
+about all the ancient remains and the mysterious people who had dwelt
+there long ago. Told as he told it, the listener could only find it
+enthralling, for the man's heart was in his subject; and where another
+might have rhapsodised or sentimentalised, he only stated certain
+remarkable facts, and gave her the simple reasons for and against
+certain deductions, that she might decide her own view for herself.
+
+"But you?..." she questioned at last. "In spite of the scientific men
+who have scoffed, and their followers who have thrown cold water upon
+all enthusiastic belief in the antiquity of the ruins, you are quite
+satisfied that they are really of a very great age, are you not?"
+
+"Absolutely."
+
+"Can you tell me why chiefly?" She smiled a little. "I believe it
+absolutely myself, but I am afraid it is partly a sentimental belief.
+Already I love them, and it makes me jealous for them. I feel I cannot
+bear anyone to throw doubt upon their antiquity."
+
+"It is not easy to explain in a few words, without a great many facts
+and a lot of detail, but I can tell you one or two salient points. For
+one thing, Zimbabwe was evidently connected with a gold industry on a
+very large scale. Mr. Telford Edwards, a well-known and able mining
+engineer in Rhodesia, measured up, about fourteen years ago, the
+length, breadth, and depth of most of the then known old workings in
+Rhodesia, and calculated the cubic contents of what had been taken
+out. And taking the assay value in each old working to be per ton the
+same as it is in the reef in each case now, he estimated that at the
+present value of gold more than one hundred million pounds' worth had
+been taken out. Even two hundred years ago gold was worth very much
+more than it is now; so that it is inconceivable that such an amount
+had been produced within the last two thousand years without any
+mention of it anywhere. Such a production of gold would have upset the
+markets of the world."
+
+"Yes," she said eagerly as he paused; "please go on."
+
+He did so, but without withdrawing his gaze from the distance.
+"Another point is that the workings are so widely dispersed and so
+numerous, requiring such an enormous amount of time and labour, that
+it seems only reasonable to believe that the gold-mining went on for
+many hundreds of years, probably before the age of writing at all. I
+am not prepared to agree offhand that Zimbabwe is probably the ancient
+Havilah of the Scriptures, but I see no very good reason why it should
+not be. On the other hand, the ancient workings and fortifications and
+temples may have been the work of Phoenicians or Mongols several
+thousand years ago. Certainly against Mr. McIver's theory, that the
+Temple was the work of Bantus a few hundred years ago, I think we may
+put the fact that an admirable drainage system has been
+unearthed;--drainage systems of any kind being more or less unknown to
+black races of a low order. In the meantime, we can but await fresh
+clues, which may put us upon the track of proofs, and hope that the
+day is not very far distant when much of the mystery will be cleared."
+
+"O, I hope so," she said; "and thank you so much for telling me all
+that you have. I shall think of it often when I am back in 'the cities
+of the plain,'" and she smiled a little wistfully.
+
+He did not answer, and she wondered what deep thoughts at the back of
+his brain made him always so grave. She felt instinctively he had not
+always worn this serious, preoccupied air, and her heart grew tender
+anew at the thought of that "something" which had hurt him long ago.
+
+Had he ever told anyone? she wondered. Would he ever tell anyone?...
+or would he go quietly on through his life, self-contained,
+self-dependent, aloof? Well, it was good to have met him and known
+him; a simple, strong soul going quietly about its appointed service
+is always good to have known. Perhaps the recollection of the meeting
+later would help her to do likewise, and in the maze of her life learn
+at least to do the simple, strong thing at the moment.
+
+They were moving towards the western entrance now, and she wondered if
+he would accompany her back to the tents, and perhaps stay a little,
+as Stanley did evening after evening. But just as they approached the
+opening voices were heard, and a moment later Diana and Stanley stood
+in the wide aperture. Diana's winsome face was lit with whimsical
+mischievousness, but it fell somewhat when she beheld Carew.
+
+"O goodness!" she remarked comically. "Who would have thought of
+finding you here?"
+
+Stanley and Meryl laughed at her apparent discomfiture, and even Carew
+relaxed as he replied, "You don't seem entirely pleased."
+
+"Well, no, I'm not; but if you are just leaving it doesn't matter."
+
+"I think I shall stay; I scent some vandalism."
+
+"O well," airily, "if you will have it, we were just coming to dig for
+corpses;" and she tossed her head with an independent air.
+
+"It is strictly forbidden to dig for anything on pain of various dire
+penalties," Carew told her.
+
+"I know it is, and that is just exactly why it interferes with my
+plans to find _you_ here."
+
+"I see. And what about Mr. Stanley, who is also a representative of
+the Government that made the laws?"
+
+"Mr. Stanley is only a trooper, and I am Diana Pym. It is not his
+place to interfere with my actions. It would only be mine to shield
+him if he was persuaded to help me and got into trouble."
+
+"And what in the world do you want with a corpse, Di?" asked Meryl.
+
+"Why gold, of course! Mr. Stanley has been telling me a perfectly
+thrilling theory about corpses with a lot of antique gold ornaments on
+them being buried in the ruins; and he knows where one or two are,
+because a gold-diviner showed him with his divining-rod, and he marked
+the places in case he wanted to remember later; and to-day is when he
+did want to remember later, and he's just strolled round with me to
+point out the spots; and if that isn't a long enough sentence for you,
+you must add some more yourself," drawing a long breath.
+
+The Kid, enjoying himself hugely, hastened to add for Carew's benefit,
+"It's only just a joke. Miss Pym wanted me to show her where our
+visitor of the other day said he had divined gold."
+
+"It's not a joke at all," declared Diana defiantly. "It's the key to
+the whole mystery. While all you scientific folks are arguing this,
+that, and the other, I want to look and see. Besides, if there are
+antique gold ornaments, perhaps a few thousand years old, I want some.
+I'm not specially in love with your old broken walls, but I'm ready to
+be in love with your jewellery, worn a few thousand years ago."
+
+"You Philistine!" exclaimed Meryl. "If you can't appreciate the ruins,
+you certainly ought not to be allowed to possess a single treasure
+taken from them."
+
+"O rot!... What's the use of decayed old walls anyway? You and Major
+Carew can have the heaps of stones. We don't want to rob you of so
+much as a pebble. But we do badly want to dig down and look for a
+corpse."
+
+"And when did you propose to begin?" asked Carew.
+
+"Well, I suppose a moonlight night would be best, when you're rolled
+up in your den or else when you've gone off to a distant kraal."
+
+"You would see a ghost in about half an hour," from Meryl, "and fly
+for your life."
+
+"O, are there ghosts?" looking suddenly dubious. "Did your diviner
+divine any ghosts while he was about it?..." turning to Stanley. "You
+never told me that. Of course, I shouldn't much like to be handling a
+corpse, and feel its ghost put a cold, clammy hand on my shoulder.
+What a horrible idea! Do you think there are any?"
+
+"There might be;" and The Kid's eyes twinkled. "Of course, I supposed
+you would imagine we ran risks of that sort."
+
+"Ugh!..." with a cold shudder. "I believe I can see one now. It must
+have overheard me saying I coveted those gold ornaments. Come away
+quickly. I want ... I want ... now don't look shocked, Meryl; I want a
+whisky and soda!..."
+
+They followed her out from the gathering gloom of the walls into the
+quick-coming darkness, and as she and Stanley pressed on ahead, Carew
+and Meryl could only follow. As they did so they spoke little. It was
+as though some bond of sympathy between them had slipped into being of
+itself outside their consciousness altogether, and with a blessed
+sense of quiet understanding neither attempted to make conversation;
+and neither questioned as yet whence came this unsought bond, this
+link forged as by a power outside themselves. The time for probing was
+near, but it lingered yet a little.
+
+As they approached the tents and joined the other two waiting to make
+their adieux, Diana's voice again broke in upon their quiet,
+dispelling its curious sense of unreality.
+
+"It wasn't you I was afraid of, Major Carew," she called lightly.
+"Baboons and owls and bears I dare tackle any day; but a ghost three
+thousand years old!... ugh!... I give it up!... You will not need to
+add to that precious native report another one, concerning the daring
+theft of a corpse from the ancient ruins of Zimbabwe by a well-known
+young lady from Johannesburg."
+
+He smiled into her laughing eyes in a manner that surprised her, and
+made his face extraordinarily attractive in a way she had not yet seen
+it.
+
+"And what would have happened to Stanley, do you suppose?... I'm
+afraid the police force might have considered it necessary to dispense
+with his services."
+
+"O, that wouldn't have mattered in Rhodesia in the least! He'd have
+opened a butcher's shop, or come on with us as our butler, or gone and
+dug a hole in a kopje and called it gold-mining. No one would have
+thought any the worse of him, and I'd have felt indebted to him for
+life. We'd both have had a run for our money, anyhow!..." and she
+laughed gaily as she turned away.
+
+But in their tent, alone together, she suddenly made the epigrammatic
+remark, "Dangerous, very dangerous indeed; like most bears. Mind you
+don't get badly clawed, Meryl!..." and then with her usual lightness
+ran off into another subject.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+CAREW RIDES AWAY
+
+
+With the coming of the dark, velvety southern night, resplendent with
+brilliant southern stars, it would seem the time for probing was at
+hand. By the tents on the hill-side Mr. Pym, the engineer, Meryl, and
+Diana sat outside in the starlight, rather a silent party, listening
+to the intermittent sound of tom-toms coming from some kraal near by.
+
+Then Mr. Pym alluded somewhat suddenly to their departure, and Meryl
+made the discovery that it was a topic she had been dreading all the
+evening. Diana, on the other hand, seemed relieved.
+
+"I have one more journey to make," he told them, "and then I propose
+to start at once for Enkeldorn and Salisbury. Unfortunately, I am
+afraid this journey will take two and possibly three days."
+
+"Then take us with you," said Diana at once.
+
+"It is an unhealthy district or I would. I do not think it would harm
+you, but I am afraid for Meryl." There was a slight pause, then he
+added, "As we returned to-day we stayed for a cup of tea at the
+mission station with Mr. and Mrs. Grenville. I happened to mention my
+journey, and Mrs. Grenville said she would be delighted if you would
+both go and spend the two or three days with her."
+
+"But I want to come with you," Diana cried; and leaning towards him
+added confidently, "Uncle, you will have to take me; don't make a
+fuss."
+
+"Why shall I have to take you?" with amusement in his small, keen
+eyes.
+
+"Because I have made up my mind to go," was the prompt rejoinder; and
+he gave an amused chuckle.
+
+"And what do you say, Meryl? Will you spend two or three days with
+Mrs. Grenville?"
+
+"I should like to, if Di really wants to go; otherwise we could quite
+well have remained on here, couldn't we?" There was a note of anxiety
+in her voice that she was unable to entirely hide. Only three more
+days, and they to be spent several miles away!
+
+"I do not particularly want to leave you here as long as that. I would
+rather you visited Mrs. Grenville, and I think it would be an
+interesting change. She invited you both."
+
+"It was very kind of her," said Diana, "but I am quite decided about
+wanting to go with you. I suppose we could both come?"
+
+"I think I would as soon go to Mrs. Grenville"; and Meryl sat very
+still, gazing at a distant star.
+
+"What do you think?" said Mr. Pym to his engineer. "Will it be all
+right for my niece to accompany us?"
+
+"Why, yes, certainly, if she takes quinine regularly. It is a
+beautiful neighbourhood. She can either ride her mule or be carried in
+a machila."
+
+Diana clapped her hands, feeling her point was won easily, and then
+added, "Couldn't we take Mr. Stanley with us? He would so love the
+shooting, and he is such good company."
+
+"As I came past to-night I called in and asked both him and Major
+Carew. Stanley accepted at once."
+
+There was a slight movement where Meryl sat, but she did not speak;
+and her father, almost as if with intent, kept his eyes turned away.
+
+"What did Major Carew say?" asked Diana.
+
+"He was uncertain. He thought he might be obliged to go to Edwardstown
+on business, and he left the question open."
+
+Diana laughed. "He wanted to make quite certain sure that there were
+to be no ladies in the party."
+
+"I don't know why he should suppose there were likely to be."
+
+"Possibly not, but he is a cautious man. Anyhow, when you tell him I
+am going he will make ready to start to Edwardstown on business."
+
+So they sat on under the stars, each busy with thoughts. Henry Pym's
+were a trifle anxious. So little ever escaped his clear eyes that it
+was not in the least surprising he had seen whither Meryl's mind was
+trending, almost before she knew of it herself. And much as he admired
+Major Carew, he feared, with the clear sight of a great love, that
+indefinable something that stood as a barrier between the man and his
+outlook upon certain phases of life. Whatever it was, his studied
+avoidance of social intercourse, and his turning his back so
+resolutely upon England and all his people there, suggested to the
+astute man of the world that he had taken out of his life's plan all
+thought of marriage, and was not very likely to turn from his purpose.
+Hence the shadow of anxiety in the father's eyes, for his deep
+knowledge of Meryl told him further that she would neither love
+lightly nor forget easily.
+
+And still the girl herself sat on and made no sign. The joy of the
+evening hour was still too new. Under the stars at present she asked
+nothing better than to live through it again and again in her memory.
+For whereas a woman is often fearful to anticipate a joy for dread of
+a disappointment, afterwards, when the realisation is sure and sweet
+and all her own, she will draw delight from it for many a silent hour
+in quiet contentment.
+
+And down at the police camp the two troopers and the officer sat
+likewise under the stars. Stanley was very full of his trip, for Carew
+had readily given him the two or three days' leave; and in the
+direction whither they journeyed were roan and sable and water-buck
+and probably lions to rejoice the heart of a game young British South
+African policeman with a bloodthirsty desire to kill. Moore, in his
+quaint, Irish way, chaffed him a good deal, as was his wont; for
+though one had received his education at the Bedford Grammar School
+and was a clergyman's son, and the other at a board-school and was the
+son of a small innkeeper, in the Rhodesia police force all troopers
+are equals, and there is a frank camaraderie which is very creditable
+to its members. Carew himself showed very little difference, and in
+the same spirit the homely Moore had received a cup of tea from
+Diana's dainty hands, poured out for him by Meryl.
+
+Only, as they twitted each other in slow, easy tones, neither of them
+attempted to include Carew, who sat a little apart in the darkness
+smoking his beloved pipe; and when they rose to turn in, he merely
+acknowledged their pleasant "Good night, sir," with a short "Good
+night" in reply, and made no movement himself. Even when the lights
+at the hill-side tents went out he still sat on, alone with the night
+and the stars. Later, because he knew he should not sleep, he started
+off up the valley towards the store, feeling a need for action.
+
+And all the time, under the covering darkness, his face seemed to grow
+graver and graver. He was too wise not to know when danger threatened,
+and too direct not to face it squarely at once. And the danger that
+seemed to threaten him now was the likelihood that if he saw much of
+Meryl Pym he would grow to love her, and perhaps she would reciprocate
+his love, and for them both there would be only a great pain. That it
+could by any possibility be anything else did not enter his
+cogitations. According to his own ideas he could not marry, and least
+of all could he marry the only child of a millionaire. And it seemed
+to him further that if he cut off all intercourse at once the danger
+would be averted. He was quite satisfied in his own mind that the
+evident attraction had not had time to sink very far down. In two or
+three days she would go away again and he would go on with his work,
+and it would all be the same as if they had never met. Manifestly the
+chief consideration now was to avoid any further friendliness
+whatever, except the merest courtesy which had obtained at the
+beginning. If possible, he decided it would be better not to meet any
+more at all. When a man is strong in one thing, he is usually strong
+in others; and the quiet strength that had enabled him to break away
+from an old life of leisure and ease and excitement, and build up
+another life for himself on entirely different lines in a new country,
+helped him now quietly to make his decision and try to take the
+simple, direct course, out of a threatening danger.
+
+And yet it was not entirely easy; the simple, direct way very seldom
+is. Byways are apt to have softer grass for the feet, deeper shade
+from the sun, smoother banks to rest upon. The direct, straightforward
+way often goes on mercilessly up the steep hill, having sharp flints
+in its pathway, cold winds, dry dust, untempered glare. But the man
+who dares it with steady eyes usually arrives first at the goal,
+tempered metal ringing true, while he who dallies in the pleasant
+byways may find his armour has grown rusty and his powers lax.
+
+As he walked quietly back to the police camp Peter Carew looked
+straight before him to the dim horizon, and in his eyes there was an
+expression that few, if any, had ever been permitted to behold. For
+the hidden sorrow that was his was his alone, and he had never sought
+nor asked the sympathy of a fellow-creature. In the starlight he
+looked back into the eyes of his dead love, and it was between him and
+her only the sorrow might be shared. As he had loved her memory all
+these years, he would love her still, though in the great loneliness
+of his heart he might be drawn to that one other woman who so
+strangely resembled her and so deeply attracted him.
+
+But Meryl was not for him, the penniless policeman, and he knew it.
+
+The hour spent together in the temple ruins had been too sweet, too
+dangerously sweet, and therefore he would run no further risk. He
+would not go with Mr. Pym, because that might forge a link of
+friendship it would be difficult to break; and he would not remain at
+the camp, because that might involve considerable intercourse if Meryl
+and Diana stayed behind at the hill-side home alone. He would instead
+retire to Segundi on the pretext of meeting the Resident Commissioner
+expected there, and stay until the millionaire's party had departed
+from Zimbabwe for good. It would be as well to start early, he could
+easily manage it; and if he saw no prospect of saying good-bye to Mr.
+Pym in person, he would write him a short note giving some sort of
+explanation.
+
+So it happened the next morning, before anyone at the hill-side camp
+was dressed, a Black Watch boy presented a note to Mr. Pym's boy, and
+a little distance off on the road Major Carew waited on his horse for
+a message.
+
+And in his tent, still in a sleeping-suit, Mr. Pym read the note, and
+looked hard for a moment at the sunshine beyond the open flap, as if
+seeking out there to read, not what was said in the little letter, but
+what was _not_ said.
+
+Then he stood up, slipped on some shoes, and went outside into the
+fragrant morning air. Directly he saw Carew on his horse, he took the
+little path through the scrub and rocks and went towards him. Carew
+alighted, and came a short distance along the path.
+
+Mr. Pym spoke first. The other had already done his speaking in the
+note.
+
+"This is very sudden. I hoped you would have accompanied us to Susi."
+He looked up hard into the soldier's bronzed face, though without
+seeming to do so. To any other man the steadiness of Carew's eyes
+might have been disconcerting.
+
+"I hardly expected to be able to. Mr. Jardine was almost certain to be
+at Segundi one day this week, and I knew I should have to meet him."
+
+"How long will you be away?"
+
+"Possibly a week."
+
+Henry Pym was a little taken aback, but he did not show it. The cool
+brain that had manufactured the income of a millionaire was fully
+alert now, not so much because he did not wish to be taken unawares,
+but because Carew interested him beyond most men, and he wanted to try
+and grasp the working of his mind.
+
+"Then we may not see you again before we start for Salisbury?"
+
+"Possibly not. Will you kindly say good-bye to the ladies for me,
+should I be prevented doing so in person?"
+
+"They will be disappointed not to see you."
+
+"I am sorry also." A little smile of grim humour played suddenly about
+his lips. "You must tell your niece The Bear sent her a farewell
+growl, and he hopes she will find more amiable Rhodesians at her
+future camping-places."
+
+"I think she is not one to care much about the average type of amiable
+cavalier. She will miss The Bear's growl a good deal. But we shall see
+you again shortly, I hope," he hastened to add. "Any time if you care
+to come to Johannesburg we shall be delighted if you will visit us at
+Hill Court."
+
+"Thank you. If I come that way, I shall remember."
+
+Then he held out his hand. Mr. Pym grasped it with unwonted warmth.
+
+"Good-bye, sir," said the soldier simply.
+
+"Good-bye, Carew; I have been glad to meet you," answered the
+millionaire. And then as the horseman rode away without one backward
+look, he walked slowly along the little path to the tents.
+
+At breakfast he broke the news quite simply, but once more he did not
+look at Meryl. He told them Major Carew had been called away to
+Segundi, and would not return before they had departed north.
+
+"Gone?..." echoed Diana blankly. "Do you mean he has gone already and
+without saying good-bye?"
+
+He felt Meryl's eyes upon him with a strained expression, and he
+turned lightly to Diana to give her time to grasp the news.
+
+"Yes; but he left you a message. He passed before you were up, and I
+went out to speak to him. He asked me to make his farewells to both of
+you, and particularly to tell you that The Bear sent you a growl, and
+he hopes you will find more amiable Rhodesians at your other
+camping-places."
+
+But Diana was in no mood for light messages; rather unaccountably, she
+received it with impatience.
+
+"O, he is simply odious!" she exclaimed. "I have no patience with him.
+Why can't he behave like an ordinary man just once in a way? Going off
+at sunrise, and never stopping to say good-bye! It is downright
+rudeness, and there is no reason why he should conclude he can be as
+rude as he likes with impunity. You don't seem to mind his
+bearishness, Meryl? but I hope you have spirit enough to resent his
+casual departure."
+
+Meryl was rather pale, but she managed to reply lightly, "I can't see
+why you seem so surprised. He is only acting as he has done all along.
+It is his affair, whether he keeps it up to the last, or suddenly
+changes altogether and becomes the polite, conventional society man.
+Personally, it would have surprised me far more to see the change."
+
+"O, you're just shielding him," with impatient disdain; "I suppose
+because he happens to be rather good to look at. But I call it rude;
+just plain, unvarnished rudeness to go off like that for some
+trumped-up reason and never say good-bye to you and me. I hope I
+_shall_ meet more amiable Rhodesians elsewhere, and I should like to
+have a chance to tell him so." Then she rattled off into another
+subject, leaving neither Meryl nor her uncle any necessity to help the
+conversation, for which, in their secret hearts, they were deeply
+grateful.
+
+And perhaps Diana's clever little head made an effort which had no
+appearance of an effort; for like the two brothers who had been
+respectively her father and her uncle, very little transpiring in her
+immediate circle ever escaped her notice.
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+"THE SHIP OF FOOLS"
+
+
+Meryl had not been long with the Grenvilles before Ailsa's sympathetic
+nature divined that some shadow seemed to be brooding upon the girl's
+spirit. She was so pensive and silent, with sad eyes turned often to
+some far horizon full of wistful thought. And then perhaps suddenly
+she would make an effort and be unusually gay, but the gaiety was not
+spontaneous nor the laughter frank.
+
+In truth, it had been a weary two days and nights for Meryl, since the
+early morning when her father and Diana, with the engineer and
+Stanley, rode away, after escorting her to the Mission Station and
+leaving her there to await their return. It was as though the very
+abruptness of Carew's departure had crystallised all her wavering,
+uncertain thoughts, and told her bluntly what he was to her. Before
+she had been half dreaming; now she knew.
+
+And it seemed to her that she knew also, beyond any questioning, that
+he had no feeling whatever for her beyond the merest friendliness; and
+since they would probably never meet again, she must, if possible,
+conquer her own foolish heart, and resolutely withdraw the love she
+had given unasked. It seemed to her, at any rate, the strongest thing
+to do, and while she made the effort she would turn a smiling face to
+the world and let no one suspect. If she failed--well, that would
+still be her own affair and no one need know. So she rallied herself
+often and talked gaily, encouraging an interest in all Mr. Grenville's
+plans and hopes that she did not always feel. What she liked best was
+to sit silently before the large sitting-room hut, with her hands on
+her knees, gazing at the wonderful prospect, while Ailsa sewed beside
+her and talked quietly. Ailsa who knew him so well, and loved him so
+well, and appeared to be the only woman friend he possessed. Ailsa
+also who loved this far country so well, the country he had adopted
+for his own land, and seemed quite content, as he, to give the best
+years of her life, in her small measure, to its welfare.
+
+Meryl thought much of the lives of these three quiet workers in the
+wilderness, and mused a little sadly upon what seemed but gilded
+pleasure-seeking emptiness to which she would presently go back.
+
+It was in one of these thoughtful moods she asked Ailsa with plain
+directness how she thought a millionaire might best benefit Rhodesia,
+supposing he were willing to make an effort in that direction. Having
+asked, she added with a light touch, "I imagine you are hardly ready
+yet for libraries and public parks and orphanages?"
+
+"No," Ailsa answered; "but we want settlers badly. Think what it would
+mean to the country if just one rich man or company, instead of
+acquiring large tracts of land and holding it until the price mounts
+to a high figure, were to make a genuine effort to get a white
+population upon it as quickly as possible, even though it meant small
+or no profits. It is too much to expect from any company naturally,
+but there are individuals holding up their land, and therefore holding
+back the country, who might show a more generous spirit. I could name
+a well-known man who owns immense tracts, one of them two hundred
+thousand acres not far from a town, and there it lies in idleness,
+awaiting a land boom. Not long ago it was given out through the
+newspapers that he had a great scheme in hand for getting settlers,
+but nothing has come of it yet, and no one has much hope that it ever
+will."
+
+"I wonder if my father owns land here? Do you happen to know?"
+
+"I think he does."
+
+"And it is lying idle?" divining that her companion knew more than she
+implied.
+
+"As far as any outsider knows, it is."
+
+"I see." Meryl got up and moved down the rustic verandah, standing a
+moment at the far end and looking across the country with grave eyes.
+Then she came back. "Has anyone ever thought of a Rhodes Scholarship,
+that might take the form of grants of land and be won by competition,
+I wonder? Would a scheme like that work, do you think?"
+
+"I have often thought that it would. Besides bringing the settler, it
+would more or less ensure a desirable one, if he had to prove himself
+a useful, hard-working youth of good sound education. But, of course,
+it would mean a big outlay. A man might inaugurate such a scheme to be
+carried out by his will, but he would hardly be likely to do it in his
+lifetime."
+
+"Still, I suppose something of the kind might prove workable if the
+owner of the land were content to forego a large profit, and let
+settlers have farms or plots on exceptional terms, if they could prove
+themselves capable, useful men?"
+
+"Yes, that is very much what we want. The owner of the land a patriot,
+keeping an eye on the scheme himself, and helping it forward for love
+of the country, not holding it back and keeping it idle for the sake
+of his own already well-filled pocket."
+
+"I will sound my father about his possessions," the girl said simply,
+looking to the far blue hills.
+
+Ailsa watched her a moment covertly, and then asked with a little
+wonder in her voice, "The country seems to have taken hold of you very
+quickly. You speak as one who already loves it."
+
+"I love all South Africa. I have always been happier out here than in
+England. In some way it seems more thoroughly my own land."
+
+"Why is that, do you think?"
+
+"I hardly know, unless it is the remembrance that all we have we owe
+to Africa. I believe my father was penniless when he came out here."
+
+"It has been the same with many, but they do not remember. It is more
+usual to come here for gain, and go away to spend it in more luxurious
+countries."
+
+"Perhaps, but it has never seemed to me to be fair. My father is not
+like that. He loves Africa as I do, but he is a very hard-working man,
+and perhaps some things do not occur to him. I think he is up here now
+to see the country, as well as acquire fresh mining properties, and
+all the time he seems so busy and preoccupied, he is probably thinking
+out development schemes of general benefit."
+
+"I hope so," and Ailsa spoke very earnestly. "Your father is a fine
+man; one has only to talk to him to perceive that quickly, and it
+would be a good day for Rhodesia if he began to take a genuinely
+practical interest in her welfare. I know he has talked much of it to
+Major Carew, and no one could tell him more of our hopes and needs."
+
+They were silent a few moments, and then Ailsa added with a touch of
+emotion, "You know, when one thinks of the service some men give so
+quietly and unquestioningly to the far-off lands, it seems, after all,
+but a small thing for rich men who have benefited by them to give of
+their riches. Yet how few ever do! There are more men ready to risk
+their lives than to put their hands in their pockets. But then that is
+just perhaps because they are fools, and fools never make any money to
+give; have nothing, in fact, except their lives to offer."
+
+She smiled with a little twist to her lips, playing fitfully with a
+thread in her fingers. Evidently it was a subject that moved her
+deeply. "Of course, you know the verse from 'The Ship of Fools':
+
+     'We are those fools who could not rest
+     In the dull earth we left behind,
+     And burned with passion for the West,
+     And drank strange frenzy from its wind.
+
+     The world where wise men live at ease
+     Fades from our unregretful eyes,
+     And blind, across uncharted seas,
+     We stagger on our enterprise.'
+
+"Those are the men who appeal to me; the men to whom gain is the
+secondary consideration; who come blindly out just as much to give as
+to take. My husband is one, Major Carew is another, Stanley under
+Carew's influence will become a third. Think of them all, all over the
+world; guarding the frontiers, making the paths, exploring the
+danger-zones!
+
+"Think of the little band now gone into the sleeping-sickness belt to
+investigate the disease, and try to learn how best to cope with it!
+How little reward will they get! how little acclaim! But that is just
+a side issue. They did not go for reward. Disaster shook a
+threatening hand at a splendid young country, and instantly some from
+The Ship of Fools were ready to risk their lives in going to the
+rescue. God bless them for it, and bring them safely back! But in any
+case one knows they will be content, if but the work is carried
+forward and the new pathways rendered safe.
+
+"Those types of men are the heroes of to-day, because the spread of
+the Empire, and the welfare and progress of the colonies, grows every
+year a more important factor to England; yet many a good football
+player, and many a popular actor, will win an honoured name, while the
+man who died at the outposts in some dangerous investigation work will
+pass away unknown and unheard of. But they do not mind, that is the
+splendid thing. They are just fools, fools, fools
+
+     'Who burned with passion for the West,
+     And drank strange frenzy from its wind.
+       *       *       *       *       *
+     And blind, across uncharted seas,
+     They stagger to their enterprise.'
+
+"How many threw up everything at home and came out in the time of the
+Boer War! Think of the men who carried the railways across Canada and
+America, fighting for the pathway, step by step! Think of them in the
+awful climate of West Africa, laughing and playing and singing one
+evening and dead the next! Think of them struggling up here in the
+early days, and undaunted by the horrors of the Matabele rebellions,
+going steadily on with their railways, making their homes! Think of
+them in India! Ah! what The Ship of Fools has achieved in India is
+beyond telling. Only one doesn't feel it in the same way at home. One
+has to come out oneself, and see the path-finders at their work, to
+realise all it means. It does one good just to hear them grumble. How
+shall I explain? It makes you understand that they are the sort of
+heroes who hate to be thought heroic; so they grouse and swear and
+grumble; and talk about a God-forsaken country and a God-forsaken
+existence, and wonder what in the name of all that is wonderful they
+are here for. And perhaps they go off home vowing never to return;
+until the 'strange frenzy' catches them again, and back comes the dear
+Ship of Fools, with every berth taken and the stoutest grumblers
+hurrying to be the first ashore. Fools or heroes, it is much the same.
+I think I have read somewhere that a man couldn't be a hero unless he
+were also a fool."
+
+Meryl got up, and moved behind her companion's chair that she might
+not see the glisten in her eyes, for the longing for that one
+Fool-Hero who had brought such sudden desolation in her heart. Placing
+her hands on the back of it, she leaned over her affectionately and
+said, "It doesn't carry men only, that ship of yours: some of the
+fools are women. O, I know, I know; you are one of the chief among
+them and I envy you." In a whisper, "God knows, I envy you."
+
+Ailsa reached a hand back and laid it over the girl's. "It is very
+sweet of you to say so, but I mayn't accept it. Seeing I have a
+husband like Billy, I should be a very real fool in the most literal
+sense if I stayed away. No, the women-heroes in this land are those
+who face it with a careless, selfish husband, or perhaps in a home
+having no love, and who win through their little day and make no
+plaint. God help them!"
+
+"And you mustn't envy me," she added after a moment, "for presently,
+you will be doing far more than I can ever hope to do. Because it is
+in your heart it will find a way, and then your money will give you a
+great power and influence. Be hopeful, you sweet child," with a little
+playful pat. "Your eyes are over-sad for twenty-four, and sometimes
+when you smile it goes no further than your lips."
+
+Meryl brushed her hand quickly across her eyes, and tried to laugh
+with an attempt at lightness.
+
+"O yes, I will. When I get back home I'll sign cheques, and more
+cheques, it is so easy for me. And I'll persuade father to plan out a
+scheme to bring settlers on the land; land scholarships for
+public-school boys, or something of that sort; and I'll try and
+comfort myself with the thought that in this way he is giving back for
+what he has received. I think I'll take a stroll now it is cooler. The
+others will no doubt come back to-morrow, and this may be my last
+evening in this part of the world. I know you want to worry your
+cook-boy and your head about the dinner, so I'll just go a little way
+alone."
+
+"Very well," Ailsa answered cheerily, guessing that she wished to take
+the stroll in solitude; but as she moved away towards her kitchen she
+said to herself, "Poor little girl! you will comfort yourself you are
+helping your father to fulfil his trusts, and at the back of it all
+quietly, silently, you will be breaking your heart for a man of iron
+who unbends to none."
+
+And along the rocky pathway, that was a short cut to Edwardstown and
+led along a low ledge of kopjes commanding a lovely view of the valley
+which lay between the Mission Station and Zimbabwe's lofty northern
+mountain, Meryl walked slowly, with a sense of desolation she could
+neither gauge nor dispel; and over and over through her mind as she
+looked to the far kopjes passed the lines of England's strong
+woman-poet, Emily Brontë:
+
+     "What have those lonely mountains worth revealing?
+     More glory and more grief than I can tell:
+     The earth that wakes _one_ human heart to feeling
+     Can centre both the worlds of Heaven and Hell."
+
+What have those lonely mountains worth revealing? was the dumb,
+inarticulate cry in her heart. Ah! what?... what?... And it seemed as
+if all the loneliness in the world were brooding over the blue kopje
+and over the spot where the ancient ruins lay, and creeping into her
+heart and her life for ever.
+
+Would he ever come again, that grim soldier-policeman, who just once
+or twice had shown her a glimpse of the strong man's heart behind the
+barrier, and the strong man's everlasting charm?... Or was it indeed
+all finished for ever? Just an episode that came and went and had no
+sequel, except in that brooding sense of a great loneliness upon the
+distant hills and upon the path of her life. She told herself again
+that it must be so; that evidently the momentary softness had been
+only passing moods; that she counted for nothing at all to him, not
+even a friend it was worth while saying "good-bye" to.
+
+With the deep sadness still in her face she turned, because a step was
+approaching round a tall boulder beside her. And a moment later she
+was looking full and deep into Peter Carew's eyes.
+
+"You?..." she said. "_You?_ ..." as if she could not believe her own
+eyes.
+
+He said nothing. Suddenly speech seemed to have gone from him, but an
+expression in his face that was new to her quickened her pulses with a
+strange glad quickening.
+
+After a moment he spoke, and it was as though his whole expression and
+figure stiffened.
+
+"I did not expect to find you here," he said. "I was told you had gone
+with your father."
+
+"Not I; Diana only." And her eyes fell, and a faint colour dyed her
+cheeks.
+
+There was a moment's awkward pause: she remembering his unceremonious
+departure, wondering at his unceremonious return; he nonplussed at the
+trick Fate had played him, bringing him again, in spite of his
+decision, into the sphere of her beauty and her quiet charm.
+
+"I was going to the Grenvilles'," he told her at last.
+
+And suddenly a tiny smile played about the corners of Meryl's mouth.
+"I thought you could not possibly return from Segundi for a week?"
+
+She looked away as she said it, so she could not see the swift
+contraction of his face and the swift gleam in his eyes. For one
+moment, of all things in heaven and earth, he felt suddenly that he
+wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her--roughly perhaps; yes,
+roughly and masterfully, for daring to aim her little shaft at him.
+Instead he replied gravely, "I had to come, because Mr. Jardine wanted
+Grenville's opinion on a particular native question, and it was a
+difficult matter to explain in a letter."
+
+"Then I mustn't hinder you." And she stood aside. "Of course you are
+thinking of starting back to-night and are in a great hurry?"
+
+And then for once the man's armour failed him. "No, I am not going
+back to-night, and I am not in any special hurry. If you were going on
+to the top of the kopje, may I come with you?"
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+AN EVENING CONVERSATION
+
+
+As they climbed slowly up the zigzag path, neither of them troubled to
+make conversation. All in a moment it had come back--mysteriously,
+unaccountably--the sense of understanding, the quiet kinship of
+minds--for her, the sudden utter content at his nearness. While he was
+there beside her, by his own seeking, what did the future matter?--the
+future might wait. It is generally so with women. In the "afterwards,"
+the deepest pain is usually theirs, because it is not given them to
+break away and drown the ache and the longing in action and change;
+but in the present, if he, the loved, is with her, she can forget so
+much in that blessed sense of nearness. The man's ache, perhaps,
+spreads more uniformly over both presence and absence, for in each,
+for him, there is the very human craving to possess.
+
+So they reached the summit, and stood a moment gazing at the prospect
+outspread. A sunset in a novel has become too banal for repetition; it
+seems, indeed, almost the last word in literary mediocrity; and yet at
+the evening hour in Rhodesia, in September, when the rains are nearly
+due, and great masses of cloud begin to gather on the horizon, there
+is again and again a pageant of wonder and colouring to steep man's
+senses afresh at every renewal, as if it was the first time of
+beholding. Nothing banal, nothing mediocre in the actual
+phenomenon--just a riot of colouring, a riot of splendour, a riot of
+revelation. It is not a glory in the west spreading a little way
+overhead. It is an all around, north, south, east, and west, colouring
+beyond all telling--something aloof, overpowering, incomprehensible,
+with the remote majestic splendour of the Rockies, or the Sahara, or
+the Victoria Falls.
+
+Neither Carew nor Meryl spoke. They were of those who know that the
+highest appreciation of all is in silence. But to herself Meryl
+whispered:
+
+     "Lord, Thy glory fills the heavens."
+
+At last he turned and glanced at the little book in her hand.
+
+"You read Omar?"
+
+"Yes. And you?"
+
+"I like Adam Lindsay Gordon better. Omar is apt to undermine a strong
+purpose. Gordon inspires one."
+
+"Doesn't Omar help one to see things as they _are_, and dare to be
+strong in spite of it, while Gordon avoids many essentials, and writes
+chiefly of how we would have things be?"
+
+"But surely the inspiration is the chief thing. The man who inspires
+is better than the man who reveals, and in revealing unnerves." She
+was silent, and he added, "I suppose it is the difference between the
+æsthetic and the practical, and so they appeal to the æsthetic or the
+practical side of man."
+
+She wondered if it were possible such as he should have an æsthetic
+side, and presently said:
+
+"You are all practical, I should imagine."
+
+He glanced at her half humorously. "I wonder why you say that?"
+
+"I don't know, except that one does not usually associate æstheticism
+and strength." Another man might have asked her if she was satisfied
+he _was_ strong, but Carew only looked to the horizon. He was asking
+it of himself instead.
+
+And he asked it, because he was leaning there beside her, alone on the
+kopje top. Suddenly yielding to an impulse he did not seek to analyse,
+he said quietly, "I have never been a great reader of poetry, but long
+ago I was engaged to be married, to some one who cared very much for
+it. Omar was one of her favourites, and sixteen years ago he was very
+little known compared with to-day."
+
+Meryl felt the colour ebbing from her face, and averted her eyes.
+Without any telling, she knew that this woman he had loved sixteen
+years ago was the cause of that mysterious shadow on his life to-day.
+When she felt she had complete control of her voice, she asked, "And
+you were never able to be married?"
+
+"She died." There was a pause, before he added, "You remind me of her
+more than anyone I have ever known." And for both their sakes he
+finished, "That is one reason why I have been glad to talk to you one
+day, and found it perhaps too painful the next."
+
+Meryl felt suddenly as if an icy hand had closed on her heart. His
+meaning to her was so obvious. But she managed to say naturally, "I am
+afraid it has been a great sorrow to you. Was she ill for long?"
+
+"She died suddenly. There was a tragedy. Afterwards I came out here."
+
+"And you have never been back?"
+
+"No, I have never been back."
+
+"But you will go?"
+
+"I think not. When I came away it was like closing a book and writing
+'Finis.' I do not want to reopen the book for many reasons."
+
+"But your people?" she ventured, longing to hear more, yet fearful of
+staying his unexpected confidence.
+
+"I have no people," and his voice was suddenly stern.
+
+"But your home?..." bravely; "your country?..."
+
+"My home is here. My country is here. I am a Rhodesian."
+
+Still with her face averted, she looked to the far kopjes lost in
+thought. She seemed to be realising slowly all that his words meant;
+feeling throughout her consciousness the utter exclusion of herself
+from any plan of life he might formulate. It was as she had seen
+before. His work, the country were everything to him--would continue
+to be everything. Any unusual softness he had shown to her, any
+unexpected pleasure in her company, was just for the sake of a certain
+memory he held very precious, for the sake of what the book contained,
+upon which he had written "Finis."
+
+Of course, she might have known. What should such a man as he be drawn
+to except in friendly intercourse in a girl as young and simple and
+undeveloped as herself? What a madness it had been, what a
+foolishness! and yet how it hurt, how it hurt!
+
+With a sudden blind sense of ineradicable pain, she breathed over to
+herself one verse of the "Immortal Persian" that is not contained in
+many editions:
+
+     "Better, oh better, cancel from the scroll
+     Of universe one luckless human soul,
+     Than drop by drop enlarge the flood that rolls
+     Hoarser with anguish as the ages roll."
+
+What pain there had evidently been for him! What pain for her now--and
+to what end....
+
+     "Tis all a chequer-board of nights and days
+     Where Destiny with men for pieces plays;
+     Hither and thither moves, and mates and slays,
+     And one by one back and closet lays."
+
+She stood up suddenly and brushed her hands across her eyes. This was
+a weakness, and she knew it. He must not know, he must not guess.
+
+But he saw enough to cause him to say suddenly, with quick concern,
+"You are not well. Something is troubling you."
+
+"O no," and she gave a little laugh that he could not but know was
+forced. "I've been rather bothered with a headache to-day. Shall we go
+back?" She had been carrying the large grey hat slung over her arm,
+but now she tied it on, pulling it down over her face, so that he
+could see nothing but the small, firm chin and sensitive mobile mouth.
+And neither could she see that, under or through the rigidity, his
+face wore now a troubled aspect, and his eyes looked to the horizon
+seeing nothing. Why had he come back? he was asking. Why was he
+hovering in the grip of it again, that strong need of the human,
+however resolute, for sympathy, for companionship, for understanding?
+For now, as they stood together alone on the kopje, all the ache of
+the last sixteen years seemed to be merged into one great longing for
+her. And then in his heart he laughed harshly. He, the British South
+African policeman, not even a regular soldier; and she, the only
+child, and sole heiress, of a millionaire father who adored her. He,
+with his tragedy in the background, that he could not speak of, in his
+forty-third year. She young, beautiful, fresh, with all the world at
+her feet. Ah, of course, he had been a fool to run any risk of another
+encounter; and he was sore with the fate that had led him thither in
+ignorance.
+
+And Meryl, walking a little stumblingly over the rough pathway, was
+glad of the big shady hat that hid her eyes and gave her time to pull
+herself together. Of course, that other woman he had loved sixteen
+years ago had been one of his own people--one of those whom the great
+Fourtenay family of Devon regarded as an equal. Whereas she was just
+Meryl Pym, and though many needy peers chose rich wives from across
+the sea, anyone might know Peter Carew was not of these, and would
+sooner shun such riches than seek them.
+
+So they walked back, mostly in silence, only no longer the silence of
+quiet, contented understanding, but rather a silence which she showed
+no inclination to break, and he felt baffled, and worried, and
+anxious. And at dinner, though Meryl made one of her spasmodic efforts
+and contrived to be gay, he remained somewhat preoccupied and
+taciturn. And Ailsa looked from one to the other secretly, and
+wondered what had been said before they reached the Mission Station;
+and felt again that womanlike desire to shake the man for the very
+resoluteness she most admired in him.
+
+When she said good night to Meryl she could not refrain, from just one
+little delve into the perplexing situation. "If you and Major Carew
+met at six o'clock and did not get back until seven, you must have had
+quite a long chat together. Such a new thing for him! I don't think
+even I, his trusted friend, can boast of such an incident."
+
+"We just stayed to watch the sunset," and Meryl turned away on some
+slight pretext. "He certainly was a little more communicative than
+usual. Did you know he was once engaged to someone who died?"
+
+"No," in slow surprise, "I had never heard of it. But then, he never
+speaks of himself, and I did not know his branch of the family at all.
+We lived near London about that time, and seldom went into Devonshire.
+Still, I wonder Billy did not know. Probably he heard it, and took no
+notice. That would be so like Billy. He was perhaps scheming some new
+move for his boys, as he used to call his parishioners."
+
+"Perhaps he would rather I had not mentioned it," Meryl said.
+
+"It will be safe with me, dear. I shall only speak of it to Billy. How
+terrible it must have been! It is impossible not to feel it has
+shadowed all his life. And for her!--he must have been a very
+striking, attractive man in those days. One hears rumours without
+attaching much interest to them at the time, but looking back now, I
+remember my father alluding once or twice to the two brothers as if
+they were very well-known men. But that would be when I was but a
+schoolgirl, and soon afterwards I went abroad for a year with an
+aunt." She lingered a moment longer. "I am glad he told you. It was
+nice of him. And he tells so little. It was a great compliment. Good
+night, dearie. Sleep well."
+
+Meryl sat on the little bed, in the round wattle and daub hut, and
+pressed her fingers against her eyes to still their throbbing. Then
+she looked round at her surroundings, and a little wry smile twisted
+her lips. A rough floor of ant-heap composition and cow-dung hardened
+to cement, with some native reed matting laid down; a small stretcher
+bed; a packing-case for a washhand-stand, and enamel ware. Another
+packing-case for a dressing-table, and a little cheap glass nailed to
+the wall. Walls of baked mud, which had fallen in places, laying bare
+the wattle stems, and a door made from packing-cases which fitted
+badly, and was fastened only by a string and a nail. For ceiling long,
+thin wattle stems converging upwards, and outside a thatch of dried
+grass. And against this in her mind she placed the Johannesburg
+bedroom, with its costly appointments, its beautiful windows opening
+to a wide, flower-decked verandah, which commanded a lovely view of
+distant hills; its lavish display of wealth and luxury. And she smiled
+that little wry smile, because for the sake of just one man, a mere
+soldier-policeman, this room might have been a paradise, and the other
+a grave. In truth she had learnt much from her sojourn in the
+wilderness--much beyond the life and aspect of a far country.
+
+Then she crept to bed feeling tired and disheartened, but finding a
+little comfort in the thought that she would see him in the morning.
+
+But at sunrise Carew aroused Grenville and said good-bye, and rode
+away before breakfast.
+
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+THE CHARTER FLATS
+
+
+Later in the day the party arrived back from Susi, and in the cool of
+the afternoon a last good-bye was said to the mission station, and
+they all returned to the Zimbabwe camp for their last night.
+
+It had been casually mentioned that Carew had paid a flying visit the
+previous evening and gone again early that morning, but very little was
+said about the circumstance. Stanley was already beginning to look and
+feel disconsolate over the approaching exodus, and Diana was very full of
+the fact that she had shot a duyker. "I didn't really aim at him, you
+know," she told Grenville naïvely; "I just held up the gun and pulled the
+trigger. I couldn't believe my own eyes when I saw the buck lying dead.
+All the same I did shoot him, and I've got his horns, and they will
+occupy the place of honour when I get back in my own private sanctum. I
+shall not tell the Jo'burg folk about not aiming; why should I? If I
+describe the buck going at full speed, and how I bowled him over with one
+shot, it won't be any more of a lie, if as much, as most of you colonists
+tell when you get home to civilisation."
+
+"Certainly not," agreed Grenville gravely; "but why not make it a lion
+while you are about it, or even a rhinoceros?"
+
+The Kid began to giggle. "And let it be just charging you," he
+suggested joyfully. "And first you must take a snapshot of it
+charging, and then you must fire into its mouth and blow its brains
+out."
+
+"And you might have its horns polished and mounted and its tail
+stuffed," added Grenville.
+
+"Silly idiots," scornfully. "You're both jealous. If you could have
+_seen_ the things The Kid _missed_!"
+
+"The Kid generally misses," chimed in Ailsa cheerfully. "He gets so
+excited, he quivers all over, and the wild beast, or whatever it is,
+just lollops away, throwing a grin over his shoulder at him."
+
+"If you don't mind," threatened Stanley, "I'll give away your hippo
+story."
+
+"It has increased," said Ailsa's big, schoolboy husband, chuckling to
+himself.
+
+"Impossible!..." ejaculated The Kid. "Surely it had already reached
+the limit of human ingenuity?"
+
+They both spluttered, and Ailsa threw a newspaper at them, but Diana
+demanded to be told the story.
+
+"O, it's only about a hippo in the Zambesi, above the Victoria Falls,"
+began Stanley; "a perfectly harmless hippo really, but it had the
+impudence to look at the canoe in which Mrs. Grenville was travelling
+back to the hotel in the dusk."
+
+"I thought it bumped the canoe up and down on its back," said the
+missionary, still chuckling.
+
+"That came later"; and Stanley addressed himself gravely to Diana.
+"But at one time the story really did stop at the hippo chasing them
+on to an island and off it again, and opening and shutting its mouth
+at them."
+
+"If you had been there you would have been terrified, and had
+hysterics or something," Ailsa flung at him.
+
+"I certainly should at the later period of the story," he assured her.
+
+"When it played catch-ball with them?" suggested the missionary.
+"Threw them all into the air and caught them again in the canoe."
+
+"That wasn't so bad, since it _did_ catch them," said Stanley. "My
+horror would have been when it climbed the tree after them!..."
+
+"That is the part that has increased," put in the schoolboy husband,
+beginning to shake again. "It now jumps after them from one tree to
+another," and then they both spluttered insanely, and Diana joined in
+because it was so infectious, and Ailsa called them all ridiculous
+children who ought to be given a sweetie and tucked up in bed.
+
+A little later the cavalcade got under way, and Grenville and his wife
+stood waving to them somewhat sorrowfully from their wilderness home.
+
+"They are dear people," Ailsa said; and added, "O, Billy, if Major
+Carew would but come out of his shell and love Meryl!... I am sure she
+cares for him ... and she is so sweet ... and he--O, he is just like a
+figure of stone."
+
+Grenville pinched her ear affectionately. "Little matchmaker! No one
+by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature; and no one by just
+wishing it, I am inclined to think, can influence the little god Cupid
+whither he will aim his arrow. Perhaps, perhaps not; that is all there
+is to say ever."
+
+The next morning after a very early breakfast, the travellers started
+on their way to Enkeldorn _en route_ for Salisbury. And at the top of
+the valley, whither they walked to save the mules, both girls stood
+and turned for a long last look at the grey walls of the ancient
+temple, lying in a soft haze of morning mists. It seemed to Meryl it
+had never held a deeper fascination, a stronger allurement. Just those
+old, old walls, and the soft enfolding mists which must have enfolded
+them even so for perhaps three thousand years. The red of sunrise was
+still in the sky, for Mr. Pym was an early starter, and it tinged the
+mist with a soft flush where the sun's rays had not yet lit a clearer
+light.
+
+"It was good to come," said Diana simply. "I have to thank you for
+it."
+
+But Meryl only smiled in response. She had nothing to say. She felt
+she was leaving behind with the ruins the best memory her life would
+ever hold. Then they climbed into the ambulance waiting for them, said
+"good-bye" charmingly to the lonely dwellers at the store and hotel,
+with whom they had had some pleasant chats, drinking tea and admiring
+the lovely view from their delightful huts, and went clattering away
+down the road, their faces turned to the north.
+
+And in the valley they left behind there was desolation.
+
+Carew arrived back at his quarters, grim and taciturn, in the evening,
+to find Stanley looking a veritable image of disconsolate hopelessness
+in spite of Moore's persistent droll badinage.
+
+"O, what did they want to come for," he groaned, "if they had to go
+away again?"
+
+"Faith!..." said the astute Irishman. "Did ye ask either of them to
+share your little wooden hut?..."
+
+But The Kid paid no attention. As Carew stood a moment beside him,
+filling a pipe, with a cold, expressionless face, the youngster
+glanced up with a momentary gleam, and remarked, "Eh, sir? But women
+are the devil, aren't they?"
+
+Carew said nothing; but with a low chuckle Moore ejaculated, "Come,
+give the divil a chance; we find him very accommodating sometimes in
+auld Erin."
+
+Stanley got up and stretched himself. "Days and weeks of desolation
+now," he moaned; "and we were so happy and content before. Moore, old
+chap"--giving that harmless individual a smack on the back that nearly
+knocked him over--"yours was the wise choice when we spoke of gifts
+from heaven. I said, 'Give me millionairesses,' and you, with the
+wisdom of the ages, said, 'Give me whisky.' I'll take a little now and
+hope for the best."
+
+And still Carew said nothing. The pipe was filled and he slowly lit
+it. Then unexpectedly he tapped it with light significance. "This is
+the best friend of all," he said, and went away into his hut.
+
+Stanley glanced after him a moment with a curious expression.
+"Gad!..." he murmured. "Was our bronze image a bit hit too? He looks
+fierce enough and stern enough to be resenting a dent."
+
+In the meantime the travellers reached the Charter Flats, and decided
+to camp there for the night. They had travelled for some time along
+the sandy tracts, enjoying the sense of space all around and the wide
+horizons, and both Mr. Pym and the girls were loth to hurry away. It
+is customary to dread these wide sandy tracts, and either hurry across
+them or avoid them; but to these city-dwellers their vast calm held a
+deep allurement; for though only scrub and sand stretched from horizon
+to horizon, with occasional little strips of stunted trees, the clear
+southern atmosphere lent a lovely effect of light and shade and
+colour. Many large patches here and there were blackened with veldt
+fires, but these in the distance formed delicate shadings that
+enhanced the charm of a strip of yellow sand or young green grass or
+purple-shadowed wilderness. It was like a world that contained only a
+colour scheme; no dwellings, no humans, no landmarks, no hills and
+valleys, no roads: just delicate shadings and haze as far as the eye
+could see, with no clear line between earth and heaven. They might
+have been looking over the edge of the world into a delicately tinted
+space, so boundless it seemed, so unfathomable, so remote. They
+pitched their camp on a little rising ground, near a slow meandering
+stream that crept lazily across the miniature desert. And when the
+dusk came down the effect was more unusual still, for the flats are on
+high ground, and the heavens seem to stoop down all round, hanging a
+dark curtain, decorated with brilliant stars, on every side. Across
+all the world no sign of human life, no sound; only vast emptiness
+everywhere--above, around, below; and for companions, worlds and suns
+and solar systems.
+
+It is a scene in which a man may seem to get very close to his God;
+not a remote, incomprehensible Deity, dwelling vaguely beyond the
+stars, but a Presence that is in the breathing silence and the velvety
+deeps at hand. And a man may meet himself there also; not the aping,
+grinning, chattering mask of a personality custom more or less compels
+him to wear in the crowd, but the hidden, mysterious being, conscious
+of a soul beyond his ken, that in such quiet hours desires eternally
+some goal, some good, afar off. The indestructible, incomprehensible,
+infinite hunger, that lies as a germ in every human heart and is man's
+best attribute, in that it raises him for ever incontestably above the
+beasts that perish, and stands serene and steadfast as the Rock of
+Ages, the one barrier past which the materialists and the scientists
+cannot go: the divine spark within the human, which no theory can
+account for and no learning of sage or cynic obliterate.
+
+The travellers sat round a glowing fire, for the night air was keen
+and cold; and much that is inevitably disturbing in the friction of
+daily being and daily doing seemed to fall away from them and cease to
+exist for that one wonderful night. And the next day, when the small
+black attendant brought their early tea and opened wide the tent-flap
+to a brilliant morning, yet another picture awaited them. This time it
+was a world decked with enormous diamonds. Tall, sparse grasses leant
+over and whispered to each other outside the tent, and every ear and
+every seed was hung with a lovely brilliant dewdrop. Out beyond was
+that same vague, remote, fathomless horizon, painted now with
+wonderful rose tints, where the rising sun caught the lingering mists
+and merged the dark streaks of blackened veldt into the general scheme
+with a softness of shading beyond all description. Meryl lay still,
+gazing with her soul in her eyes, but after a time Diana sat up.
+
+"It makes me ache almost like the Victoria Falls did. I wonder why God
+painted such lovely scenes where no one ever came, or scarcely ever,
+to see them?"
+
+She was silent a moment, then ran on again, "We fight and sweat and
+struggle for diamonds, and God hangs them on the dry grass, in the
+wilderness. Meryl, I wonder if we shall ever see anything quite like
+this again? And they told us to avoid the Charter Flats!... I suppose
+God feels about it something as we do. He knows most people like
+Brighton parades and Durban sea-fronts, so He lets them arrange their
+own sights; and for Himself, in far wonderful places, He paints scene
+pictures, and plants lovely gardens, and fills them with birds and
+flowers and sunshine, and splashes down upon the world, in some remote
+corner, a glorious colour scheme, just for his own delight."
+
+Meryl raised herself on her elbow, with a little tender smile. "And I
+suppose He said to Himself, 'I will let Diana and Meryl Pym see one of
+my secret, treasured places'?"
+
+"Yes, exactly. And though I don't hold with saying grace before meals,
+because, since God made us, it seems the least He can do to enable us
+to obtain food to keep us alive, I will say a grace this morning to
+Him for letting me see His colour scheme on the Charter Flats at
+sunset and sunrise."
+
+A little later they had a fragrant breakfast of liver from a buck the
+engineer had shot about daybreak; and that is a delicacy known only to
+those who fare forth across the veldt, and have a bright wood fire
+burning in readiness for the spoils of the hunt directly they are
+brought in.
+
+Then they started away again across the flats, once more moving in a
+vague world of soft shadings, with only the long sandy road
+stretching away into space behind them and before. And sometimes,
+before the sun mounted too high, they found themselves moving across a
+space of gold and bronze, where grass that had not been burnt shone
+like amber in the morning glory; and again presently a space of
+loveliest emerald-green, where the grass had been burnt early and the
+new blades were already sending up joyous blades into the sunlight.
+And sometimes a Kaffir-boom tree added a splash of brilliant scarlet,
+painted upon a canvas of soft, hazy shadings; and sometimes the veldt
+showed them a little piece of her flower-carpet--the carpet that was
+to spread broadcast presently--of delicate-tinted lovely flowers in
+reckless profusion upon a ground of rich terra-cotta soil.
+
+Neither girl talked. It was not a scene to talk in. It did not call
+for raptures and exclamations; only for dreaming and absorbing. It
+seemed as if it might have been the spot where God rested upon the
+seventh day, so utter and absolute and complete was the sense of
+detachment from all the exigencies of being and doing.
+
+Two verses of a poem by Arthur Symons repeated themselves in pleasant
+rhythm in Meryl's mind:--
+
+     "I leave the lonely city street,
+     The awful silence of the crowd;
+     The rhythm of the roads I beat,
+     My blood leaps up, I shout aloud,
+     My heart keeps measure with my feet.
+
+     "A bird sings something in my ear,
+     The wind sings in my blood a song
+     'Tis good at times for a man to hear;
+     The road winds onward white and long,
+     And the best of earth is here!"
+
+
+
+
+XIX
+
+THE CONVENTIONALITIES ONCE MORE
+
+
+Later in the day they reached Enkeldorn and once more pitched their
+tent beside the police camp; but the place is not inviting, and they
+were glad to leave early the following morning; for Enkeldorn is the
+centre round which many Dutch people congregate to farm small farms,
+in what it must be confessed is often the most slovenly and lazy
+fashion conceivable. And some of them speak quite openly of how they
+hate the English, and look forward to a day when they will be strong
+enough to turn them out of the country.
+
+But before that day can come, before union with a South Africa in
+which there is Dutch predominance, it is to be hoped England will send
+out more and yet more strong, vigorous young settlers, to put brains
+and heart and energy into the virgin soil, waiting only for the
+craftsman's hand; and so ensure for ever, in union or out of it, an
+unswerving predominance of Cecil Rhodes's countrymen: holding his high
+aims and hopes and splendid Imperialism in Cecil Rhodes's land.
+
+Two days later the party arrived in Salisbury, and not a little to
+their regret, the fashionable garments that had travelled thither by
+train to await their arrival had to be duly unpacked and worn. Diana
+glanced at herself disconsolately the first afternoon, dressed in an
+elegant summer frock, awaiting tea in a drawing-room, and one or two
+lady callers known to Mr. Pym who were likely shortly to arrive.
+Meryl, seeming lovelier than ever, though perhaps a trifle frailer, as
+if some sadness in her mind weighed upon her waking and sleeping
+hours, stood at the window, looking over the pretty, well-kept town.
+
+"Why are we here? This is not the wilderness," Diana said grumblingly;
+"this is suburban mediocrity. It was not fair to bring me all this way
+from home, to have to dress up and look pleasant, and talk banalities
+to people I have never seen before and probably shall never see
+again."
+
+"You are so inconsistent, Di," Meryl said, with a little affectionate
+laugh. "When we arrived at Zimbabwe you said you did not want only old
+ruins, you wanted a man. Judging by the number of cyclists in
+flannels, carrying tennis racquets or golf clubs, who have passed this
+window in the last half-hour, you will find more men, ready no doubt
+to hang upon your lightest smile, than you will know what to do with."
+
+"I don't want them," with an impish pettiness. "I hate young men in
+flannels. I hate houses. I hate afternoon frocks. I hate clean hands.
+I hate having to be polite. I want The Kid, giggling insanely at his
+own silly jokes. I want The Bear's den and The Bear inside it. I want
+to have grubby hands and old shoes and a red face, and eat things in
+my fingers, and forget I have heaps and heaps of money for the simple
+reason that it is no earthly use if I have."
+
+Meryl smiled softly and wistfully. "I wonder what they are doing?... I
+think they will miss us. It is extraordinary how Zimbabwe gets into
+one's heart. I have never seen anything anywhere that appealed to me
+quite like those old walls, with their untold story and their patience
+of the ages. The Sphinx in Egypt may be older, but we know how it came
+to be there and who built it. One of Zimbabwe's fascinations seems to
+be the absence of all knowledge about it, of all why and wherefore."
+She broke off as a Cape cart drove up to the door. "Here is someone
+coming to call. I think it is Mrs. Cluer, by father's description."
+
+"Then bother Mrs. Cluer!" snapped the peevish one. "In this country I
+wonder if people say they are 'out' or 'asleep' when they do not want
+to be found 'at home'?"
+
+But Mrs. Cluer knew both Major Carew and Stanley, so the conversation
+was not quite so uninteresting as Diana had anticipated. She was,
+moreover, a woman of exceptional charm, and at any other time they
+would both have lost their hearts to her.
+
+"You probably did not see much of Major Carew," she said. "He is the
+most unsociable man in the country. One can get him to a man's
+bridge-party, but not much else; and most of us have given up trying.
+I expect it is partly his own doing that he is down there. He always
+manages to get work that takes him out on the veldt, if possible."
+
+"He appears to like it," Meryl commented; "and Mr. Stanley and his
+companion are very fond of him, in spite of his unsociable ways."
+
+"O, all the men are fond of him," she told them, evidently glad of an
+opportunity to sing his praises. "He never gives himself any airs with
+them for one thing, and he's just a man all through, living a clean,
+sportsman's life; and whether they do the same themselves or not, they
+all look up to him and admire him for it, without being afraid he will
+come down like a sledgehammer upon their failings. One knows the tone
+of the whole police force is better for having an officer like Major
+Carew, and it is a thousand pities there are not more like him. And
+Cecil Stanley is just the dearest boy in the world. Every one in
+Salisbury was fond of him. He is so good at games and dancing, and
+always so jolly and boyish and natural. We miss him badly, but I
+believe he likes being down there better than in the town."
+
+"I think he does; he seemed perfectly happy."
+
+They went on to speak of the gaiety of Salisbury; its golf and tennis
+and polo and dancing; and their visitor urged them to stay for a
+fancy-dress ball, when four hundred guests all in costume were
+expected. But neither of them were in the mood for balls, and the only
+attraction they cared about was an early-morning gallop with the
+hounds after jackal. Nothing could solace them for the careless, happy
+days they had left, and as soon as Mr. Pym had transacted his
+business, they persuaded him to take them out to Lomagundi with him,
+rather than be left behind in the town.
+
+"They seem to be rather touchy ladies here, and so superior," Diana
+urged, when he demurred; "and you know I am never safe for two minutes
+with that type. I should be driven into saying appalling things, and
+our reputation might be ruined for ever."
+
+In the end, as usual, they won him round, and departed one morning
+gleefully in the little toy train that runs out across the Gwebi Flats
+to the Eldorado Gold Mine. And to Diana's joy, they had a luggage-van
+fitted up as an impromptu saloon for them, and were able to spin along
+with both doors wide open, enjoying the air and the country. The
+Eldorado is the show mine of Rhodesia, having a native compound equal
+to any in South Africa, and charming bungalows for the staff, and an
+airy, comfortable hospital. But mines were not likely to hold much
+interest to lady travellers from Johannesburg, and all their eagerness
+was to go out to Sinoia to see the limestone caves, where, like an
+exquisite jewel in a massive setting, an underground lake, of
+wonderful colouring, lies in lonely loveliness.
+
+Or perhaps it were better likened to a butterfly, with its wings
+closed, and only the more or less drab outside showing. The veldt,
+somewhat uniform and colourless, with its surrounding hills, is the
+butterfly with its wings closed. Enter the wide hole in the ground,
+beside the hidden lake, and descend the rough natural staircase of
+rocky boulders, to where the sun through an opening in the ground
+above shines down on to the translucent water, and there lies the
+butterfly with its wings open, and all their exquisite design and
+colouring and blending unfolded to the eye.
+
+"You have some rare treasures in this far Rhodesia," Meryl said to
+their guide and host as they reluctantly left the hidden jewel behind;
+"treasures that your children and your children's children will be
+very proud of some day."
+
+"If they have time," he answered a trifle cynically. "Not many
+Rhodesians to-day have time to care for any but the treasures that
+they can work for and grasp and carry away. The time for natural
+beauties to be appreciated is not yet. Why, we do not even pay a
+native half-a-crown a week to keep the caves free from the baboons and
+bats that defile them. I am afraid, at present, Rhodesia lives almost
+entirely for to-day," he continued. "The spirit ready to sacrifice
+itself for the good of future generations has yet to be developed." He
+was a clever-looking man, with quiet, thoughtful eyes, and he and
+Meryl had talked much together during her short stay. "The nobility of
+the bee is not found much among humans. In all the annals of the race,
+is there anything to compare with their service to the coming swarm?"
+
+"Only that we do not know it is the result of calm reasoning," she
+answered. "The bee perhaps comes into existence, permeated through and
+through with this one idea, and lives solely to fulfil it. The service
+humanity asks of humanity is something even higher, surely--a
+willing, conscious sacrifice of present ease to future good. The
+spirit of heroes and fools"; and she smiled a little sadly,
+remembering Ailsa Grenville's verse and her enthusiasm for the dear
+Ship of Fools. "But you have some fine men out here," she added. "I
+think your future looks exceedingly hopeful."
+
+A few days later they started on their return to Bulawayo, and the
+tour was practically ended. There was nothing more now but dusty
+railway journeys and elegant garments and conventionalities.
+
+"No more grubby hands and red faces and 'anyhow' clothes that did not
+matter," was Diana's constant lament. Meryl said nothing. What was
+there to say? But the pain that dwelt in her eyes sometimes, when she
+thought no one was looking, sent deep stabs to her father's heart.
+With all his money, and all his power and influence, what could he do
+in this one thing that seemed to matter beyond all other things?
+Nothing except to look quietly on, and hope the wound was not too deep
+for healing. That, and to humour her in anything she asked. Which was
+partly why some of the long hours of the hot, dusty journey were spent
+in discussing plans for the settlement of young men upon his land, on
+exceptionally easy terms. He was not quite sure that the country was
+ripe for such a scheme yet; but Meryl's great wish for it, and obvious
+pleasure in the discussions, took him to lengths he might otherwise
+have avoided.
+
+So they came to Bulawayo, and as they stepped out on to the platform,
+Meryl saw suddenly among the other passengers a tall form in khaki
+that caused her to draw in her breath with a little catch, while her
+eyes grew strained and anxious. Diana was still in the saloon, only
+half dressed, and her father was talking aside to someone who had come
+to the station to meet him. She was quite alone, rooted momentarily to
+the spot, waiting for the tall man to turn in her direction, if he
+chanced to look that way at all before hurrying off.
+
+Then someone accosted him, and she saw the strong, self-contained
+face, as he turned to the speaker. A moment's suspense followed; then
+the man who had accosted him went towards the station entrance, and
+Carew came slowly in her direction, with his helmet low over his eyes.
+Thus he did not see her until they were face to face, and in the
+first moment of recognition she saw him start, as one taken in swift
+surprise. Then a slow colour crept up under the sunburn on his cheeks,
+and something came into his eyes that she had never seen there before.
+
+But he only came forward with a formal air and saluted her solemnly.
+"I joined the train in the night," he said. "I had no idea you would
+be coming to Bulawayo so soon."
+
+It was all very ordinary, very sedate, and a little wooden, but Meryl
+paid no heed to that, paid no heed to the obvious conclusion he had
+taken no chance journey hoping to see her again. For what his lips
+could not say, and his manner would not, his eyes had revealed to her
+in that first swift moment of surprise. She knew that whatever came
+between them in the future, whatever was between them now, Peter Carew
+was not indifferent to her.
+
+
+
+
+XX
+
+FAREWELL
+
+
+"Did I hear the growl of a bear?" sang out a voice from behind a drawn
+blind of the saloon coach beside which they were standing.
+
+"I'm afraid you did," said Carew, addressing the blind.
+
+"O, joy! joy! Growl again, growl again--like the Christmas bells. How
+would it go?... 'Growl out, wild bear'--I forget the rest, but it's a
+silly song I learnt to sing when I was young. Don't go away; I shall
+be dressed directly. If these God-forsaken railways had not such a
+mania for landing you at your destination when all respectable people
+are snug in bed!..." and sundry sounds suggested the impatient speaker
+was flinging things about. Then a face with bright eyes appeared over
+the blind, which was a wooden shutter, and could be lowered to a
+discreet distance. "Hullo!... I simply had to take a look at you. I've
+been pining for a glimpse of The Kid's smile and your scowl. It's been
+deadly since we left Zimbabwe. Ugh!... how I hate civilisation!"
+
+Carew looked at her with his rare, slow smile. "Is that why you keep
+the whole train waiting in the station, and the station-master,
+conductor, and guard in a state of ferment, because they cannot clear
+the line until you are dressed?"
+
+"Rude man!" came back the quick retort. "You haven't yet said, How do
+you do?"
+
+"How do you do, Miss Diana Pym?" gravely. "I hope I see you well! And
+how did you leave Salisbury?"
+
+"I do very nicely, thank you, Major Carew. You cannot see me very well
+through a wooden shutter, I imagine. And how is your old heap of
+stones?" ... with which she vanished again to the interior. "Tell the
+conductor I've come to the last curl and the last hook and eye," she
+called, and a few minutes later stepped out on to the platform, a
+vision of fresh daintiness. "I'm rather glad," she remarked to Carew,
+with a twinkle, "that you will have an opportunity of seeing us in our
+best clothes"; then running on, "I see you look as fierce and
+awe-inspiring as ever; but having learnt, in Rhodesia, to keep quite
+calm with cockchafers and beetles running about in my bed, I am not
+likely to be afraid of a bear."
+
+"Are you going to the Grand Hotel?" Mr. Pym asked him, having joined
+them while Diana was finishing her toilet, "because there is plenty of
+room in our motor."
+
+Carew thanked him, and they all moved away together. At the hotel,
+however, he vanished, and it was only after a little adroit persuasion
+later that Mr. Pym got him to accept an invitation to dine with them
+in their private room in the evening.
+
+And after accepting, Carew went about the work that had brought him to
+Bulawayo with an uneasy mind. The fortnight that had elapsed since the
+evening he found Meryl unexpectedly at the Grenvilles' had been a
+somewhat disturbed one for him. For many years now his life had flown
+so evenly in all big essentials. Little worries, little disturbances,
+disappointments, were inevitable for a man whose heart was so
+thoroughly in his work, and for whom the conditions of work were often
+so trying. But these had only ruffled the surface; underneath the
+smooth river flowed along strong and self-contained. After the
+upheaval that had been as a volcanic eruption upon smiling
+sunshine-flooded fields in his life, and the black desolation that
+followed, there had succeeded a long quiet period of calm action that,
+if it held nothing which could be termed joy, held nothing either that
+was sorrow except his buried memories. And he had been well content
+that it should be so; well content to contemplate just that and
+nothing else to the journey's end.
+
+And now, suddenly, had come this vague unrest. He sought for its
+source and its reason, and could not find a satisfactory answer. For
+though it dated from the coming of the millionaire and his party, he
+would not admit himself capable of the folly of falling in love with
+Meryl. To him it was such inexcusable foolishness, in view of many
+things. Rather he chose to believe it was a voice from the old life,
+reawakened in his heart, and calling to him across the years. When he
+smoked his pipe outside the huts, and pondered deeply some knotty
+point in his report and in the work of the Native Commission, he found
+himself suddenly remembering that it was September. And away in his
+beloved Devon they would be out after the partridges--striding
+through the heather and across the stubble-fields, ranging over the
+purple moors with purple horizons all round, and in the distance a
+strip of turquoise, which was the sea. He could almost hear the whir
+... rr of wings and the shots on some far hill-side. And he knew that,
+though the shooting in a wild, vast country like Rhodesia is a far
+finer and more sportsmanlike affair than shooting driven birds in
+England, he yet felt, and would ever feel, that intense British love
+of the soil that had reared him, and the moors where he fired his
+first gun and shot his first bird. And, of course, upon the heels of
+the shooting came the hunting, which had once been the joy of his
+life, ever after he first put his pony at a stiff fence, entirely on
+his own, and sailed gloriously over, in spite of an anxious groom
+shouting caution to the winds.
+
+And then all the woodcraft and fieldcraft he had learnt from his
+uncle's keepers and his uncle's farmer tenants. He remembered how it
+had been part of his education as a youngster, and how in pursuit of
+knowledge he had been up early and late and in the middle of the
+night, picking up information about the woodland creatures from anyone
+who could teach him or finding things out for himself. There was the
+poacher who had shown him, for love of the sport, if sport it could be
+called, how he got the pheasants silently off the boughs in the
+night--taking them from their roosting-places and never a sound. He
+had given that poacher a bright half-crown, he remembered, and his
+firm lips twitched a little over the recollection. He had not seen the
+humour then of paying the man who was stealing his uncle's
+pheasants--the pheasants that would some day be his. He wondered if
+the boys in England now, the future landowners, were taught woodlore
+as he had been taught it, because it was good for an English gentleman
+to know all the scents and signs and sounds of his estate.
+
+And after all, he was no landowner at all. By his own act, instead,
+merely an officer in the British South Africa Police, with a few
+hundreds a year income, and nothing but a meagre pension ahead.
+
+Ah well! he had had a good deal besides for what he had lost, and it
+had been a good life enough, dependent solely on himself, and far
+removed from the caprices of a rich uncle. He regretted nothing at
+this stage of what had transpired after the upheaval came. Of course,
+his brother was now owner of the estates that might have been his, and
+was married, and had children; whereas he was a soldier-policeman
+looking forward to a meagre pension.
+
+Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered. It was only that, seeing so
+much more of the Pyms socially than he had been wont to see of anyone,
+old memories had been awakened. He hoped they would soon go to sleep
+again, for, in passing, they had taken some of the restfulness out of
+Rhodesia's far horizons, and fretted the flow of the strong, silent
+river, with a vague discontent. Sometimes between him and those far
+horizons there was a face now--sometimes a voice--sometimes just a dim
+presence--the voice and the face and the presence of Meryl Pym. And it
+was a thing to be fought down and crushed and conquered--a weakness
+that was well-nigh a foolishness--a folly such as stern men trample
+underfoot.
+
+So when Mr. Pym asked him to dine with them privately, he made some
+excuse, and only yielded under pressure. And when he joined them he
+was in one of his gravest moods, as if he had barricaded himself round
+with impenetrable reserve. There were two other guests, so Diana did
+not twit him openly; she only murmured in an aside, for his ear alone,
+"I'm so sorry it's a party, and we shall feel obliged to be polite.
+This civilisation is becoming a positive burden."
+
+Meryl was a little late, and she wore a beautiful gown, of a classic
+cut, with exquisite classic embroideries and a filigree band on her
+lovely hair. It was the first time he had seen her in evening dress,
+and he took one keen, sweeping glance and then looked away. He had
+rather the attitude of a soldier on parade, to whom the colonel had
+said "eyes front." Only he was his own colonel, obeying his own laws
+and restrictions. And Meryl only dared to take a fleeting glance also,
+for fear her eyes might betray her. And though he looked as striking
+as a man may, in immaculate evening dress, with his strong, clear-cut
+features, and inches that dwarfed most men, with the inconsistency of
+a woman she decided she liked him best in khaki that had seen hard
+service, and that look of being all of a piece, because his hands and
+face were so brown. He sat on her left, while Lord Elmsleigh, who was
+passing through from the Victoria Falls, sat on her right; and though
+she chatted lightly to his lordship, she was conscious every second of
+the hour of the big, silent, rather grim soldier-policeman. He spoke
+very little. Just an opinion now and then when he was asked for it, or
+the corroboration or correction of a statement, when someone looked to
+him questioningly. The millionaire, chatting in his quiet, weighty way
+to his two other guests, noted everything. He knew that Carew and
+Meryl scarcely once looked at each other, or addressed each other
+direct, and with a deep sense of regret he had again that feeling of
+being brought up against some barrier where neither his money nor
+power nor influence could be of any avail. And at the same time he
+knew in his heart that he had never met any man to whom he would
+sooner entrust Meryl and the fortune that must be hers. For though
+their very silence together revealed to his astute brain that neither
+was indifferent to the other, he could not but see also that
+undercurrent of grim determination in Carew. True, he was almost
+always silent, but Henry Pym perceived that his silence to-day was not
+quite of that of yesterday. Something had gone out of it--some quiet,
+grave, unquestioning content. In the keen, direct, steel-blue eyes now
+there was a shadow lurking behind, that might have been of some old
+memory, or might have been of some new pain, but which vaguely hurt
+the millionaire host.
+
+Meryl's eyes were less smiling than her lips, turning a little
+unsteadily this way and that, with a restlessness that added a touch
+of vivacity to her quiet beauty. But that, he knew, was the thing we
+baldly name pluck. It was not to-night he need fear what he should see
+in her eyes, nor perhaps to-morrow. It was any day, any hour, any
+moment in the weeks to come, when she believed no one was observing
+her.
+
+So the evening passed, and the last rubber of bridge was played, and
+the first move made towards departure.
+
+"Shall we have your company for a day or two? I must stay here over
+to-morrow!" Mr. Pym said to Carew.
+
+"I leave early in the morning," was the quiet reply. "I only came here
+to see Mr. Ireson, and now I go to Salisbury."
+
+Meryl, with her face turned away, blanched a little in the shadow.
+This was the end then. This casual, conventional good-bye at a
+dinner-party. To-morrow he would go east before they were up; and the
+next day she would go back to Johannesburg, and later England. She
+turned quickly to make a gay remark. Something in her heart tightened.
+She felt suddenly appalled at the future, and was afraid she might
+show it.
+
+But the evening had still one little unexpected treat in store for
+her. Lord Elmsleigh had a big-game trophy in his room that he wanted
+to show Mr. Pym and their other guests--something that he had shot in
+the Kafue valley. And in consequence, while Diana and Carew and Meryl
+were standing together by the open window that led on to the wide
+balcony, he took them both off with him.
+
+And then Diana said to Carew, "As you are going to-morrow, I will give
+you those snapshots to-night. I have them in my room," and she went
+away, pulling the door to after her.
+
+So Carew and Meryl were left alone by the window, looking out into the
+pulsing southern night. Meryl, quite suddenly, felt a little dizzy,
+and she drew back into the corner, leaning against the woodwork,
+feeling glad of some support. Carew remained upright and rigid, with
+something in that very rigidity that suggested a special need to keep
+himself well in hand. If he had stopped to think about it, he might
+have felt that Fate was treating him a little unkindly. So far he had
+done the strong thing every time, and gone quietly away from danger;
+not because he was a coward, but because he knew it is sometimes far
+more cowardly to skate on thin ice, and hope it will be all right,
+than to remain in safety on the bank. For Meryl's sake as well as his
+own he had chosen to remain on the bank. And yet here, for the third
+time, was Fate deliberately bringing the danger zone to him, in spite
+of his efforts to avoid it. But he did not stop to cogitate either one
+way or the other. Sufficient for him that he knew himself in the
+danger zone, and therefore it behoved him to be very wary. Not by act
+or word, if he could help it, must he let Meryl see how she had
+disturbed his peace. And there, again, it would seem, Fate had played
+with him. A subtler man would have perceived that an added rigidity
+was not entirely the safeguard he needed now. Meryl already knew him
+too well for that. Had he talked and laughed a little, she might have
+been puzzled and baffled. But Carew was not subtle. He was simply
+sincere. And so he just stood very rigid and silent; not perceiving
+that in the circumstances that it was hardly the best way to baffle
+the eyes of love. Meryl knew instinctively he was putting some special
+restraint on himself, and the knowledge made her quietly glad,
+underneath the sudden pain of the knowledge that it was farewell.
+Back, in her vantage of shadow, she looked at him. And she saw, not
+for the first time, but perhaps more fully, that inner force in this
+man, which told any who had eyes to see and understanding to perceive,
+that nothing would turn him from a set purpose, if he were persuaded
+it was a right one; and whatever woman's arts she might possess, they
+would be as the waves against a granite rock. They might play round
+him, and sprinkle foam on him, and soften his aspect, but they would
+not _move_ him. So, with an inner strength not unlike his own, she
+accepted his decree. For some reason, or set of reasons, love might
+not come into being between them. He was determined that it should
+not. Very well, she would hide her hurt and face her future without
+it.
+
+And if she chose to cherish his image, hidden deep down in her heart,
+that was her affair. A laughing, mocking world need never know.
+
+She broke the silence first:
+
+"If you are going early to-morrow, we shall not meet again."
+
+"No." He looked at her a moment, about to say something else; then
+changed his mind, and looked out of the window in silence. Leaning up
+against the lintel, in the softened light, her outline and features
+and deep, true eyes made too fair a picture for him to trust himself
+to look upon.
+
+"Perhaps you will be coming to Johannesburg presently?"
+
+"I think not."
+
+"Nor England?..." with a little wistful smile.
+
+"Nor England."
+
+"You speak almost as if you never expected to go there again?"
+
+"I shall never go there again."
+
+There was a pause; then she continued:
+
+"Yet you are so absolutely an Englishman, and they say"--with another
+little smile--"an Englishman always wants to go home to be buried."
+
+"I am more a Rhodesian."
+
+"And you feel like Cecil Rhodes?... We went out to the Matopos this
+afternoon. It was a big thought, that of his, to be buried there. It
+gives you people in the north something that we of the south have
+not--your own special great man, lying in your midst. What a country
+you will be some day! I envy you your share of the building."
+
+"The south is a great country _now_. It is not a small thing to be
+building there."
+
+"Yes, but we have two races, and it spells division and weakens our
+enthusiasm."
+
+"Help to bridge over the gap. Help to make it spell union. That were a
+work that any man might be proud to give his life to."
+
+And at that slowly she became taut and rigid almost as he, with wide
+eyes gazing into the night. He had struck a hidden chord; struck it
+full and strong.
+
+"Do you mean," she said a little breathlessly, "that though my
+sympathies are so much with the north, my work, any usefulness I may
+attain to, ought to be given to the south?... that ... that ...
+perhaps it belongs to it?..."
+
+He was silent a moment, weighing his words.
+
+"I think," he said, "that you in the south are passing through a
+critical stage, and there must be much need for strong women as well
+as strong men. Dutch Predominance is the cry now, but the scales turn
+easily, and it may be English Predominance to-morrow. No country can
+make real headway, and consolidate its greatness, while there is this
+changing and interchanging of power. There must be no predominance but
+that of the country's good; and to that end Dutch and English _must_
+be merged into South African. It is the duty of every true patriot to
+look this way and that, and see how it can best be achieved; and to be
+ready to sink all personal aims and triumphs for the furtherance of
+the great end."
+
+"Is it possible," she asked slowly, "when it seems one side only is
+honest in its protestations?"
+
+"You cannot be sure about that. Seek out the strongest and best men of
+both sides, and help them to gain the power and hold it. Your own side
+is not without blame. At the first big election after the country was
+settling down again, you could not even stand together. At the polls
+there were three parties, where there should have been only two.
+Englishmen opposed Englishmen, mostly over a question of small
+differences, and for personal pride of place. South Africa has never
+yet recovered from that mistake. You must not hold two hands out to
+the Boers--the hands of differing Englishmen--but _one hand_, that is
+absolutely reliable and sincere."
+
+"It is what I have heard my father say, and others also, but progress
+is very slow. There is much racial hatred rampant still."
+
+"It will yield gradually. The fittest must prevail in the end; but
+obviously that fittest will prove to be neither Dutch nor English, but
+South African."
+
+"How do you think it will prevail?" She was white now, and her eyes
+were gazing very straight out into the night.
+
+"By intermarriage chiefly. It is almost the only solution to the
+problem. Speaking one tongue, owning one country, will never help it,
+as Dutch and English interests united upon one hearth. That is why you
+must be patient, and just go steadily on, avoiding dissension as much
+as possible, while trying to raise the tone of both races on every
+side."
+
+There was a little tremor in her voice as she said, "And are we to
+take it just meekly when Englishmen are ousted for Dutchmen and loyal
+service ignored?"
+
+"I think you can only be patient at present. The strong part will lie
+with you, though the others seem to triumph. If the party in power
+find the country is at a standstill, and not progressing as they want
+it to, they will end by rearranging the public posts, and the
+Englishmen will come back because they are the fittest. As a race, you
+know, we are inclined to be domineering and somewhat overbearing. We
+certainly have ourselves to thank for some of the trouble. Probably
+while the Dutchman is 'top dog' he is having his fling, and we are
+learning a little wholesome wisdom. When the reaction comes the
+country will be the gainer."
+
+"And in the meantime intermarriage?" she questioned slowly.
+
+"In the meantime intermarriage," he said, with quiet emphasis.
+
+But he little dreamt that at the cross-roads he was pointing her to a
+path of tears.
+
+They heard Diana returning, and he moved restlessly.
+
+"If I do not see you again"--with a hesitating voice unlike
+himself--"I hope you will be very happy.... Meeting you has been a
+great and unexpected pleasure."
+
+"Thank you," was all she could trust herself to say.
+
+And then Diana came into the room.
+
+A moment later the other men returned, and they all said good-bye. And
+when Carew shook hands with Meryl, he noticed that her hand was as
+cold as ice and her cheeks as white as snow, and that she scarcely
+raised her eyes to his face.
+
+And wondering and fearing, he walked away into the darkness, with the
+sense of a new shadow walking beside him--a shadow that had come to
+stay, in spite of all his resolutions and strong endeavours, the
+shadow of his love for the woman he had just left in silence and never
+thought to see again.
+
+
+
+
+XXI
+
+A "HOARDING HUSTLING"
+
+
+There was probably no family in Johannesburg better known or better
+loved than that of Henry Pym, the millionaire. Even Aunt Emily was
+something of a favourite, in spite of her peculiarities, perhaps a
+little for the sake of the delightful entertaining that took place at
+Hill Court. Diana was adored for her spirits, and Meryl was regarded
+somewhat as a treasure Johannesburg had a right to be proud of.
+Certain it was that if eventually she followed the example of her
+American cousins and enriched an English peerage with her wealth, she
+would hold her own amidst the loveliest and most charming of England's
+peeresses. At the same time, though many perhaps hoped that she would
+lead the way for the young South African heiresses, not many had much
+belief that she would lead it in the particular fashion they hoped;
+for there was ever that uncertain elusive quality about Meryl, that
+suggestion of the visionary and dreamer, that betold a nature not very
+likely to follow in any beaten path, or give overmuch value to the
+advantages of a high alliance from a worldly point of view. It was
+probable she would see things in quite a different light to the
+majority and act for herself. Nevertheless Johannesburg hoped for the
+best, and would have been pleased to number a peeress among her
+daughters; if it were only to show the world, for one thing, that some
+of South Africa's heiresses were every whit as refined and clever and
+charming as America's, whatever may have been implied to the contrary
+by scathing comments on Johannesburg's millionaires which have
+appeared from time to time in varied guise.
+
+Mr. Pym himself, however, was not among those who nursed such high
+hopes. When he took the Piccadilly mansion the preceding spring, and
+transferred his household to London for the season, he meant to
+entertain lavishly, and give the girls every possible opportunity to
+see the world of the highest London society, knowing full well he
+could do this because his friends numbered many among England's high
+names. That he should take them into the wilds of Rhodesia instead had
+certainly been the very last thought in his mind. On the other hand,
+as we have said, it did not greatly perturb him. He was inclined to
+think they might gain as much from their pioneer pilgrimage as from a
+rush of continuous gaiety. What exactly they _had_ gained it would
+have been difficult to gauge; nothing perhaps that Aunt Emily would
+detect, fussing and exclaiming round them upon their first arrival.
+
+Diana, in a mood for merriment, and possibly to cover a certain
+invisible shadow that rested as a dim cloud upon the party, rouged her
+face to a brilliant red with an alarmingly fiery nose end. When she
+lifted her veil and confronted her aunt with a perfectly unconcerned
+smile, that lady raised her hands in horror and bemoaning. "O, my
+dear!... my dear!... your complexion is ruined. How could you be so
+careless? How could Meryl let you?... It will take weeks of care to
+undo the mischief."
+
+"O, don't make a fuss, aunty! Complexions don't matter tuppence-halfpenny
+in Rhodesia. You surely didn't imagine I was going to carry a
+sun-umbrella about, did you?"
+
+"But my dear child!..." still in great distress. "It is a dreadful
+thing to say, but you really look as if ... as if ..." but there her
+courage forsook her, and she could not name the dreadful possibility.
+
+"As if I had been drinking!" finished Diana cheerfully. "Yes, it's a
+little awkward, but perhaps if I don't lurch or look foolish ..." Then
+she encountered the astonished eyes of a young footman, who had come
+in with some small paraphernalia from the motor, and unable to keep
+her face, turned hurriedly away.
+
+"I'm rather afraid James is going to have a fit," she remarked to
+Meryl. "I hope it won't incapacitate him for the rest of the day," and
+she chuckled to herself. Meryl had not yet raised her veil, and the
+anxiety on Aunt Emily's face, which she vainly strove to hide, was
+delighting Diana more than ever. "Better not take your veil off
+downstairs, Meryl. Aunt Emily has had rather a shock from my face; I
+don't think she could bear any more."
+
+But the poor lady's concern was too pitiful to Meryl, and she threw
+her veil far back, saying, "She is a wicked creature, aunty. Her face
+only wants washing"; and then Aunt Emily, reassured and comforted,
+joined in the general laugh.
+
+"But soap and water won't remedy all the defects," Diana told her.
+"I've acquired a violent dislike to houses and rooms and tableclothes
+and clean hands, and all the absurd paraphernalia of civilised
+existence. Of course, I suppose I shall become rational again in time,
+but at present I thought of having a tent on the lawn and becoming a
+hermit."
+
+"How is everyone, Aunty?" Meryl asked, as the poor lady seemed again
+somewhat overcome. "Have you had hosts of visitors while you were all
+alone?"
+
+"Yes, people have been very kind, and I have not had much time to be
+dull; and everyone is delighted you are back again. Mr. van Hert has
+called twice this week to know which day you would arrive."
+
+Meryl's lips contracted a little, but Diana murmured, "Oho!... Dutch
+Willie! ready to be on the doorstep, of course, in spite of the
+hullabaloo you've been causing in the country, unrestrained by my
+caustic criticisms."
+
+"I expect he thought he would make hay while the sun shone," Meryl
+told her, "and air his pet theories while they were not in danger of
+being stamped on."
+
+Then they both went upstairs, and Meryl stood awhile at the wide
+window, looking over the lovely garden; and though she still answered
+kindly to her aunt's flow of chatter, the good lady having followed
+them to their room, her heart was far away among distant kopjes, where
+mysterious grey walls basked in the sunlight with the silence and the
+patience of the ages.
+
+For the next two or three days a continuous stream of visitors passed
+up and down the drive, and invitations poured in, and the girls found
+themselves quickly in a very vortex of social life.
+
+William van Hert did not come until the third day, and then he chose
+as late an hour as he well could, hoping to escape the throng. This he
+succeeded in doing, but Diana he could not escape. If it had been his
+hope to see Meryl alone he was entirely frustrated. Diana's small,
+practical head perceived the wisdom of avoiding all haste in what
+these two might have to say to each other, and van Hert had to bow to
+her decision. Still further, he had to undergo a small fire of chaff
+with an edge to it, concerning some of his political doings and
+sayings during their absence. But this from Diana he could always
+take. Whether she knew it or not, and whether she cared or not, at the
+time she probably wielded a more direct influence over van Hert than
+anyone else living. Certainly a more direct influence than Meryl and
+her father, for whereas his liking for them only tempered his rashness
+and indiscretions, Diana aimed shafts straight at any of his rabid
+policies in a manner that caused him secretly to reconsider. Yet all
+his devotion was drawn to Meryl in her fairness and quiet strength,
+and the hope of his heart was still to win her.
+
+As it happened, it was a very white-faced, silent Meryl who sat on the
+deep verandah that afternoon of his first call, and was content
+chiefly to listen to Diana waging her usual war. That astute young
+person had much to say, in her own slangy phraseology, concerning
+certain utterances of the Dutch extremists, openly derogatory to the
+English, and seemingly opposed to any spirit of racial conciliation.
+
+"Why don't you try and teach your people to play the game?" she asked
+him, with a fine scorn. "Do you hear any of our eminent men haranguing
+about 'keeping down the Dutch' and 'steam-rollering the Dutch,' and
+without any hesitation openly speaking of themselves as a separate and
+superior race? Whatever our men think, they are at least sportsmen
+enough just now to keep it to themselves, for the sake of the hopes
+and aims of the country. But you apparently allow your following to
+say anything, and either pretend not to hear or take no notice. Listen
+to this, said by a predicant of the Dutch Reformed Church...." She
+picked up a pamphlet, lying near, and read aloud: "'We are a nation
+with our own taal, traditions, and history. We must now stand shoulder
+to shoulder and hand in hand for the rights of _our_ people.... May
+God give _our_ people strength to be unanimous!' Unanimous in what?...
+Why, forcing the issue of the language question according to their own
+ends, and retrenching English teachers, and generally looking upon
+themselves as the superior, chosen people whom God meant to reign
+alone in South Africa."
+
+"My dear young lady," he remonstrated, "can you blame me for the
+unwise, indiscreet utterances of every Dutch predicant who opens his
+mouth?"
+
+"Why, of course I do. You are a leader, and you ought to protest
+openly against any such utterance; but naturally, if you only consider
+it unwise and indiscreet, you don't regret the purport of the words at
+all, merely their being uttered at perhaps the wrong time. Well, that
+sort of spirit isn't 'cricket,' as we understand it; and your
+attitude, in professing to hold out a hand to the English section,
+while the other is making secret signs to the Dutch, is what we call
+trying to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds; and that is an
+experiment being attempted by far too many of your colleagues just
+now."
+
+"I am doing nothing of the kind," he repudiated indignantly. "I am
+standing by my countrymen, that they may maintain the dignity of their
+nation and not be trampled under foot by the English."
+
+"O fiddlesticks! No one wants to trample you under foot. We mostly
+want to raise you. We want to broaden your outlook and widen your
+views. But you know perfectly well that that means a great united
+country, for the back-veldters might learn at last where strength lay;
+and then your precious taal, traditions, and history will have to take
+their proper place in the general scheme, and that will be on a plane
+of equality and not blatantly on top."
+
+Again he protested with outspread hands. "But we have a great country
+now through union. You overlook the most important fact."
+
+"We should have had," she corrected, "if the Bond in Cape Colony, and
+Het Volk in the Transvaal, and the Unie in the Orange River Colony had
+not chanced to be powerful enough to work almost entirely in the
+interests of a Dutch South Africa all the time they were waving a
+flag, and cheering the colours, and delivering orations on the beauty
+of Union and their love for the great Mother Country, meaning the
+Liberal Government, who mostly, it would seem, told them to do as they
+like and please themselves and not make a fuss, so long as they called
+it Union."
+
+He turned to Meryl with a deprecating air, as if asking for her
+support, and she smiled rather a tired smile and said, "It is only
+that she has had to bottle it all up for a long time, as you were not
+at hand. The next time you come she will be ready to smile on you."
+
+"But I hope in the meantime you do not endorse the slander?..."
+
+"I have plenty of hope to balance a certain amount of doubt; and if it
+is any pleasure to you to know it, Diana never troubles to cross
+swords with a man she has not considerable regard for."
+
+He flushed and looked gratified, and Diana remarked coolly, "O, I've
+lots of regard for you. I'm only sorry that a man who might be
+brilliant is content to be mediocre because of his prejudices. Now
+when we were in Rhodesia ..." and she paused, regarding him with the
+bright, piquant eyes of a small bird.
+
+"Well, what about Rhodesia? You didn't find much brilliance there, I
+imagine? Brilliance does not thrive on bully beef and existence in a
+mud hut."
+
+"Neither does 'back-veldt' obtuseness and narrow-minded bigotry and
+indiscreet loquacity, Meinheer van Hert."
+
+He could not help laughing at the droll way she made the statement.
+"Well, what does thrive?"
+
+"Silence," thoughtfully.
+
+"But that did not appeal to you?" with significance.
+
+"Not perhaps so much as the growl," was her enigmatic reply.
+
+"And did you like this wild, wilderness land of silence?"
+
+She regarded him with half-grave, half-mocking eyes. "Well, we
+understood why _you_ want to have a finger in Rhodesia's pie, you and
+your various active organisations working in the interests of a Dutch
+South Africa. Any child could see what such a country would be worth
+to you. But you won't succeed, my friend. They've got a few strong men
+up there who believe in 'to-morrow' more than 'to-day,' and are not
+afraid to forego present honours for future progress. You won't bribe
+them, and you won't hoodwink them, and you won't get them. They may
+not have much weight or power or money to back them, but there's
+something in the atmosphere up there, something in the very air, that
+would tell anyone with a grain of perspicacity they could be dangerous
+if they liked. I shouldn't rouse the sleeping lion in Rhodesia if I
+were you, Meinheer, you and your colleagues, with coercion or anything
+else--that way lie explosives."
+
+At that moment Mr. Pym joined them, and the conversation at once
+became general, though van Hert laughingly told his host he had been
+undergoing a regular hoarding hustling. Then he told them of a few
+happenings since they went away, and because he was as glad as he
+could be to see them back again, all his natural versatility came
+uppermost, and one could easily perceive why he was a leader of men,
+and likely to remain so.
+
+"If only one could make him see straight," said Diana, when they spoke
+of it afterwards, "instead of with the warped vision of a one-idea'd
+fanatic."
+
+Later she tried to draw Meryl a little concerning her attitude towards
+him, but Meryl would only maintain an unrevealing silence, and Diana
+was baffled and troubled. She felt vaguely that some new thought was
+forming in Meryl's mind, some thought that held danger, but she could
+not grasp in what direction it tended.
+
+And van Hert smoked his pipe with a very thoughtful air that evening,
+pondering deeply. Meryl had neither encouraged him nor repulsed him,
+and she seemed just the same and yet different; and once more that
+half-formed dread came back to his memory that through Rhodesia he
+might lose her.
+
+And then he thought he would put the uncertainty at an end quickly and
+learn his fate as soon as possible; for he was treading on rather thin
+ice in his public capacity just now, and a strong coalition against
+him, which was rumoured in the air, might place him in an unpleasant
+position.
+
+On the other hand, Mr. Pym's support and Meryl's charm might prove
+weapons which would see him safely through, and help him to mould his
+position anew on broader lines.
+
+But for another three weeks Diana successfully baffled his intention,
+influenced by that vague fear she could not fathom, and a futile,
+helpless desire to ward off some pending destiny. And in the meantime
+she puzzled her small head daily concerning the invulnerable silence
+and aloofness of Peter Carew, and the blue shadows deepening under
+Meryl's eyes, though she strove hourly to be ever her old self and
+show no sign.
+
+
+
+
+XXII
+
+MERYL'S DECISION
+
+
+Although van Hert had no opportunity to reopen the subject of his
+hopes to Meryl during those three weeks, she knew quite well that he
+had in no wise changed to her. His every look showed it, and an
+intangible something in his manner whenever he addressed her. And all
+the time, though her heart was given hopelessly elsewhere, she felt
+herself in the grip of circumstances that might determine her action
+against her inclination.
+
+It would be difficult to relate just what passed in her mind through
+those three weeks, while outwardly she moved in the whirl of social
+happenings dependent upon their return with all her usual charm and
+dignity. Certainly she was rather quieter than usual, but as Diana
+talked and laughed faster, possibly with intent, the change was not
+noticed. She was specially quieter when van Hert was there, and Diana
+was specially talkative; entertaining him, rallying him, teazing him,
+in a way that, at any rate, brought out his best side, and in a sense
+buffeted the bigot good-naturedly into the attractive companion. And
+it seemed to show Diana at her best too, for behind all her flippancy
+there was undoubtedly a purpose and a depth which she would not for a
+moment have admitted, but which nevertheless was sincere and true.
+
+"Of course, I don't really care either way," she would tell him
+mockingly. "You may have a Dutch South Africa and welcome, if you
+won't interfere with my personal schemes and general affairs. I've
+nothing modern about me, in the sense of wanting to reconstruct the
+world generally and be a Joan of Arc to my retrenched compatriots. But
+when some of you talkers get up and express high-flown sentiments of
+brotherhood and union for the benefit of the public Press one moment,
+and swerve right down and wink at such sentiments as steamroller the
+English or the finances or the language question the next, it is time
+you had a little wholesome plain speaking. Anyhow, who _did_ vote the
+money for the new Government buildings?..."
+
+But whether Diana cared or not, one thing was certain: the utterances
+of that well-known minister William van Hert were showing gradually a
+higher and broader tone, and an atmosphere of conciliation was
+beginning to spread over his hitherto rabid sectarianism.
+
+And van Hert himself found it went well with his feelings to exchange
+wordy battles with Diana and keep his dreams for Meryl. The younger
+girl invigorated and enthused him, while the elder, curiously enough,
+appealed more to his senses. He wanted her fairness, as a strong, dark
+man often feels himself drawn to a woman who is frail and fair. And
+yet even while he wanted her he was a little afraid of her, a little
+baffled, a little uncertain of himself.
+
+Thus the three weeks passed, and the moment of the inevitable decision
+came near.
+
+And all the time Meryl felt herself rather as one who stood upon a
+difficult, stony place, with the forbidden land behind her and the
+clear call of a great need before. She believed that she would never
+see Carew again; that definitely and forever he had cut the threads of
+deep sympathy both had known existed. It was his dictum and she could
+only abide by it. What then should she do with her life? To what end
+turn this existence, blessed by fortune with wealth and the power
+wealth brings, though suddenly swept bare of joy?
+
+And ever and again back to her mind came Carew's words that last
+evening at Bulawayo: "Help to bridge over the gap. Help to make
+division become union. That were a work that any man might be proud to
+give his life to."
+
+And every day, more and more fully, she recognised that whatever she
+had to give she owed to South Africa. She gradually thought herself
+into a state in which she existed for herself and her own inclinations
+no more, but only for that sacred claim upon her.
+
+For the spirit of noble deeds, the spirit that carried Joan of Arc to
+the rescue of her country and to martyrdom, is not dead in the world,
+though no modern historian may depict a woman in armour leading allied
+armies on the battlefield. In quieter guise, in hidden corners, in
+unsung self-forgetfulness, women still answer to the divine call that
+sounds in their hearts, more inspiringly perhaps than in a man's; and
+for the everlasting good of the human race let us hope it will never
+cease to sound.
+
+Lamartine has said: "Nature has given woman two painful but heavenly
+gifts which distinguish her from the condition of men, and often raise
+her above it: pity and enthusiasm. Through pity she sacrifices
+herself; enthusiasm ennobles her. Self-sacrifice and enthusiasm! What
+else is there in heroism? Women have more heart and imagination than
+men. Enthusiasm arises from the imagination, self-sacrifice springs
+from the heart. They are therefore by nature more heroic than heroes."
+
+Enthusiasm and a divine spirit of self-sacrifice held a very deep part
+in Meryl's heart, though never for a moment would the thought of
+heroism have occurred to her. Where Diana, out of her mocking, but
+staunch and loyal heart, amused herself dashing cold water and playful
+satire upon all heroics, Meryl said nothing at all, but at a critical
+moment both were equally capable of _acting_.
+
+And it did not require much thought on Meryl's part to see now where
+this spirit of enthusiasm and self-sacrifice seemed to call her. South
+Africa was at the cross-roads; she was at the period of her most
+urgent need for great women as well as great men. The only question
+that seemed to arise was, what did she specially want of the women
+ready to serve her?
+
+In her own case Meryl found an answer from the lips of Carew himself.
+"Intermarriage," he had said; "that is the real solution to this great
+barrier of racialism. The same hopes united upon the same hearth." And
+it did not need much thought to perceive that should she, the admired
+and beloved heiress, fondly expected to marry an English nobleman and
+blossom into a peeress, marry instead a Dutchman and devote herself
+absolutely to South Africa, she would give a tremendous impetus to
+this question of intermarriage which was to consolidate the great
+South African Union. She saw herself giving this impetus, because it
+seemed to be the service life asked of her, and following it up by a
+wise and steadying influence upon the man who was likely always to be
+in the forefront of South Africa's politics.
+
+And yet, sometimes in the silence of the night, how her spirit
+shuddered and shrank from it, lying bare and desolate and bleeding
+under the hopeless, unconquerable ache for that strong Englishman in
+the north--that soldier-policeman for whom she would willingly have
+foregone all pride of place, all luxury of wealth, all satisfaction of
+achievement! Yet this he would never know, seeing her, as he ever
+must, framed in a vast fortune from which she could not extricate
+herself. She thought if she might choose, she would remain quietly
+with her father for ever, doing good, as he, by stealth and without
+ostentation, feeding her heart on a memory that would never die; but
+here the spirit of self-sacrifice intervened, and gave her no hope of
+rest but in fulfilment of what she believed life asked of her.
+
+And so the day of decision came, and all unconsciously Diana struck
+the final note. In the morning, glancing through various papers,
+magazines, and pamphlets with an extraordinary skill to glean any
+little essential point without wading through column upon column of
+matter, she came upon a paragraph that aroused her instant
+indignation.
+
+"O listen to this!" she cried. "If they are not at it again! Somewhere
+or other General Grets has been making a speech, and here is part of
+his noble sentiment: 'I earnestly appeal to parents to prevent their
+children marrying any of the English race. They must not let this
+colony become a bastard race the same as the Cape Colony. If God had
+wanted us to be one race, He would not have made a distinction between
+English and Dutch.' Well, I wonder what Dutch Willie will have to say
+to that?" and she smiled grimly to herself in anticipation of some
+satisfaction to come. "This man Grets is certainly one of his
+supporters. If he comes this afternoon I shall have a nice little bomb
+ready for him!"
+
+But instead of waiting for his usual late hour, van Hert came early,
+and asked to see Miss Meryl Pym alone; and when Diana returned from a
+game of golf ready for the fray, she was presented to van Hert as her
+future cousin.
+
+For once even she was nonplussed and at a loss for words. "O well, it
+would be silly to pretend to be surprised, wouldn't it?" she said
+rather lamely, and crossed to the tea-table to pour out her own cup of
+tea. "And it is superfluous to hope you'll be happy and prosperous and
+all that; so I'll just say, my dear future-in-law, I think you're a
+devilish lucky man!..." And Diana snapped it out as if an
+unaccountable sensation demanded an explosive of some sort.
+
+"My dear!... my dear!..." cried Aunt Emily in outraged horror. "Do try
+to remember where you are and who you are! If you indulge in such
+vulgar, disgraceful language on the golf course, you certainly cannot
+expect to repeat it in the drawing-room." But Diana paid no heed. She
+had already observed that Meryl, though blushing faintly, avoided
+meeting her eyes.
+
+"And what about this brilliant speech of General Grets' reported this
+morning? Will your party allow you to consummate the match, do you
+think?..." with biting sarcasm.
+
+But van Hert only laughed good-temperedly. "Could it in any way better
+be given the lie?" he asked, and before that irrefutable logic Diana
+was silent.
+
+Neither could she see her way to raising any reasonable objections,
+when a little, later the engagement was announced broadcast with
+considerable beating of big drums, but she flung a few sarcasms about
+with some violence.
+
+She flung one or two at her uncle, being at a loss to understand his
+taking the engagement so quietly; but if she had been present at the
+interview between him and Meryl before the final sanction was given,
+she would have seen that he too could hardly act otherwise. In truth,
+Meryl perplexed them both in those first few days, for she was so calm
+and quiet and self-contained they both felt a little dumb before her.
+It was as if, having finally made up her mind, she was determined to
+avoid all paths that might weaken her and take her stand alone. She
+was far more quiet and composed than either her father or Diana. These
+did not say much, but they showed perhaps the more. Henry Pym's hair
+whitened perceptibly, as if from some stern mental trouble, and Diana
+was uncertain, peevish, and difficult to please. Only once the subject
+was alluded to between them.
+
+"I confess the news took me rather by surprise," her uncle admitted in
+reply to some sally of hers, "and I was a little at a loss to follow
+her actions."
+
+"Actions?..." sniffed Diana. "What actions?... None were needed; it is
+the result of meditation."
+
+"You mean?..." questioningly.
+
+"Heroics and martyrdom," she snapped, and flung out of the room,
+leaving him perplexed and grave.
+
+"If I thought so," he said in his heart, "if I were sure of it, I
+would forbid the banns myself."
+
+He moved to the window, and stood for a long time looking silently and
+sadly to the far blue hills. He was thinking that, though he had given
+his life almost to be all in all to Meryl since she was left
+motherless, there was one part now he could not play.
+
+"A mother would have seen through anything and known what to do," he
+finished, and sighed heavily.
+
+
+
+
+XXIII
+
+CAREW'S STORY
+
+
+The news reached Carew through a newspaper. He was back in Salisbury now,
+attending the renewed sitting of the Commission, giving invaluable
+assistance. Whatever he said was instantly listened to. The chief members
+of the Commission, men of note and weight, wondered a little over this
+distinguished-looking man, merely a soldier-policeman, who knew such an
+extraordinary amount about the black races in Rhodesia; but if they
+sought enlightenment they were disappointed. No one knew anything about
+Major Carew, except that he was once in the Blues and now in the British
+South Africa police, and that the natives were more or less his hobby.
+
+But there was one morning when he was more silent than usual; when he
+seemed a little _distrait_ and very difficult to approach. And the
+moment the sitting was over he declined, somewhat curtly, an
+invitation to dinner that evening, and rode out across the veldt
+alone. That was the morning the daily newspaper contained the news
+that the only child of Henry Pym, the well-known millionaire, was
+engaged to be married to Mr. William van Hert, the eminent politician.
+
+And Carew's comment was to ride out across the veldt alone.
+
+The news was undoubtedly a shock to him. Of course, he had known she
+would marry, but, more or less unconsciously, he had pictured her with
+an English home and a permanent place in English society.
+
+The reality,--what actually had happened,--had not entered his head at
+all. Of course he knew van Hert by name; everyone did. And because of
+his reputation for anti-English views Carew both marvelled and at the
+same time gleaned a probable motive. And the result of his cogitations
+was that added sternness which always came into his face when he was
+seriously troubled.
+
+Yet what use to fret and trouble now? She had gone out of his life for
+ever, and with her his last chance of glad renewing. Henceforth he
+must go back to his quiet life of service which asked and gave nothing
+else, and to the companionship of those old memories which sometimes
+awakened from their sleep.
+
+He rode far across the veldt, and for the first time for many a long
+year turned back the leaves of the closed book. And the reason he did
+this was the remembrance of Meryl's face, as she leaned up against the
+lintel of the window that last evening at Bulawayo, when they both
+felt it was a final parting. Something that had been in the depths of
+her eyes, and which she had been powerless to hide, although she made
+no other sign. It was a remembrance that called that added sternness
+to his face: the sternness of deep trouble suppressed. For he knew no
+woman of Meryl's nature would look as she had looked that evening and
+love another man in a month. Therefore it was probably for some
+altruistic motive and not love that she had consented to marry van
+Hert; no shallow, selfish motive he knew well enough, but perhaps some
+call she had found the courage to answer.
+
+But if it was also a sacrifice, an offering of herself and her
+happiness upon some altar of need, ought he to let her fulfil it?
+Between her and the husband he had pictured for her he could not allow
+himself to stand; between her and van Hert, whom he was convinced she
+did not love, was another matter. Yet he knew in his heart that he
+could not save her now; the die was cast, both of them must abide by
+it. And in any case, how could he tell her his story? How could he go
+to her with that story and empty-handed as well; she the heiress of
+great wealth, and he without even a name and position?
+
+Away out in the kopjes he rode his horse slowly up a steep hill-side,
+and on the top dismounted and sat upon a boulder, looking over a vast
+tract of lovely country to infinite blue distances. As ever in moments
+of stress, he had chosen the height, with wide horizons, fresh-blowing
+winds, far spaces of sunlight; and in the flickering shade of the
+thinly foliaged trees he took off his helmet, baring his head to the
+breeze. And it could be seen that the grey about the temples had been
+increasing, while the strong lines on the face had deepened already,
+as if it had gone hardly with him of late.
+
+He sat very still; so still that a little squirrel ran down almost to
+his feet to investigate the strange figure, and little birds chirped
+all kinds of personalities about him to each other close at hand. He
+was taking a journey into a far land--the far land of the buried past.
+He was thinking of that story he would have had to tell Meryl Pym. Of
+Joan's sad life, sad love, sad death. Of how long ago she had lain
+dead upon the heather, as far as anyone could tell, slain by his hand.
+
+He went back to it now, page by page; it seemed in some sort of
+penance that he must give. The first pages dealt with those two gay
+young brothers in the Blues; the elder, Peter, the recognised heir to
+the rich bachelor uncle, who now made life gay for them with an
+allowance of two thousand a year each; but he was an autocrat and
+something of a tyrant, the old uncle, and his will had to be law. He
+did not mind their sowing of wild oats if they were what he called
+gentlemanly wild oats, and merely got them talked about as gay young
+dogs, and he was always generous with an extra cheque if they got into
+difficulties; but he would not have foolhardy, quixotic affairs at
+all. There he put his foot down. When the younger brother, Geoffrey, a
+youth of small, mean aims and temperament, led the pretty daughter of
+one of the keepers into trouble, he told his uncle he was going to
+give her a fixed sum out of his own allowance yearly while she was
+unmarried, and something always for the child.
+
+"Nonsense," said the old gentleman tartly; "the girl shouldn't have
+been such a fool. I will pay one hundred pounds into the bank for her,
+and she shall not have another penny." Geoffrey thought himself well
+out of the scrape, but before the incident closed there were words
+between the brothers that neither ever forgot. Peter took a different
+view of the matter entirely; he knew the girl, and he knew that she
+was gentle and confiding, and that Geoffrey had won her round with
+promises. So he called his brother a cur, and a few other things with
+strong adjectives, and because he knew he was in the wrong Geoffrey
+never forgave him. He went further, and hated him from that time
+onward.
+
+But the incident was destined to bear fruit of a far more searching
+nature. Because he heard the girl was very ill and quietly fretting
+herself to death, Peter went one day to see her, prepared to make any
+amends in his power for his brother's sin. And beside the sofa where
+the girl lay he met Joan Whitby. And such are the vagaries of human
+nature, with its beginning on that day, the gay, light heart, the
+fickle fancies, light loves, wild escapades of the devil-may-care
+young sportsman, all vanished away into thin air before a love that
+filled his whole being. Lovelier, gayer, cleverer women, ready enough
+to meet the heir of Richard Fourtenay-Carew halfway, had left him only
+gay and careless. Joan Whitby, shy, distrustful, reserved, won the
+prize unsought. She had run away from him, avoided any spot where they
+might meet, hidden if she saw him in the distance, tried to hurry past
+if they met unawares; more than that she could not do, because she was
+the governess at the agent's house, and she and her charge must often
+cross the park. But Captain Peter Fourtenay-Carew was a hot-headed,
+determined young man, and having lost his heart to Joan's grey eyes
+and delicate, lovely face, he was not very likely to be abashed by the
+fact that she hid from him; rather it whetted his determination to win
+her. And in the end, because Joan perceived he was an honest gentleman
+and that he truly loved her, and because with all her pure, strong
+soul she truly loved him, she left off running away and came shyly
+through the wood to meet him. And of course Geoffrey, the jealous,
+spiteful brother, discovered their secret, and carried the tale to his
+uncle in violent, indignant guise, precipitating anger for his own
+ends, where a little discretion might have found a compromise. Mr.
+Carew's lips curled a little cruelly as he remarked he would easily
+nip that peccadillo in the bud. He would have no penniless, unknown
+governess reigning at Dartwood Hall, having already quite other views
+for his future successor. Then he informed his agent the young lady
+holding the post of governess in his house must be sent away at once,
+with a quarter's wages which he would be pleased to remit. To Peter he
+said nothing; he merely waited for an indignant scene, easily to be
+squashed with cold and cursory logic concerning allowances and future
+inheritance if his wishes were disregarded. But it was just there that
+he misjudged this gay, handsome nephew of his, possessed also of a
+fund of spirit and strong character which his uncle had not had the
+perspicacity to perceive.
+
+The interview duly transpired, but there was no indignation at all. If
+he had looked for melodrama he was disappointed; the melodramatic did
+not appeal to Peter Fourtenay-Carew. He merely told his uncle quite
+quietly and respectfully that he intended to marry Joan Whitby.
+Richard Carew condescended to reason a little before he resorted to
+that cold, cursory logic, but he might just as well have saved himself
+both. Peter stood in the library window, looking across the grand old
+park, and heard, apparently unmoved, that all those rich acres and
+woodlands and well-stocked waters and preserves would pass from him to
+his brother, if he chose to remain obdurate and marry the poor
+governess, instead of the lady of high lineage his uncle had already
+selected for him.
+
+What he said was, "Do you wish me also to lose my career and leave the
+Blues?"
+
+For the moment his uncle had been too angry to reply. "Get out," he
+had said roughly. "You can't be yourself this morning. I will not
+believe you seriously contemplate losing anything."
+
+Peter had turned back from the window, and stood a moment looking
+squarely into his uncle's face. "I am going to marry Joan," he said,
+"and as you have brought me up to be perfectly useless, except in a
+crack regiment, I only want to know if you will continue my allowance
+long enough to give me time to find out what I can be useful at," then
+he had walked quietly out of the room.
+
+And Richard Carew, distrusting his own ears and far more upset than he
+would ever for a moment admit, remembered that he had seen just that
+look on the face of Peter's mother when he had had to break to her
+that her husband had been killed in the hunting-field--a look of
+desperate finality and unswerving resolve. Within the year he had
+stood beside her grave also, and taken the two baby boys home to his
+own house.
+
+Then Geoffrey had come to him, and because he was clever and
+unscrupulous he fanned the flame easily to white-heat. Finally the
+uncle had decreed, "I will give him a week to think it over, and in
+the event of his remaining obdurate I will offer him one thousand a
+year for five years, and at the end of that time the allowance to be
+renewed or decreased, or stopped, according to my pleasure."
+
+At the end of the week Peter's reply was "I am going to marry Joan on
+the 25th by special licence, in London. If you will not receive us
+together, I should be glad if my man might pack my clothes and bring
+them to me, with a few other belongings."
+
+And Richard Carew's answer to that had been a lawyer's letter,
+politely enquiring of Captain Peter Fourtenay-Carew to what address he
+wished the allowance sent, which was to be his for five years. Peter,
+not yet too angry to be cautious, asked if the five thousand pounds
+might be invested for him in entirety, and made arrangements at once
+to exchange into a far cheaper regiment, aware that as a soldier he
+might still keep a home for his wife, whereas any experiment in the
+untried fields of labour might swallow up all he had. In due course
+the solicitor replied that the request would be granted. But ere the
+wedding was solemnised the unlooked-for hand of fate dealt him a
+pitiless blow. He had many friends in the neighbourhood of his uncle's
+estate, friends who were glad and willing to receive Joan for his sake
+and her own; and in an unhappy hour he received a pressing invitation
+to meet her at the house of one of them, and have a week with the
+pheasants before he had to rejoin his regiment. It was a bitter cold
+month that year, and every sportsman's temper was a little on edge at
+having to face December blasts in October. And one day when they were
+out in a preserve that adjoined Richard Carew's, he and his friend
+heard shots and voices over the dividing hedge; and it brought up the
+subject of young Geoffrey's cold-blooded delight in his good fortune
+at becoming his uncle's heir, and unthinkingly the friend commenced to
+repeat a report of something he had said in the local club when a
+little the worse for drink. Then he had stopped short abruptly, trying
+to turn away the subject, but with a sudden dangerous light in his
+eyes Peter had demanded to be told; and because the other man's heart
+was sore for his friend, and he wanted to give Peter an excuse to
+cross swords with his brother, he told how Geoffrey had implied his
+relations with Joan had been exactly the same as his own, Geoffrey's,
+with the keeper's daughter in the beginning, but that he had not been
+clever enough to get clear of the affair as he had done, and that now
+he was nicely sold for his high-flown superiority.
+
+And then the wrath in Peter's face had been a terrible thing to see.
+It was as if his very nature reeled. He ground his teeth together, and
+his eyes had a red look as he muttered savagely, "God damn him; he
+shall pay for this!" He was standing with his face towards his uncle's
+preserve, and even as he cursed there was a sound of shots, and a
+second later a hare dashed out and fled past them.
+
+Scarcely knowing what he did in the blind white-heat of his passion,
+but possessed suddenly with an awful desire to kill, he swung
+completely round and fired at it. And just at that moment Joan and
+their hostess were coming up behind, hidden by the brushwood and
+shrubs, to go with them to the luncheon-place,--and Joan fell, shot
+through the heart. In the first awful moment no one seemed able to
+grasp the appalling fact. Peter threw himself down on his knees beside
+her, and was like a man struck dazed and speechless. He had a feeling
+that it was some horrible dream or hallucination, and presently this
+bewildering dazed sense would pass away and he would find the horror
+had not been real. Then across his torment he heard a voice that stung
+him alive with dreadful venom. His uncle and his brother had climbed
+the fence and had come to see what had happened, hearing from a scared
+keeper that someone was shot. Peter looked up and saw them. It was a
+dreadful moment for the three to meet. His friend, Maitland, seeing
+the unnatural ferocity in his eyes, tried to draw him away. Even
+Richard Carew, the uncle, looked a little alarmed. But Peter in his
+madness took a step forward. "You cur, you libelled her," he hissed at
+his brother, and cursed him bitterly. And then Geoffrey lost his head
+too. An ugly sneer distorted his face as he answered, "Well, anyhow,
+you won't get your inheritance back now, just through a casual shot.
+Lady Lilton is going to marry me, and ..." But he had no time to
+finish, for Peter suddenly hurled himself upon him, and struggled
+fiercely to get his hands at his throat.
+
+The scene was terrible. Those who were present never forgot it, and by
+the time a keeper and Maitland managed to separate them Geoffrey was
+too much hurt to stand alone. They left him lying on the ground, while
+Richard Carew forced a little brandy between his clenched teeth, and
+Maitland dragged Peter away to where his wife and a keeper were
+watching with horror in their eyes beside Joan's lifeless form. For a
+moment they feared he had lost his reason, and then some dreadful
+tension in his brain seemed to snap suddenly and they saw he was
+himself again. Without a word to either of them he stooped down and
+lifted the still form in his arms, and carried her unaided back to
+the Maitlands' house.
+
+He did not lose hold of himself again, but for weeks suffered a mind
+agony that might well have permanently turned the brain of a weaker
+man. Night after night the Maitlands heard him leave the house, after
+all had gone to bed; and they knew that he went out to tramp the moors
+till morning, for it was only from utter physical exhaustion he ever
+slept. No word came from the Hall, but rumour said the younger brother
+was injured so that he would not walk for months. Richard Carew's only
+action was to lavish hush-money, and keep as much as possible out of
+the papers. One mistake he made. Through his solicitor he informed his
+nephew he was willing to give him his former income, that he might
+remain in his old regiment. In answer to that Peter wrote to the
+lawyer: "I am leaving England for ever, and I shall cease to remember
+from this moment that I have the misfortune to be related to Richard
+and Geoffrey Fourtenay-Carew. No letters will reach me. I leave no
+address," and then he signed himself "Peter Carew" without the
+Fourtenay, and used the second name no more. And immediately
+afterwards he joined one of the early pioneer bands setting out for
+Rhodesia, possessing nothing in the world but a little money gained by
+the sale of his personal possessions and a memory that would shadow
+his whole life.
+
+Sitting alone on the kopje-top, he leaned his elbows on his knees and
+buried his face in his hands, and it was as though the waters of
+bitterness overflowed him.
+
+No, of course he could never tell Meryl such a story as that. For
+sixteen years his path had lain alone and his bitterness been shared
+with none. It must go on so now to the end. When he could bear it the
+memory of Joan's dear face still came to him as in infinite love and
+compassion; but he seldom dared allow himself even that; it was better
+to have nothing in his life--no past, present, nor future except his
+work.
+
+He got up and stood for a moment leaning against his horse, resting
+his arms on the saddle and gazing far away. Then he rode slowly home
+under the stars, and by the time he reached the police camp his face
+was only rigid and mask-like.
+
+
+
+
+XXIV
+
+A RAIN-WASHED MORNING AND A DISCUSSION
+
+
+It was the first rain-washed morning of the wet season when Ailsa
+Grenville heard the news, through a letter from Diana.
+
+And the first rain-washed morning is an epoch in the Rhodesian year;
+therefore it cannot be dismissed with a curt announcement.
+
+All night long the vigorous, boisterous spring-cleaning had been in
+progress. Ailsa, snug in her little bed, with the rain slashing and
+banging and pounding on the corrugated-iron roof, and the trees
+swishing and swaying, and the wind rushing around like a mad thing,
+apparently from all four corners of the earth at once, had laughed
+softly to herself at the commotion Mother Nature was making upon the
+dusty, dishevelled, rubbish-strewn land. It was as if, having been
+very busy elsewhere for three months, she meant to stand no nonsense
+now, but get the whole country furbished up in one night. What a time
+they were having, those dusty, untidy-looking trees! Bucket after
+bucket, millions of buckets as big as a house, full of delicious
+rain-water, flung at their heads! And the dusty, disgraceful roads
+swept bare, with gallons upon gallons of water driving their refuse
+hither and thither, all of it, as if mightily ashamed of itself,
+scrambling along in masses; and, of course, in its haste choking up
+the drains, and becoming a serious hindrance until a veritable
+water-spout was necessary to clear the course.
+
+And then the dead branches and twigs that the trees had been too lazy
+to shed; short shrift for them on the first spring-cleaning night.
+Down they came, helter-skelter, and no notice taken of the tree's
+groaning, or its crackling cries of protest.
+
+And the little river-beds and stream-beds, carelessly left to get
+filled up with dead leaves and rank grass, such a turning out for them
+as the resistless water was driven in sweeping streams along their
+bosoms! And woe betide any carelessly thatched or unsightly roofs! Off
+they went, away with the general medley. The coming summer would have
+none of them. And the granite, which had allowed dust and dirt and
+dead grasses to accumulate upon it, how it got its face scrubbed and
+washed that first night, and the wind shrieking with glee all the
+time, dashing the sheets of rain against it with its whole might!
+
+But, of course, one could tell that everything liked it. The laughter
+in the trees and the wind was quite distinct, and the little rivers
+were fairly shouting with joy. It was not their fault that all that
+piece of the earth had grown so dusty and untidy; it was Mother
+Nature's own fault for being so long coming with those big buckets of
+hers. How could any land, however willing, look spruce and green and
+clean with no rain for four months? No wonder there was such a
+commotion, and it was such a noisy, vigorous business, when at last
+the rain did come! Every tree and every blade and every flower had a
+special little life-plan of its own to carry out, if only it could get
+enough moisture, to say nothing of all the myriad insects and birds
+and animals, who were too lackadaisical, after the long, dry heat, to
+thoroughly begin their summer preparations until the rain came. The
+activity among the humans, with their gold-mines and farms and
+fanciful erections, would be nothing, would not be worth mentioning,
+compared with the activity going on in the hidden world all around
+them on the morrow. Even the flowers had been chary of wearing their
+best dresses in such a dusty, untidy world.
+
+But wait till to-morrow, and then see them! Far, far outvying any
+assembly of Ascot frocks or Lords' cricket week or Henley Sunday. The
+boisterous rain was a little severe on the dainty blossoms, but one
+may be sure they bore it with the pluckiest patience, whispering to
+each other gleefully about the lovely frocks they were going to wear
+the next day. And there would be such eager, joyful cogitations in the
+bosoms of all the little males anxious to be off on their spring
+courting affairs. How could any self-respecting young cock bird or
+male insect go and pay his addresses in a dusty, dirty, faded coat? Of
+course, it wasn't to be thought of. The other chap, who waited, would
+get all the running. But to-morrow there would be no further need to
+wait at all. Plumage and coats would be spring-cleaned, and
+expectations for the coming summer of the highest. Well-filled
+storehouses, leaf-cosy nests, glorious hunting-grounds. Never mind
+these boisterous winds and the violent way they hurl the rain about;
+sit tight and make lovely plans for to-morrow.
+
+Ailsa, snug in her little bed, thought happily about the earth and its
+glad renewing, and woke up her precious Billy to say, "Are you awake,
+Billy? Can you hear it?... We shan't know our little world to-morrow."
+
+And Billy, who was sometimes of a very prosaic turn of mind, answered,
+with a grunt, "Just in time to save that top patch of mealies and the
+bed of onions, by Jove!..." and then rolled over and went to sleep
+again.
+
+"Bother your onions and mealies," said his adoring wife. "The world
+wasn't made for you to grow vegetables in!..."
+
+But the next morning they climbed a kopje together, just for the joy
+of it, and laughed softly, and exclaimed in hushed voices at all the
+wonder outspread.
+
+Such a glorious new heaven and new earth! In the heaven a rain-washed
+sky, resplendent with armaments of fairy cloud-vessels sailing across
+deepest, loveliest blue. On the earth every leaf and every blade
+flashing light, as if it had a little sun of its own; every flower in
+its loveliest court dress; the very stones gay with beautiful shades
+of lichen; the granite kopjes in the distance, with their faces so
+thoroughly scrubbed, gleaming with the dazzling brightness of
+new-fallen snow. Dark, rich soil where the plough had been, renewed
+with the richness of velvet. Sullen, colourless veldt, radiant in a
+few short hours with the first outposts of its coming spring glory.
+Far, blue hills, bluer and intenser than ever in the rain-washed
+atmosphere. Little cock birds and male insects away off soon after
+sunrise about those courting affairs that had been delayed. A whole
+world rejoicing; a whole world singing Te Deums of praise and
+thanksgiving in its own dear, happy, overflowing way.
+
+No wonder the big fellow in the well-worn khaki, with his vigorous
+enthusiasms and wide sympathies, thought a little regretfully of the
+hide-bound, clause-bound, doctrine-bound, sober-minded black cloth he
+had felt himself obliged to put off. Would humanity ever sing again
+as the sons of the morning? Ever burst into Te Deums of overflowing
+thanksgiving to the Giver of all good, such as echoed and re-echoed
+from a long-parched earth on its first rain-washed morning.
+
+Well, he could but try to keep the long face and depressing atmosphere
+and thin air of superiority safely out of his own little sphere, and
+while he taught the natives to be active, useful members of society,
+try to help all the settlers about him, hard cases or otherwise, to be
+honest, fearless, clean-living men, whether they achieved it to the
+accompaniment of good round oaths and a Sunday morning spent in bed,
+or on their knees between consecrated walls in the accepted way. Of
+course, he liked them to come to his little stone tabernacle with its
+thatched roof, and he made his service just as attractive as ever he
+could on their behalf; but if they were too lazy or too busy to
+come--well, it didn't follow they couldn't be honest, clean-living
+fellows without it; so then he went to them, and sat over their camp
+fire, and told them a good story or two, and in the end there wasn't a
+camp within twelve miles where the "bloomin' sky pilot" wasn't one of
+the most welcome guests.
+
+But to do them justice, they mostly liked going to his little
+tabernacle, for it was always a pleasant meeting-place, and men in
+exile, even "hard cases," like to sing a good old-fashioned hymn just
+once in a way; to say nothing of the big home-made cake, full of
+plums, which was usually ready to be handed round afterwards on the
+"sky pilot's" verandah, and which he teasingly informed Ailsa was her
+way of bribing his congregation to come to church, rather than suffer
+the ignominy of hearing him preach to empty benches.
+
+But that was as it might be; anyhow, if a settler within reach chanced
+to be ill, he might be sure he would get a jelly or soup or milk, even
+if he had never put a foot inside the little wilderness church. And if
+Billy could not take it The Kid or Moore had to, for Ailsa ruled her
+little sphere with a rod of iron, and the two troopers had long been
+her willing slaves.
+
+But though she had cut herself adrift from the pleasant world of her
+girlhood, and won a real satisfaction out of life that would be death
+to most women, she had never lost her sympathies with all that went
+on in that existence, where
+
+     Life treads on life
+     And heart on heart;
+     We press too close in church and mart
+     To keep a dream or grave apart.
+
+And when they came back from their ramble on that joyous morning,
+Diana's letter caused a shadow to come over all the sunlight, and a
+quick anxious ache to grow up in her heart. After baldly stating the
+news of Meryl's engagement her cousin wrote:--
+
+"Was it you, or was it that bearish policeman, who suggested to such a
+dreamer as Meryl the desirability of a martyr's crown?... She is far
+better suited to love in a cottage and babies, but just because that
+is the case and it is easy to obtain, she chooses to break her heart
+on some vague altar of sacrifice. I have no patience with these
+high-falutin ideas myself, nor with the cottage and babies either, for
+the matter of that; but I suppose a few people had to be practical and
+selfish and commonplace, to keep the world going round without violent
+bumps and jerks. Don't send Meryl congratulations; send her an In
+Memoriam card. Believe me, it is better suited to the auspicious
+occasion."
+
+Ailsa showed the letter to her husband, feeling that it was the worst
+news she had had for many years. "What does it mean, Billy?... What
+can have influenced her?... My sweet Meryl! What is it?... What can it
+be?... that keeps Major Carew so aloof? It was easy to see how they
+attracted each other."
+
+"He is a proud man," her husband said, gravely. "It is not easy for a
+proud man with nothing to choose a wife with a large fortune."
+
+"Ah, but there is something more," she cried, "it cannot be only that.
+What has kept him so reserved in every particular all these years?"
+
+But Grenville could not help her, and all the afternoon she worried
+and fretted in silence.
+
+In the evening she said to him anxiously, after again discussing the
+news, "Mrs. Fleetwood has often asked me to visit her in Salisbury.
+Shall I go now? Perhaps if I could get Major Carew to talk?..."
+
+"You will never get him to talk," with quiet conviction.
+
+"Nevertheless, my husband, I feel I must try. We have so much, you and
+I. One can but make the effort."
+
+She got up from her chair and went round to him, and climbed on to his
+knee and hid her face, because she was troubled and unhappy.
+
+"Tell me something I can do to help them, Billy?" she pleaded.
+
+He fondled her hair in silence a moment, and then, because he thought
+it might comfort her afterwards to know she had tried, he said, "There
+is no harm in your going to Mrs. Fleetwood's. I think the change would
+do you good."
+
+And Ailsa went to bed a little comforted that at least he sanctioned
+her journey.
+
+
+
+
+XXV
+
+AILSA LEARNS CAREW'S SECRET
+
+
+Ailsa had to journey to Selukwe in the post-cart, and she found it
+very trying; all the more so because her tender heart, which loved all
+animals, suffered agonies of compassion for the poor underfed,
+overworked mules, some with sores, urged pitilessly along by their
+black driver. She wished vainly that she was the happy possessor of a
+fortune, and might at once finance in Rhodesia the Society for the
+Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, for which funds are so urgently
+needed. At Selukwe she had some little time to wait at the hotel
+before taking the train, and she went round to the posting-stables to
+interview any white man she could find who might be in a responsible
+position towards the post-cart mules on the subject of their
+condition. The man, of course, complained of the roads, which were in
+a hopeless condition, and beyond satisfying in a measure her own sense
+of compassion, she knew she had done little good. But while she talked
+to the white man at the stables, a thin, scholarly looking,
+grey-haired gentleman chanced to overhear their discourse, and raising
+his hat to her with grave courtesy, expressed his admiration of her
+action.
+
+"But can nothing be done, do you think?" she asked him dolefully.
+
+"I'm afraid not. You see, the Government do not particularly wish that
+route used, and so they have allowed the road to lapse. Let us hope
+there will very shortly be a railway, at any rate, to Edwardstown, and
+that then visitors will be encouraged to go and see your wonderful
+Zimbabwe ruins, instead of discouraged by the discomforts of the way."
+
+They moved towards the hotel together, and Ailsa asked, "Have you seen
+them?"
+
+"Only for a few short hours, which were all I could spare from some
+research work I was doing elsewhere in Rhodesia. I was tremendously
+impressed by the little I had time to see, and look forward to a long
+sojourn there presently."
+
+They talked on, their conversation drifting from one subject to
+another, and then he discovered her name was Grenville, and she that
+his was Delcombe, and they greeted each other anew as both hailing
+from lovely Devon. After that he proudly assumed the rôle of escort,
+and waited upon her hand and foot. As it chanced, he also was
+journeying to Salisbury, so they became travelling companions, and the
+chance acquaintanceship ripened rapidly. In the evening they dined
+together in the restaurant-car and sat long over their meal; and then
+it was that Ailsa chanced to mention the name of Major Carew.
+
+Henry Delcombe at once remarked, "There was a Major Carew at the
+Zimbabwe police camp, I think, when I visited the ruins, but I did not
+see him. I should like to have done. I understood from the young
+trooper there that he is some relation to the Fourtenay-Carews?" and
+he paused interrogatively.
+
+"It was the man I am speaking of. He _is_ a Fourtenay-Carew."
+
+"Ah!..." and Ailsa saw instantly the swift interest in her companion's
+eyes; a wave as of thought-telepathy that this man probably held the
+key to Peter Carew's past. Delcombe read in her sparkling eyes that
+her interest in the soldier-policeman was no casual one, but of the
+warmest friendship.
+
+"Did you know him before he came out here?" she ventured.
+
+"I knew his father well; I lived near to them in Devon. I was doing
+some research work, and I had a quiet little home in a lovely valley
+close to the little place that was then this man's home, and quite
+near also to Dartwood Hall, where the elder brother, Richard
+Fourtenay-Carew, lived. They are not a rich family at all, you know.
+Dartwood Hall and estates and money came to Richard Carew through a
+very eccentric godmother, who brought him up, and he could do as he
+liked with it all. His younger brother, Peter Fourtenay-Carew, and his
+wife had, I think, only a very small income between them besides his
+pay as a captain. They rented a pretty little place in Devonshire
+close to Dartwood Hall, and came there for the hunting whenever he was
+able. The brothers were good friends, and he always had the run of
+the Dartwood stables. They were an interesting pair, but it was the
+younger whom I regarded as a friend, and that was why I was anxious to
+find out if I had stumbled across his son. As you may have heard,
+Captain Fourtenay-Carew, the father, was killed in the hunting-field
+and his wife died within the year. The two boys, then quite babies,
+were adopted by Richard Carew and brought up as his own sons."
+
+He paused and studied Ailsa's face gravely. She was almost breathless
+with interest, and he seemed a little taken aback by it. She saw the
+question in his eyes, and hastened to add frankly, "I cannot tell you
+how interested I am to hear this. My husband and I think there is no
+one in the world like Major Carew; in fact, in some vague, distant way
+I believe we are related. But he never speaks of his past life at all.
+For some reason he seems to regard it as a closed book; he even
+persists in calling himself a Rhodesian, and resolutely ignores the
+fact that he is anything else as well."
+
+"Ah!..." and the thin, scholarly face of her companion looked as if he
+were obtaining a clue he wanted. There was a pause, and each seemed to
+be weighing something in his and her mind. Then Ailsa spoke: "I
+conclude he has some reason for his extreme reticence, and I hope I
+should be one of the last to pry into anyone's secrets; but for a
+reason I can hardly explain, I should be very glad to know something
+now that might possibly help me to do a special service for him. I
+shall see him in Salisbury."
+
+"What I know is no secret in a general sense," said Delcombe, speaking
+with grave deliberation; "but the facts of it were cleverly hushed up
+by his uncle, and you will easily understand that Major Carew would
+never speak of it now. My own interest in the matter is because of my
+regard for his father, and, I think I may say, admiration for himself.
+Anyone seeing the two brothers together as I did--that is, the younger
+men--must have felt deeply drawn to the elder and repulsed by the
+younger. A finer young fellow than Peter Fourtenay-Carew never
+stepped. The other brother was good-looking also, but he was cunning
+and crafty and little liked. Yet, such are the mysterious ways of
+Providence, the younger brother, by an unlooked-for turn of events,
+became the possessor of wealth and place and influence, and the elder
+went out from his country penniless, exiled, and alone. As far as I
+can judge, no one in England has ever heard of him since. I don't
+think it is even known where he is. A few of us knew that he came out
+to South Africa, and journeyed to Rhodesia with one of the pioneer
+columns, but that is quite sixteen years ago, and events at home move
+quickly, and his utter silence lost him the warm places he might have
+held in most hearts, or, at any rate, left them in abeyance. I only
+came out to Rhodesia a few months ago, and I have been much on the
+veldt, studying ancient relics; but I have kept my ears open. I heard
+of the man you are speaking of at the police camp at Zimbabwe, but the
+young trooper, Mr. Stanley, was not communicative. With a very
+praiseworthy _esprit de corps_, he declined to be drawn into any
+discussion whatever concerning his officer. I heard after I left that
+he, Major Carew, was a very reserved, taciturn man, but it was
+generally credited he had once held a captaincy in the Blues; that and
+a personal description persuaded me he was my old friend's son."
+
+"Yes," Ailsa said, "there can be no doubt about it. I suppose you knew
+that he was going to be married just before he came away, and
+something rather dreadful happened?"
+
+"Ah; he has revealed that much, has he?" in some surprise.
+
+"Not to me; to a great friend of mine."
+
+"I see."
+
+He seemed perplexed, uncertain evidently, how much to tell her. Ailsa
+understood, and was a little at a loss how to act herself.
+
+"I should not have mentioned the fact to anyone else," she said, "as
+he evidently wishes to keep all personal matters entirely to himself;
+but, of course, you were very likely to know it. I also learnt from my
+husband that he was the elder brother and originally his uncle's heir,
+but something happened to cause Mr. Carew to change his mind."
+
+Then Mr. Delcombe said thoughtfully, "I think there is no reason why I
+should not tell you a little more about him. I have always felt
+exceedingly sorry for his determined exile, and the isolation from all
+his old friends and old delights. I know that he dearly loved Devon,
+and one feels it is time now that he came back to try and pick up the
+threads. You and your husband appear to be his only friends, and as a
+distant connection you might be able to approach him upon a subject
+where a stranger, or shall we say a forgotten friend, would be
+diffident." He paused, then added, "I wonder if he has the remotest
+idea that, owing to several deaths, he is now the next heir to the
+Marquis of Toxeter?"
+
+A sudden joy seemed to sweep Ailsa through and through, and her eyes
+shone, and she clasped and unclasped her hands with excitement as she
+breathed, "O, is that _really_ true? It seems too good; too much like
+a story-book."
+
+"Yes, it is a fact. Major Carew's family was a younger branch, and
+sixteen years ago it would never have entered anyone's head that the
+marquisate might fall to them. Time makes many changes, and three
+heirs have died in succession. The present marquis is old and has no
+children, therefore the next heir was Richard Fourtenay-Carew, also
+childless, and after him Major Carew's father. Richard Carew died very
+shortly after this man left England, and young Geoffrey Carew then
+succeeded to all his possessions. I believe something was left to
+Major Carew, but he refused to touch it. It is since then that (his
+uncle being dead) he has become the heir of the present marquis, and I
+think it highly probable he has no notion of the fact whatever."
+
+"I am almost certain he has not," Ailsa intercepted, "for I think he
+would have mentioned it to my husband."
+
+"Unfortunately there is very little money with the title, but he is
+not a man to trouble much about that; and, of course, the present
+marquis may live some time. But I have thought sometimes if he _knew_
+it might wipe out a little of the past bitterness. His brother robbed
+him of so much, but in the end it would seem Nature is making things
+even again. Geoffrey would give half his wealth to have the title, and
+I have reason to believe that it is a great bitterness to him to know
+that his brother, who cares nothing at all about it probably, must
+inevitably inherit it if he outlives the present owner."
+
+"And you will tell him?..." eagerly.
+
+"Perhaps. Or it may be that you!..." He hesitated, and looked at her
+thoughtfully.
+
+And then Ailsa said impulsively, "Let me give you trust for trust. I
+am taking this journey now chiefly on Major Carew's account. There is
+trouble in the air. I cannot tell you the facts; I scarcely know them.
+But he has lived his isolated, reserved life so long, I feel it has
+perhaps warped his view a little, and if he could be persuaded to open
+his heart to a friend he might see things in a clearer light, and save
+himself and a dear friend of mine great unhappiness." She paused, then
+added sadly, "But I am so much in the dark concerning him I hardly
+know how to win his confidence. There appears to have been this
+something before he left England, something rather terrible, that has
+shadowed all his life."
+
+"There was; I will tell you in confidence. Richard Carew hushed it all
+up, but there were a few of us who _knew_. His quarrel with his uncle
+was because he insisted upon marrying a poor governess, a most lovely
+and charming lady, instead of the bride his uncle had chosen. He was
+disinherited, and his allowance so curtailed that he would have to
+leave his regiment; but none of that troubled him in the least. He
+adored his fiancée, and was supremely happy, as anyone could see. Then
+the tragedy fell. I cannot tell you all the details, probably no one
+knows them except his friends the Maitlands and his brother, and uncle
+who is now dead. He was out shooting with Maitland, and the other two
+were near at hand; and Maitland had repeated something to him his
+brother had said, which was a deadly insult to Miss Whitby. He was in
+a blind fury, and scarcely knew what he was doing, when he swung round
+and fired at a hare behind him...." There was a moment's intense pause
+before he finished in a low voice--"and the shot killed the poor girl
+he was to have married in a week."
+
+"O, how terrible!..." Ailsa gasped, and went white to the lips. "How
+terrible! Poor man! O, poor man!" Tears came into her eyes, and she
+turned away to hide them, and for some moments both were silent.
+
+Then Delcombe continued, "It is no wonder that he has been always
+reserved and silent. I suppose in a way it killed the part of him that
+could be anything else. He just went right away to a strange country,
+dropped the double name they had always been proud of, and cut himself
+adrift altogether from everything connected with his old life. It is
+no doubt his intention to remain apart, and take up the old threads no
+more. But I loved his father, and I loved him in my old-fashioned way
+which he was not likely to perceive; and when the Royal Geographical
+Society offered me a chance of a trip to Rhodesia I took it gladly.
+One of my first thoughts, when the decision was finally made and I was
+appointed, was, 'Perhaps I shall come across Peter Carew's son.'"
+
+Ailsa rested her elbow on the table and leaned her head on her hand,
+still with the glisten of tears in her eyes. "It makes one feel there
+is surely a Providence," she told him softly, "for my chance meeting
+with you may save him, and that other, from everlasting regret."
+
+A little later, when they went to their separate compartments for the
+night, she thanked him again. "You have made me feel quite
+broken-hearted for our dear soldier-policeman. Think what his memories
+must have been all these years! But perhaps his dark day is finished.
+I am very hopeful now. God bless you for remaining so staunch a friend
+to him and giving me your confidence!"
+
+And in Johannesburg that night Meryl said simply and quietly to van
+Hert, "I will marry you as soon as you wish. As you say, there is
+nothing to wait for, and, afterwards, there is much that we can do
+together."
+
+"In a fortnight?" he urged, and she assented.
+
+But Diana insisted otherwise. "It is simply indecent haste," she
+exclaimed, "and nothing in this world will persuade me to decide upon
+my bridesmaid's frock and have it ready in less than three weeks, and
+it may be a month."
+
+And Meryl--a quiet, white-faced Meryl nowadays, with little enough
+enthusiasm for frocks and wedding-presents--let her have her way.
+
+
+
+
+XXVI
+
+"HOW CAN I GO TO HER!..."
+
+
+The first meeting between Ailsa and Carew was a very difficult one for
+the woman. Directly she saw him she realised that he had drawn back
+into his shell further than ever, and the increased greyness on his
+temples spoke for itself of anxious, troubled hours. At first he had
+been difficult to entrap. In reply to her note came just a vague
+regret that he was exceptionally busy, and often out on the veldt,
+with a hope that he would see her before she left. One or two other
+attempts failed entirely to procure the interview, and she was almost
+at her wits' end. Finally, she had to resort to strong measures, and
+gain her end by subterfuge. Carew went to the house of a man friend by
+invitation, and was shown into his friend's den to find Ailsa awaiting
+him alone. The expression on his face told her instantly that he felt
+himself trapped, and resented it. But she could be very disarming when
+she liked, and she had tact enough to follow the straight course most
+likely to appeal to him now that she had gained her interview.
+
+"You must not be angry with me," she said, with engaging frankness. "I
+simply had to see you."
+
+He stood very upright, with a cold, unresponsive face, and waited for
+her to proceed.
+
+"Won't you sit down? You make it difficult for me when you are ... so
+... so ... distant and unbending."
+
+He moved away to the window, and stood looking out, with his back to
+the room. "Will you tell me what it is you have to say?" he asked very
+quietly. He knew perfectly well it had to do with Meryl, and he did
+not want her to see his secret in his face. In fact, he did not wish
+to speak of the subject at all.
+
+Ailsa stood silently a moment, looking at his back, and then she said
+very quietly, "I have heard the story of your past life. I ... I ...
+know it all."
+
+For a moment there was such a stillness in the room that one could
+almost hear heart beats. The figure in the window never moved.
+
+"Who told you?..." he asked at last.
+
+"Mr. Henry Delcombe, the scientist, who was a great friend of your
+father's."
+
+Another silence. At last--
+
+"Is he in Rhodesia now?"
+
+"He is here, in Salisbury. He will not tell anyone else," she added.
+"He told me because ... because ... he perceived that Billy and I
+cared for you very much, and for your happiness." She moved a little
+nearer to him, and continued gently, "I felt almost as if I could
+break my heart with sympathy for you,--and that you should have borne
+such memories all these years, _alone_."
+
+"I have put them behind me," he said, speaking almost harshly. "The
+past is dead. What does it matter who and what I was before?... To-day
+I am a Rhodesian, and my work is _here_. I shall remain here now until
+I die."
+
+"You may not be able to do that," and her voice had suddenly a ring in
+it that seemed to arrest him.
+
+"Why may I not?"
+
+"Because presently--very soon perhaps--you will have to answer to a
+call that requires you in England."
+
+He half turned to her, waiting silently and unmoved, with grave eyes
+fixed on the distance.
+
+She came a step nearer. "Mr. Delcombe told me also, that because of
+many changes that have taken place in the sixteen years since you cut
+yourself adrift from home, you are now heir to the marquisate of
+Toxeter. When the present marquis dies you will succeed him."
+
+It seemed at first as if he heard without understanding. Once more
+there was a silence in which one might hear heart beats.
+
+"Will you let me congratulate you?" Ailsa asked a little timidly.
+
+"I think he must have been dreaming," he said in slow comment.
+
+"No; there is no doubt about it whatever. He will tell you himself if
+you will let him. He wants to see you very much."
+
+And still he was only silent, gazing, gazing to the far distance. If
+it was true, how was it he had never heard?... Could it possibly all
+have transpired during the times he had been away shooting in the far
+north, or out on the veldt, away from newspapers for months?
+
+"There is something else I want to speak about," and her voice
+trembled somewhat. "This news concerning your future will make it a
+little easier. You know, of course, that Meryl Pym has become engaged
+to Mr. van Hert, the well-known Dutch politician?"
+
+Instantly he stiffened. "I saw it in a newspaper."
+
+She came close up to him suddenly. "O, Major Carew"--and there was an
+infinite pleading in her voice--"Billy and I thought you cared for
+her, and we believed she cared for you. Don't let her wreck her whole
+life now.... Don't stand by and let her marry a man she does not love.
+Go to her before it is too late!"
+
+Under his iron control his face seemed to work strangely. She saw the
+swift compression of his lips, the swift pain in his eyes, the strong
+hunger he could not entirely hide.
+
+"It is impossible," and the usual steadiness of his voice was shaken.
+"You say you know my story!... How can I go to her and tell her that
+once I killed the woman I loved?... How can I speak to her of love--I,
+the policeman, she the heiress?... How can I tell her that story which
+was told to you?... The story of damnable hate and passion, when I
+tried to strangle my own brother. I tell you she would shrink away in
+horror. She must shrink. Why did you speak to me about it at all! Your
+thoughts are folly and madness. _I_ offer love to Meryl Pym?... My
+God! I have some decency--some pride left." And the pain and
+bitterness in his voice shocked and stabbed her.
+
+But in spite of her inward shrinking she answered him boldly, drawing
+on a courage lent her by love and sincerity.
+
+"And I say that if you love her truly, you ought to be able to trust
+her with your story. It is not noble and spirited of you to stand
+aside as you perhaps think. It is cowardly. Pride is generally
+cowardly. For the sake of your pride, of your own personal feelings,
+you will let her go on with this marriage and never say a word and
+never move a finger to save her from shipwrecking her whole life.
+First you will let your own sad past come between you; then you will
+let her hateful gold drive you away; then you will talk of yourself
+as just a policeman. And in any case--you must know it as well as I
+know it--none of these things would estrange Meryl Pym from the man
+she loved. There is nothing whatever between you except your pride,
+and you think that demands a renunciation from you, careless or no
+whether it brings heart-break for her."
+
+He had grown deathly white now, with dark hollows round his eyes, and
+she could almost see how his teeth were clenched behind the firm lips.
+She had taken him entirely by surprise in her outburst, and her news
+concerning himself; and he discovered she had swept his secret from
+him concerning his love for Meryl, almost before he knew what he was
+speaking of.
+
+"There might be something in what you say if Miss Pym cared for me in
+return. That she does is the merest supposition."
+
+"And how do you know that with such sureness?" she cried. "No, no,
+Major Carew; in your heart you know otherwise. But you just let her go
+away without a word, without a hope, and one or two of us know what
+this hasty engagement means. Diana calls it martyrdom. She wrote me to
+send Meryl an _in memoriam_ card instead of congratulations, for it
+was more in accord with the occasion."
+
+His face worked visibly, in spite of his stern suppression, but he
+still stood rigid and upright, looking away from her--out over the far
+shadowy veldt, seeing nothing.
+
+In the pulsing silence that followed he beheld again that terrible
+October scene, when his love lay dead upon the heather. Could he ask
+any other woman to share that with him?... let the burden of such a
+memory faintly touch her life?... He knew that at the inquest it had
+been decided no one could possibly say who fired the shot. His uncle
+and brother were both shooting at the time, in the same direction; but
+though his friend Maitland had insisted upon a verdict of accidentally
+shot by someone unknown, and Richard Carew had resolutely supported
+him, in his own heart he had stood condemned. Yet if penance were
+required, what had he not given?... Exile, loneliness, nonentity for
+all the best years of his life; and her image, the beloved face of his
+lost Joan, the only woman's presence in his life. And yet now, as he
+stood gazing, gazing to the far blue hills, it seemed that her face
+and Meryl's were strangely blended. From the very first their eyes
+had been as the eyes of one woman, infinitely comprehending,
+infinitely true. Was it possible that Ailsa's accusation was true? One
+woman had been sacrificed more or less to his mad, insensate fury
+against his brother. Was the other perhaps to be sacrificed to his
+rigid, indomitable pride? One picture seemed to stamp itself upon his
+brain with ever-increasing strength and clearness: the picture of
+Meryl, leaning up against the window lintel that last evening at
+Bulawayo, white as a frail, exquisite lily, with the anguish in her
+deep eyes that she could not entirely hide. That, and the iron control
+he had needed to put upon himself, making him seem grim and unfeeling
+for fear one instant's weakness should make his longing arms enfold
+her. Well, he had played his man's part as well as he could; ridden
+away from her, disappointed her, openly avoided her, only in the end
+to love her with the deep, wise, understanding, all-embracing love of
+a man past his first youth, and with a wide knowledge of human nature.
+
+And this engagement of hers to van Hert! What might it not result
+from?... What hopelessness, what despair, what heroic resolve to play
+her little part in the country's good, and win some satisfaction
+perhaps, since she might not have happiness!
+
+Standing silently at the window it all seemed to pass through his mind
+with piercing clearness, and Ailsa's spirited attack rang still in his
+ears: "First you will let your sad story come between you, then her
+hateful gold, then your lowly position, answering to the call of your
+own pride, careless whether it wreck her life's happiness or no."
+
+Yes, she was quite right, it _was_ his pride. Even now the thought of
+the gold was hateful to him.
+
+Still, if some day he would indeed be the Marquis of Toxeter!... if he
+could at least offer her a high position!... if it was no longer a
+question of going to her empty-handed....
+
+The silence continued, and in the background Ailsa waited and watched.
+She could read nothing from the tall figure in the window, except that
+his thoughts were far away and he was probing deeply. She leaned back
+in a low chair, feeling suddenly very tired and overwrought. She had
+come all the way from far Zimbabwe for this interview, just to say to
+this man, before it was too late, the spirited things she had said.
+And now?...
+
+She looked round the den of the man who was her friend, and his, and
+had helped her to win the interview, noting each trivial detail, each
+attempt at decoration and hominess, each cunning substitute such as
+every Rhodesian contrives out of his ingenuity for some trifle not
+easily procured in that far land. And all the time she was tensely
+painfully aware of that strong man in the window, and of the issues
+that hung upon his decision. How, in the event of his deciding to
+approach Meryl, the recognised fiancé was to be treated, was beyond
+her. She was too tired to probe further. She only cared that Meryl's
+happiness should be saved. Her own had been so nearly lost, she had
+seen so much unspeakable bitterness arise out of one great mistake,
+made once by many women at the altar, and she only waited to know if
+she had lost or won.
+
+At last the silent figure moved. At the window Carew turned and came
+towards her. She watched him with all her soul in her eyes, unable to
+rise from her chair for very tension.
+
+"What are you going to do?..." she asked, hoarsely.
+
+"Can you tell me where I can find Henry Delcombe?" he said.
+
+
+
+
+XXVII
+
+DIANA BEGINS TO GROW PERPLEXED
+
+
+In the meantime the household at Hill Court was a restless, uneasy,
+depressed one. No person in it, except Meryl, seemed undisturbed by
+the unsatisfactory atmosphere. She by taking thought, had, contrary to
+the old dictum, added to her stature; but it was the stature of her
+mind. The spirit that takes a woman through the troubled waters at
+hand, with all her consciousness set upon the great goal ahead, upheld
+her now; and in the presence of onlookers gave her a grave serenity,
+not in any way akin to joy, but baffling to those who would fain have
+seen her show a stronger feeling either of gladness or regret.
+
+It baffled even van Hert himself. To him she seemed so strangely the
+same, yet different, from the woman he had loved before the Rhodesian
+tour. In all his work, his plans, his schemes, she was as earnest and
+interested as he could possibly wish; but that fairness his dark
+strength had coveted seemed to elude him at every turn. When he kissed
+her, he felt vaguely that she suffered his caress; on one or two
+occasions it almost seemed as if she went further and shuddered, and
+yet she never actually repulsed him. And then the dainty, light humour
+that had been hers as well as Diana's!... What had become of it?... It
+seemed now as if Diana had absorbed it all, for Meryl was nearly
+always quiet, while the younger girl was almost boisterous. And yet
+even in Diana there was a note that puzzled him. She was so jumpy and
+uncertain. Childishly gay one moment, and cuttingly brilliant the
+next. He was glad she was there. After the first week of the
+engagement he found himself quite willing to further Meryl's obvious
+wish for her company upon every occasion. So if she rose to leave them
+alone they deterred her with vague requests and excuses; and when they
+went in public together, Diana was always with them. And when she was
+snappy, they laughed at her and did not mind. Diana snappy was better
+than no Diana at all.
+
+Aunt Emily thought otherwise, and was deeply grateful to them in her
+heart whenever they took her refractory niece safely out of her way.
+Her escapades were apt to be so wild nowadays, and her language so
+horrifying; and whenever the poor lady remonstrated, she was always
+told that it was the result of the Rhodesian trip.
+
+"It will take me quite a year to get over it," Diana informed her.
+"You can't eat rats, and sleep with a frog in your bed, and go
+unwashed for weeks on end, without suffering from it in some way. God
+bless my soul!... is it likely?..."
+
+At the end of the second week, anyone watching with keen insight might
+have seen a still more significant change creeping over the three most
+noticeable inmates of the house; for Mr. Pym was only silent and grave
+and retiring, going early to his study and feigning to be much
+occupied. And Aunt Emily had acquired a habit of going to sleep after
+dinner during her solitariness, which Diana wickedly called a
+dispensation from Heaven to bless the household of Henry Pym.
+
+So the lovers and Diana were left to themselves, and usually sat upon
+the deep verandah. And it became apparent presently that all the
+talking was done by Diana and van Hert; Meryl was merely a silent
+listener. Perhaps she was not even a listener; one could not tell. She
+sat so still, with wistful eyes looking out beyond the stars. But
+Diana, on the other hand, exceeded herself; and in doing so she made
+van Hert exceed himself also. She was brilliant, mischievous,
+reckless, serious, satirical, nonsensical, all in a breath. She drove
+him hither and thither; led him on one moment, and withered him with
+her satire the next. It was obvious the man very soon left off
+treating her with any careless levity; if he did he was outwitted in
+no time; torn to shreds, and cast to the four winds on merry logic
+that had ever the sting of satire behind its laughing lightness. Very
+quickly he was on his guard, with thrust and parry; keen, watchful,
+alert--the politician to whom South Africa listened. And finally there
+came a day when, after unfolding a plan to Meryl, he added, "That is
+my idea, but I thought I would consult your cousin first." It seemed
+to strike him that it was a little odd, and he added, "She is
+extraordinarily observant. She may see some weak point we have
+overlooked."
+
+"Yes, consult Diana," Meryl had replied at once; "she knows a lot
+about statistics of that kind. She has often had arguments with father
+over them."
+
+So in the evening van Hert came in eager haste to have his talk with
+Diana. And Diana had taken herself off to a dinner-party and was not
+forthcoming. So the lovers sat on the verandah alone, and after a
+little they began to feel at a loss for anything to say, and wished
+devoutly that Diana would return.
+
+As she was likely to be late, van Hert got up and spoke of departing.
+He said he had a measure to study carefully, ready for the reopening
+of Parliament at Cape Town. And while he was still explaining, Diana
+returned. She had made an excuse and left the party early.
+
+"It was so dull," she said. "I have no patience with people who let me
+bite them, and do not try to bite back. I bit them all, more or less,
+in the end, and left them bathing each other's sores, so to speak, and
+exclaiming with bated breath at my cleverness. Fools and blockheads!
+just because I've got a banking account that would buy half of them
+up, and never miss it. As if I didn't know, when I'm in that mood, I'm
+a cattish little spitfire!..."
+
+"So you came home to worry us?..." and the pleasure in his face was
+suddenly illuminating.
+
+"Well, you have the pluck to hit back," and she looked at him with a
+flash of her eyes that made his senses reel a little. She threw her
+costly evening-cloak on to a chair, and pushed it a little aside with
+her foot, with a graceful action that displayed a dainty slipper and
+ankle, in no wise lost upon him. "I always hit back myself," she
+continued. "I've no sympathy with the 'other cheek' theory. I hit
+twice as hard as the attacker if possible. If Aunt Emily were here, I
+should say I give a dickens of a smack; but as she isn't, it is not
+worth while." She came forward with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.
+"Poor dear Aunt Emily! I sometimes have her conscience very much on my
+mind; but there ... I can bear it." And her comical enunciation in the
+poor lady's exact tones set both Meryl and van Hert off laughing.
+
+The laughter was coming back to her own eyes too. When she entered
+they had been clouded, and her lips pouting. If they only knew it,
+she had been bored to tears at the party; bored utterly and
+completely, longing to be back on the verandah fighting a wordy, keen,
+good-tempered battle with van Hert; and she felt sure he would have
+gone when she returned. She had noticed he never stayed late when she
+was absent. But she was just in time. He had not gone, was only just
+going, and she perceived the face of each was tired and depressed.
+
+"What have you been doing?" she rallied them. "You looked as if you
+had been intending to read the marriage service through together, and
+had read the funeral one by mistake; or possibly because it appealed
+to you more!... You both seemed doleful enough for anything."
+
+"We missed you," Meryl said, simply. "William wanted to ask you about
+a new measure he is planning."
+
+Van Hert said nothing, but he was looking at her unconsciously, with a
+light in his eyes that staggered her. Other men had looked at her with
+admiration, but this man had an expression that seemed to envelop her
+with himself. She felt throughout her pulses that he was all fire and
+eagerness and intensity, a strong, wilful, obstinate, fierce, virile
+personality that reached out mute, unconscious arms to her
+level-headed coolness. The fire in his eyes was only smouldering as
+yet, but it seemed to tell her that he was a fine-toned, brilliant
+instrument that she, and perhaps she only, could play upon as she
+liked, bringing forth both thundering chords and enveloping sweetness.
+
+And in the sudden silence that had fallen upon the verandah, Diana
+knew that she liked to play, would always like to play, that with this
+man at least boredom would never fret her restless soul.
+
+Then she plunged into words with him, and they sparred delightedly,
+and that work he had spoken of as awaiting him at home was left to
+take care of itself.
+
+Later, Diana went outside on the verandah of her room and Meryl's and
+looked at the stars. The tables had turned utterly, but it was
+doubtful if either of them perceived it. Meryl went quietly to bed
+with only a few words, and either slept, or feigned sleep. Diana
+loitered on the verandah, and looked at the stars. She hardly knew
+why, only some strange half-consciousness was springing up inside her
+that made her restless. Somehow van Hert seemed to be gaining a hold
+over her. She could not gauge how, nor why, nor wherefore; but as she
+thought of his fine dark eyes in the starlight, with that luminous,
+glad expression when he looked at her, she had a sense of violent
+antipathy one moment, and of a gladness that made her blush secretly
+the next.
+
+But within three days the date of the wedding was fixed, and all the
+papers paragraphed it far and wide.
+
+It appeared in Salisbury the day after Ailsa had had her talk with
+Carew, and it came as a shock to both of them. It left just three
+weeks for action, and no more. What was to be done? Ailsa tried to get
+another interview with Carew at once, and found he had had to ride to
+some place twenty miles distant, and might not be back until the
+morrow. So, in distress, she sought Henry Delcombe. What he had to
+tell her was faintly reassuring. Carew had gone to see him after he
+left Ailsa, and had asked for proofs of his heirship to the marquisate
+of Toxeter. Delcombe had been able to satisfy him, and he had been
+gravely friendly, but that was all. At last, in desperation, Ailsa
+decided to write to Diana. The mail left that morning, and would reach
+Johannesburg in three days. Diana was full of resource, and she might
+think of a plan. Ailsa decided to tell her as much as she could
+without betraying any confidence. She said no word of the tragedy.
+That only concerned Meryl, and if she were to hear it at all, she must
+hear it from him. Neither did she mention his changed position; that
+also he should tell himself. She contented herself with letting Diana
+know that he had admitted he loved Meryl.
+
+In the meantime she waited anxiously for Carew to return, but heard no
+word of him until the Sunday afternoon. In reply to an urgent little
+note he came to see her. She had wondered if he would be changed at
+all; if his new position would shed a ray of gladness in his steady
+eyes. But he seemed exactly the same, and she could read nothing.
+
+"Did you see the announcement yesterday?" she asked. "There is so
+little time. I had to see you."
+
+"I did."
+
+"And what are you going to do?"
+
+He looked down at the carpet, lost in thought. "I hardly know," he
+said.
+
+"O, won't you at least go to Johannesburg?..." she pleaded. "See Meryl
+once. If you fail her now, perhaps you will never forgive yourself."
+
+"On the other hand, I may only disturb her mind. How do you know she
+has not cared for this man for a long time? In any case, what right
+have I to cross _his_ path now?"
+
+"O, your logic!..." she cried. "The way you men think this and that
+and the other, when a woman just _knows_! Go and see her. Go and make
+sure of things for yourself."
+
+But he shook his head in doubt and perplexity. To him it seemed almost
+like stealing to go and attempt to take from this other man what he
+had won fairly and openly; and though Ailsa tried other arguments, she
+could not move him. Only one half-hope she extracted from him.
+
+"Perhaps," he said, "I will write to Mr. Pym and ask his advice."
+
+Then he went back to the hours of desperate mental stress, that were
+steadily increasing the grey about his temples. To Ailsa he might have
+seemed cold and self-contained as ever, but if she could have known
+it, all his being was torn with conflict. With the hourly growing ache
+and longing to throw everything to the winds and to try to carry Meryl
+off while there was yet time there was the fear lest a wrong step on
+his part should shatter for her some newly found content.
+
+
+
+
+XXVIII
+
+DIANA'S PERPLEXITIES INCREASE
+
+
+The two days after Diana came home early from her dinner-party were
+chiefly noticeable for the fact that for the first time since the
+engagement van Hert remained away from Hill Court. No one knew why,
+and the excuse he sent was of the vaguest. Diana asked her own heart
+and was troubled. When he came on the third day, he walked into the
+drawing-room to look for Meryl, and found Diana reading in the window
+alone. They discovered each other suddenly, and it was almost as if he
+gave a guilty start; and he looked unusually pale, with haggard eyes,
+as if he had slept badly of late. Diana saw it all, but gave no sign.
+
+"You are something of a stranger, Meinheer van Hert," she said
+lightly. "My sword had almost time to rust."
+
+"It would never do that. The best of swords is none the worse for an
+occasional rest; unless"--with a somewhat tired gleam of humour--"you
+have been keeping it bright at the expense of poor Aunt Emily."
+
+"No, it has had a real rest. I am saving it again for the best
+swordsman worthy of it."
+
+His eyes came suddenly to her face, and she realised at once that
+until that moment he had scarcely looked at her; and in that second's
+flash she saw something in them that hurt: a swift, deep trouble that
+he was struggling to hide. He looked away again quickly, noting the
+lovely shades of the room, the masses of violets, the general airiness
+and elegance.
+
+"Is Meryl at home?"
+
+"Yes. I will go and tell her you are here."
+
+Diana went upstairs very slowly, lost in thought. And when she had
+told Meryl, she stood a long time at the window, thinking still.
+Presently Meryl came back. "William came to ask me to definitely fix
+the date of the wedding. We decided on the fifth; that will give us
+just a week before he must go to Cape Town." Then, as if she did not
+expect Diana to make any comment, she added, "The invitations must go
+out to-night."
+
+That evening van Hert came as usual, but, simply because he was gayer
+than usual, Diana perceived that his gaiety was forced; and she saw
+also that he shunned meeting her eyes, looking anywhere, nowhere,
+rather than into her face.
+
+The next day she rode in a direction where she and Meryl often met and
+joined him for a gallop. Meryl had suggested coming as usual, but
+Diana had contrived to put her off. She wanted if possible, without
+quite knowing why, to see van Hert alone; and as it happened, Fortune
+favoured her, for he appeared up a side road suddenly, and had no time
+to escape her, even had he wished. So they rode together, and he tried
+to talk to her as usual. When they came to a spot where they often
+dismounted, and sat to enjoy the lovely view of distant hills, Diana
+prepared to get off her horse. She saw him hesitate, and then he
+muttered something about an important engagement.
+
+"O, nonsense!..." with a gay, airy smile. "If I'm not in a hurry, you
+can't be. I only want to sit for about fifteen minutes."
+
+So they gave their horses' reins to the smart black groom, who always
+rode with the girls, and sat on the rustic bench where the three had
+several times sat together.
+
+And suddenly, Diana, giving rein to her impulsive temperament, said,
+"What is your opinion of a man who marries one woman and loves
+another?"
+
+She saw him start and stiffen, but he tried to parry the thrust. "What
+a question to ask a fiancé of a few weeks, on the eve of becoming a
+bridegroom!..."
+
+"Well, that's why! I thought you would have formed many opinions on
+the subject of love and marriage."
+
+"And why do you want to know?"
+
+"O, just a fancy! I know men sometimes do that kind of thing.
+Personally I think it is rather cowardly."
+
+"Why cowardly?..."
+
+"Because it shows a man hasn't the pluck to own he has made a mistake.
+He would rather go on with it, and pretend everything is all right."
+
+She saw him bite his lip, and felt more thoroughly that he would not
+meet her eyes.
+
+"It is hard on the other woman, the one he _does_ love, too. It might
+make her very happy to be told. One joy is better than two miseries
+any day, even if his lordship did have to own to a mistake and look
+rather silly!..." with a little laugh.
+
+"Perhaps I shall know more about it when I am married," trying to
+speak carelessly. "You must ask me later."
+
+"Probably I shall not want to know then; my fancies are always
+varying. What should _you_ do, for instance, if you suddenly found you
+cared for someone else more than Meryl?"
+
+She was watching him closely, and she saw the swift, tell-tale blood
+rush to his face.
+
+"I'm sure I don't know," he answered, with a forced, unnatural laugh.
+"It is rather a remote probability now."
+
+"O, one never knows!..." Diana spoke with assumed lightness, and
+looked away to the hills, feeling a little unnerved by the sudden,
+swift palpitating in her blood. "Shall we go on now?" rising and
+turning her back to him. "I mustn't keep you any longer from that
+important engagement."
+
+She might have added that she had learnt what she came out to learn;
+but instead she put her horse to a smart gallop, and rode back without
+scarcely speaking, flinging him a gay good-bye over her shoulder when
+their roads separated.
+
+When she reached home she found Meryl surrounded by dressmakers, and
+trying hard to assume an interest in the proceedings; but Diana's
+clear eyes saw the effort as plainly as if it had been written across
+her forehead. She saw that she looked ill, too; ill and worn and
+joyless, as if something had damped for ever her natural fount of
+gaiety. And withal she was so sweet-tempered and considerate, studying
+everybody else's feelings in this wedding of hers; everyone's
+apparently except her own. Diana wanted to shake her one moment, and
+howl round her neck the next. Instead of doing either she was a little
+more snappy than usual.
+
+"Will you have your dress fitted now?" Meryl asked her. "Madame has it
+all ready."
+
+"No," shortly. "I haven't time this morning; and besides, one can't be
+fitted just after a ride. I'm going to have a hot bath and a
+cigarette," and she flung out of the room, leaving Meryl a little
+perplexed and Madame considerably perturbed.
+
+In her own apartment she tossed things about, and was very irritable
+with her maid. Later, she went out into the garden to a shady nook
+where she was not likely to be disturbed, because she wanted to think.
+But thinking was no easy matter. On every side were perplexities.
+
+"It's just the devil's own mess," she summed up at last, unable to
+think of any other sufficiently strong description. "Meryl doesn't
+want to marry van Hert, and van Hert doesn't want to marry Meryl; they
+both want to marry someone else; and yet they both mean to go on to
+the bitter end, because of some rotten-cotton notion about serving
+South Africa. O! I've no patience with these heroic attitudes! They
+are not suited to commonplace everyday life. If they'd a little more
+sound common sense, and a little less of the noble and lofty soul
+spirit, they would perceive they will only do more harm than good by
+going against nature and trying to force inclinations. But the absurd
+thing is, that neither has yet had the perspicacity to perceive the
+other's unwilling frame of mind. That exactly bears out my point.
+These heroic attitudes do not suit the exigencies of everyday life. If
+they weren't both so bent on doing the noble thing, they would
+perceive they are merely making fools of themselves, and incidentally
+straining my powers of resource beyond all reason. Of course it can't
+go on; but what in the name of all that's wonderful can I do to stop
+it?... Send for The Bear, and compel him to make the best of the awful
+fact that Meryl possesses a fortune, and console dear Dutch Willie
+myself, I suppose!..." And she smiled grimly. Then her face softened,
+and tears unexpectedly gleamed in her eyes. She brushed them away,
+apostrophising herself impatiently. Then she swallowed down a sob,
+murmuring, "I can't bear the thought of Meryl, standing with that
+smile on her lips and that expression in her eyes, to be fitted for
+her wedding-dress. It makes one want to tear the whole world to
+pieces, and sink South Africa in the nethermost ocean. No wonder uncle
+shuts himself in his study so much nowadays. He must be just as hard
+put to it as I am to know what to do." A step disturbed her
+cogitations at that moment, and Aunt Emily came into view.
+
+"Ah, my dear, I thought I saw you come down the garden. There is a
+letter for you with a Rhodesian stamp. I thought you might like to
+have it." And she handed it to her, at the same time sitting down on
+the garden-seat beside her.
+
+"Have you seen Meryl's dress," she enquired, with an expression that
+had suddenly grown sentimental. "The dear child. To think of her in
+her wedding-dress, so soon to be a bride!"
+
+"Well, that's a commonplace enough event! Girls like Meryl usually do
+become brides, and later on they wear shrouds, and have a nice little
+coffin all to themselves. There really isn't very much difference!..."
+
+"O, my dear!... What a dreadful remark to make! I am sure it is
+unlucky to speak like that."
+
+"Then I hope it will be unlucky enough to postpone the wedding
+indefinitely."
+
+Aunt Emily turned and looked at her niece as if she thought she had
+taken leave of her senses, but that was not by any means a new
+expression upon the face of Henry Pym's sister confronting Henry Pym's
+niece.
+
+"Really, Diana!..." she expostulated. "I think it is hardly a subject
+for jesting. Marriage is a very serious thing. I hope God will bless
+dear Meryl with great happiness. I confess, at first, I was
+disappointed that she chose a Dutch husband; but Mr. van Hert has very
+good Huguenot blood in his veins, and he is undoubtedly a very
+charming man; and then, of course, her children will only be half
+Dutch."
+
+"Her children ought to be bear cubs!" snapped Diana, wishing her aunt
+would go away and leave her to read her letter in peace.
+
+For a moment Aunt Emily was too horrified to reply, and then Diana
+added, "Don't trouble to expostulate any more. I'm not really mad,
+only eccentric. I never could see why people make such a silly fuss
+about weddings; anyhow, they are all the same and all commonplace.
+When I marry, I shall give all my friends the shock of their lives,
+something to talk about for a year, and then for once in my life I
+shall be a public benefactor. I see Helen looking about on the terrace
+as if she wanted you. Shall I ask her?..."
+
+"No, I will go in to her"; and she got up and walked towards the
+house, still wearing a shocked expression.
+
+"I wonder if Helen will have the sense to manufacture some request?"
+thought Diana, glancing after her. "As if I could see the terrace from
+here!..."
+
+Then she opened her letter.
+
+When she had read it through once, she turned back to the beginning
+and read it through again. And all the time she was so rigidly still,
+that a little bird hopped close up to her foot to investigate.
+
+Then she laid the letter down and looked out across the garden. Five
+minutes later she got to her feet.
+
+In a moment of crisis Diana was the type who courageously follows an
+inspiration, without overmuch weighing and sifting. She had faith in
+her own keen woman's instinct and she knew there were times when
+sharp, decisive action is better than lengthy, minute attention to all
+the laws of war, and far-reaching considerations of what might or
+might not result.
+
+A gate at the far end of the garden led out to the main road, and not
+very far down was a post office. Diana went straight to it, and sent a
+wire, with prepaid reply, directed to Major Carew, which ran:--
+
+"Can you come at once? Urgently wanted. Go to Carlton and send message
+on arrival to me.
+
+"DIANA PYM."
+
+
+
+
+XXIX
+
+A USEFUL BLUNDER
+
+
+The railway journey from Salisbury to Johannesburg takes three and
+sometimes four days; so that whether Carew responded to her urgent
+message or not, Diana had rather a long time to possess her soul in
+patience and make up her mind what course to take next. She was in two
+minds whether to take her uncle into her confidence or not, but
+decided men were always apt to bungle, and she had better trust
+entirely to her own guidance. Beyond a doubt the situation required
+the most delicate and skilful handling. First of all, she felt she
+must convey to van Hert some suggestion that would prepare him for the
+shock of what might be expected to follow upon Carew's arrival,
+supposing he came. Meryl she did not worry greatly about. She might be
+expected to be swept off her feet and go with the tide, by the very
+suddenness of it all. The two men presented the obstacles. Carew would
+have to be inveigled with the greatest finesse into an interview with
+Meryl, without ever letting him perceive a woman was leading him. In
+her heart Diana was a little afraid of the steady, unbending face. He
+was not likely to prove pliable; he might even refuse to come. Nothing
+she could say could alter the fact that he was a policeman and Meryl
+was burdened with a fortune, and that was the only barrier Diana was
+aware of. She laughed a little to herself as she wondered whether it
+would help matters if Mr. Pym made a will disinheriting Meryl, and
+dividing his money between her and charities. She could easily give it
+back to Meryl later. Then she sighed. "More heroics!... and they tell
+us it is a base world. Here am I driven out of my senses nearly,
+positively suffocated with high-mindedness, because three delightful
+people can't come down from their unlivable altitude and exhibit a
+little practical common sense."
+
+Then, of course, there was van Hert's pride to consider. What in the
+world, at this time of all others, was to be made of an English girl
+jilting a prominent Dutch politician a week before the wedding day!
+"It's almost enough to cause another war!" sighed poor Diana. "I'm
+really beginning to wish I had let them all go their own foolish ways.
+If I don't mind I shall end in becoming a heroine myself, and that's
+really too alarming!..."
+
+However, the bull having been taken by the horns, it was wiser to keep
+a firm hold of them; though more than once Diana felt herself very
+entirely in sympathy with Mark Twain when he says, "It is better to
+take hold by the tail, because then you can let go when you like."
+
+Obviously van Hert must be tackled first, but she waited until the
+morning after sending her wire, hoping for a reply. It came early, and
+fortune favoured her in that she received her orange-coloured envelope
+unknown to anyone. She carried it upstairs and opened it with a
+beating, anxious heart. It contained only two words, and was not
+signed:--
+
+"Arrive Saturday."
+
+For a moment she felt a little dazed. He was coming then, the stern
+soldier-policeman. What in the world was she to say to him?...
+
+Then a flood of gladness began to well up in her heart. After all, it
+meant before all things, that a day of great joy might be at hand for
+Meryl. Did anything else really matter?... If she personally came
+through the transaction a little battered--well, it wouldn't really
+matter, if Meryl and The Bear were safely off the rocks. Rather than
+let any shadowy good for South Africa come between them now she would
+marry van Hert herself, and at that she gave a little low laugh. In
+the meantime she had three days to think out a plan and convey to van
+Hert some sort of preparation.
+
+When he came that Wednesday evening it was easily seen that he was
+feverish. His eyes were unnaturally bright and his face flushed, and
+at dinner he only played with his food and ate nothing. He talked and
+laughed gaily, but with intermittent shivering which he tried hard to
+hide. Everyone saw it, and Meryl grew concerned. He tried to laugh it
+off, but was not successful. Finally Mr. Pym advised him to go home to
+bed. And then Aunt Emily made the crowning blunder of her life, and
+like some other big blunders now historical, it proved a blessing in
+disguise.
+
+She glanced at Diana with a scared face and exclaimed in perturbation,
+"Now if the wedding is put off it will be your fault, Diana. I told
+you it must bring ill-luck to speak about it as you did."
+
+There was an awkward pause, and in spite of herself Diana flushed
+scarlet.
+
+"What did Diana say?" van Hert asked of Aunt Emily, half grave and
+half casual.
+
+The poor lady, having quickly discovered she had made an unfortunate
+remark and become considerably flurried, made matters worse by
+stammering guiltily, "O, it was nothing much; she was only talking at
+random. She ... she ..."--distressfully discovering van Hert's eyes
+still fixed upon her--"said something about hoping the wedding would
+be postponed, and I said it was unlucky."
+
+For a moment the constraint was painful. Meryl had grown as white as
+the tablecloth, and Mr. Pym looked thoroughly worried. Diana, however,
+had quickly recovered herself, and was now the most composed of any.
+She gave a little sniff and glanced defiantly at van Hert. His eyes
+roved round the table and finally fixed themselves upon hers. She did
+not waver, but looked steadily back at him. He gave a self-conscious,
+constrained laugh. "I presume you had your reasons?" he said.
+
+She narrowed her eyes a little as she replied with a directness
+probably he alone understood, "Yes, I suppose I had. It was yesterday,
+Tuesday. Tuesday is often a queer day with me."
+
+And he knew she was referring to their conversation during the
+morning's ride.
+
+Then Meryl got up to relieve the tension, and because she began to
+feel a little uncertain of herself.
+
+"Di often has queer days, but they have nothing to do with your
+feverishness, William. Jackson had better go back with you, and we
+will telephone Dr. Smythe to look in and see how you are." She went
+away to order the motor, and van Hert seized an opportunity to speak
+to Diana unheard.
+
+"I know what you are alluding to," he said, gravely. "We cannot very
+well leave it like this. Will you ride the same way to-morrow?"
+
+"But if you have fever?" hesitatingly.
+
+"In the war I fought all day long with fever on me. Surely I can ride!
+You will be there?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+When van Hert arrived at the meeting-place next morning, he wore an
+overcoat and looked as if he ought to be in bed, and Diana's heart
+smote her. But she comforted herself with the thought that his fever
+was very much of the mind, and her medicine, if drastic, might still
+do him more good than any physician's.
+
+They rode side by side to the seat they had sat upon before, and
+without saying much he helped her to alight and gave the reins of both
+horses to the black groom.
+
+Once seated, however, he turned to her and said, gravely, "Of course,
+that remark of yours had to do with our conversation the last time we
+sat here?"
+
+"Of course," agreed Diana, calmly. The intricacies of the task she had
+set herself were beginning to interest more than scare her, and she
+was not afraid as to her skill in handling van Hert.
+
+"May I ask in what exact particular?"
+
+"Merely that you are the man about to marry a woman you do not love."
+
+He opened his lips to expostulate and deny, but she rested a little
+hand on his arm a moment and interrupted. "No, do not trouble to deny
+it. I should not have dared to say such a thing without being sure of
+my ground. Your face told me on Tuesday."
+
+He was silent, feeling himself unaccountably in the grip of something
+he could no longer thwart.
+
+"Now listen to me. When Meryl went to Rhodesia you _did_ love her. I
+think she was all the world to you. So she was when she came back, _at
+first_. You were in haste to win her, and she consented to be engaged
+to you. Afterwards...." She paused.
+
+"Well, afterwards?..." in a strained, unnatural voice.
+
+"Afterwards you found in some vague way she was changed. You had won
+her, but you did not possess her. Something had happened. You seemed
+to have seized the substance and found it shadow. I seem to be talking
+like a book, but we will let that pass! Instead of trying to find out
+whether this really was the case, you attempted to hurry forward the
+wedding. That, I think, was weak of you."
+
+"And something had happened?..." he asked, hoarsely. "What?..."
+
+Diana spread out her hands with a little French gesture. "It is
+sometimes just as poignant to say, '_Cherchez l'homme_' as, '_Cherchez
+la femme_.'"
+
+"You mean?..."
+
+"That what had happened was another man."
+
+"Ah!..." in quick surprise; and after a short, tense silence, "Then
+why in the world?..." But again she stayed him with a little arresting
+hand.
+
+"You wonder why she engaged herself to you?... When you have the clue
+it is quite simple. The other man loves her, but he has not told her
+so. I do not know that he ever will. He is a proud, obstinate
+Englishman, and has no position and no money. Apparently he is ready
+to let Meryl wreck her life, rather than bless his with herself and
+her fortune. Some men are like that. It is a mixture of pride and
+heroics very difficult for a well-meaning cousin like myself to cope
+with. I think it may even turn my hair grey yet." Again she spread out
+her hands. "Can you not see the rest?... You yourself led up to it.
+You urged your united service to South Africa (though why poor South
+Africa should be dragged in, I don't know), and she, having as she
+thought lost all hope of simple, personal happiness, decided to give
+herself to you and to her country. Now do you understand?"
+
+He was silent for a considerable time, thinking deeply; and then, with
+one of his quick versatile changes, he turned and pounced upon her
+with the question, "Granting all is as you say, what I want to know
+is, how have you discovered it?" He looked hard into her face with
+keen, searching eyes. "How did _you_ know that _I_ had changed?"
+
+He had taken her a little unawares, and suddenly she felt the hot,
+tell-tale blood mounting higher and higher up her face. She moved
+restlessly, impatiently, as if his gaze were intolerable, and then
+replied a trifle lamely, "You must have heard the English proverb,
+'Lookers-on see most of the game.'"
+
+"Ah! I wonder at what particular point you saw first?..."
+
+"In any case it is beside the question," she declared, anxious to get
+the conversation away from herself. "As I asked you on Tuesday, I ask
+you again, 'What do you think of a man who marries a woman when he
+does not love her?'"
+
+"That is not the question you asked me."
+
+"Yes it is," a trifle shortly. Diana was beginning to feel rather like
+a swimmer out of his depth.
+
+"I beg your pardon, it is not; but we will let it pass for the moment.
+Granting that what you have told me is true, what do you expect me to
+do?"
+
+"Tell Meryl the truth."
+
+"And what is the truth?" He was gazing hard at her again, and Diana
+began to wish she could run away and hide. She knew that her changing
+colour and averted eyes were telling him something he badly wanted to
+know.
+
+"O, you're very dense!" she cried, seeking to cover her discomfort.
+"Tell her you have discovered it is all a mistake; that you do not
+think she loves you better than all the world; and that you feel
+yourself wedded to your work, and ... and ... that kind of thing. Of
+course it won't be nice, but surely you can see it is a far _braver_
+thing to do, than just to go on because you are afraid of what the
+world will say?"
+
+"And suppose Meryl wishes to hold to her promise and give herself to
+her country?"
+
+"She can still do that, only in some other way."
+
+"And what do you think South Africa will say?"
+
+"O, that's quite beyond me!..." with a little comical grimace, "but,
+of course, at any cost, you must avert another war!..." They both
+smiled, and she added more seriously, "You can announce that you
+discovered in time you were not very well suited to each other, and
+mutually agreed to break off the engagement."
+
+Again he was silent for a long time, lost in thought. At last, "And
+when do you think I should say this to Meryl?"
+
+"It will not be any easier through waiting. Why not to-night?"
+
+Again he was silent, and something in the air, some secret, veiled
+magnetism, told Diana whither his thoughts were tending, and her
+cheeks grew hot in spite of herself.
+
+"If I speak to Meryl to-night, and she decrees that the engagement
+shall end, will you promise to ride this way to-morrow morning?"
+
+"What for?" trying to speak with nonchalance.
+
+"To answer the question I asked you just now."
+
+"Which question? I have forgotten it."
+
+"I will ask it again to-morrow."
+
+"But why all this mystery?... Ask me now. I will answer it if I can."
+
+"I would rather wait until to-morrow. Come, you have said all you
+wanted to say to me. Let me have my turn now." And she knew that his
+eyes, sharpened by love, were reading things she had scarcely yet
+admitted to herself.
+
+She got up suddenly, feeling a little breathless. She began to have
+again that alarming sensation of being mastered; as if he had some
+hold upon her, against which it was her instinct to fight, not because
+of any antipathy to him, but because, like all women of her
+independent character and fearlessness, she dreaded the mere thought
+of losing her liberty or yielding her independence. And at the same
+time she knew that the thought which held a dread held a charm also.
+Diana would never lose her grit and personality, she would never
+submit for a moment to any overshadowing, but deep in her heart she
+knew she was true woman enough to like to be conquered by the right
+man. Her instinct was to contradict van Hert in anything just then and
+deny any wish, but she was glad he quietly insisted upon her granting
+his request, and that when they finally rode away it was an understood
+thing she would come again the next morning.
+
+
+
+
+XXX
+
+DIANA IS RESTLESS
+
+
+It would be most difficult, indeed well-nigh impossible, for any
+chronicler to describe the state of Diana's feelings that afternoon;
+and very certain that under no circumstances would she have attempted
+to describe them herself. The swift coming into life of the love
+between her and van Hert was like the man who said he had not been
+born, he just happened. One could imagine Diana calmly stating their
+love had no explanation, it just happened. Perhaps it had been there
+longer than either of them knew; perhaps it took form suddenly when
+each realised the unsubstantial nature of the engagement to Meryl.
+Diana had always had a special liking for van Hert, and had said so
+openly; but as he had for some time been presented in her mind as her
+cousin's lover, there had been no reason why the liking should grow to
+anything warmer, and probably it never would have. But when she
+thoroughly realised how unsatisfactory a basis he was about to build
+his wedded happiness upon, a certain resentment on his behalf took
+shape in her mind, as well as troubled anxiety for Meryl. From this it
+was not a very far step to a warmer feeling still, and as we have
+seen, the old gaieties ceased to attract her if he was not a partaker.
+And then, knowing well that Meryl's heart was given elsewhere, she
+spent no anxious moments as to whether this warmer feeling of hers
+were unfair to her cousin. It was as though it was just held in
+abeyance waiting for something to happen; and when the something had
+happened, she swam out fearlessly into the deep water. With van Hert
+it had necessarily been different. He knew nothing of Carew, and only
+felt vaguely that Meryl had changed; nothing tangible that he could
+take hold of, and yet a something that was as an invisible barrier
+between their closer knowledge of each other. Puzzled and baffled, he
+turned with eagerness to Diana's frank camaraderie, to awake suddenly
+one evening to the fact that, unknown to him, his heart had slipped
+out of his and Meryl's keeping into hers. Yet even then he tried to
+deny the change even to himself; he would not believe he could so
+suddenly transfer his affection. It was not until later, seeing the
+whole from the vantage-ground of distance, that he realised his
+affections had not been transferred. His affection for Meryl still
+existed; he admired her profoundly as before. What had died was his
+desire, starved by the growing sense that she chiefly suffered his
+caress. But he had not the moral courage to go to her frankly and tell
+her this; and rather than face the consequences he attempted to stifle
+this strong longing for Diana and put himself beyond the reach of it.
+Fortunately for all three, that practical common sense of Diana's,
+which she was pleased to call selfish commonplaceness, dared swift,
+unconventional measures, careless of consequences, rather than to sit
+still and let the mistake pass beyond recall.
+
+But at the beginning she had not given much thought to her own
+personal feelings in the matter, and it was only after the ride with
+van Hert she found these suddenly confronting her in their full
+significance. And because the turn of events was becoming a little
+overwhelming, she spent the hours between parting with him and his
+coming interview with Meryl in a whirl of emotion wholly new to her.
+
+Once or twice Meryl asked her if anything was the matter, she was so
+extraordinarily restless, but she only laughed it off and tried to
+steady her feelings.
+
+In the evening, when they left the dinner-table after dessert, she
+mysteriously vanished; but later, swept with an inexplicable wave of
+longing and uncertain dread, she crept down to the dining-room to try
+and discover what had happened. It was growing in her consciousness
+with illuminating clearness that her own happiness depended upon what
+decision Meryl made.
+
+At last there was a movement in the drawing-room as of someone
+stepping in from the verandah, and she waited breathlessly for a
+glimpse of Meryl's face. She and van Hert came out into the hall
+together, and Diana saw that her cousin looked extraordinarily frail
+and white and rather exhausted. Van Hert was very gentle to her.
+
+"Shall I see your father to-night?" he asked, and she answered, "No, I
+will tell him myself. I expect he will see you to-morrow."
+
+"Good night," and Meryl held out her hand.
+
+Diana saw him hesitate; and then, with a movement that had in it the
+graceful courtesy of the Huguenot and the reverence of a fine spirit,
+he bent very low before her and kissed her hand. Afterwards he went
+quietly away, and Meryl stood alone in the hall. For one moment she
+waited, as if listening to his departing footsteps, and then very
+slowly turned and walked to her father's study.
+
+Diana slipped out and went upstairs, but presently her restlessness
+again caused her to descend. She could not settle to anything until
+she knew the truth and how Meryl took it. Thus she was again in the
+dining-room when the study door opened and Meryl came out. Her father
+came with her to the threshold, and it was evident that she had been
+crying. Diana saw her raise a white, tear-stained face, and saw Henry
+Pym kiss his child with ineffable tenderness. Then Meryl went slowly
+upstairs, and Mr. Pym went back into his study and closed the door.
+
+But something in his face, at her last glimpse of it, went swiftly to
+Diana's loyal, devoted heart; and because she loved him as if he were
+her own father, an impulse carried her straight across the hall with
+noiseless feet to the study door. Without knocking, she opened it
+softly and crept in. Henry Pym was seated at his writing-table, with
+his face hidden in his hand; and she saw, perhaps more poignantly than
+ever before, how the last few weeks had whitened his hair.
+
+As she softly closed the door and crossed the room he looked up. Diana
+warm-hearted to a degree when she deeply loved, slipped on to her
+knees beside him, and taking the hand hanging limply at his side in
+both hers, raised it to her lips.
+
+Henry Pym looked down into her eyes, and for the first time guessed
+from whence the solution had come.
+
+"You saved her?..." he said a little huskily.
+
+Diana nestled up against him. "I saved _them_," she corrected. "Van
+Hert is a fine man; he deserves a wife who gives him her whole heart,
+just as truly as Meryl deserves a husband who has no thought for
+anyone else in the world."
+
+"Then you knew he cared for someone else?"
+
+"Did he tell her so?" She lowered her head that he might not see her
+face.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did he say whom?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"Perhaps Meryl knew?"
+
+"She did not say."
+
+She kissed his hand again, and asked in low tones, "Why was she crying
+when she came out of the study? She ... she ... is not sorry about
+things?..."
+
+"No; she is glad. She sees she made a mistake."
+
+"Then why was she crying?"
+
+She saw him flinch, and read in his face all the pain in his heart.
+Evidently he knew of that hidden sorrow shadowing his child's life;
+evidently her sorrow was his sorrow. The wedding he so dreaded was
+safely prevented, but would the happiness come back?... the happiness
+that had been in that household before they went to Rhodesia? Could
+all his love and hope and tenderness bring back joy to the eyes that
+were his heaven and his earth?
+
+"Dearie," murmured Diana again, "was she crying because of that big
+soldier-policeman up north?"
+
+He did not reply, and suddenly she knelt upright, and took his sad,
+careworn face in her hands and nestled her soft cheek against it.
+
+"Because he's coming on Saturday, dearie. Hush! don't breathe a word;
+it is my secret; only I had to tell you because of what I saw in your
+face just now. He is coming because he loves her."
+
+Then slowly a great tear gathered in Henry Pym's eyes and fell
+unheeded upon Diana's hand. He held her fast and made no attempt to
+speak. And Diana hid her face because there were great tears in her
+eyes also.
+
+After a moment she got up, and shook the hair back from her face, and
+rallied him tenderly.
+
+"You see, Meryl must 'mother' something in the way of a country: it is
+her tremendous Imperial instinct; so I thought she had better 'mother'
+Rhodesia." And with a last tender kiss she went softly away and left
+him.
+
+In their own room she found Meryl had sent the maid away, and was
+waiting for her in the dark, standing in the window with her form
+dimly outlined against a moonlit sky.
+
+She went up to her at once and slipped her arm through that of the
+silent figure. Meryl pressed it, but for a moment or two did not
+speak. Diana did not speak either; for once in her life she had
+nothing to say.
+
+At last Meryl said, as if answering some thought deep in her own mind,
+"William told me to-night that there was someone else he loved. Di
+darling, I think there is only one woman it could be."
+
+And still Diana was silent.
+
+"I gathered also that something had been said between you and him;
+something that resulted in ... what has happened to-night...."
+
+"But you are not angry?..." Diana whispered.
+
+"O no. Every moment now I see more clearly what I ought to have seen
+before. I am afraid I have only been foolish, and ... and ... I wanted
+so to do what seemed the best," with a little break in her voice.
+
+"Of course you did; we all know that," said Diana loyally. "But I saw
+the mistake quickest, and I couldn't just sit still and do nothing; I
+am not made that way."
+
+Meryl pressed her arm affectionately.
+
+"Di," she whispered, "I want it all to come right as quickly as
+possible. I won't ask you any questions. Of course, I know it is you
+William cares for, and it seems so perfectly natural now that it
+should be. If you care for him, don't delay anything on my account. It
+would make me glad to hear that you were engaged to him to-morrow."
+
+Diana pressed the hand in hers. She felt strangely bashful with Meryl
+to-night; unable to say anything at all. In her heart she was a little
+shy with herself too. When she started out with a more or less light
+spirit to change the course of two lives, she had hardly realised how
+great a mountain she would be moving.
+
+"Do you love him, Di?..." Meryl asked her softly.
+
+"Yes," and Diana felt a little breathless as she made the admission.
+
+"God bless you! I'm very glad." And Meryl took the girl's face in her
+two hands and kissed her.
+
+Then they went quietly to bed, and Diana knew she had said no word of
+Carew's coming because she was afraid to.
+
+
+
+
+XXXI
+
+THE SOLUTION IS SEALED
+
+
+It was a rather sobered Diana who rode out the next morning to meet
+William van Hert, and when she saw him she felt suddenly conscious of
+herself in a way she had never done before and hoped she never would
+again. The glow in his eyes made it difficult for her to meet them,
+and they dismounted and went almost in silence to their usual seat.
+
+"You know, of course, what happened last night," he said, with
+ill-suppressed eagerness. "It has seemed like weeks and months since;
+every hour a week. I have not slept all night with longing for the
+morning."
+
+He was looking at his very best: another man almost since they last
+sat there; not good-looking, no one would ever call van Hert
+good-looking, but muscular and lean, with an air of virility and force
+always alluring. A man destined to be a leader in some way; one who
+must carry others along with him, if only because of his enthusiasm
+and fervour. The main point was, that he should carry them in a
+useful, practical direction. And hitherto there had been no special
+reason to hope this would be the case; it seemed more probable that,
+for the sake of making a noise in the world and gaining a following,
+he would identify himself with policies which the older and wiser men
+left alone; not from any indifference to the influence he was likely
+to wield, but because he was so full of warmth and intensity it must
+find an outlet. Some men are like that, especially politicians. They
+seem to be obsessed with the idea that they must make a hit somehow at
+once and come to the front _now_. And so they are apt to seize upon
+the first available policy likely to prove a good solid tub to stand
+and shout on; whether it is a durable tub, or one certain to be to
+their credit, is something of a side issue. The main point is a tub
+big enough and strong enough to bear them while they make the
+commotion and gain the hearing they are bent upon. And this spirit,
+like most spirits, may have its uses; it is not entirely to be
+deprecated. It may bring home very forcibly to the electors a weak
+spot that had otherwise been overlooked. In listening to the shouter,
+they may perceive how very entirely he is wrong; and, none the less,
+make the useful discovery that he is a good shouter. This then becomes
+the critical point. Having gained his hearing, will he condescend to
+moderate his views and listen to a little wisdom from older and more
+experienced men; or will he be obtuse enough to continue to stamp and
+shout on his tub, for fear people will call him a turncoat, or a few,
+who really do not matter, will leave off listening to him if he grows
+less noisy? And it is then perhaps a great politician is marred or
+made. Perhaps it often depends very much upon the main influence that
+held sway when the moment came to leave off shouting. That moment had
+come for van Hert, and he had the perspicacity to perceive it; though
+whether he would have acted upon his wiser judgment, left entirely to
+himself, it is impossible to say. It is, on the whole, pleasanter to
+think that, just because he was a clever, capable, sincere man and
+South Africa had need of such, the God of nations placed the matter
+beyond all doubt by sending the right influence across his path.
+
+Diana's mocking spirit loved to make game of heroics and big matters,
+but it was an affectation and nothing more: as Meryl and Henry Pym had
+long ago perceived, not van Hert himself nor Meryl cared more at heart
+for the great questions of the day affecting South Africa, and through
+her the Empire itself, since every year shows more clearly how
+tremendously England's colonies must matter to the mother country. The
+older and wiser men were already beginning to shake their heads over
+the grave and difficult problem of the white races and the black; over
+the tremendous increase of the latter in comparison, which threatened
+to swamp the white man out of South Africa altogether. One thing was
+obvious to all thinkers, the white races _must_ combine. Union must
+indeed be Union and not an empty name. The Englishman and the Dutchman
+_must_ join hands and sink differences, not only for the common good,
+but the common safety. So when Diana's practical spirit perceived how
+great and real an attraction van Hert had for her, she did not try to
+put it from her and struggle against it because he was a Dutchman. The
+moment she was sure, and the course was clear, she let herself go
+fearlessly; not as an act of sacrifice at all, she was far too
+practical to have much faith in a sacrifice such as Meryl had
+conceived, but because she loved the man and believed in him, and had
+no shadow of doubt as to his courage and sincerity if he were but
+influenced to move in the right direction.
+
+Well, he had stood on his tub and done his shouting right well; and
+now he had a goodly following and was the object of not a little
+execration, which is a usual thing for tub-shouters, and does not
+matter very much. What mattered was whether he possessed the genius to
+keep his followers and carry them along with him, after moderating his
+views and coming into line with the older and wiser men. Diana
+believed that he did, and as to be believed in is a very strong aid to
+all men, there was very little doubt that eventually the God of
+nations would prove to have given South Africa a fine statesman, even
+if he were built up upon a rabid politician. And if the instrument
+used was a woman, has not a great nation itself been built up through
+such instrumentality?
+
+And here one pauses a moment to think the old question, how often is a
+woman at the back of a man's greatness or a country's or any greatness
+whatsoever? Only these women do not need to do any shouting, because,
+as a rule, they only want to be heard by _one_. And when the result is
+a fine edifice, they are still content to go unnamed and unsung if
+that _one_ be lauded generously. For God made women in the beginning,
+the best women of all, to want love and be content with love, and care
+very little about fame. And so they go quietly on their way, creating
+great results, moving mountains, and saying very little about it. It
+is that old heroic spirit Lamartine wrote about. And there is a spark
+of it in the soul of every woman waging her solitary fight on the
+outposts of the Empire, whether she put new life and hope and spirit
+into a miner's cabin, or a farmer's little wattle-and-daub home, or in
+the heart of any servant of the Empire. What the colonies owe to their
+women is so little talked about, partly perhaps because words are all
+too inadequate to express it, and also perhaps because if the _one_ is
+there to listen and the _one_ to love, many women want no recognition.
+
+But all this time it only remains to be said that Diana believed in
+van Hert and believed in his work for her country, and that was why
+she had been able to give her love so frankly and absolutely, and was
+not in the least deterred by those mutterings of execration which
+there is very little doubt she intended shortly to put an end to for
+good and all; for if she had entertained any doubts as to how much he
+loved her and was ready to do for her, they must have been swept away
+utterly out of sight after the first moment of their meeting this
+morning. What he had fought to keep out of his face before was now
+flooding through it. Never at any moment, even when he first loved
+Meryl, had he looked at her as he now looked at Diana. In every pulse
+of her being she felt he loved her, not perhaps with the calm, strong
+love of her own countrymen, but with a fierceness and intensity,
+inherited maybe from some French ancestor, that appealed to her love
+of vigour. She at least had level-headedness enough for the two.
+
+But it would hardly have been Diana to sit demurely and listen to his
+outpouring, now that he might speak and she might hear. It was far
+more natural that the very certainty of everything should make her
+feel contrary and want to tantalise him; particularly when, after his
+first question had been answered with a quiet affirmative, he plunged
+into the subject filling his heart without any preliminary, and with
+all that quick enthusiasm of his bursting its bounds.
+
+"Then we need not say any more about it. Why should we?... There is
+only you and I now. It seems for the moment as if there were no one
+else in the entire universe. But I want the answer to that other
+question of mine"; and he leaned near to her, with his whole attitude
+a sort of inspired interrogation.
+
+"What question?..." A shade of lightness had crept into Diana's voice;
+the shadow of a smile into her eyes. She felt on the verge of being a
+little unnerved, and a feigned or real inconsequence was ever her
+refuge.
+
+"The question you were not willing to answer yesterday, and which I
+told you I should ask again to-day. You said that you had asked me
+what I thought of a man who married a woman when he did not love her.
+And I said that was not what you had asked. Do you remember the
+original question, or must I tell you what it was?"
+
+"I don't remember anything about it. I'm afraid I'm rather given to
+asking questions."
+
+"That means I must tell you. Diana, what you asked me was, what did I
+think of a man who married one woman and loved another? Now, I want to
+know how and when you discovered that I loved another?..."
+
+"It was the obvious conclusion"--studying the toe of her smart
+riding-boot with exaggerated interest. "Otherwise you must have loved
+Meryl; you could not help it."
+
+"I see." The smile dawned in his eyes now. "And was it equally obvious
+who the other woman was?"
+
+She glanced away to hide her tell-tale mouth. "It might have been if
+it had interested me."
+
+"But, of course, it didn't?..." and he laughed a low, happy laugh.
+
+"Not in the least. Why should it?..."
+
+"Ah, why?..." and his hand suddenly closed over hers, and at the
+strong, possessive touch the magnetism of the man made her blood race
+through her veins. She tried to draw her hand away, but he only held
+it more tightly, and his face was very engaging as he said, "I've a
+good mind not to tell you who the other woman is as you are not
+interested."
+
+"Then I shall conclude she will not have anything to do with you,"
+came the quick retort. And then her fascinating mouth twitched at the
+corners in a way that threatened to undo van Hert entirely. He looked
+away with a half-fierce expression. "If you don't want me to crush you
+in my arms out here in a public road, don't do that."
+
+"Don't do what?..." innocently; and then they both laughed.
+
+When they were serious again his voice sounded a deeper and more
+forceful note. "Dearest," he said, still imprisoning her hand, "it
+seems superfluous for me to tell you how much I love that other woman,
+as superfluous as to name her. I seem as if I had neither a thought
+nor an idea nor a feeling that does not love her."
+
+"Then let us hope she is not a stiff-necked Britisher," quoth Diana,
+still as if a little afraid to be serious.
+
+"Ah!..." and he raised her hand to his lips. "I believe you will make
+me love the whole race."
+
+"That would complicate matters exceedingly for you," with a
+mischievous taunt in her eyes. "You seem to have hated them so very
+satisfactorily up to now. What shall you say to your colleagues the
+next time they are expecting you at one of their fiery denunciation
+meetings?... I have married a wife, an English one, therefore I cannot
+come?..."
+
+"Shall I have married her?..." and he looked hard into her face,
+blissfully indifferent to her shafts.
+
+"Married whom?..." she asked, provokingly.
+
+He clenched his teeth together. "I feel as if I could shake you!..."
+and he glanced round to see if anyone were in sight.
+
+"O, if you're going to be that sort of a tyrant!..." Diana began. But
+she got no further. No one was in sight, not even the boy with the
+horses. And van Hert just gathered her into his arms and crushed her
+for the sheer joy of it until she cried for mercy. "Say you will be
+good and treat me with proper respect," he demanded before he released
+her, and Diana was compelled to promise.
+
+"But I won't marry you," she added, wickedly, the moment she was free.
+And then to save herself from a second undignified surrender she had
+to capitulate quickly, and add, "At least, not before next week."
+
+Then she raised her eyes, shining with happiness, to his. "Meinheer
+van Hert, if my memory serves me rightly, you have not yet asked me
+the most important question of all."
+
+He raised her hand again to his lips, with a movement of reverence,
+and said, very simply, "Diana, I love you with all my heart and soul
+and strength; will you do me the honour to become my wife?"
+
+And there was a little warm glisten in her eyes as she answered, "Yes,
+dear; I am ready to take the long trek with you."
+
+A little later she went home with an air of quiet radiance that told
+Meryl all she needed to know the moment she set eyes on her, and her
+embrace was full of warmest affection.
+
+Only Aunt Emily seemed thoroughly perplexed, and not able to entirely
+grasp the happy aspect of affairs when she heard it all for the first
+time.
+
+"How extraordinary!..." she exclaimed; and then, with an air full of
+mournful reproach, she looked at Diana and added, "I told you
+something dreadful would happen, my dear, if you spoke of the wedding
+so strangely."
+
+"Yes, aunty, so you did! and it was very clever of you," Diana
+replied. "But, of course, you ought to have warned me before I said
+it. Now, you see, I've got caught in the net myself. Ah well!..." she
+finished comically, "I can bear it."
+
+And Meryl's low laughter, as she hastened to soothe poor Aunt Emily's
+wounded feelings, had a happier note than it had known for many a day.
+
+"I don't think I quite understand," continued the perplexed lady. "It
+reminds me of a story I once heard about the aunt of a friend of my
+father's, that is to say, the aunt of a friend of your grandfather's...."
+
+"Yes, I remember," said the incorrigible; "but she didn't do it in the
+end, you know. And, anyhow, the great question just now is, having
+taken over the bridegroom, ought I to take over the wedding presents
+as well?..."
+
+"Of course, they must all be sent back," Aunt Emily replied, with
+great gravity. "Dear me, what a pity!... What a pity!... And he is
+really quite a nice man, although he is Dutch."
+
+"O, do you really think so?..." Diana asked, and went laughing out of
+the room.
+
+
+
+
+XXXII
+
+A CHAPTER OF SURPRISES
+
+
+In Diana's happy state of mind there was not the slightest doubt her
+interview with Carew, when it came off, would be the reverse of
+conventional.
+
+He arrived at the Carlton the day after it had been notified to the
+papers that the engagement between Miss Pym and William van Hert was
+broken off by mutual agreement. The new engagement was looked upon
+only as a secret understanding at present, and no announcement was to
+be made for some weeks.
+
+Carew saw the news in a paper he got at Kimberley, so that when he
+stepped out upon Johannesburg station, from a difficult, perplexing,
+somewhat equivocal situation he found himself suddenly and
+unexpectedly with a clear course.
+
+He had responded to Diana's urgent summons with alacrity, although it
+left him entirely in the dark as to what had transpired; his action
+had in fact something of the daring which had led to the sending of
+the telegram. Wearied out physically and mentally with the struggle,
+he seized swiftly the chance of a solution the message suggested, and
+trusting to Diana's resourcefulness let himself go with the tide. It
+was as though after sixteen years some spirit of the past suddenly
+re-entered him; some of that old reckless, dare-devil spirit that had
+distinguished him in his regiment long ago.
+
+Without doubt the news that he would some day inherit the Marquisate
+of Toxeter, if he outlived the present owner, had worked a wonderful
+change in him. He still hated Meryl's fortune, when he dared to let
+himself think of a future they might possibly share, but at least he
+could now offer her a position that might one day be among the highest
+in England. And all that it meant to him after his long exile and
+lonely life, apart from all the friends and delights of his youth, lit
+a new light in his eyes. And when he saw the paragraph in the paper,
+and realised Diana had indeed not sent for him for nothing, he seemed
+to let many years slip from his shoulders. Only a week earlier he had
+felt middle-aged, and looked every year of his forty-two. The man who
+strode down the platform on Johannesburg station, drawing all eyes
+after his upright, distinguished form, looked at the very prime of
+manhood, and the grey on his temples only enhanced whatever it was
+that caused those eyes to turn in his direction.
+
+Diana, waiting for his message in no small trepidation, went off at
+once to the hotel. Nothing was to be gained by hanging back, and she
+felt more sure of herself generally if she dashed headlong into a
+delicate situation.
+
+So she walked boldly up to the door of his private sitting-room, gave
+a little sharp knock, and entered.
+
+He was standing with his back to the door, looking idly from the
+window, but when he heard the door open he turned round and faced her.
+
+Diana closed the door and walked into the room, glancing about her.
+
+"What a nice den!..." she said. "I'm sure you could only growl
+prettily here."
+
+He came towards her with outstretched hand, and she was instantly
+struck with the change in his eyes. The steadiness was still there,
+the expression of unflinching purpose, but behind it all was that new
+light now: the light she had never seen in Carew's eyes before.
+
+"You look very well," she told him, warming swiftly to their old
+friendship and forgetting her moments of trepidation. "You ... really
+... you almost look as if you might have come into a kingdom!..."
+
+"Perhaps I have," with a humorous gleam.
+
+"Umh!... I'd be very sorry for the subjects; they would be ruled with
+a rod of iron."
+
+He pulled a chair forward, a large cosy one, such as he knew her soul
+loved, and she sank down into it. He still stood upright, watching her
+with kindly eyes.
+
+"Well!..." he began. "You sent me a very curt summons."
+
+Diana coloured a little, not quite clear where to begin.
+
+"Won't you sit down? You seem so far away up there. I feel a little
+lost somehow, you are so ... so ... Perhaps if you were to growl I
+should feel more at home with you!..." she finished.
+
+He smiled and took the chair beside her.
+
+"I never did growl really. It was all your imagination."
+
+"O, was it?..." emphatically. "Why, thunder in the distance was dulcet
+music beside it!..."
+
+"Well," he said again, "about that summons?..."
+
+"It's just this way," began Diana. "I had a letter from Mrs.
+Grenville...." She watched him keenly, and saw that he grasped at once
+something of what the letter had contained.
+
+"And she told you?..."
+
+"Not very much, but enough, in my mind"--with a sudden flash--"to
+justify my summons."
+
+"I don't think I quite understand." He was grave again now, with a
+line between the straight brows.
+
+"Well, don't get too serious or you will frighten me. I suppose I'd
+better be quite direct. You and I don't either of us care for much
+beating about the bush and subterfuge, do we?"
+
+He signified his agreement, and she ran on.
+
+"I knew that Meryl cared for you; I have known it a long time. Yet she
+was going to marry van Hert. And van Hert cared ... well, he cared for
+someone else too, yet he was going to marry Meryl. It was just a silly
+muddle altogether, do you see?... Honestly, I was at my wits' end-to
+know how to prevent them making fools of themselves. Then came Mrs.
+Grenville's letter. Mrs. Grenville had seen you. She had discovered
+that you cared for Meryl, and she told me so. I didn't stop to think
+then. I saw in a moment it was your business to help me help them out
+of the tangle. So I just sent you a telegram and asked you to come at
+once."
+
+"And now I am here?"
+
+Diana began to look roguish. "I just wanted to suggest," she said,
+demurely, "whether it wouldn't simplify things all round if Mr. Pym
+disinherited Meryl, and divided all the silly money between me and
+charities!..."
+
+He could not help smiling, but there was something more than mere
+friendship in his eyes as he looked at her. He understood perfectly
+that she had strained every nerve to bring him and Meryl together.
+
+"And in the meantime," he commented, "I gather from the newspaper the
+knot disentangled itself, and everything is smoothed out."
+
+"Well, I shouldn't exactly say there were no wounded left on the
+battlefield!..." with a low laugh.
+
+"I see; and you think it is for me to attend to the wounded?"
+
+"To _one_ of them," with significance; and then suddenly her
+unmanageable mouth began to twitch. Carew divined something lay beyond
+the remark.
+
+"And what about the other one?"
+
+"Well," with a little air of coyness, "I rather thought of attending
+to his hurt myself."
+
+He watched her keenly for a moment, and at last she raised a pair of
+laughing eyes to his face.
+
+"The only thing that's worrying me is that I may unintentionally find
+myself a heroine."
+
+His low laugh was full of amusement, and his eyes grew kindlier still.
+
+"You are evidently a most resourceful young woman. Have you made up
+your mind how you propose to heal him?"
+
+"Yes," with feigned gravity. "I thought on the whole it would simplify
+matters if I took Meryl's place at the wedding."
+
+He stared at her with undisguised astonishment. "You mean?..."
+
+"Just exactly what I say. I've taken over the prospective bridegroom,
+and incidentally I thought of taking over the wedding presents as
+well...." And then she threw her head back and laughed whole-heartedly
+at his incredulous face.
+
+"You have given me a great surprise," he said. "I suppose you are in
+earnest?"
+
+"Your surprise is nothing to what is coming upon my friends. Just
+think of it!... I can hardly think of anything else. I do so love
+giving people shocks. Do you remember our first meeting in the ruins,
+when I sat quite still and watched you until you looked up?... That
+was your shock!... You were frightfully disgusted with me, but I
+didn't mind, I'd had my bit of amusement and no one was hurt; any
+other silly girl would have coughed or walked away. Goodness!... how
+black you looked!..." And again she laughed mirthfully.
+
+He began to tell her he hoped she would be very happy, but she stayed
+him and suddenly sobered.
+
+"Not now. We haven't much time left, and we must plan something. Meryl
+will come here and call for me soon in the motor. She knows I have
+come to see a friend, but she does not know whom. She will not come in
+herself, because she is shy about being seen just now. What shall we
+do? When will you see her?"
+
+He got up, and walked to the window with a grave face, and for some
+time he did not speak.
+
+"Are you still worrying about that absurd money? My dear good man, she
+isn't stuffed with it, and she doesn't care tuppence about it. Isn't
+it enough that you know she could love you as a Rhodesian
+soldier-policeman? Why torture yourself unnecessarily?"
+
+"If I were only a Rhodesian policeman I should not have come."
+
+She looked at him with quick curiosity. Then something had happened!
+There really was some great change in him. He smiled into her
+questioning eyes. "Then Mrs. Grenville did not tell you?"
+
+"Tell me what?..." with swift eagerness. "O, do be quick, I love
+surprises. Have you found a gold-mine up there?... or the corpses in
+the temple hung with gold ornaments?..."
+
+"Neither."
+
+She took his arm and gave it a little shake.
+
+"Then what? O, do tell me quickly!..."
+
+"It isn't very much, but it gives me courage to hope, where a
+policeman might consider himself called upon only to renounce. And,"
+he added, quietly, "I owe the knowledge of it to Mrs. Grenville."
+
+"It must be a legacy?..."
+
+"Not exactly. It is only that when the present Marquis of Toxeter dies
+I shall succeed."
+
+"O, my goodness!..." comically. "Am I going to be own cousin to a
+marchioness?..."
+
+"That is as your cousin decrees." Then with a little smile he added,
+"So the shocks are not all given by you, you see."
+
+At that moment a knock sounded on the door, and in reply to Carew's
+"Come in," a hall-porter informed them that Miss Pym was waiting in
+the motor.
+
+"And we haven't decided what to do," said Diana, in dismay.
+
+He was thoughtful a moment, then told her he would endeavour to find
+Mr. Pym at his office and come to Hill Court later.
+
+So Diana went downstairs alone. But on the way, with that mixture of
+restlessness and level-headedness that was so characteristic of her,
+she decided Carew's plan was much too prosaic and dull, and speedily
+commenced to think out a better one. After which she accosted Meryl
+with the words, "I want to introduce you to my friend. It won't keep
+us long. She has a sitting-room upstairs, but she has a cold, and
+could not come down to you."
+
+Meryl looked unwilling, but finally yielded to persuasion and
+alighted. Outside the door of Carew's room, Diana was so afraid her
+face would betray her, she had to pretend to sneeze, in order to hide
+it with her handkerchief. Quite suddenly it had occurred to her
+humour-loving mind, that if shocks were the order of the hour, Carew
+and Meryl were going to have the biggest all to themselves for that
+day at least. Then she opened his door and half pushed Meryl in in
+front of her. They saw only a broad back at the window first, then he
+half turned. The next instant the door closed softly, and Meryl found
+herself alone in the room, face to face with Peter Carew.
+
+There were a few tense seconds in which they each seemed trying to
+realise the other; and then she understood. She went slowly towards
+him, seeing with unerring tuition all the love in his eyes, and
+without knowing it held out both hands.
+
+And across the long years, that self that he had thought for ever dead
+seemed to reawaken by leaps and bounds. He would always be somewhat
+quiet perhaps, a little grave, but the spirit of vigour and reckless
+daring was in him still, if sobered by sixteen years and all that the
+years had brought. He did not stop to explain. Quite suddenly it all
+seemed unnecessary. Between these two the hours of probing were ended.
+He took her outstretched hands in his and drew her into his arms.
+
+It was some time before he told her of his changed position; there was
+so much else to tell first. And when at last it was said she paid
+little heed.
+
+She only looked at him a trifle anxiously, saying, "But, of course,
+you could never give up Rhodesia? You wouldn't let any claim come
+before hers?"
+
+He kissed the finger-tips of the hand imprisoned in his, and murmured,
+"Bless you; it would have gone hard with me if you had wanted me to
+leave Rhodesia for good."
+
+"I shall never do that," softly. "It was the Rhodesian policeman I
+loved first. The other does not greatly matter, except that perhaps it
+brought us together." Then with one of her rare flashes of humour she
+added, "I'm not sure that we shall even have time for a honeymoon. We
+may have to go up there any time about this settlement scheme of
+father's and mine. As Diana is going to help William van Hert to run
+South Africa generally, we must get to work quickly with Rhodesia...."
+And her smile was a very happy one.
+
+
+
+
+FINIS.
+
+
+And so in the end Diana had her little jest, and gave Johannesburg its
+shock and its nine days' wonder, and was certainly the most surprising
+bride of the year; though, of course, afterwards most people said they
+were not surprised at all, and had expected it all along.
+
+Before the wedding a sufficiently characteristic letter found its way
+to a certain mission station in Rhodesia to delight the hearts of its
+contented occupants. After duly relating all that had transpired and
+how the problem had been solved, it added: "And now the only
+difficulty seems to be how to relieve Meryl of her superfluous
+fortune, in order that she and The Bear may live upon love and air,
+and how to save me from appearing in the guise of a heroine!..."
+
+To her old friend Stanley she wrote gaily of the perfectly splendid
+surprise she had succeeded in administering to about half the
+English-speaking population of South Africa.
+
+And Stanley wrote back, with many regretful qualms tugging at his
+heart: "The astonishment of South Africa is a mere detail. When the
+news reached Zimbabwe, bones that have lain buried for three thousand
+years rattled in their grave-clothes, and antiquities of the ages
+crumbled to dust. In the morning, over our coffee, Moore and I ask of
+the four winds and of the liquid butter and of the unyielding bread,
+'Which did he actually marry in the end, and what became of whom?'"
+...
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD.,
+
+BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E. 1, AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
+
+
+
+
+=Hutchinson's 1/- Net Novels=
+
+  _Bound in +Cloth+, with pictorial wrappers._
+
+=THE CAP OF YOUTH=            Madame Albanesi
+=THE SUNLIT HILLS=            Madame Albanesi
+=ODDSFISH=                    Robert Hugh Benson
+=INITIATION=                  Robert Hugh Benson
+=LONELINESS=                  Robert Hugh Benson
+=AN AVERAGE MAN=              Robert Hugh Benson
+=COME RACK! COME ROPE!=       Robert Hugh Benson
+=THE COWARD=                  Robert Hugh Benson
+=THE RETURN OF RICHARD CARR=  Winifred Boggs
+=THE WOOD END=                J. E. Buckrose
+=MEAVE=                       Dorothea Conyers
+=THE STRAYINGS OF SANDY=      Dorothea Conyers
+=THE SCRATCH PACK=            Dorothea Conyers
+=TWO IMPOSTORS AND TINKER=    Dorothea Conyers
+=A RASH EXPERIMENT=           Mrs. B. M. Croker
+=WHAT SHE OVERHEARD=          Mrs. B. M. Croker
+=IN OLD MADRAS=               Mrs. B. M. Croker
+=THE SERPENT'S TOOTH=         Mrs. B. M. Croker
+=SANDY'S LOVE AFFAIR=         S. R. Crockett
+=TWILIGHT=                    Frank Danby
+=LILAMANI=                    Maud Diver
+=A DOUBLE THREAD=             Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler
+=WE OF THE NEVER NEVER=       Æneas Gunn
+=BIRD'S FOUNTAIN=             Baroness von Hutten
+=SHARROW=                     Baroness von Hutten
+=MARIA=                       Baroness von Hutten
+=THE LORDSHIP OF LOVE=        Baroness von Hutten
+=THE GREEN PATCH=             Baroness von Hutten
+=PAUL KELVER=                 Jerome K. Jerome
+="GOOD OLD ANNA"=             Mrs. Belloc Lowndes
+=THE DEVIL'S GARDEN=          W. B. Maxwell
+=A BRIDE OF THE PLAINS=       Baroness Orczy
+=PETTICOAT GOVERNMENT=        Baroness Orczy
+=THE ELUSIVE PIMPERNEL=       Baroness Orczy
+=A TRUE WOMAN=                Baroness Orczy
+=MEADOWSWEET=                 Baroness Orczy
+=THE MONEY MASTER =           Sir Gilbert Parker
+
+
+=MABEL BARNES-GRUNDY= has rapidly come to the front as one of our most
+successful novelists. Her stories excel in wit, humour, observation
+and characterisation. The complete and uniform edition of her novels,
+as under, will be published at short intervals, =at the popular price
+of 1/-=
+
+
+  By
+
+=MABEL BARNES-GRUNDY=
+
+  _Each bound in +cloth+, with most attractive picture wrapper in
+colours, =1/-= net._
+
+  =An Undressed Heroine=
+    =Marguerite's Wonderful Year=
+      =Hilary on Her Own=
+        =Two in a Tent--and Jane=
+          =The Third Miss Wenderby=
+            =Patricia Plays a Part=
+              =Candytuft--I mean Veronica=
+                =The Vacillations of Hazel=
+
+Like Gertrude Page's Shilling Novels, +Mabel Barnes-Grundy's Shilling
+Novels for 1917 will be the outstanding success of the year+.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=London: HUTCHINSON & CO., Paternoster Row.=
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RHODESIAN ***
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will
+be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
+law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
+so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the
+United States without permission and without paying copyright
+royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
+of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
+and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following
+the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use
+of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
+copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very
+easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation
+of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project
+Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may
+do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected
+by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark
+license, especially commercial redistribution.
+
+START: FULL LICENSE
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
+Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at
+www.gutenberg.org/license.
+
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
+destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your
+possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
+Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
+by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the
+person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph
+1.E.8.
+
+1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this
+agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the
+Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
+of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual
+works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
+States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
+United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
+claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
+displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
+all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
+that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting
+free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm
+works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
+Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily
+comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
+same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when
+you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
+in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
+check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
+agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
+distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
+other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no
+representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
+country other than the United States.
+
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
+immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear
+prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work
+on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed,
+performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
+
+  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+  most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
+  restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
+  under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
+  eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
+  United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
+  you are located before using this eBook.
+
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is
+derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
+contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
+copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
+the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
+redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
+either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
+obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm
+trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
+additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
+will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works
+posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
+beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
+any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
+to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format
+other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official
+version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm website
+(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
+to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
+of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain
+Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the
+full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+provided that:
+
+* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+  the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+  you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
+  to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has
+  agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
+  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
+  within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
+  legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
+  payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
+  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
+  Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
+  Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+  you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+  does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+  License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
+  copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
+  all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm
+  works.
+
+* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
+  any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+  electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
+  receipt of the work.
+
+* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+  distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than
+are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
+from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
+the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
+forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
+Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
+contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
+or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
+other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
+cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
+with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
+with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
+lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
+or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
+opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
+the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
+without further opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO
+OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
+damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
+violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
+agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
+limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
+unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
+remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in
+accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
+production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
+including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
+the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
+or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or
+additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any
+Defect you cause.
+
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
+computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
+exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
+from people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future
+generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
+Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
+www.gutenberg.org
+
+Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
+U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,
+Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up
+to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website
+and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
+
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without
+widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
+DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular
+state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
+donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be
+freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
+distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of
+volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
+the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
+necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
+edition.
+
+Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
+facility: www.gutenberg.org
+
+This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
diff --git a/old/old-2024-02-15/27950-0.zip b/old/old-2024-02-15/27950-0.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8960640
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/old-2024-02-15/27950-0.zip
diff --git a/old/old-2024-02-15/27950-h.zip b/old/old-2024-02-15/27950-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..44ba055
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/old-2024-02-15/27950-h.zip
diff --git a/old/old-2024-02-15/27950-h/27950-h.htm b/old/old-2024-02-15/27950-h/27950-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..be4c855
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/old-2024-02-15/27950-h/27950-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,10218 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Rhodesian, by Gertrude Page</title>
+
+<style type="text/css">
+
+body {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%;}
+p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em; line-height: 1.5;}
+h1,h2,h3 {text-align: center; clear: both;}
+h1 {margin-top: 4em;}
+h2 {margin-top: 3em; margin-bottom: 2em}
+h3 {margin-top: 2em;}
+h5 {font-size: 90%; text-align: center; font-weight: normal;}
+h6 {font-variant: small-caps;font-size: 150%; font-weight: bold;}
+.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px; padding-bottom: 2em}
+.bl {border-left: solid 2px;}
+.bt {border-top: solid 2px;}
+.br {border-right: solid 2px;}
+.bbox {border: solid 2px;}
+.underline {text-decoration: underline;}
+
+.poemdedication {margin-left: 47%; margin-right: 15%;}
+.poemdedication span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: -6em; padding-left: 3em;text-indent:-3em;}
+.poemdedication span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em;text-indent:-3em;}
+
+.blockquot {margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 2em;}
+.blockquot p {line-height: 1.3;}
+.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;}
+
+.transnote {background-color: #EEE; color: inherit; margin: 2em 15%
+1em 15%; font-size: 80%; padding: 0.5em 1em 0.5em 1em;}
+.transnote p {text-align: left;}
+
+poetry
+
+.poem {margin-left:36%; margin-right:15%; text-align: left;}
+.stanza br {display: none;}
+.poem.stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;}
+.poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em;
+text-indent:-3em;}
+.poem span.i3 {display: block; margin-left: 10em; padding-left: 3em;
+text-indent:-3em;}
+.poem span.i5 {display: block; margin-left: 12em; padding-left: 3em;
+text-indent:-3em;}
+.poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 8em; padding-left: 3em;
+text-indent:-3em;}
+
+.table { width: 60%;  }
+td {padding-left: 2em; text-align: left; margin-top: 0;
+margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: top;}
+
+hr.full { width: 100%;
+          margin-top: 3em;
+          margin-bottom: 0em;
+          margin-left: auto;
+          margin-right: auto;
+          height: 4px;
+          border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */
+          border-style: solid;
+          border-color: #000000;
+          clear: both; }
+
+a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none}
+a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none}
+a:hover {color:red}
+
+    </style>
+</head>
+<body>
+
+<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Rhodesian, by Gertrude Page</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
+at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
+are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
+country where you are located before using this eBook.
+</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Rhodesian</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Gertrude Page</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 31, 2009 [eBook #27950]<br />
+[Most recently updated: January 22, 2022]</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: David Clarke, Erica Hills, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</div>
+<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RHODESIAN ***</div>
+
+<div class="transnote">
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:<br />
+<br />
+Inconsistent spelling, particularly names of characters in
+the original text, has been retained, as has variable
+punctuation.<br />
+<br />
+The table of contents has been added for the convenience of
+readers.
+</div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<h1>THE RHODESIAN</h1>
+
+<table style="margin:auto;" class="bl br" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="0">
+<tr><td align='left' class="bt"><h3>GERTRUDE PAGE'S NOVELS.</h3></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align:center"><i>In cloth gilt, 6s.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>SOME THERE ARE&mdash;&mdash;.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>FOLLOW AFTER.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>WHERE THE STRANGE ROADS GO DOWN.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>WINDING PATHS.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align:center;padding-top:0.5em;"><i>In cloth gilt, 3s. 6d.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>TWO LOVERS AND A LIGHTHOUSE.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align:center;padding-top:0.5em;"><i>Also in cloth gilt, 2s. 6d. net.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>JILL'S RHODESIAN PHILOSOPHY.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align:center;padding-top:0.5em;"><i>In cloth, uniform with this volume,</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align:center"><i>1s. net</i>.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>PADDY THE NEXT BEST THING.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>LOVE IN THE WILDERNESS.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE GREAT SPLENDOUR.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE EDGE O' BEYOND.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left' class="bb"><b>THE SILENT RANCHER.</b></td></tr>
+</table>
+<hr style="width: 33%;" />
+
+<h1><big><i>THE RHODESIAN.</i></big></h1>
+
+<h1><i>By GERTRUDE PAGE</i></h1>
+
+<h5><i>Author of "The Edge o' Beyond," "The Silent Rancher," etc.</i></h5>
+<hr style="width: 33%;" />
+<h3><i>LONDON: HURST &amp; BLACKETT, LTD. <br />PATERNOSTER HOUSE, E.C.</i></h3>
+
+<table style="margin:auto;" class="bbox" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='left'><h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#I"><b> I&nbsp; THE POLICE STATION</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#II"><b>II &nbsp;THE MISSION STATION</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#III"><b>III  &nbsp;TWO HEIRESSES</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#IV"><b>IV &nbsp;THE RHODESIAN PROJECT</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#V"><b>V &nbsp;WILLIAM VAN HERT</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#VI"><b>VI &nbsp;THE JOURNEY</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#VII"><b>VII &nbsp;CAREW IS DISTURBED</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#VIII"><b>VIII &nbsp; TWO UNEXPECTED MEETINGS</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#IX"><b>IX &nbsp; THE BEAR</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#X"><b>X &nbsp;A MINING CAMP</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XI"><b>XI &nbsp;AN EVENING RIDE</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XII"><b>XII &nbsp;THE MISSION STATION</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XIII"><b>XIII &nbsp;A DECISION THAT FAILED</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XIV"><b>XIV &nbsp;THE ANCIENT RUINS</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XV"><b>XV &nbsp;CAREW RIDES AWAY</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XVI"><b>XVI &nbsp;"THE SHIP OF FOOLS"</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XVII"><b>XVII &nbsp;AN EVENING CONVERSATION</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XVIII"><b>XVIII &nbsp;THE CHARTER FLATS</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XIX"><b>XIX &nbsp;THE CONVENTIONALITIES ONCE MORE</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XX"><b>XX &nbsp;FAREWELL</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXI"><b>XXI&nbsp; A "HOARDING HUSTLING"</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXII"><b>XXII&nbsp; MERYL'S DECISION</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXIII"><b>XXIII&nbsp; CAREW'S STORY</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXIV"><b>XXIV&nbsp; A RAIN-WASHED MORNING AND A DISCUSSION</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXV"><b>XXV &nbsp;AILSA LEARNS CAREW'S SECRET</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXVI"><b>XXVI &nbsp;"HOW CAN I GO TO HER!..."</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXVII"><b>XXVII&nbsp; DIANA BEGINS TO GROW PERPLEXED</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXVIII"><b>XXVIII&nbsp; DIANA'S PERPLEXITIES INCREASE</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXIX"><b>XXIX&nbsp; A USEFUL BLUNDER</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXX"><b>XXX&nbsp; DIANA IS RESTLESS</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXXI"><b>XXXI&nbsp; THE SOLUTION IS SEALED</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#XXXII"><b>XXXII&nbsp; A CHAPTER OF SURPRISES</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#FINIS"><b>&nbsp;FINIS</b></a></td></tr>
+
+</table>
+<hr style="width: 33%;" />
+<h3>TO</h3>
+<h2>THE PATHFINDERS</h2>
+<div class="poemdedication">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i6">"Fate lies hid,</span><br />
+<span class="i0">But not the deeds that true men dared and did."</span><br />
+</div></div>
+<hr style="width: 33%;" />
+<h1>THE RHODESIAN.</h1>
+
+<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2>
+
+<h2>THE POLICE CAMP</h2>
+
+<p>The velvety darkness of a southern night, with its sense of rich,
+luscious, breathing intensity, lay over that romantic spot in Southern
+Rhodesia where the grey walls of the Zimbabwe ruins, with a sublime,
+imperturbable indifference, continue to baffle the ingenuity and
+ravish the curiosity of all who would read their story. Scientists,
+arch&aelig;ologists, tourists come and go, but the stern old walls, guarded
+by the sentinel hills, give back no answer to eager questioning, eager
+delving, eager surmise.</p>
+
+<p>But in the meantime the Valley of Ruins no longer lies alone and
+unheeded in the sunlight; and no longer do the hills look down upon
+rich plains left solely to the idle pleasure of a careless black
+people. The forerunners of to-day's great civilising army have marched
+into the valley, and beside the ancient walls there is now a police
+camp of the British South Africa Police, presided over by two robust
+young troopers.</p>
+
+<p>In the velvety darkness on the night in question there is a single
+bright light pouring through the open doorway of a dwelling-hut.
+Through the enfolding silence breaks the bizarre music of an
+indifferent gramophone, recklessly mocking the sublime grandeur of
+the age-old antiquities. Laughter and gay music and devil-may-care
+colonists awaking echoes that have been more or less silent to
+civilisation for how many thousand years?</p>
+
+<p>But on this particular evening it is as though some shadow had fallen
+upon the little camp. Nothing tangible&mdash;nothing that changed the
+general habits or surroundings&mdash;but a vague regret and introspective
+sadness upon the faces of two young men, usually full of careless
+content. Cecil Stanley, the more refined, a gentleman by birth and
+education, lounged low in his chair, with his hands behind his head
+and his feet on the table, and ever and anon his eyes looked with
+pained regret into the surrounding depths of night. Patrick Moore,
+with a grave face, cleaned his gun in a deeper silence than usual,
+proceeding with an occupation that was his joy on many evenings,
+whether the gun needed cleaning or not, rather as if it eased his mind
+to have his hands busy.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if the Major will come through to-night?" he remarked, as if
+the silence were growing over-oppressive.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure to," laconically. "The moon will be up directly, and he can't be
+very far away."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose he won't have heard?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not likely to have done. Gad! I feel as if I'd give anything to have
+had a chance to stand three hours in that queue. It will hit him hard.
+If it's bad for us, who have at least known all along, it will be
+worse for him, hearing it suddenly at this late hour. Those newspapers
+to-day have made me feel like a kid on his first day at
+boarding-school. I'd like to cry if I weren't ashamed to."</p>
+
+<p>"I liked that professor," said Moore, changing the subject. "Decent
+old Johnny, wasn't he? Jolly nice of him to bring all those papers in
+case he came across anyone glad of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite a good old bird. That's a rum theory of his about the corpses
+in the temple being buried deeper than anyone has yet dug, and hung
+with valuable ornaments. Wouldn't it be a jolly lark to dig down for
+one and have a look at it!..."</p>
+
+<p>He gave a low, half-hearted chuckle over his gruesome suggestion, and
+lazily getting to his feet, selected another tune for his gramophone.</p>
+
+<p>Moore, busy still with his gun, gave a corresponding chuckle, and
+remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"Begorra, lad!... if we could get a few out one at a time on
+moonlight nights, and fill up the blooming holes again, we shouldn't
+want any blasted machinery for our gold mine, except a pickaxe and a
+shovel."</p>
+
+<p>"We'd want a bit of pluck, though. The ghosts of the corpses might
+come dancing round to have their say in the matter."</p>
+
+<p>"We'd chance the ghosties. Shure! if they've been hanging round for
+three or four thousand years, they'd maybe like a new sensation by
+this time."</p>
+
+<p>Stanley put on "The Stars and Stripes," wound up the gramophone, and
+slid into his lounge chair again.</p>
+
+<p>Moore glanced up as the music started.</p>
+
+<p>"What!... that thing again!... I'm beginning to feel like those old
+ghosts about it. The same moth-eaten tune for three or four thousand
+years. I'd like a new sensation."</p>
+
+<p>"It can't be much staler than cleaning that old gun."</p>
+
+<p>"Shure, she's a daisy." The Irishman looked tenderly at his treasure.
+"An' she just loves me to be fondlin' her like."</p>
+
+<p>"If it weren't for the Major I don't know what is to prevent us
+proving the old man's theory," said Stanley, evidently harping again
+on his corpses.</p>
+
+<p>"Him, and the bloomin' Company! The old gentlemen sittin' on the Board
+in London suddenly find that the Yankees have been snaffling a lot of
+valuable trinkets and things from the ruins while they took forty
+winks, and then they up and says no one's to look for anything more at
+all; not even a <i>boney fidey</i> Rhodesian, sweating in the police camp
+outside the walls."</p>
+
+<p>"Still, it would be a rare lark to find a corpse with gold ornaments
+on it, and say nothing at all."</p>
+
+<p>"And what should you be doing with the old corpse when you've taken
+the gold?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! put him in the soup!" And Stanley slid lower in his chair, with
+another chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>The gramophone ran down with a horrible grind, but its owner only
+looked at it dully and took no notice.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I wind up again?" Moore asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No, let it rip. It sounds all wrong to-night. Everything is all
+wrong. The whole world gone awry. It's like being on another planet to
+be out here in this wilderness at such a time. I don't believe I've
+ever felt exiled before, but, begad! I do to-night. Let's turn in.
+Probably he won't come now."</p>
+
+<p>Moore carried his gun into one of the huts and stood it carefully
+beside his little stretcher-bed. Stanley took the gramophone into
+another hut, and planked it down somewhat roughly on a table,
+evidently made by an amateur. Without going outside again, he shouted
+"Good night," and after that no sound broke the silence, except sundry
+mutterings from the Irishman, who had discovered an enormous frog
+under his bed, and his beloved pointer pup inside the blankets
+serenely sleeping.</p>
+
+<p>All the next morning Stanley hung about the camp as one who waited,
+but it was not until three o'clock that Major Carew rode slowly up to
+the huts. As he dismounted, briefly acknowledging Stanley's salute,
+there was a characteristic absence of all superfluous words. The
+latter waited until the soldier-servant had led away the mule and
+another boy relieved the officer of his water-bottle, which he always
+carried himself, and then he looked hard at the thin, brown, resolute
+face, with an expression in his eyes that made Carew ask shortly:</p>
+
+<p>"Any news?"</p>
+
+<p>"Bad news from England. I suppose you haven't heard?"</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't heard anything."</p>
+
+<p>For one pulsing second the two men stood and looked at each other; and
+to a looker-on it might have appeared that, however laconic and
+indifferent their attitude, their relationship was not solely that of
+officer and subordinate. The elder man, in his gruff way, was the
+friend of the man under him. The younger had acquired a respect that
+held something deeper than casual liking, and his face showed it now
+as he hesitated before breaking his news. Then he said, very simply:</p>
+
+<p>"The King is dead."</p>
+
+<p>A quick, incredulous expression filled Carew's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"The King?..." he repeated. "Not ... surely not ..." He paused,
+leaving his sentence unfinished.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. King Edward. After a few days' illness."</p>
+
+<p>The man's mouth grew rigid. He stood like a figure of bronze, staring
+with unseeing eyes to the far horizon. Stanley drew in his breath a
+little sharply. Yes, he had been right, the news had hit Carew very
+hard.</p>
+
+<p>"When?..." came at last, abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"A fortnight ago. Just after you left. The funeral took place
+yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>Carew made no comment. Evidently it was true. Little else mattered.
+Nearly all through this trek of his round those distant kraals his
+King had been lying dead, and he had not known it. Such a man as he is
+not stunned by tidings; but he recedes still further into his shell,
+if possible. There is no comment, no discussion, just a grim silence
+sealing a deep pain that cannot express itself.</p>
+
+<p>He stayed a moment longer, while Stanley told him a few details, and
+then he went away into his hut and shut his door to the sunlight&mdash;one
+of those exiles for whom the news had, as it were, an added sorrow,
+because during the first shock he had remained in ignorance, and had
+thus been prevented joining in the loyal homage of grief that had been
+offered by his countrymen from the four corners of the earth.</p>
+
+<p>It was thus with many of the far-off Empire-builders. They heard so
+late, so unpreparedly, so suddenly; and in the first shock, an exile
+which had been a calmly accepted condition, became almost a menace,
+seemed swiftly to develop a force. The men in the far places <i>felt</i>
+their aloofness; knew that their souls were beating vainly against
+prison bars, for the longing to annihilate space and stand beside the
+beloved dead. That quiet band of men whom we sometimes call "The
+Pathfinders," and who go away across the world to bring the wilderness
+into line; to smooth the rough, link the severed, subdue the untamed,
+and carry prosperity to the waste places. The men who cope with
+strange, deadly diseases; who fight fever swamps, and compel them to
+carry a railroad across their reluctant bosoms, though the swamps in
+turn exact a heavy toll of human life; who make the paths that the
+women and children will presently pass over, though no such
+soul-stirring cry urges their exhausting efforts.</p>
+
+<p>But it is not usual to laud these men, who win their colours at the
+dull, prosaic work of path-finding, as it is to laud those who
+encounter shot and shell in the lurid atmosphere of battle, and one
+feels they do not ask it. Yet now and then they must surely be glad to
+know that thoughtful women and thoughtful men follow their work and
+bless them in silence, sending across the world to them a homage of
+praise that is, perhaps, richer than the plaudits of the crowd. And
+not to them only, but also to the mothers who bid them go, accepting
+their hard part of lonely, anxious waiting without complaint.</p>
+
+<p>And if they fall by the wayside, unrecognised, unknown, but having
+carried the path forward, maybe a mile, maybe a yard, maybe an inch,
+how great a thing is that compared to the small happenings that of
+necessity make up most men's lives!</p>
+
+<p>In the sultry midday heat Carew sat alone in his hut, and certain
+memories, that for fifteen years he had tried to crush out of his
+mind, crowded back upon him with overwhelming force in the grip of his
+sudden sorrow. For that sad event which had plunged a great nation
+into grief had been to him a personal loss. In the silence and shadow
+he mourned deeply, not only the idol of his youth and dear object of
+his heart's best loyalty, but the memory of a friend.</p>
+
+<p>For long ago, or so it seemed, there had been a moment when a royal
+hand had clasped his, and a royal voice&mdash;the royalty all lost in the
+friend&mdash;had said, "Perhaps you are right. It is best to begin again.
+But do not imagine your life is over and its aims purposeless. Out
+there you will find renewing. Some day come back and tell me about
+it."</p>
+
+<p>That was fifteen years ago, but he had never gone back. Never sought
+the second hand-clasp that would have been his. Never unfolded to
+those interested ears his personal experiences with the pioneer column
+that led the way to do the path-finding in Rhodesia. In the hush of
+the afternoon, with his head bowed on his arms, the years between
+seemed to pass out of mind, and that which once had been to stand
+alone, awaking within him an infinite regret.</p>
+
+<p>He saw again certain lovely park-lands&mdash;the woods and hills and
+dales&mdash;of a rich inheritance that should have been his. He saw
+himself, the gay guardsman. He saw the dear face of the woman for whom
+he had chosen to cross that arbitrary will which would brook no
+disobedience, and sought to intimidate him with disinheritance.
+Through his mind passed in slurred detail the sordid story which had
+given him a brother's hate in return for a quixotic championing of the
+weak&mdash;a hate which proved to have power enough behind it to draw a
+devastating hand across the promise of his future.</p>
+
+<p>Lastly&mdash;and here in the silence it was as though his head sank deeper
+in its pain&mdash;he saw that woman's dear face, as he had last seen it,
+lying white upon the heather&mdash;<i>dead</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Ah, the memories were terribly alive to-day; not even fifteen years in
+a new life, with new interests, had done anything but draw a thin
+curtain of silence over the unforgettable pain. Would anything ever
+ease it in reality? Had he for a moment believed that it would? Or had
+he always known, that just as surely as his hand had held the gun
+which killed her, so to his last breath the tragedy would cast a
+shadow over the whole of his life?</p>
+
+<p>He might look out upon the world with quiet eyes and firm lips and
+fearless mien, but the gnawing ache would surely go with him to his
+grave.</p>
+
+<p>And because of it he knew that he had grown somewhat churlish; that
+men who did not understand his unsociable ways and extreme reticence
+looked at him askance. But what of it? How little such things
+mattered! The tragedy was his and the silence was his, and he had
+never asked anyone to share either.</p>
+
+<p>Only to-day, for just this one afternoon, fifteen years was as
+yesterday, and he seemed to realise thoroughly for the first time all
+that royal hand-clasp had meant, before he went to his voluntary exile
+in a far wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>But after a time, when it grew cool enough to walk, he came out into
+the sunshine and started off towards the steep rock pathway that leads
+to the summit of the Acropolis Hill, following an impulse to seek
+comfort in the fresh hopefulness of a height, and to lessen the pain
+in his heart by looking out across a world still living and loving and
+striving. So he climbed on up the winding pathway, enfolded with
+mystery and romance concerning the feet that trod it in the far-off
+centuries, and made his way between the mighty natural boulders out on
+to the high platform, where eyes, all those long centuries ago, must
+have looked out even as his, across the lovely land.</p>
+
+<p>Was it as lovely then?... Could it have been less so?...</p>
+
+<p>How the quiet beauty soothed and caressed him! Surely there were
+moments when the wilderness, tamed at last, like a lovely, wayward
+mistress become entrancingly docile, fondles the hand, and ravishes
+the senses of the strong man who conquered it.</p>
+
+<p>Is this one of the rich rewards Life holds in the palm of her hand for
+the path-finders?... This glorious sense of ownership. This winsome
+soothing of shy gratitude when the fierce first resistance to conquest
+is overpast. A man may call England his country because he was born
+there, and his father before him; but, perhaps, after all, that is a
+small thing compared to standing upon a high eminence, and looking
+across a quiet world which is your country because of all you yourself
+have given to it of hope and faith and steadfast purpose.</p>
+
+<p>In some such spirit soothing came to the quiet man on the top of the
+Acropolis Hill, whispering to him that, after all, this was <i>his</i>
+country, and if the beloved dead did indeed seem so far away in fact,
+in spirit he was perhaps nearer to his Empire-builders than he had
+ever been before.</p>
+
+<p>He turned his head at last, and his eyes rested upon the circular
+wall, four hundred feet below, that enclosed the temple ruins. Then
+for a moment a wave of depression swept over him, blotting out the
+landscape loveliness. Was it all, then, vanity, this building and
+striving?... The making of walls and fortifications for another race,
+centuries afterwards, to look upon with cold wonder and curiosity?
+Three thousand years ago perhaps another man had stood even there and
+mourned his king that was dead. And so soon ... so soon ... he also
+died, and the massive walls became ruins, and the dynasty, or empire,
+or era, passed away into oblivion. How soon might a similar fate
+overtake his own great Empire!... and the beloved King, Edward the
+Peacemaker, be perhaps but a legend to some strange new race.</p>
+
+<p>And then it was as though the land to which he had given so much rose
+up to give in her turn the might of hope and renewing. His eyes
+wandered again to the distant mountains and over the fertile plain
+lying between, and all the outspread richness called to him that at
+least there was no ruin here, no hopelessness, no decay.</p>
+
+<p>Progress spoke to him from the rolling plains and from the mysterious
+kopjes, and his blood warmed to that glad sense of possession&mdash;if not
+in fact, at least in the fancy born of what he had given. For it is
+when we give, and not when we take, we become the truest possessors,
+rich owners of so much that neither wealth, nor birth, nor striving
+can buy.</p>
+
+<p>In the quiet evening hour the stars were just beginning to light their
+brilliant lamps, and a glow like a rose-flush in the west marked the
+passage of the departed sun. Carew prepared to make the steep descent.
+And as he looked out across this country, that seemed so intensely his
+country, he felt himself heir of all the ages, the strong product of
+long eons of careful development, too rich in those vague splendours
+of the human and the divine not to realise the weak futility of musing
+sadly upon dead dynasties and bygone races.</p>
+
+<p>On the northernmost point, ere the path drops suddenly on its way to
+the valley, he stood still once more and gazed steadily to the north
+where England lay.</p>
+
+<p>Then, thinking deep thoughts of love and loyalty of the King who had
+been his friend, and the friend who had been his King, he gravely gave
+the salute.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2>
+
+<h2>THE MISSION STATION</h2>
+
+<p>Although only stationed for a short time at the Zimbabwe camp, Carew
+had chosen always to conduct his own <i>m&eacute;nage</i>, and take his meals in
+solitary state apart from Stanley and Moore. This was in every case
+typical of the man, who rarely sought company, and was often quiet to
+taciturnity when he had it. He had not come to the wilderness for
+adventure, or for the companionship of the men he might find there; he
+had come because he wanted to forget. Not even to seek renewing and
+fresh hopes, but only to crowd out of his life the memory of that
+upheaval and tragedy that, it seemed, had placed a stern hand upon
+mere joy for evermore. And he believed he would achieve this best with
+the vigorous, interesting occupation of helping a young country
+struggle through to fulfilment.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until after the dinner-hour that he again showed himself,
+and then he came outside his hut, filling his pipe, and stood for a
+moment beside Stanley and Moore without saying anything.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you have a successful trip, sir?" Stanley asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite," dryly.</p>
+
+<p>The young trooper watched him a moment, and then added:</p>
+
+<p>"Did you have trouble with M'Basch?"</p>
+
+<p>"He tried to make trouble. He is a dangerous native."</p>
+
+<p>"And you gave him a lesson?"</p>
+
+<p>"I burnt his kraal."</p>
+
+<p>"Whew!..." and Stanley gave a low whistle. The man was courageous
+indeed who dare resort to such a step, now that it was necessary to
+pamper the natives if one wanted no trouble at headquarters.</p>
+
+<p>Carew took no notice of the significant rejoinder, but his firm mouth,
+if anything, grew a little firmer.</p>
+
+<p>"I gave him due warning, but he thought I dare not carry out my
+threat. He was mistaken. Never make a threat that you can't carry out.
+It matters more than anything with natives. He will not give trouble
+again at present."</p>
+
+<p>"But they may say a good deal at headquarters if he carries his story
+there!"</p>
+
+<p>"I had to risk that. But he is so entirely in the wrong, and so
+clearly aware of it, I don't think he will venture to say anything. I
+have three cases of diabolical cruelty against him, besides stealing
+and law-breaking generally."</p>
+
+<p>Stanley watched him with eyes of admiration. To him the man's strength
+was ever a source of delight, now that his unsociable ways were no
+longer a puzzle.</p>
+
+<p>"We had a scientific man here yesterday to view the ruins," he
+continued, as Carew still lingered while he lit his pipe. "He has a
+remarkable theory for divining corpses by the gold ornaments buried on
+them. He thinks there are probably several in the temple, deeper than
+anyone has yet dug."</p>
+
+<p>Carew did not look very interested. His eyes had still the
+retrospective, pained expression that had come into them instantly,
+when he grasped the import of Stanley's sad tidings.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did he come from?" he asked, half turning away.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. He was only here for a few hours. We gave him some tea,
+and he left us some interesting papers, if you would care to have
+them. He seemed rather interested in you!..." and Stanley looked
+keenly into his face.</p>
+
+<p>"In what way?" Carew pulled hard at his beloved pipe and spoke with
+studied carelessness.</p>
+
+<p>"Your name cropped up about something, and he wanted to know if you
+were a Fourtenay-Carew."</p>
+
+<p>The officer started very slightly, but made no comment, and Stanley
+added, "He particularly wanted to know if you were a Devonshire man. I
+said you were."</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>was</i> a Devonshire man," Carew corrected; "I <i>am</i> a Rhodesian."</p>
+
+<p>Then he turned and with a short good night went back into his hut.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning, directly his official work was finished, he started
+to ride over to the mission station, where some far-off connections of
+his, William and Ailsa Grenville, found by chance in the wilderness,
+lived the simple life with a contentment that surprised all who beheld
+them.</p>
+
+<p>It was the first visit he had been able to pay for some weeks, and
+almost before he dismounted a woman stepped out from the large rustic
+building, with its thatched roof, and came towards him with eagerness
+and sorrow strangely blended in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, how long you have been coming! I have watched for you ever since
+we heard the sad news. Billy and I so wanted someone from <i>home</i> to
+talk to."</p>
+
+<p>"I could not help it. I have been right away into the Ingigi district.
+How are you?"</p>
+
+<p>He did not give her his hand because the formalities had long been
+dropped between them, but as he walked beside her to the building his
+face seemed a shade softer.</p>
+
+<p>"We are both well. We are splendid. But we have felt very cut off
+these two weeks. England seemed so terribly far away. The evening we
+heard, Billy and I just sat hand in hand under the stars, dabbing the
+tears away. Don't smile, it was the only thing to do, and we longed so
+to be in London." As she talked she passed into the cool shade of the
+hut and busied herself preparing a lemon squash for him, not needing
+to ask if it were his choice. "We were miserable for days. I'm sure
+all of you were too."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not hear until I came back yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah ... I was afraid so. Of course, that made it worse."</p>
+
+<p>She brought him the lemon squash and stood leaning against the table
+beside him while he drank it, with the gladness of seeing him still in
+her eyes, though they were grave now with sympathy. It was evident
+their friendship had in it a wide understanding.</p>
+
+<p>She was silent a few moments, and then added simply, "I suppose you
+knew him personally?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>He did not tell her more, and she did not ask him. There was one
+subject that no deepening of friendship had ever made it possible to
+approach, and that was the story of his past. She knew only, from her
+husband, who was extremely vague on the subject, that he had once held
+a commission in the Blues, and been, not only a well-known society
+man, but the heir of a rich old uncle. And then suddenly something had
+happened, and his brother became the heir, and England had known him
+no more. Even William Grenville himself was in the dark as to the
+cause of the lost inheritance, as he had been abroad at the time, and
+had never had much intercourse with Carew's branch of the family. He
+was supposed to be in disgrace himself, because his soul was too
+honest to allow him to continue in a comfortable country living, after
+his convictions lost faith in the tenets of the English Church; but if
+it were so it never troubled him, and he loved his wilderness home
+dearly. Ailsa had her story also, but she too, it was evident, had
+found a solution that held satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>After giving Carew his drink she moved away and picked up some
+needlework, seating herself near the open door, with sympathy in her
+face and in her silence.</p>
+
+<p>"We had a splendid service," she told him. "We did all we possibly
+could to show our loyalty. But how little it seemed! The far countries
+hurt at a time like this."</p>
+
+<p>He assented in silence, looking out over the lovely landscape as if it
+were a sight his soul loved, and she bent lower over her needlework.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me about your Ingigi trip, unless you would rather wait for
+Billy. He will be in directly, and he will want to hear everything."</p>
+
+<p>He glanced towards her a moment, noting half indifferently that she
+looked unusually pretty to-day; but he only said a few generalities
+about his work, with his eyes again on the landscape. Ailsa sewed on,
+not in the least dismayed. It was good enough to have him there,
+whether he were communicative or not, and she was glad she chanced to
+have put on her new, pretty dress from home. For, of course, all women
+liked to look fair in the eyes of Peter Carew, quite indifferent to
+the fact that in all probability he scarcely saw them.</p>
+
+<p>But Ailsa Grenville could not have looked other than fair to any man,
+though to some she looked so much more besides. Her frank grey eyes,
+full of expression, her low, broad forehead and chestnut hair, were so
+full of beauty that they seemed to counteract entirely a nose that was
+a little too small and a mouth a little too large. One felt that
+nature had intended to make her a beautiful woman, and then changed
+her mind and allowed a flaw in her beauty, possibly to give her more
+character and an attraction of a different order. To the lonely men
+within reach of the mission station she was goddess and angel
+combined, and knowing it was one of the joys of her uneventful life.</p>
+
+<p>Thus they sat on together in the doorway, speaking quietly of the loss
+they had chosen to make their own, in an intimate sense perhaps only
+possible to far-off Empire-builders. And while they talked the
+missionary himself appeared, and all his face lit up when he saw
+Carew.</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove! I'm glad to see you," he exclaimed, tossing his khaki helmet
+carelessly aside. "We hoped you would come soon. Ailsa was sure you
+would."</p>
+
+<p>He sat on the edge of the table, swinging one putteed leg, a fine,
+athletic, big fellow, with a khaki shirt open at the throat, and
+sleeves rolled up above his elbows, and a brown attractive face with
+honest eyes. "How are the others?... Going strong?... We had them
+all here for our funeral service: the Macaulays, White, Richards,
+Henley, the three prospectors out Chini way, everyone within reach.
+And afterwards we gave them a feed. A homely one, with cakes and jam,
+as Englishy as possible. By gad, Carew! how a loss like this makes you
+think of home and country; and how we Britishers in the colonies ought
+to hang together through thick and thin! If we all felt it more, it
+would be a great thing for the dear old Mother Country. She'll want
+her boys in the colonies to stand by her stoutly, if she is to go on
+holding her own, I'm thinking."</p>
+
+<p>He got up and strode about the hut, his hands in his pockets and his
+pipe in his mouth. "Hang it all!... since I came out here to try and
+do a little useful development among the blacks, I've grown more and
+more to feel that helping the settlers to live clean lives and pull
+together and care about the Old Country, is every bit as important, in
+fact far more so, than teaching Christianity to the heathen."</p>
+
+<p>He stood in the doorway, blocking the view with his immense bulk, a
+rarely attractive man, with boyish enthusiasm in his eyes, and
+fearless honesty in his whole aspect, and just that touch of the
+fanatic which helped him to soar above disappointments and keep his
+charming wife devoted and content with him out there in the
+wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>From his post in the doorway he swung round suddenly, and was about to
+launch upon one of his enthusiastic tirades on the natives or settlers
+or both, when Ailsa stayed him lightly, declaring that lunch was
+ready, and they all proceeded to the dining-room hut.</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards they lazed in a wide verandah, commanding one of the
+loveliest views in Rhodesia, and talked a little of the West Country,
+because the ache was still with each one to be at home at that sad
+time.</p>
+
+<p>When Carew, later, prepared to depart homewards, she gave a large plum
+cake carefully into the hands of his black soldier-servant, telling
+him, Carew, that it was for The Kid and Patrick, and not to let The
+Kid overeat himself, and tell him to come over and see her at once.</p>
+
+<p>"He is rather interested in the subject of corpses just now," Carew
+said, with something approaching a gleam in his eye, "but I don't
+encourage him, because, for two pins, I believe he would dig up the
+entire temple, if the spirit took him."</p>
+
+<p>"The scoundrel!..." with an affectionate laugh. "Tell him if he dares
+to touch one stone of my temple he shall never, never have a cake
+again."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I only surmise it from the expression in his eyes when he told
+me, rather wistfully, that some scientific visitor had described to
+him how the corpses, if found, would certainly be decked with valuable
+gold ornaments."</p>
+
+<p>Then he mounted and saluted her gravely as he rode away.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2>
+
+<h2>TWO HEIRESSES</h2>
+
+<p>In a Piccadilly mansion, about the same time that Major Carew returned
+from his long trek, two girls sat in a wide window-seat and looked
+somewhat disconsolately across the fresh spring green of the park.
+Both were the daughters of South African millionaires. Both were
+motherless, and one an orphan. They were also cousins, and the same
+roof usually was their home.</p>
+
+<p>Two months previously the father of the one and guardian of the other
+had brought them to England, that they might duly "come out" the
+ensuing season in London society. Their presentation at Court had
+taken place in April, followed by a splendid ball at the stately
+mansion taken for their stay, and both girls had looked eagerly
+forward to the festivities ahead.</p>
+
+<p>And now, a few weeks later, they found themselves suddenly dressed in
+black, with nearly all the expected gaieties cancelled, and this
+overshadowing loss weighing upon their spirits. Added to this the
+death of first one mother and then the other, followed by a period of
+ill-health to the guardian and father, had postponed that "coming out"
+long past the ordinary age for such functions; Diana, the orphan,
+being now twenty-two, and Meryl two years older.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl was the graver of the two; graver indeed than is at all usual at
+twenty-four, but with a quiet fund of humour and a romantic
+dreaminess, and withal a certain elusive quality that made her always
+interesting, and pleasantly something of a mystery. Diana was a
+sparkling, practical, outspoken young woman, much adored of young men
+whom she treated with scant courtesy, and with a great deal of common
+sense in her pretty head. The girls' influence upon each other, which
+was cemented by a very deep affection, was wholly beneficial; for
+whereas Diana awakened Meryl from too much dreaminess, Meryl's quiet
+dignity had a softening effect upon Diana's too great exuberance of
+spirits and occasional boyish lack of refinement, which was more the
+result of a boisterous capacity for enjoyment than inbred.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl, as became the dreamer, had been profoundly touched by the event
+which had called forth that swift grief; and whereas Diana could not
+refrain from bemoaning all she must necessarily lose through the
+season of mourning, Meryl thought chiefly of how they could get away
+quickly into the country and replace the lost gaieties with quiet
+delight.</p>
+
+<p>She had already spoken to her father about her wish to leave town, but
+he had been much occupied of late, and not yet had time thoroughly to
+discuss the question. And meanwhile she and Diana waited a little
+disconsolately to see what the days brought forth. Diana was disposed
+for a trip to Switzerland, or Norway, or even Iceland, but she wanted
+to go in a party, and not just they two and a chaperon. Meryl was not
+enthusiastic and it nettled her a little, so that, on the wide
+window-seat, there was a cloud on her face as she drummed idly with
+her fingers and watched the traffic go by.</p>
+
+<p>"If you would only say what you <i>do</i> want," she asserted impatiently,
+"instead of just mooning about and making no plans whatever."</p>
+
+<p>But the fact was, Meryl could not quite make up her mind what she did
+want. In some vague way a kind of upheaval had been taking place in
+her heart, and left her high and dry upon the rocks of uncertainty and
+dim dissatisfaction. New thoughts, new questions, new desires had
+risen in her during that sad month of May, and she felt as one seeking
+vainly she knew not what. She looked beyond the trees of the Green
+Park to the far skies with wistful eyes, and asked herself deep
+questions concerning many things, born of the thoughts that arose in
+her mind when she stood amid a people mourning tenderly a dearly loved
+sovereign, and beheld how in hearts all over the world he had won love
+and admiration, in that, to the best of his endeavour, he had
+splendidly fulfilled his high trust.</p>
+
+<p>And a high trust was hers. How could she not know it, when she was
+sole heiress to her father's millions; and yet, what was she doing,
+or preparing to do, in fulfilment of that trust? That it was no less
+so with Diana did not weigh with her. Diana was different. When she
+was allowed a free hand with her fortune she would buy yachts and
+houses and diamonds, and scatter it right and left, which was good in
+its way; but it would never satisfy her, Meryl, the visionary and
+dreamer, who looked with grave eyes to the far skies, and asked vague
+questions.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, with an impatient little kick at a footstool, Diana broke
+the silence. "<i>Do</i> you know what you want? Have you any ideas at all,
+or are you just a blank?"</p>
+
+<p>Meryl smiled charmingly. "I'm not exactly a blank, but something of a
+confusion. I confess crowded Swiss hotels do not sound alluring. I
+like Iceland better, but it seems rather ... well ... purposeless."</p>
+
+<p>"And what in the world do you want it to be? Do you want to go a
+journey to convert heathen, or preach Christian Science, or explore
+untrodden country? If so, you had better take Aunt Emily and go alone.
+I'm hoping for a little life and amusement."</p>
+
+<p>"We always have that. I want something bigger for a change."</p>
+
+<p>"O, now you're getting to high altitudes. Meryl, do come down and be
+rational. I just feel as if I could shake you." She got up and roamed
+round the room, then returned to the window-seat and leaned out of the
+window watching some workmen who were painting the balcony below them.
+Meryl sat on silently, still seeking some sort of a solution to
+something she could not name.</p>
+
+<p>"There's such a good-looking workman," Diana remarked presently, "I'm
+sure he's an artist. I wish he would look up, but he is too shy."</p>
+
+<p>"Too wise, perhaps. Why are you sure he is an artist?"</p>
+
+<p>"O, well, because he looks like it. He has a Grecian head, and his
+hair curls adorably, and I'm certain his eyes are blue. He'll be just
+underneath the window soon, and if he doesn't look up then I shall
+drop something to make him."</p>
+
+<p>"Come away to lunch and don't be a goose. The gong sounded quite five
+minutes ago."</p>
+
+<p>Diana withdrew her head reluctantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Who wants to eat cutlets when they can watch a Grecian profile!"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you would sooner drop one on his head to make him look up?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would; much sooner. Do you think they've brought their lunch with
+them, or shall we send them some?"</p>
+
+<p>"I expect they've got their dinners in red pocket-handkerchiefs,
+hidden away somewhere at the back."</p>
+
+<p>"Except my Greek"&mdash;with a little smile&mdash;"and I'm sure his is in a
+Liberty silk square."</p>
+
+<p>They sat down to lunch in the big, oppressive dining-room alone, as
+their chaperon, Aunt Emily, was laid up with a headache, and Mr. Henry
+Pym, Meryl's father, was usually in the City at midday. And after
+lunch, for the sake of something to do, they ordered the motor and
+drove out to Ranelagh to see the polo.</p>
+
+<p>Then came dinner, and with it in quiet, unsuspected guise the news
+that would presently change their lives. Henry Pym, a small, dark man,
+with the keen eyes and quiet manner that so often go with success,
+told them that because there would be practically no London season at
+all that year he had decided to go back to Africa, and he would take a
+country house for them anywhere they liked and leave them there for
+the summer with Aunt Emily.</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Emily nodded her head with an approving air. A quiet country
+house instead of a season's racketing was quite to her taste, and she
+felt dear Henry, as ever, was showing the marked common sense for
+which she humbly worshipped him afar off. Meryl looked at her father
+inquiringly and with a thoughtful air. Diana remarked, rather
+disgustedly, "O, uncle, what rot! Why should we be condemned to some
+dull little hole of an English village, just because there is to be no
+London season?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Diana," remonstrated the lady who was supposed to fill the
+post of mother and chaperon to both girls, and was therefore in duty
+bound to express disapproval of Diana's English, "you surely do not
+imagine your uncle admires that unladylike mode of speech!"</p>
+
+<p>"But he understands it," said the incorrigible, "and that is far more
+important."</p>
+
+<p>There was a decided gleam in the millionaire's eyes as he inquired,
+"And what do you want to do instead, Di?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yacht, or travel, or go in an aeroplane, or anything. I simply
+can't sit down in an English village until further notice."</p>
+
+<p>Then Meryl spoke:</p>
+
+<p>"Why can't we go back with you to South Africa, father?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I'm going to take a trip north. I'm going up to Rhodesia
+about some mining claims."</p>
+
+<p>"And couldn't we go there with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not very well. I'm not going to the towns, except for a day or two. I
+shall have to do a lot of trekking in the wild, outlying parts. You
+couldn't manage that."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not," murmured Aunt Emily. "How dreadful that you should
+have to go, Henry! Why, there are lions and elephants and things, and
+the natives are savages; surely no mines are worth running such
+risks?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not quite as bad as all that, Emily, but hardly the place for you and
+the girls. Would you all like to go to Norway?"</p>
+
+<p>"And fish?..." from Diana, with a sudden light in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"You could have a yacht and take a party," he continued, "and come
+back when you are all tired of it. I'll ask Sir Robert to let me have
+the 'Skylark,' because his captain is so reliable. What do you say,
+Meryl?... Shall you like that?..."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you could come," was her rather evasive answer, and she gazed
+at the table decorations as if pondering something in her mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you can think it over," said the millionaire quietly, "and if
+there is something you would like better tell me." He was peeling a
+pear in a slow, methodical fashion, and his face quickly seemed to
+assume the expression of one whose thoughts were already elsewhere;
+but not before, with a quick, characteristic movement, he had glanced
+keenly and surreptitiously into Meryl's face and read her indecision.
+Something was on her mind. He knew it quite well; and his busy brain,
+under its mask of complacent thoughtfulness, probed into the question.</p>
+
+<p>Ever since the day of the King's funeral she had worn that thoughtful
+air and baffled him a little with her wistful indecision. And though
+he said nothing, he thought about it in his leisured moments; for
+dearer than all his wealth and his power and his success was his only
+child.</p>
+
+<p>That night, trying still to probe the unrest in her heart, Meryl
+stepped out on to their balcony and looked at the stars. Straight
+before her, outlined in a misty moonlight that was almost overpowered
+by the glare of the city's lights, were the tall towers of
+Westminster. Down below the traffic passed ceaselessly to and fro.
+From all sides came the mysterious hum of a great city's life. And as
+she leaned listening, and gazing at the far-off stars that seemed such
+mere pin-pricks above the glare, there came to her a thought of the
+majestic stars that hung over Africa and the majesty of silence upon
+the African veldt. And then gradually there stirred in her a warm
+remembrance of Africa, and of how she had always loved it, and a
+swift, unaccountable feeling of kinship with all the Britishers
+scattered far and wide who called some colony "home."</p>
+
+<p>True, she was English born and English educated; but so also was she
+South African, for quite half her life had been passed in
+Johannesburg, and it was there that her actual home existed. And so,
+by slow imperceptible degrees, out of nowhere and without explanation,
+crept into her mind the sudden realisation of Africa's claim upon her.
+She remembered that it was there her father had amassed his wealth.
+There had been won for her all the smooth, luxurious ways of her life;
+and, but a step further, as it were, stood out the answer to her
+questioning doubts. Whatever trust is yours in the future, whatever
+life asks of you in return for all she has given, it must be for
+Africa. Her heart warmed and swelled swiftly, and her eyes glowed in
+the misty darkness. She felt in her blood that Africa was calling.
+Africa, so sunny, so gay, so breezy, so lovable, and withal with so
+great a need of strong women as well as strong men, to help her to win
+through to the great future that should be hers.</p>
+
+<p>She leaned lower, and it was as though her gaze looked beyond the
+darkness to some unseen horizon. She saw the veldt with its far blue
+mountains, that called to men again and again with such resolute
+calling. Overhead, in her fancy, she saw the luminous Southern Cross.
+All around were the wide, boundless horizons, the swift, scented
+winds. In her spirit she was back again in the sun-soaked land,
+breathing the sun-soaked atmosphere, looking far to the "never, never"
+country that called from the clear distance.</p>
+
+<p>And it was her Africa,&mdash;hers, hers, hers.</p>
+
+<p>What did she want with an English village? What to her was a yachting
+cruise in Norway? These might be won some day as restful leisure hours
+in a strenuous life; but without the just winning, what had they to do
+with her?</p>
+
+<p>Africa needed strong women as well as strong men; and, strong or weak,
+Africa was calling&mdash;calling.</p>
+
+<p>She had come to London for the season because it was what all the
+other rich men's daughters did; but was she honestly grieved that
+their plans had all to be changed? Surely, now she was free, she could
+find something to do that would fill her hours afterward with gladder
+remembrance than just a season's triumphs.</p>
+
+<p>But what?...</p>
+
+<p>She leaned on in the starlight, chin sunk in hands, thinking,
+dreaming.</p>
+
+<p>And so presently, still by those imperceptible degrees, through which
+works the hand of Fate, her thoughts came at last to the dinner-table
+conversation.</p>
+
+<p>As in a flash, she remembered Rhodesia; and, remembering, it was as
+though the romance of the land reached out strong arms to enfold her.</p>
+
+<p>Here in very truth was a young country, offering a wide field to all
+who sought work, adventure, achievement. Her thoughts ran on
+exultantly. She was rich, she was free, she was young, she was strong;
+why dawdle and dream among the fiords of Norway? Why scale Swiss
+mountains? Let that come later, when she had earned a playtime. In the
+first vigorous years of her youth, let her go out to the sunny land
+that was her home and give it of her best. Let her go north and see a
+young country struggling towards fruition, and perhaps win the joy
+and privilege, generally reserved for men, of helping it forward. All
+in a moment her decision was made. If she could anyhow win her
+father's consent, she would go with him on his trip to Rhodesia.</p>
+
+<p>She stood up, tall and slim, and the subdued light glowed more deeply
+in her eyes. The eyes of the visionary, who sees great things and
+dreams great dreams, and, alas! how often, breaks a heart that of its
+very fineness could only do or die.</p>
+
+<p>Yet better, how much better, to hope and dare and die upon the
+heights, than linger content in the warm, snug valley of little joys
+and little sorrows!</p>
+
+<p>And then across her dreams broke the sound of a sleepy voice from the
+room behind her.</p>
+
+<p>"If you stay out there any longer, Meryl, you will grow wings and fly
+away. Do be rational enough to come in and go to bed."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you were asleep, Di. I'm sure I haven't been keeping you
+awake."</p>
+
+<p>"No, but you are doing so now; and, besides, it's so imbecile to stand
+out there and stare at the stars."</p>
+
+<p>"I've been thinking hard, Di." She came in and sat on the little gilt
+bedstead, with its dainty hangings, and looked lovingly at the pretty
+head on the lace-decked pillow.</p>
+
+<p>"That's nothing new. If you <i>hadn't</i> been thinking hard it would be
+worth while mentioning it," and there was half a pout and half a smile
+on the winsome mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"But there was more object than usual to-night. Listen. If I persuade
+father to take me up to Rhodesia with him, will you come too?..."</p>
+
+<p>"O, golly!... to be eaten by lions, and tigers, and savages, and
+elephants, and things!..."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there wouldn't be much apiece if they all had a bite."</p>
+
+<p>Diana sat up and shook the hair out of her eyes, looking very much
+like a small imp of ten, instead of a finished young lady of
+twenty-two. "There's just a chance they would eat Aunt Emily first,"
+said she, "and as that is a consummation devoutly to be wished, I
+think we'll go...."</p>
+
+<p>They both laughed, but Meryl soon grew serious again. "I'm awfully in
+earnest, Di. Who cares about Norway when they might go to Rhodesia!
+You'll perhaps fall overboard and be eaten by commonplace fishes if
+you go there."</p>
+
+<p>"What has given you the notion, Meryl? I thought only miners and
+farmers went to Rhodesia, except a few tourists to the Victoria Falls.
+Do you think there is anything to eat there except locusts and wild
+honey?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let's go and see. I ... I ... want to do some Empire work or
+something. I can't explain. But we've just got into such a maze of
+petty happenings and petty pleasures, and since the King died ..."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course!... you've been miles away ever since, dreaming and
+romancing and imperialising. But it won't last, and when you've landed
+us all high and dry in some Rhodesian wilderness we shall just hate
+each other and everything else, and be ready to murder you."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense. We shall explore all round, and study the natives and the
+animals, and make friends with the settlers; and it will all be just
+new and big and teeming with interest."</p>
+
+<p>"Not if you are chewing the mule harness, because you've had nothing
+to eat for days."</p>
+
+<p>"O yes, even that; why not?... We should love it all when we came
+safely back."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'll have the bridle, then. It won't, perhaps, be quite so
+greasy."</p>
+
+<p>"Now you're disgusting. Just put your head back on the pillow, and
+register a vow to see me through this craze, if you like to call it
+so, and I'll love you for ever. I like to think of it as Empire work.
+Come and do a little Empire work too."</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't want to. I'm bored to tears with the Empire. We hear a
+great deal too much of it nowadays; that and Standard Bread. I don't
+know which is the worst"&mdash;making a wry face&mdash;"and, besides, if you
+really want to do Empire work, your plain duty is to marry Dutch
+Willie and cement the races."</p>
+
+<p>A cloud flitted for a moment across Meryl's fair face, which Diana was
+quick to see, and she snoozled down into her cosy bed with a little
+chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>"Got you there, my fair Imperialist! Dutch Willie, or let us call him
+William van Hert, will drop this wild anti-British policy of his like
+a hot brick, if you will only make up your mind to be Madam van Hert,
+and bless his hearth with a Dutch doll or two, having good English
+blood in their veins as well as eighteen-carat Dutch," and the
+chuckles grew more and more audible.</p>
+
+<p>But Meryl only got up slowly and moved away to her own little bed.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I shall ask father to-morrow, and if you won't come I shall try
+to make him take me without you. I think he will."</p>
+
+<p>"O, no he won't. If you are really quite obdurate, I shall do a little
+Imperial work also. I shall come along to keep watch and ward, and see
+that you don't fail the Empire by losing your heart to some
+fascinating young Rhodesian settler and forget your own South Africa
+altogether. Dutch Willie is a lot the nicest Dutchman who ever
+belonged to that obtuse people, and I foresee it will be my lot to
+guide you to your high destiny on behalf of the two races."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl only smiled dreamily, as if she scarcely heard. Swiftly,
+mysteriously, unaccountably, as is her way, Rhodesia had caught her
+senses and filled all her horizon for the time being. She nestled down
+into her own pretty bed, with the unrest already fading from her eyes,
+and a new gladness in her heart, as of one renewed with a great
+purpose and comforted with a wide hope.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2>
+
+<h2>THE RHODESIAN PROJECT</h2>
+
+<p>Aunt Emily represented what Diana was pleased to call "the family
+skeleton in the flesh." She was Henry Pym's only sister, and there had
+been a time when she shared a pound a week with him in a tiny cottage
+in Cornwall, while he worked as a miner in order to teach himself all
+he could about mining. After that she had taken a situation as
+housekeeper, while he went out to South Africa to make his fortune.
+Later she had spent a year or two with him, sharing his struggles in
+the new country, and then he had married, and she was once more left
+to take care of herself; for at that stage Henry's finances would
+barely keep himself and his wife. Three years afterwards, when his
+genius for finance was bearing fruit, his wife died, and at
+twenty-seven he found himself a childless widower just becoming
+prosperous. He again offered his sister a home, but her recollections
+of Africa were none to draw her back thither, and she chose to
+continue life in the comfortable situation she had procured as
+companion to an invalid lady. So Henry devoted himself entirely to the
+science of money-making, and at thirty-five he was a rich man. He
+married a second time, choosing for his wife among the gentlest-born
+Johannesburg could offer, and winning the sweet woman who was Meryl's
+mother. About the same time his brother came out from England and
+joined him, and in fifteen years they were two of Johannesburg's
+wealthiest millionaires. A few years later both were widowers, and
+very shortly afterwards John Pym died, leaving his only daughter and
+all the wealth that would be hers to his brother's care. Thus the
+household became as we have seen it, for Henry, remembering gratefully
+how his sister had stood by him in his days of struggle, now insisted
+upon her sharing his luxurious homes and acting as chaperon to the
+two girls. That she was a little trying he knew perfectly, but his
+sense of fair play and kinship resolutely turned a deaf ear to the
+half-spoken pleas of the girls, that he would give her instead a cosy
+home of her own, and procure a younger and brighter chaperon for them;
+and she had now become a fixture.</p>
+
+<p>But what irritated Diana so was the fact that had the good lady
+consulted her own taste, she would infinitely have preferred the cosy,
+independent home; but just as Henry's sense of fair play offered her a
+place in his, so her sense of duty to the two motherless girls made
+her accept it in spite of her inclination.</p>
+
+<p>"If people would but consult their comfort instead of their duty,"
+quoth poor Diana, "how much nicer it would be all round! Uncle doesn't
+really want her here, and she doesn't really want to come, and we'd
+give our heads to be rid of her; but just because Old Man Duty loves
+to make people supremely uncomfortable, here we all are!" and her
+expressive gesture made further comment unnecessary.</p>
+
+<p>But, as a matter of fact, she made a very easy and good-natured
+chaperon, and it was only some of her irritating little ways that
+troubled them. Without being really deaf, she usually failed to hear
+any opening speech, and this Diana coped with very summarily. "Aunt
+Emily," she would begin. "Eh ... eh ... eh ... eh ... ah," and when
+Aunt Emily had duly enquired, "What did you say, my dear?" she would
+speak her sentence for the first time. Or, again, with reference to
+her propensity to get exceedingly worked up upon a subject of very
+little general interest, she would say, "The great point is, not to
+start her off, and not to give her a chance to start herself off. A
+little perspicacity will soon tell you what subject to nip in the bud,
+or when to talk as hard and fast as you can about something else."</p>
+
+<p>"And as for her mournfulness," declared the matter-of-fact young
+heiress, "well, that's genuinely funny. If I've got a bit of a hump
+myself, and I hear Aunt Emily, with a face of heroic resignation, say,
+'I can bear it,' I begin to feel quite chirpy at once."</p>
+
+<p>But when the Rhodesian project came seriously under discussion, they
+were all a good deal surprised to hear Aunt Emily take part in it as
+one who must inevitably be of the party. Henry Pym was a reserved,
+undemonstrative man, and when Meryl begged him to let them accompany
+him on his travels, though he said very little, he was secretly a good
+deal gratified and pleased. His own early hardships had taught him the
+inestimable value of learning self-dependence and plucky endurance,
+and it was not without some regret he viewed a future for the girls
+entirely of rose leaves. Yet how could it very well be otherwise?
+When, however, Meryl pleadingly asked him to take them to Rhodesia
+with him, he perceived that the trip might be beneficial in more ways
+than one.</p>
+
+<p>"You probably don't understand," he told her quietly, "that I am going
+on a business, prospecting trip. I am going right away from hotels and
+railways to see mines, and I don't intend to be bothered with anything
+elaborate in the way of an outfit. I suppose I shall take a tent, and
+travel in a travelling ambulance, but certainly nothing out of the way
+in food or equipment. You would have to do the same, and as you know
+absolutely nothing in the world about 'roughing it,' you probably
+wouldn't like it at all."</p>
+
+<p>"But that is just what we should like," Meryl urged. "That is one
+reason why we want to come."</p>
+
+<p>They were sitting in the smoke-room with him, as was often their habit
+in the evening, preferring it, as he did, to the stately drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl sat on a footstool near him, watching his face anxiously, while
+Diana, with an open book on her knee, listened from the depths of an
+enormous arm-chair in which she had curled herself.</p>
+
+<p>"Shouldn't we ever need to wash?" she asked suddenly, in a sprightly
+voice that set them all laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it's a hot country, you know," said her uncle, "but it might be
+more or less optional."</p>
+
+<p>"Scrumptious!" and Diana snoozled lower into her chair.</p>
+
+<p>"Uncouth," remarked Aunt Emily, disapprovingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Or do you mean unclean?" enquired the sinner.</p>
+
+<p>"It is quite the maddest idea I ever heard of." Ignoring her, and
+growing more and more mournful, the poor lady heaved a deep sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"But need you be bothered with us?" enquired Meryl, diplomatically.
+"Wouldn't you rather have a nice quiet summer in England?"</p>
+
+<p>"And let you go alone?... How could I?... Your father will be much
+engaged with his business, and it would be most unseemly for two girls
+of your age to be left so much alone. I believe it is a dreadful
+country, but if you can face it, I think I can find the courage to
+come with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Think you can bear it, aunty?..." chirped the voice from the
+arm-chair, and Meryl frowned in a little aside at the snoozler.</p>
+
+<p>"If they decide to come at all, they would be all right with me out on
+the veldt," put in Mr. Pym. "If they are prepared to eat 'bully beef'
+and probably do their own washing-up."</p>
+
+<p>"How horrible!..." from the arm-chair. "It sounds worse than chewing
+mule harness."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean, Diana?" her aunt asked, nervously.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, didn't you know there was nourishment in mule harness?... It's
+simply splendid stuff when you've had nothing else for days."</p>
+
+<p>The poor lady shuddered, and her brother chuckled, but Meryl
+interposed with, "Don't listen to her, Aunt Emily. It isn't likely we
+shall ever have had nothing for days."</p>
+
+<p>"I once heard of a man ..." began the spinster, putting down her work,
+and raising her head with the air they all knew so well, denoting a
+long rigmarole about some exceedingly uninteresting person, and Diana
+immediately chimed in with, "Shall you wear a knickerbocker suit,
+aunty, or just a commonplace divided skirt?"</p>
+
+<p>"Neither will be in the least necessary," was the decided answer. "I
+have met people from Rhodesia, and they dress quite ordinarily."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's when they're in another country," insisted the
+incorrigible. "Up there you simply must wear knickers, or a divided
+skirt; it's ... it's ... such a high altitude ... and so ...
+windy!..."</p>
+
+<p>"Diana, be quiet," interrupted Meryl, now sitting on the arm of her
+father's chair. "If you don't mind we shall leave you behind."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't know that I particularly want to go. It doesn't sound
+very inviting except about the washing."</p>
+
+<p>"I think you had all better take a week to decide in," said Henry Pym,
+finally. "I won't say anything about the yacht at present, and you can
+change your minds and have it if you like. And if your aunt chooses to
+stay quietly in England, I'll take a house for her anywhere she likes,
+and I'll look after you both myself. You can take care of each other
+when I have to be absent for a day."</p>
+
+<p>"Would you like us to go?" asked Diana, screwing her head round
+impishly. "Or are we going to be a ... a ... frightful nuisance?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like you to come, if you can make up your minds thoroughly to
+take the rough and the smooth together, and make the best of it. I
+think it will be an experience for you, and a wholesome change from
+too much luxury. But mind"&mdash;and his strong, dark face looked very
+determined&mdash;"I want no grumbling and no fretfulness. If you think
+you've any real, genuine pioneer spirit in you, <i>come</i>. If you're in
+doubt about it, stay behind, and go to Norway and have your gaiety."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I've very much," said Diana, "but Meryl has enough for
+two, I'm sure; and for the rest, I never grumble, and I'm only peevish
+with very young men. That, of course, I might work off on the
+niggers."</p>
+
+<p>"Has Meryl a lot of pioneer spirit?" asked her father, watching her
+with quiet, affectionate eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Stacks of it. She wants to become an Empire-builder. I don't. I'm
+bored with the Empire. But I don't mind sampling just one dive into
+the wilderness, to see how I like primitive conditions. I don't know
+what Aunt Emily wants with the wilderness though, unless she has a
+secret fancy for niggers!..."</p>
+
+<p>"I think that is a little coarse of you, Diana. I have no fancy either
+for a wilderness or niggers; but if either you or Meryl were ill, or
+anything happened to you, I should never forgive myself had I
+remained comfortably at home."</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing will happen to us, aunty. I think you are rather unwise to
+think of coming," said Meryl.</p>
+
+<p>"If you go, I shall come as far as Bulawayo anyhow. Then I shall at
+least be within reach."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, think it over for a week," said Henry Pym again, getting up and
+moving towards his writing-table. "I don't like hurried decisions at
+any time. If you like to come and take pot-luck with me I shall be
+glad to have your company, but do not let that influence you. Come for
+your own sakes, and prepared for anything, or remain behind."</p>
+
+<p>They understood that he wished to be left to do some reading or
+writing, and after kissing him good night, went upstairs to their
+room.</p>
+
+<p>But Meryl's eyes had already a new glow of hopeful anticipation, and
+it was easy to see she did not intend to waste much time in making up
+a mind already entirely decided.</p>
+
+<p>Diana found her a little irritating.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, Meryl!" she said, "you look as ridiculously pleased as a cat
+with kittens. You are quite the most unaccountable creature in the
+world. What, in the name of fortune, <i>is</i> the good of going to
+Rhodesia? Frankly, I'd rather stay in England."</p>
+
+<p>But Meryl only smiled happily, and made no comment.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, put the light out," snapped Diana. "I really can't stand that
+superior, complacent air of yours any longer."</p>
+
+<p>For answer the elder girl crossed the room and gave her a hug.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be cross, Di. You know you'll love the atmosphere of adventure
+when you are fairly started. Anyone can go to Norway."</p>
+
+<p>"Adventure! Stuff! Heat and flies and sand, that's all we're in for;
+and uncle in a prosaic, 'I told you so' mood."</p>
+
+<p>"We may see lions when we are trekking."</p>
+
+<p>Diana put her head on one side, like a small, bright-eyed bird. "We
+can see those in the Zoo, beloved."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, and you can see Norway on a cinematograph."</p>
+
+<p>Diana turned away with a low laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Clean bowled. Good for you, O wise Hypatia! Well, we'll go to this
+heathen land and be horribly uncomfortable for a time, and then we'll
+come back and make things hum in London as they never hummed before.
+Where is Jeanne, I wonder? If I've got to do my own hair for two solid
+months I'll never touch a wisp of it until we go," and she rang the
+bell peremptorily.</p>
+
+<p>Later, for a few moments, Meryl again stood out on the balcony,
+enjoying the June night, and as she looked at the stars she smiled
+softly. She was going back to Africa, after all&mdash;her Africa, and
+perhaps Life would give her something big to do yet.</p>
+
+<p>And half unconsciously, though with a sense of pleasurable possession,
+she stood with her eyes to the south.</p>
+
+<p>And away in a distant land, on a high hill, strewn with ruins of an
+ancient, mysterious race, a man stood with his eyes to the north.</p>
+
+<p>A taciturn, difficult, unaccountable man, who baffled the people that
+would fain be friendly with him, and chilled any who showed him
+warmth, and yet was invariably liked and trusted by all who had the
+perspicacity to see beyond the rigid exterior.</p>
+
+<p>Even to-day, though he was mourning his sovereign, he had shown no
+softening of grief to those who beheld him. Rather, if anything, he
+had been more silent, more taciturn, more aloof than ever.</p>
+
+<p>Yet the enfolding night and the quiet stars saw what none others saw.
+They saw the ache in the steady eyes, the compression as of pain on
+the resolute lips, the swift, unusual hunger, sternly suppressed, for
+something that had once been in some old life and was now for ever
+ended.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2>
+
+<h2>WILLIAM VAN HERT</h2>
+
+<p>They, that is, the Pyms, stayed in Johannesburg before they started on
+their travels. Mr. Pym had built for himself a charming house in the
+Sachsenwald neighbourhood, architectured, of course, by Mr. Herbert
+Baker, and having a lovely view to far blue hills.</p>
+
+<p>Few people who have never seen Johannesburg have the smallest
+conception of the charm of its best suburbs, with their wonderful far
+vistas to a dream country of blue mountains on the horizon. To most it
+suggests little beyond dump-heaps of white powdered quartz, tall
+machinery, tall chimneys, with a town of tramways and offices and
+wealthy people all struggling together for more wealth.</p>
+
+<p>Yet in a few minutes one may leave all this behind, and drive along
+tree-lined roads and avenues to where, probably amidst swaying firs, a
+"stately home" of South Africa is picturesquely standing.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pym's house was not of the largest, for he had never been
+ostentatious of his wealth, and much of it was represented by large
+tracts of land, where he generously experimented for the benefit of
+the country. As with several rich South Africans, he had his stud farm
+and his agricultural farm; and both were kept up to a very high
+standard, without any particular consideration for profit and loss.
+But his house in the Sachsenwald neighbourhood had more of charm and
+comfort in it than display. The rooms were very high and airy and well
+ventilated, with artistic colour effects which the girls had achieved,
+and something of an Italian air about it.</p>
+
+<p>Along one side, widening into an embrasure at the middle, where doors
+from the drawing-room and dining-room stood open to it, ran a broad
+tessellated terrace; and from the terrace one looked out over a
+lovely garden, gorgeous with the flaming flowers of South Africa, yet
+softened by velvety turf such as is seldom seen "over there," and can
+only be attained by much consistent care and attention.</p>
+
+<p>It was here the girls loved best to sit: Diana because the prospect
+was fresh and breezy and wide, and, true to her namesake, she loved
+the smell of the firs and the earth; Meryl because of those far blue
+hills which made so fitting a background to the dreamland thoughts
+that filled her mind; and, moreover, Aunt Emily did not particularly
+love light and air, so she usually remained in her own sanctum, and
+Diana was able to enjoy, not one cigarette, but two or three, after
+each meal without the tiresome accompaniment of a disapproving eye.</p>
+
+<p>They reached Johannesburg in the latter half of July, and those people
+who had not already fled from the high winds and driving dust were
+hurriedly preparing to do so. In consequence, few friends were there
+to welcome them on their return, and their plans proceeded apace.
+Diana had a smart khaki knickerbocker suit made, and a wonderful
+broad-brimmed hat with a long feather to go with it. When they
+laughingly told her she was not journeying to an uncivilised country,
+and could not possibly wear such a garb in modern Rhodesia, she merely
+asserted she was going into the wilderness to please them, and in
+return they must put up with her in any sort of garb she chose. In the
+end Meryl was persuaded to have a knickerbocker garb also, though she
+insisted that she would never wear it. Aunt Emily bought yards and
+yards of green and blue muslin, in which she proposed to tie up her
+head. "You must have a particularly ugly helmet, and a pair of smoked
+spectacles, and a butterfly-net as well," said Diana, "and then you
+will look as if you belonged to the British Association."</p>
+
+<p>Her uncle, sitting back silently in his big arm-chair, with the quiet
+twinkle in his keen eyes, remarked, "And you will look like the
+principal boy at a pantomime."</p>
+
+<p>"How heavenly!..." said outspoken Diana, and Aunt Emily raised her
+hands in horror.</p>
+
+<p>It was on one of the last evenings before their final departure that
+William van Hert came from a quiet sea-side place above Durban to see
+them. He was taking a long rest there, after a strenuous parliamentary
+campaign, and only discovered through a belated newspaper that they
+had returned from England, and were contemplating a journey north. He
+immediately took a day's road journey to the nearest railway and
+departed for Johannesburg.</p>
+
+<p>Diana saw him arrive, and executed a remarkable spring into the air,
+finished off with a little kick. "Oh, golly!..." she breathed. "Here's
+Dutch Willy come flying to the arms of his ladylove!"</p>
+
+<p>Meryl looked up with swift, questioning eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible!... He is down at M'genda."</p>
+
+<p>"A little bird whispered, 'She, the fair one of many millions, has
+returned,' and straightway the thousand white arms of M'genda failed
+to hold him."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be spiteful, Di. Mr. van Hert cares nothing for anyone's
+millions. You know it well."</p>
+
+<p>"I do; and for that reason he should be kept in a glass case. Still,
+he cares for a fair Englishwoman who has been&mdash;well, kind to him."</p>
+
+<p>"He is interesting. Was there any special kindness in letting him know
+that I had the perspicacity to see it?" And they went downstairs
+together to receive him.</p>
+
+<p>William van Hert was at that time one of the most disliked, one of the
+most attractive, and one of the most disturbing men in South Africa.
+Gifted with brains and polish, he was yet, at present, marred by
+bigotry, narrowness of vision, and an unreasonable antipathy to the
+advance of English ways and customs. Furthermore, having obtained for
+himself a considerable following, he was, unfortunately, powerful.
+When genuine efforts were being made to bury the hatchet over the
+racial question, this man had more than once dug it up again; but it
+was not entirely clear at present whether he was actuated by motives
+of misguided patriotism, or whether, like far greater men, he only
+wanted to make himself thoroughly heard in the world first, and when
+that object was satisfactorily attained, he would modify his tendency
+to rabid policies and prove himself a reliable statesman. In the
+meantime he was dangerous.</p>
+
+<p>In England there were many who quite seriously believed the racial
+feud was over. There were others who knew that it was still
+exceedingly bitter. There were others again who said very little, and
+perhaps professed to know very little, but in the quietness of their
+own thoughts pondered deeply and patriotically how a real and sincere
+union, and not a merely public newspaper one, was to be wrought
+between two fine races, so that in true harmony they might bring a
+country of great promise to its day of fulfilment. The men who saw any
+solution in making both languages compulsory were not men of true
+insight; neither were those who retrenched Englishmen in one
+direction, and created new posts for Dutchmen in others. One could but
+suppose these men were content to be patriots, not in a big sense to
+the whole country, but in a limited one to their own countrymen. To be
+patriots of South Africa herself, in her widest sense, seemed too much
+to ask of them. Yet, because of the fine qualities many of these men
+possessed, one could but hope that ere long what was good for South
+Africa would be good for each individual, whether in private life he
+called himself English or Dutch.</p>
+
+<p>That William van Hert was ever a welcome guest in the Pyms' household
+showed that he had many excellent qualities besides his undisputed
+personal attractiveness to counterbalance his obstinate bigotry.
+Otherwise Mr. Pym would not have shown him the friendliness he did;
+for in his quiet way Henry Pym possessed greatness, and everyone
+throughout the land knew that he was of those resolute, reliable few
+who would let all their wealth go before they would pander to any
+government or any party to save it. Meryl talked to him because she
+perceived there was a rough sincerity in the man underneath his
+bigotry, and hoped because he was powerful he would presently expand.</p>
+
+<p>Diana alone crossed swords with him, and though perhaps he did not
+know it, it was no small thing that she thought it worth while.</p>
+
+<p>He stayed to dine with them in a simple, homely manner, and his
+conversation at the table was sparkling and vivacious. He told them
+some excellent stories, concluding with one in very broad Dutch that
+they had great difficulty in following. And then Diana opened fire.</p>
+
+<p>"Such a monstrous, face-distorting language," she remarked coolly. "I
+wonder you don't forbid its use instead of urging it."</p>
+
+<p>The gleam came quickly to her uncle's eye, though he appeared to take
+no heed. It was left to Meryl to frown cautiously, and shake a wise
+head.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't frown at me, Meryl," said the incorrigible. "It's a hideous
+tongue, and he knows it, and what's the good of pretending anything
+else? I don't hold with pretence in anything."</p>
+
+<p>"It is the tongue of my country," van Hert told her, more amused than
+annoyed. "Every true patriot loves his mother tongue."</p>
+
+<p>"O, nonsense!" with a charming insolence. "Meryl and I both have Norse
+blood in us. If you go far enough back we probably are Norse. But
+where would be the sense in our professing to love our country by
+talking her tongue, when it served every reasonable purpose in the
+world better to talk English? You're so one idea'd, you Dutch folk, at
+least some of you," pointedly. "The language and the Bible and your
+early-morning coffee!"</p>
+
+<p>They could not help laughing at her, but van Hert indignantly
+repudiated her charge.</p>
+
+<p>"O well!..." she continued, airily. "You know perfectly well you do
+make a fetish of the Language Question; and that your back-veldt
+followers believe the Bible was written in Dutch for the Dutch race
+alone; and that you start having coffee at daybreak, with relays up to
+breakfast-time. And you don't expect your natives or your women to
+possess such a thing as an individual will. That is a luxury for the
+strong sex only!... It all means just one thing. Out in the back veldt
+you are years and years and years, positive, &aelig;ons, behind the times;
+and you'd sooner represent a big dam to the progress of the world than
+yield one little silly, rotten cotton prejudice to help it forward. So
+there!..." And having delivered herself of this piece of oration Diana
+got up, pushed her chair back with a jerk, and finished, "I'm going
+out on the terrace. When I think of your back-veldters, and your
+back-veldt policy of suppressing all individualism and all advance, I
+need the company of a few worlds and solar systems to regain my
+equilibrium. No, don't expostulate," as he rose in his eagerness to
+confront her. "I seldom argue. It is not worth while. I merely
+'express an opinion,' having the good fortune to belong to a race in
+which women are permitted such an indulgence," and she threw a
+laughing glance back at him from the window before she stepped out.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl watched her with a swift look of deep affection in her eyes, and
+then glanced at her father. Henry Pym's face was expressionless, but
+his eyes seemed to reply to her unspoken question, and tell her that
+he, too, recognised a little more thoroughly that under the surface
+flippancy and light raillery there was depth. In the meantime, feeling
+she had not been quite fair to her opponent, to go off without
+allowing him to defend himself, he purposely discussed the language
+question a little more openly than was at all his wont with such
+prickly subjects, speaking a few quiet truths in a way that even a
+firebrand like van Hert could not possibly resent. When they joined
+Diana she was sitting on a table, swinging her feet, and singing a new
+music-hall ditty.</p>
+
+<p>"Touching that slander of yours," van Hert began, good-humouredly,
+for few could ever be seriously annoyed with Diana, "I should like to
+say ..."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I forbid it," she interrupted. "Arguments bore me. Have you heard
+that little song before that I was singing? It's a ripping little
+ditty. Chain Aunt Emily to the drawing-room sofa and I'll sing it all
+through to you; but if she were to hear it she might faint, and that
+is so tiresome."</p>
+
+<p>He laughed, and sat on the table beside her, and the rabid sectarian
+politician, so given to raising storms and creating scenes in that
+most remarkable of parliaments, the South African Union Assembly,
+forgot his pet injustices and prejudices, and was quickly the
+versatile, virile, engaging social man. Meryl sat a little apart, with
+some dainty crochet-work in her delicate fingers, and though the
+visitor chatted with Diana, his eyes were almost always upon her.</p>
+
+<p>They had purposely put out the electric light after their coffee was
+served, preferring only the lights in the rooms behind them and the
+splendour of the night before. And in the dimness Meryl's fair skin
+gleamed unusually white beside her dusky hair, and the velvety,
+blue-grey eyes, when she looked up, had caught the dreaming darkness
+of the heavens. Only now and then she glanced round. Mostly she sat
+with her eyes on the shadowy darkness and her work in her lap. And the
+Dutchman, gazing, felt with a sort of fierce reluctance that there
+were no women in the world for calmness and strength quite like the
+Englishwomen, nor more delicately, entrancingly fair.</p>
+
+<p>Then, suddenly, Meryl heard her name and looked up.</p>
+
+<p>"Why in the world do you want to go to Rhodesia?" he had said; and
+Diana answered, "I don't know that we do want to go; but Meryl has
+suddenly developed into a violent Imperialist, and we go at her
+desire."</p>
+
+<p>"What to do?" and he asked the question a little sharply of the dark
+eyes now turned to theirs. Quite suddenly and unaccountably he
+resented their going; resented, at any rate, that she, Meryl, should
+go. There had been so much "Rhodesia" of late. Everyone seemed bitten
+with a kind of silly craze for the place. Now it was gold; now it was
+land; now it was union or no union; now it was annexation and "twenty
+pieces of silver"; such a lot of fuss about some square miles of
+wilderness, containing odd outcrops of gold-bearing reef.</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing worth seeing in Rhodesia, except the Victoria
+Falls," he asserted; "and you can run up there and see all you want to
+and get back in a week!" And still he looked enquiringly at Meryl.</p>
+
+<p>"We want to see the people," she said, half turning. "The pioneers,
+who went first to investigate, the settlers who followed, the women
+who went forward with their husbands into the wilderness."</p>
+
+<p>He got off the table and came and leaned against a verandah-post
+beside her with folded arms, looking down. "But that is what you won't
+see; how should you? You will only see dusty, upstart towns, with
+horrible corrugated-iron hotels, where you will swelter in heat and
+flies and eat abominable tinned stuffs. It is a barren, comfortless
+land at present, with a possibility of being useful some day. They
+want money, energy, brains to develop it thoroughly; and they won't
+accept them when they are offered, because a few stiff-necked
+Englishmen happen to be in power. It is absurd to go there at present.
+You will only get typhoid and malaria, and be excruciatingly
+uncomfortable."</p>
+
+<p>"It sounds a pretty rotten sort of place! What do you and your
+colleagues want it for so badly, anyway?..." asked Diana, throwing her
+head back and narrowing her eyes as she looked at him with a shrewd
+questioning air.</p>
+
+<p>He coloured slightly under the sunburn on his cheeks. "We want a
+United South Africa. Why should one country stand aloof!"</p>
+
+<p>"Meinheer van Hert," said she, coming down from her table and taking a
+step forward to confront him, "for any man with your political views
+to talk about including Rhodesia in the Union solely for the sake of a
+United South Africa and for her own good, is the veriest cant. There's
+gold up there, and perhaps tin; and there's land for farming, and land
+for ranching, and hunting grounds, and a big river. In your United
+South Africa you want your people to be 'top dog' always, and as long
+as Rhodesia stands out there's a menace in the north. That's one
+reason why you want her! Rumour tells us there's a fine race of men up
+there, who don't mean to have any tongue but Cecil Rhodes's tongue
+taught in Cecil Rhodes's country, so it certainly is no place for you!
+You've got to learn more thoroughly what an Englishman means by
+'cricket' before your overtures will be considered; and we're all
+hoping you'll learn it quickly, because we want to be friends, good
+friends, just as soon as ever we can."</p>
+
+<p>He bit his lip and looked angry, but she was already laughing the
+moment's tension aside. "You didn't know I was a politician, did
+you?... As a matter of fact, I'm not!... I'm sick of the whole bag of
+tricks, and the Empire that fills Meryl with heaves and swells isn't
+half so much to me as winning a tennis tournament or a golf
+championship. But when you Hollanders are bursting with pride of place
+and achievement, and offering energy and brains to help Britishers
+along, I just feel as if you'd got to be told a few home-truths for
+your good. Now I'm going to liven the meeting with a little operatic
+music," and she tripped indoors to the piano. Van Hert shrugged his
+shoulders expressively, and then stood silently beside Meryl for some
+moments looking into the night. And as he stood he became conscious of
+a vague sort of dissatisfaction with himself. It was a sensation he
+knew only at rare moments, and those moments were chiefly at the Pyms'
+house. He admired the two cousins more than any women he knew; he
+admired Henry Pym; he loved the homyness of their household; and he
+had to remember that they were English. There must, of course, be many
+others like them. Were there many like them among his own countrymen?
+When Diana told him his people had yet to learn more thoroughly what
+was meant by "cricket" she had hit him hard. He would never have
+admitted it for one moment, but, nevertheless, when he was at the
+Pyms' house he <i>wondered</i>.... Densely, stubbornly patriotic to his own
+people and his own tongue he might be, but he had travelled enough to
+recognise certain traits in the English "old public-school boy" which
+it was good for a country there should be in her young men, and which
+were not noticeably present in his countrymen of the back veldt.</p>
+
+<p>Then his eyes rested on Meryl, and all his pulses throbbed with her
+nearness. He had known for many months now that he loved her, yet he
+had never actually told his love. At first there had been a
+disinclination to marry an Englishwoman because of the unbending,
+resolute policy he had identified himself with in the Union
+Parliament. No one spoke of anti-British and anti-Dutch nowadays. It
+was impolitic. But whereas certain men genuinely tried to ease the
+forced situation and meet with fairness and justice upon common
+ground, others still kept the flag of discord in their hands, though
+they hid it under the table, so to speak, and only produced it when,
+as they chose to assert, some pet foible of their countrymen was
+overruled or some indignity threatened.</p>
+
+<p>And of this section in Parliament van Hert was the leader. If he then
+married an Englishwoman, not even South African born, would he not be
+held up to ridicule by his colleagues? And then he would see Meryl
+again, and all his feelings would merge into one great longing for
+her; not for her money&mdash;she had been right when she said such a charge
+was unjust, indeed, he almost wished she had been poor&mdash;but her quiet
+dignity and calm strength and the exquisite fairness that held all his
+senses.</p>
+
+<p>And as he stood beside her now he hated more and more, without knowing
+why, that she should go to Rhodesia. Whatever he had said to the
+contrary, he knew that there was a romance about that far land that
+might fascinate her. He knew that up there there were some of the
+cream of England's men. "The second son's country," he had heard it
+called, and that meant very often the well-born, high-bred gentleman
+who was not afraid to work, who had never been pampered, and was full
+of the best sportsman's spirit. The man of all others to attract such
+a woman as Meryl Pym. The mere thought of it seemed to fill him with a
+growing alarm, and presently, almost before he knew it, he found
+himself pouring into her ears the story of his love.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl was startled and taken aback. She had known perhaps that he had
+a special liking for her; seen it often in his eyes when he gazed at
+her. But that he should speak now was a little sudden, and she wished
+Diana had not left them alone. She tried to meet his eyes, but
+something a little too ardent in them abashed her, and she looked out
+into the darkness, nervously twisting and untwisting the thread of her
+work.</p>
+
+<p>He saw that she was taken aback, and tried somewhat to curb the eager
+intensity that he felt was unnerving her.</p>
+
+<p>"You are going away up there, and I shall be very anxious about you,"
+he pleaded. "If you would only give me your promise before you go, and
+let me have the right to follow at once if you are ill or anything, it
+would make it so much easier."</p>
+
+<p>She stood up, agitated, still gazing wistfully into the night.</p>
+
+<p>"It is very sudden.... I did not know.... I hardly thought.... Have
+you ... have you ... remembered everything?..."</p>
+
+<p>"That you are English and I am Dutch?... What of it, Meryl?... I may
+call you Meryl, mayn't I?... Are we not both South Africans?..."</p>
+
+<p>He tried to take her hand and draw her to him, but she shrank away and
+he did not urge it.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you remembered it long enough?... Thought it out thoroughly?...
+It all seems somehow so sudden."</p>
+
+<p>"I have known long that I loved you. Does anything else really matter
+if you can love me in return?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!..." she breathed and stopped short.</p>
+
+<p>She had liked him long. She had always liked him. Away from his
+politics he was liked by most people. Huguenot blood was in his veins,
+and it showed itself in a French charm of manner that came to him
+naturally when he could get away from that bigoted, narrow obstinacy
+that marred him. She felt he was a man who might be led to many
+things, though driven to none. Because he attracted her she felt she
+half loved the Huguenot side of him already. If only the other side
+did not so insistently repel! Could it perhaps be overruled? Could she
+love him truly enough to hold his love for ever, and through it lead
+him to heights he might never even sight without her? Yet her eyes
+were wistful, gazing out there at the dreaming stars, and her face
+gleamed whiter and whiter.</p>
+
+<p>This was not the love that whispered to her when she looked to the far
+blue hills. This was not the consummation the high stars in far
+infinities told her vaguely might some day bless her life.</p>
+
+<p>And then he pleaded again in low-voiced eagerness, and in distress she
+turned to him. "I'm so sorry. I can't bear to think of perhaps making
+you unhappy. But ... but ... I'm afraid I don't love you in the way
+you want. I hadn't thought about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I have been too sudden." He drew himself up, and his eyes followed
+hers out to the darkness. And a touch of latent nobility seemed to
+come out in him; a quiet dignity like her own that appealed to her
+strongly. "I won't take your answer to-night. I shall come to you
+again when you come back. Perhaps then ... when you have thought
+about it ..." He broke off abruptly. "May I write to you?... Will you
+sometimes write to me?... Perhaps I could follow ..."</p>
+
+<p>They heard steps and voices coming towards them from the drawing-room
+where Diana had wearied of her operas, and in sudden haste he caught
+her hand and raised it to his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I have to thank you for a good deal," he told her a trifle
+huskily. "Men of all nations are better for being admitted to the
+friendship of women like you. If there were anything I could do to
+serve you?..." and he waited for her to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Serve South Africa," she breathed tensely. "I could ask no more of
+any man."</p>
+
+<p>His hand tightened upon hers.</p>
+
+<p>"Serve her with me. Together we could do so much."</p>
+
+<p>He saw her waver.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me tell you when I come back. Yes ... together we might do so
+much...."</p>
+
+<p>"When you come back ..." he said, and pressed her hand in
+understanding.</p>
+
+<p>Then Diana stepped out of the brightness of the drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>"How can you two stay sleepily there, looking at the stars like two
+cats, when I am trying to lure you indoors with the latest comic-opera
+music! Meinheer van Hert, Mister Pym says, will you drink with
+him?..."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2>
+
+<h2>THE JOURNEY</h2>
+
+<p>As he had three ladies with him Mr. Pym decided to take a private
+saloon-car, but no saloon in the world could prevent them being nearly
+smothered with the dust through Bechuanaland and Matabeleland in
+August, and while Aunt Emily rent the air with her complainings and
+sufferings, Diana chose to pass disparaging remarks upon the
+long-suffering British Empire, which she considered responsible for
+her journey north. Meryl said nothing, but there was often a wistful
+expression in her eyes as they sighted a lonely farmstead, or stood in
+a little wayside station with perhaps one corrugated-iron building,
+where some white-faced woman looked listlessly at the train. When she
+tried to voice her sympathy with their loneliness, however, Diana
+snapped her up a little impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Meryl, you will look at things always in the sentimental
+light. A woman with a husband and child in this freshness and sunshine
+is at least better off than if she were in a city slum, and her man
+probably out of work, and her child dying for want of fresh air."</p>
+
+<p>"But that is not the only alternative!... And in any case to suffer in
+company is almost always easier than to suffer alone."</p>
+
+<p>"But they don't suffer, or, at any rate, they needn't necessarily.
+That is where you are so short-sighted. The average woman wants a
+husband and a child, and I don't see that it matters much whether she
+has them in the wilderness or in a city; the main thing is to have
+them."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, for my part," put in Aunt Emily in an aggrieved voice, "if I
+could only have a man in a cloud of dust I'd sooner never see the
+species again," which tickled Diana hugely and caused her to horrify
+her aunt by adding, "But what an advantage for him never to be able to
+see what you were doing! One could have such high jinks!..." Then,
+changing her voice subtly, she enquired, "Is it too much for you,
+aunty?... I mean the dust and the journey? because there must be such
+very much worse things ahead, and ..."</p>
+
+<p>"That will do, my dear. I can bear it," and her expression of mournful
+resignation tickled Diana more than ever. On the day before they
+reached Bulawayo, however, when hour after hour brought very little
+but scrub and sand, she and her aunt were very nervy and irritable,
+and only Meryl, with her dreams and ideals, continued quietly
+interested. When they reached Bulawayo matters did not improve much,
+because a sand-storm was blowing and it was almost impossible to go
+out. Mr. Pym packed them off to the Victoria Falls as soon as
+possible, and remained behind himself to complete the arrangements for
+his trip. On the further railway journey the dust was worse than ever,
+and utterly out of heart with everything Rhodesian, Aunt Emily retired
+to a suite of rooms at the hotel on their arrival and said she should
+stay there until the cool of the evening.</p>
+
+<p>So Diana and Meryl stood on Danger Point alone, when they took their
+first long look at the amazing cataract of waters. Neither spoke for
+many seconds, and then Diana breathed, "I'm glad Aunt Emily didn't
+come. She would have called it 'lovely' or 'sweet.'"</p>
+
+<p>Meryl laid a sympathetic hand on her arm and murmured, "And you?..."</p>
+
+<p>"One couldn't call it anything. It just <i>is</i>." And Meryl with her
+understanding heart pressed her arm in silence.</p>
+
+<p>They walked together through the rain forest, getting drenched with
+spray and hardly noticing it, until they came to the opening near the
+Devil's Cataract at the south end, and sat down to gaze at the
+splendour and wonder outspread.</p>
+
+<p>Then Diana spoke a little in something of an undertone, half to Meryl,
+half to the air:</p>
+
+<p>"A god did it. I don't know which&mdash;Jupiter or Pan, or Apollo or
+Hercules&mdash;and when they grew tired of the earth and went off to other
+planets, they just left it behind as a child might a castle he has
+built in the sand; and by and by some crabs crawled along and found
+the castle, and sat down and looked at it because it seemed to them
+so wonderful; and by and by some humans found the gods' waterfall,
+crawled up to it, and sat down and wondered. That's all there is to
+do. O, Meryl, I wish I were a goddess and not a worm. The waters are
+mocking us. Don't you hear them?... I just feel as if there were
+something about it all I can't bear."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl smiled a little tender smile. To her Diana in all her moods was
+adorable. In her shy, fierce, tense ones, as now, she was best of all.</p>
+
+<p>"What does it say to you, Meryl?..." the girl went on. "Do you feel as
+if you hated it and worshipped it both together? Hated its remote
+magnificence and devilish cruelty, and worshipped it because you
+couldn't help yourself, either from fear or wonder? I don't know
+which, only I feel ... I feel ... as if I ought to throw over
+something I loved as a sacrifice of propitiation. And it goes on just
+the same&mdash;think of it&mdash;year after year, century after century, just
+calmly spilling magnificence on the desert air! I believe I'm
+frightened, Meryl. Tell me what it all says to you."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl looked dreamily along the glistening mighty cascades, and then
+spoke softly:</p>
+
+<p>"I feel I'm in the presence of one of the world's biggest things, and
+it is inspiring. You know that sentence of James Lane Allen's, 'When
+one has heard the big things calling, how they call and call, day and
+night, day and night!...' Here they call louder, that is my chief
+feeling. I look at this great natural wonder, and whatever there is in
+me most akin to it swells upward. I feel I must do great things or
+die ... be great or not at all. And while I feel like this there is a
+sense of kinship, as if some spirit of the waters understands."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps that is why I am afraid," breathed Diana. "I don't care about
+greatness. I don't want to be great. It all seems so unreal. I like
+the sunshine, and flowers, and trees, and birds, and four-footed
+things. I don't want to be bothered with my fellow-creatures; they are
+a nuisance. If they are in difficulties, and can't find a way out for
+themselves, they might just as well go under."</p>
+
+<p>"You heartless little heathen!" affectionately.</p>
+
+<p>The girl brightened suddenly. "Why! it understands, Meryl!... The
+Spirit of the Waters heard me, and now it is laughing. It is great
+enough to understand and appreciate the feelings of both of us. Don't
+you hear the note of revelling now?... Why!... it's all revelling. The
+waters are shrieking with joy. They've come tearing down the Zambesi
+valley for the rapture of plunging over the precipice, and now they
+are just beside themselves with the excitement and delight of it.
+O!... they heard me say I don't care about my fellow-creatures, that
+they are just a nuisance, and they're shouting to me, 'Neither do
+we ... neither do we!... Silly, wide-eyed, open-mouthed humans come
+and stare at us, and try to describe us, saying we are lovely and
+wonderful and pretty and such-like, and we just roar at them and their
+puniness and take our glorious plunge.' That is what the waters are
+saying to me now, Meryl. I feel as if I simply must plunge with them.
+Take me away. I can't bear any more to-day." And they went silently
+back through the lovely plantations to the hotel.</p>
+
+<p>But in the evening, in the moonlight, her mood changed again.</p>
+
+<p>"I feel a little like you to-night, Meryl. The big things do matter,
+of course. If I'm such a silly little goat I can't do anything big
+myself, I guess I'll help you whenever it's possible. And, of course,
+even humans matter a little, though I do like dogs and horses so much
+better; but there's something so calm and big and strong about the
+waters to-night, they are telling me all the time that the big things
+matter. O, Meryl, it's so lovely&mdash;so lovely&mdash;it hurts dreadfully...."</p>
+
+<p>And after a pause: "If it hadn't been for you I should never have
+taken the trouble to come and see it. I won't grouse at the dust any
+more."</p>
+
+<p>And later: "I'm glad there's no sign of a human habitation at hand,
+and that the wilderness is all round. They had to be splendidly
+isolated&mdash;magnificently alone&mdash;the god who did it understood that. One
+can think of the wide reaches of Africa afterwards, and the gem, like
+a priceless jewel, set in them. Deep silence, wide horizons, untrodden
+country on every hand, and this in the midst like a treasure tenderly
+enfolded."</p>
+
+<p>After three days they returned to Bulawayo, and found their pilot
+impatient to be off. He unfolded his plans, and the two girls listened
+eagerly when he said:</p>
+
+<p>"I am told there is every indication of gold in the Victoria district,
+and my engineer is anxious I should journey down there and see one or
+two properties. The railway does not extend beyond Selukwe, so if we
+go we must take a travelling ambulance and tents and sleep out in them
+for three or four weeks. I think there is a pretty good hotel in
+Edwardstown, where you could remain if you like while I travel round,
+and then we might all journey to Salisbury up the old pioneer route."</p>
+
+<p>The girls were delighted, but Aunt Emily's mournful resignation had
+reached its limit. She informed them, in a voice which implied, no
+matter how they pleaded with her, she should remain firm, that nothing
+would induce her to accompany them upon such a journey.</p>
+
+<p>Her brother said quietly, "Just as you like, Emily. I think I can take
+care of the girls. Will you stay in Bulawayo, or go back to
+Johannesburg?"</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Emily's face wore rather a reproachful expression as she replied,
+"I suppose I had better return to Johannesburg, and then if any of you
+get ill with malaria or typhoid, you must wire for me and I will come
+back."</p>
+
+<p>"You were very good to come so far," said Meryl gently, seeing the
+veiled disappointment that they could dispense with her so easily.</p>
+
+<p>"If it is any consolation," volunteered Diana, "you may be quite sure
+we are all going to be most horribly uncomfortable for the next month
+or two. The only illness I anticipate is an utter and complete
+weariness of life. I don't know which sounds the most dreadful: being
+bumped along dusty roads in an ambulance, and sleeping with snakes and
+toads under a tent; or being stifled in an odious little
+corrugated-iron hotel, living on poisonous tinned stuffs in a
+perpetual odour of stale roast nigger. If I am going to endure it for
+my country, I hope my country will give me the only fitting
+reward&mdash;the Victoria Cross."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps we needn't stay in the hotel," said Meryl hopefully. "We can
+probably camp out. Surely the wonderful old ruins are somewhere near
+Edwardstown, father? How splendid if we could camp beside them!..."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite near. We will certainly go and see them. They tell me there is
+a police camp there, and at this time of the year it is quite
+healthy."</p>
+
+<p>"But how glorious!..." cried Meryl. "I had no idea you were going in
+their direction."</p>
+
+<p>"I meant to if possible," her father said; and so the trip was decided
+upon.</p>
+
+<p>Three days later the cavalcade started off from Gwelo with great
+<i>&eacute;clat</i>. Two ambulances: one containing the two girls, a driver, a
+fore-looper, and a small black boy named Gelungwa, who was everything
+from ladies' maid to general adviser; and the other containing Mr.
+Pym, his engineer, driver, fore-looper, and the engineer's black
+cook-boy, who proved himself an invaluable asset.</p>
+
+<p>Each ambulance was drawn by eight mules, and carried its share of the
+paraphernalia necessary to a long sojourn in the wilderness, and being
+thoroughly well equipped, they had decided to dispense with any
+further railway service until they reached Salisbury.</p>
+
+<p>They started from Gwelo, with its wide, tree-lined roads, in the
+freshness of the morning, and leaving the surrounding bare,
+uninteresting common quickly behind, dived straightway into a track of
+Rhodesia that is like a vast, undulating park. The red road wound
+across a wide, breezy stretch of veldt to wooded hills and valleys,
+and beyond this was an enchanting vista of dreaming blue kopjes on a
+far horizon. Even Diana found nothing to grumble at. Like Meryl, her
+eyes rested often on that dreaming distance, and the unique charm of a
+journey into the unknown, independent of railways and hotels, held her
+senses. When two graceful buck sprang up in the grass near them, stood
+a moment to investigate, and then fled away, leaping and bounding to
+safety, she drew a deep breath of delight.</p>
+
+<p>"Di, it's going to be a glorious trip!" Meryl exclaimed in low-voiced
+ecstasy.</p>
+
+<p>Diana paused before she remarked in answer:</p>
+
+<p>"It seems so natural somehow, to be journeying out to an unknown
+bourne in this primitive fashion. I wonder if, in another existence, I
+was one of the wives or handmaidens in Abraham's caravanserai? Perhaps
+I was his favourite concubine!... How interesting!... I'm sure I've
+journeyed like this into a far land before."</p>
+
+<p>And again:</p>
+
+<p>"How jolly to have two drivers who don't understand a word we say,
+instead of a chauffeur who is all ears and an Aunt Emily who is all
+prejudices!"</p>
+
+<p>"Still," said Meryl, "you couldn't very well have a coachman in
+England wearing a sky-blue felt hat that was obviously meant for a
+lady, and with a large blue patch upon brown trousers."</p>
+
+<p>"He's just a dear," was Diana's laughing comment. "I love his awful
+solemnity. He's like a Hindoo idol. And what luck to have a side wind
+instead of a forward one!"</p>
+
+<p>At twelve they stayed in a welcome piece of shade for their first
+veldt meal. Lounge-chairs were untied for them to rest in, and an
+excellent little repast prepared by the cook-boy, while the small
+black imp waited upon them like a trained butler. Then they dozed
+through the hot midday hours, continuing their journey to those
+alluring blue distances after all were rested, until they reached the
+first night's camping place and pitched their tents near a rippling
+river&mdash;as Diana described it, "all mixed up with stars, and dreams,
+and niggers, and kopjes, and mules."</p>
+
+<p>For a week they journeyed on, each day seeming lovelier than the last,
+and the dreaming repose of a great content hovered over all of them.
+There was no need for haste and none was made. There was no pitiless
+urging of tired mules as in the post-cart; no shouting natives, no
+hurried pauses for a snatched rest. The mules jogged contentedly
+along, realising they were in good hands, and always through the
+midday hours everyone lazed. An early spring had brought many young
+leaves out, although it was still August, and these were often
+beautiful shades of red, bronze, orange, scarlet, gold, and
+emerald-green, beyond or through which blue kopjes took on a yet more
+dream-like, ethereal air. Sometimes the red road wound along through
+woods of loveliest colouring, carpeted already with spring flowers.
+Sometimes it ran out into open spaces where the trees stood back in
+line, revealing wonderful glimpses of the fascinating land to their
+eager gaze.</p>
+
+<p>Strange, fantastical, granite kopjes like mighty mausoleums adorned
+with ilex trees barred their path, and Diana was convinced some of
+the bones of her ancestors lay buried there, because she felt so
+weirdly at home with them.</p>
+
+<p>"This is my natural environment," she informed her uncle and the
+engineer. "I ought to be dwelling here in state, as the favourite wife
+of the greatest chief in the land."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl grew dreamier with every day, though sometimes her eyes were sad
+as she looked out over the country, as if she already loved it with a
+love that was akin to pain.</p>
+
+<p>Had he, that great Imperialist, looked at it with those calm eyes of
+his, and known just that sense of aching love?... When he journeyed
+out into its enchanting untrodden spaces, accompanied only by some
+kindred spirit, had the land risen up and enslaved and enfolded him,
+like some enchantress who bound men's souls for ever?... Had Rhodesia,
+in her sunny loveliness, been wife and child to the great man who went
+lonely to his grave?...</p>
+
+<p>As they drove along and the fascination increased, far outweighing any
+discomfort of glare and dust and jolting roads, Meryl felt herself
+engraving the sight and the sound and the freshness of it upon her
+soul, that she might have hidden pictures to gaze upon with closed
+eyes when the exigencies of life called her back into the throng.</p>
+
+<p>Her father was mostly silent as was his wont, planning and scheming
+with a brain that knew little other rest than following its natural
+bent, yet with that in his silence, and in his watchful eyes that made
+one feel he too loved the land for itself, as well as for what he
+could get out of it; and that when occasion came, like Alfred Beit and
+Cecil Rhodes, he would pay his debt a hundredfold.</p>
+
+<p>So they came at last to the wide, open veldt where Edwardstown was
+situated, and knew themselves in the district teeming with pioneer
+memories.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl and Diana descended reluctantly at the hotel, and looked round
+disparagingly at their little hot bedroom, thinking regretfully of
+their tent in the wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>"How awful," said Diana, "if we find ourselves never able to exist in
+an ordinary house again! We shall have to pitch two tents in Hyde
+Park. Ugh!... it positively smells of walls and doors and windows;
+how I hate them!"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll go on to Zimbabwe to-morrow and camp beside the ruins,"
+answered Meryl. "How splendid to be going there so soon!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ruins are not much in my line," quoth the outspoken. "Let's hope
+there'll be a man there as well."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2>
+
+<h2>CAREW IS DISTURBED</h2>
+
+<p>The news that the millionaire Henry Pym with his daughter and a niece
+were journeying to Great Zimbabwe reached the police camp first
+through a letter from the Administration to Major Carew, requesting
+him to have the long, disfiguring dry grass burnt, and the
+surroundings of the temple tidied up a little, and to show every
+attention to the travellers. When he received the letter it was
+obvious at once that the information did not give him any pleasure. On
+the contrary, his expression as nearly approached a frown as he was
+likely to permit it on receiving orders from headquarters. He had
+opened the letter standing outside his hut, where it had been handed
+to him by the native runner, and Stanley was reading a newspaper near,
+while Moore affectionately handled an antediluvian gun he was thinking
+of buying from a prospector.</p>
+
+<p>Stanley glanced up, wondering what letters had come, and saw the
+hovering frown.</p>
+
+<p>"Any news, sir?" he asked frankly, for he was no longer in awe of his
+silent chief. As a matter of fact, he never had been to any degree.
+The Kid would have found it difficult to be in awe of anyone, but for
+a few days Carew had baffled him.</p>
+
+<p>"Henry Pym, you've probably heard of him, is likely to arrive here in
+a few days."</p>
+
+<p>Stanley opened his eyes a little. "What! the millionaire?... Good biz!
+We'll rook him at poker and bridge and shooting, and a few other
+things. It isn't right for him to have all that money. It would even
+things up a little if we could transfer some of it to poor, penniless
+policemen."</p>
+
+<p>"He is accompanied by his daughter and a niece," said Carew in even
+tones.</p>
+
+<p>"Lord love a holy duck!..." exclaimed the young policeman, and was
+fairly astonished on to his feet. "Coming here, sir?... Coming here to
+Zimbabwe?"</p>
+
+<p>"So the letter says. It also adds that they may wish to camp near, and
+they are to be shown every attention."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>They shall be</i> ..." quoth The Kid, so comically that even Carew's
+lips relaxed. "I suppose the letter doesn't specify the attention?...
+Christopher Columbus!... Great Scott!... Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!...
+To think of two millionaires' daughters all at once in this benighted,
+thirsty land!... It fairly catches me in the breath," and he sat down
+again suddenly as if the news was too much for him.</p>
+
+<p>"By gad, Moore!... do you hear that?... a bloated millionaire and two
+millionairesses are about to descend upon us from the skies. Talk of
+manna and blessings coming down from heaven!... Give me
+millionairesses!..."</p>
+
+<p>The Irishman looked up with a knowing smile. "Shure!" said he, "give
+me whisky...."</p>
+
+<p>"Begorra, Pat!" laughed The Kid. "If you got the heiress you could
+swim in whisky." Then he looked again at Major Carew and observed the
+suggestion of a frown still on his face while he stood with the letter
+in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Heiresses are seemingly not much in your line, sir?" he suggested
+humorously. "You ... well, you don't quite look overjoyed!..."</p>
+
+<p>Carew in his quiet way had grown fond of the gay young trooper, and he
+showed no offence at the attitude of familiarity.</p>
+
+<p>"We shall have to consider a good camping-place for them, and probably
+give up two huts to the ladies. I gather they may be here in two or
+three days. Is the grass dry enough to burn to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>The Kid glanced round doubtfully. "Hardly; and the place won't look
+well all black."</p>
+
+<p>"That's why I thought we had better begin at once. If they are some
+days the ash will have had time to blow away. Arrange for a gang of
+boys to be ready at six o'clock, and we will light up and see what we
+can do."</p>
+
+<p>In the hut he tossed the letter down on to his table. "Confound
+it!..." he said under his breath. "Fancy women down here, staring and
+chattering, and prying! I suppose they will expect the entire police
+force in the neighbourhood to be at their disposal, and nothing else
+will matter at all." His face grew more and more gloomy. "If I had
+only started to M'rekwas yesterday, I could have been absent a
+fortnight, and by then they would have departed again." He stood a
+moment considering if he could start at once, and decided, as the
+letter was sent specially to him, he could hardly leave before
+carrying out his instructions.</p>
+
+<p>Stanley and the other trooper meanwhile made hurried preparations for
+a great fire. They lit up in the evening, having stationed boys at
+intervals to keep the flames within bounds, and themselves stood
+posted with their guns, hoping for a shot at wild pig or cheetah, or
+possibly a lion or leopard. Carew kept guard at the huts, with a few
+boys to beat off the flames that encroached to any danger points and
+watch for flying sparks that might ignite the thatch. It was a
+wonderful sight, and his eyes were full of appreciation as he watched
+it. The gathering darkness, the lurid flames lighting up with swift
+brightness the ancient ruins; the high Acropolis Hill on one side, the
+low granite-strewn kopjes on the other, and running between the Valley
+of Ruins, now a vale of fire.</p>
+
+<p>It crossed his mind that it was almost a pity they had not left the
+burning of the grass until the travellers arrived, that they might see
+the strange, fantastic sight. But he cogitated that the millionaires
+he had known hitherto had little appreciation for much beyond
+money-making, and no doubt they were merely taking a passing glimpse
+at the ruins; the man on some money-making quest, and the girls just
+to be able to say they had seen them. His eyes rested on the temple
+wall, and he felt suddenly absurdly resentful that these rich
+pleasure-seekers should come even there to gape and stare. He had
+grown to love the ruins dearly, until that moment he had scarcely
+known how dearly, and to him it seemed for the moment like showing
+some treasured personal relics to barbarians.</p>
+
+<p>There were so many other things for the pleasure-seekers. Let them go
+to the Falls, and Lake Nyassa, and the Himalayas, and those tourist
+treasures; but why come and chatter inane banalities about his ruins:
+his treasured, mysterious relic of perhaps the oldest civilisation
+the world has known?</p>
+
+<p>Of course, he knew perfectly that much controversy had raged round the
+question, and that one or two learned scientists had definitely stated
+their belief that the ruins were of comparatively recent date, and
+deduced more or less convincing proofs in support of their theory; but
+controversies and carefully worded reports were small things to the
+man who had dwelt beside the mysterious temples and fortifications,
+and learnt to love and treasure them. He had his proofs too and his
+deductions, and such as they were they satisfied him, in the face of
+all opposition, that the curious remains were indeed of great
+antiquity, quite probably the ancient Havilah of the Scriptures. To
+him every nook and every corner had its meaning and its history. In
+the play of his fancy he had seen the white-robed priests and acolytes
+in stately procession, amid the old, old walls; heard strains of
+far-off music when an ancient worship offered its votary of prayer and
+praise to that mysterious deity whom they believed in; heard perhaps a
+single lovely voice, or seen a single lovely convert kneel before the
+Sacred Enclosure. He had seen their strong men and their brave men and
+their great men marshalling a host of women and children and infirm
+citizens safely into the fastnesses of the Acropolis Hill, where, with
+a sufficient supply of food and water, three thousand people might be
+safely shielded for any length of time. He had seen them stand on the
+high battlements, and look out across the plain or into the rock-hewn
+kopjes for the hosts of the enemy. He had seen them, even when
+besieged upon that mighty hill, assembling together to worship in the
+temples they had laboriously raised upon the giant granite ledges.
+Were they fair, those women of that old, old day? Were they brave,
+were they mighty in stature, those men who evolved and achieved those
+wonderful defence works? Did they love the fair land that fed them
+with the love of home and country, or were they but sojourners for a
+while amid unfriendly, cruel tribes, that needed watchful eyes day and
+night? Led perhaps by a spirit of adventure, or by persecution
+elsewhere, or by the lust of gold, yet faithful always to the worship
+of their race, and building at infinite, incomprehensible pains those
+temples in the alien land. How they held him; how they fascinated; how
+they soothed with infinite soothing the bitter sorrow, the gaping,
+stinging wound that had driven him furiously away, all those years
+before, from the flesh-pots of a modern Babylon! Had he cared for it
+all very much then?... He wondered, looking full and deep into his
+hidden memories. Had the lights and the music, the song and dance, the
+laughing women and reckless men, the midnight orgies and morning
+headaches, really given him so much pleasure that he must needs fling
+it all aside with such bitter anger and harsh regret when the
+thunderbolt fell and the searching dart stabbed him awake? Outraged,
+hurt-maddened, he had flung away, as he believed, to outer darkness,
+and to a joyless, purposeless, colourless life. And he had found?...</p>
+
+<p>Ah!... when he looked at the ancient, mysterious ruins he had grown to
+love, and around upon a country that was life-hope and life-interest
+to him, he knew that it was the other life which had been purposeless,
+and all of one colour, and the self-chosen exile that had given him
+the things it is good to live and breathe and die for.</p>
+
+<p>And thinking of it all, with that shy softness which sometimes stole,
+as it were, stealthily into his strong face in moments of dreaming
+thought, he remembered with growing regret the advent of the party for
+which he was bidden to make preparations, and resented it yet more
+forcibly. Why need they come?... these women ... these spoiled,
+flattered, perhaps vulgar, heiresses. What did they want with ancient
+rites and wonderful relics of antiquities? What were they doing in
+Rhodesia at all, flaunting their finery and their possessions before
+the eyes of the hardy settlers and the plucky women who shared their
+difficulties and disappointments? In a young, struggling country what
+place was there for the idly, gracefully rich?</p>
+
+<p>In his goaded fancy he saw their elegant, costly garments, and he
+heard strident voices exclaiming shrilly at his treasure, perhaps
+calling it an interesting heap of stones. Was there still time to get
+away, he wondered? Could a sudden call be arranged?... a sudden need
+for hasty departure?...</p>
+
+<p>Let The Kid laugh the hours away with them, and take his fill of gay
+companionship; and let him return when the siege was over, and the
+soothing and the restfulness and the splendour had come back.</p>
+
+<p>Wondering still, and with the sore regretfulness growing, he looked
+round to make sure all was safe, and that no further danger need be
+feared from blowing sparks or creeping flames; and then went gravely
+into his hut to read.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning he told Stanley that he might be obliged to go east
+the following day on important business, and leave him to receive the
+travellers, and remained imperturbably grave and non-seeing when
+Stanley raised his eyebrows and regarded him with a little amused
+twinkle of understanding.</p>
+
+<p>But in the afternoon the party quite unexpectedly turned up, and
+somewhere away in the blue, dreaming kopjes the voice of a following
+fate laughed softly.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2>
+
+<h2>TWO UNEXPECTED MEETINGS</h2>
+
+<p>Early in the afternoon Carew rode to the mission station to tell Ailsa
+Grenville and her husband of the expected visitors, and of how he was
+likely to depart in the morning for M'rekwas and be away about a
+fortnight.</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa Grenville smiled at him archly when he told her. "Why do you run
+away when, for once in a way, you have the chance of a little
+companionship? It would do you more good to stay."</p>
+
+<p>"I think not; and besides," he added, hastily, "I am going on
+business."</p>
+
+<p>"A convenient sort of business, I fancy. Why not wait and see them
+first?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I could hardly go away immediately after their arrival, when
+Mr. Pym probably knows of the letter despatched to me from
+headquarters. It is far simpler to send a runner back with excuses."</p>
+
+<p>"But why go at all?" in a persuasive voice.</p>
+
+<p>Carew walked to the door and knocked the ashes out of his pipe against
+the heel of his boot; and Ailsa knew by his face that, though he did
+not resent her questioning, he would take no notice of it. And it made
+her a little sad, for of all the men she knew, next to Billy, her
+husband, she admired Carew, and she regretted deeply his insistent
+determination to stand aloof from mankind generally behind the
+barriers he had built up.</p>
+
+<p>Then Billy himself came in: khaki-clad, vigorous, and gay as ever; and
+when he heard the news he was less reticent, and exclaimed outright,
+"But what do you want to go away for? Why, it will be quite a treat
+for you to have ladies there; and who knows, one of the heiresses may
+be very charming&mdash;charming enough even for your fastidious taste!"</p>
+
+<p>"I prefer the company of the veldt," was all he said, without relaxing
+the fixity of his face; "ladies are more in Stanley's line."</p>
+
+<p>"The Kid must be awfully pleased," Ailsa said, smiling. "I'm sure he
+isn't going away."</p>
+
+<p>Carew, lying back in a big chair, was leisurely lighting his pipe, and
+he did not reply. All his attitude showed only cold indifference, and
+it would have been difficult to believe that, even in his heart, he
+had taken the trouble to be resentful. Ailsa, watching, felt a little
+impatient with him. She wanted to break through the shell in which he
+chose to hide that self which her instinct told her was so different
+to his outward seeming. What had become of the gay Londoner, who drove
+the smartest four-in-hand in the park, and rode the fastest horse to
+hounds? She longed to write home and ask her people of his story, but
+bitter things had been said when she elected to go into exile with her
+husband, and there had been almost no correspondence since. And Billy
+had been away in South Africa at the time of the crash and heard
+nothing about it. All he could tell her was that Carew of the Blues
+had been known as one of the gayest of the gay fifteen years or so
+ago, and that suddenly he had seemed to vanish off the face of the
+earth; and that Carew of the B.S.A.P. was the same man, only
+different, and he must be over forty years of age. So she had to
+content herself as well as she could, and be glad that, at any rate,
+while he remained in the Victoria district, they could have his
+companionship, though he chose to keep his own counsel as to why he
+was there.</p>
+
+<p>At first she had been rather afraid of him, and felt shy and awkward
+when he came to see them; but Billy's attitude of jovial good
+fellowship, in no way repulsed by the other's cold reserve, had helped
+to reassure her, and now they both appeared unconscious of any lack of
+warmth in their visitor. If he liked to be silent he could, and if he
+seemed in a taciturn mood they took no notice.</p>
+
+<p>When he called for his horse to return he said good-bye to her before
+mounting, and spoke of not coming again for a fortnight, and she
+watched him ride away regretfully. Evidently he did not mean to be
+sociable, even to the lady travellers, and it was no use hoping
+anything for him.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, the first ambulance, containing Meryl and Diana,
+arrived at the ruins. Mr. Pym was detained in Edwardstown with his
+engineer, and might not join them until the next day, but the girls
+begged him to let them go on, longing to be out in the open again,
+away from hotels and bungalows.</p>
+
+<p>So a police-boy from the town camp was sent on to escort them, and the
+Zimbabwe camp notified by runner of their approach. Stanley opened the
+letter in the absence of his chief, and much to his own delectation,
+was waiting alone to receive them upon the chosen camping-ground on
+their arrival. Diana saw him first, and remarked joyfully that he was
+white.</p>
+
+<p>"Hooroosh!..." said she, "there's a man as well as ruins." And a
+little later, "I'm afraid he's only a boy, but he looks a nice boy,
+and there are occasions when the 'half a loaf' proverb applies to
+'half a man.'"</p>
+
+<p>Then he helped her out of the ambulance after receiving them with a
+grave salute, and regretted that, in the absence of Major Carew, there
+was no one but himself to receive them. He was evidently a trifle shy
+and embarrassed, stammering a little as he offered his services to
+superintend the pitching of their camp, with eyes that would wander
+from the elder cousin to Diana's small, impish, alluring face.</p>
+
+<p>"Have some tea with us first," said she. "We've already acquired a few
+Rhodesian vices, such as an unlimited capacity for tea-drinking, and
+Gelungwa can make quite a decent apology for the beverage which cheers
+but not inebriates."</p>
+
+<p>They sat down, and laughed and chatted together until the kettle
+boiled, and before the tea was finished The Kid had fallen in love
+with both, and was congratulating himself that Carew had taken that
+afternoon ride. Then the girls said they would ramble while their tent
+was pitched, but disagreed as to which direction they would take
+first. Meryl had left her little guide-book with her father, and
+wanted to postpone the temple until she had it. Diana said it was too
+hot to attempt the Acropolis Hill. In the end they separated. Meryl
+strolled towards the Acropolis and Diana sought the cool shadiness of
+the temple.</p>
+
+<p>About the same time Carew started his homeward ride, and when he
+reached the base of the Acropolis Hill he gave his horse to the runner
+who had gone with him to carry some books for Ailsa Grenville, and
+climbed a little way into the hill to remark a point of investigation
+he had been discussing with Grenville; and, quite suddenly, round a
+sharp piece of masonry, he came upon Meryl Pym. She wore a large,
+shady hat, and she was standing quite still, gazing across the
+country. For a moment Carew stood quite still also. It was odd that
+she had not heard his steps upon the rough footpath, but apparently
+she was too absorbed to hear anything at all. He was exceedingly
+relieved and drew aside stealthily, prepared to return quickly the way
+he had come. But before he started he glanced once more, for something
+in her quiet pose struck oddly upon his heart. She looked very slim
+and graceful and girlish in a simple washing frock of some soft grey
+material, with little Quakerish cuffs and collar, and the big, shady
+hat tied on with a ribbon. And all in a moment he was transported
+years before, and there was a Devonshire wood, and a slim lassie, and
+little Quakerish cuffs and collar, and eyes that watched and
+waited&mdash;watched and waited for him.</p>
+
+<p>And then....</p>
+
+<p>No, not even in thought would he dwell again upon what followed. It
+was a weakness he had fought down. A weakness that even now, given
+rein, could unman him. The quick light vanished from his eyes, the
+mouth grew stern again, and he turned to descend.</p>
+
+<p>At the same moment Meryl turned also and came towards his
+hiding-place. He had just time to step further back and take shelter
+behind a low, bushy tree, which would hardly reveal his khaki, before
+she passed. And just in front of him she raised her head and glanced
+upwards, so that he saw her eyes, and for a moment his pulses seemed
+to stop beating. If her pose had reminded him of someone it was as
+nothing compared to her face with that upward glance. The delicate
+contour, the fine features, the wistful, dreamy, quiet eyes. Were they
+blue, or were they grey?... How came they with long, dark, curling
+lashes when her hair was a dusky, light shade, with soft waves and
+gleams of sunlight? In his hiding-place he stood very still and very
+rigid. For a moment he might have been part of the rock behind him.
+Then she passed on up the steep ascent, and he came out and retraced
+his steps, feeling a little dazed.</p>
+
+<p>Who could she be?... But, of course, the party must have arrived
+unexpectedly: had not remained in Edwardstown as they intended. And
+she was one of the heiresses&mdash;one of the flaunting, gaping, vulgar,
+dressed-up young women he had been secretly so resentful over. And, of
+course, she was none of these. Then suddenly he almost laughed; almost
+laughed aloud. For she was worse&mdash;far, far worse. The gushing,
+loud-voiced heiress he might have coped with. His frigidity froze most
+people if he chose; and avoidance was not difficult. But what could he
+do with Joan&mdash;his love, his dead love Joan&mdash;looking at him out of this
+girl's beautiful eyes, touching him with this girl's slender hands,
+speaking to him from this stranger's lips? It was
+impossible&mdash;impossible; all the careful training of that fifteen years
+in exile would be undone. His very life would be undermined again. For
+the moment it seemed incredible, preposterous. He felt stunned by it.</p>
+
+<p>Then his rigid self-control came to his aid, and his face grew stern
+and hard.</p>
+
+<p>The preposterous thing was that he should let a chance resemblance hit
+him so; should even admit the possibility of being undone after all
+his careful self-training. No, a thousand times no; he was not such a
+weak fool as that. The strength he had won was his still. He had only
+to go on being resolute and cold and the past would lie down again,
+and once more go quietly to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>He defied it to overcome him now. By every agonised pang, by every
+hour of unfathomable bitterness, by every solitary year of self-chosen
+exile, he insisted that he must prevail. He strode on, scarcely seeing
+anything about him, and his face grew sterner and sterner. Then he
+came within sight of the camping-place, and saw the white tent, and
+Stanley giving directions, while Moore and some black boys unpacked
+things from the ambulance.</p>
+
+<p>And he thought he would get more complete control of himself before he
+joined them; take this thing fairly by the throat and throttle it,
+that he might regain his peace of mind absolutely before the second
+encounter with the owner of the face and form that seemed for a moment
+to have made an upheaval in his life. So he turned aside and made for
+the temple, feeling glad and relieved at the consciousness that the
+mood was passing, and reassured that, being no more taken by surprise,
+he would successfully master it. Probably he could still go away on
+the morrow, and once away, Rhodesia would take him to her heart again.
+He knew it full well. Every day now the country was giving back to him
+of what he had given to her; lulling him, soothing him, revivifying
+him with her freshness and her charm.</p>
+
+<p>But his mind was very occupied still and his vision clouded as he
+passed into the cool shade of the temple, and he did not see a small,
+dainty person with an impish face perched high on a broken wall, with
+her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands, and a queer,
+fitful, half-serious, half-bored expression in her dark eyes. Instead,
+seeing no one and thinking himself alone, he sat down on a low wall
+quite near to her and stared gloomily at the ground. Diana, not a
+little amused, surveyed him at her leisure. "What in the world," she
+wondered, "was this smart, soldierly looking man, correctly booted and
+spurred, sitting down there for in the ruins?..."</p>
+
+<p>The great temple at Zimbabwe has never been roofed. The ruins consist
+of a wonderful outer wall, from twenty-two to thirty-two feet high and
+in some places fifteen feet thick, of an elongated shape, and within
+this wall are remnants of other walls which formed separate small
+enclosures. There is also the sacred enclosure with the conical tower,
+and leading into it from the north entrance the wonderfully contrived
+passage, between two high walls, scarcely more than a shoulder's
+breadth apart in one place. Amid the ruins trees have grown up, many
+of them higher than the outer wall, and these shade the glare of the
+sun, casting cool shadows and networks of sunlight upon the broken
+walls. And on the afternoon in question here and there were splashes
+of brilliant scarlet, where a Kaffir Boom tree flowered with a
+flaunting indifference to the passing of centuries and races.</p>
+
+<p>Diana, with her whimsical, artistic temperament, was fully alive to
+the fascination and uniqueness of her surroundings, but being a little
+tired with the drive, she felt for the moment somewhat impatient with
+ruins generally, and just a shade depressed with a certain air of dead
+forlornness that hovered all around. Then into the midst of this dream
+of antiquity strode a stern, fierce-looking, very up-to-date
+sportsman, who sat, for no conceivable reason, on a broken wall and
+stared at the ground. For one moment her sense of the ludicrous made
+her almost laugh aloud. Then, with sudden, upleaping interest, she sat
+still as a mouse and watched him. Once she half smiled to herself.
+There was a man, then, as well as a boy! She was not going to be
+entirely stifled in ruins, after all! She went on with her
+cogitations, staring hard, her head a little to one side. A real man,
+too, with a lean, brown face, and a square, determined chin, and a
+nose quite Roman enough to suit any novelist, and dark hair a little
+thin on the top and a little grey at the temples. She could not be
+sure if he were a soldier or not, but evidently he had been riding,
+for he still carried a hunting-crop; and also, judging by his face and
+attitude, something was considerably on his mind.</p>
+
+<p>Without the slightest movement she sat on and waited; and that was
+exceedingly characteristic of Diana. Where another girl would have
+felt embarrassed and made some sound to relieve the tension, she
+almost held her breath to retain it. The situation was unique. In a
+life that offered deplorably little of novelty and adventure she would
+not for worlds have thrown away such a chance. Meryl, on the other
+hand, would probably not have felt the tension; she would have quietly
+walked past him out at the entrance. Diana felt the atmosphere of the
+footlights and calmly waited.</p>
+
+<p>And, of course, in the end, vaguely conscious of some disturbing, not
+quite accountable element, Carew looked up straight into her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Diana looked straight back and tried hard to keep her lips from
+twitching. She noticed pleasurably that he did not start; that he
+scarcely even showed surprise. Such a man, she felt, would not. Yet
+the very fact that for several seconds he remained perfectly still,
+staring at her, showed that he was quite satisfactorily astounded.
+Then he stood up, and waited a moment as if he expected her to speak.
+She thought he might have smiled. The hero on the stage, of course,
+would smile&mdash;divinely&mdash;and a blush like a tender dawn would overspread
+the heroine's rose-leaf cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>But he did not smile; to be honest, he looked excessively annoyed, and
+no tender blush of any sort could possibly have shown upon her
+sunburnt face.</p>
+
+<p>Still, she did not intend to flinch, and if the mischievous smile
+lurking at the corners of her mouth died away, she still regarded him
+with a calmness equal to his own, and with the impishness quite
+emphatically still in her eyes. Then suddenly she felt as if there had
+been some invisible sword-play between them. Her instinct told her he
+resented her silent watching, and that his cool, collected front now
+and his silence were the expression of his resentment. It was not in
+the least like a fairy story, of course; here was the prince, surly,
+stony, and bearish, and the princess, red and brown with sunburn, on
+the point of being caught at a disadvantage. But there Diana's native
+wits came to her aid, and she did a clever thing.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you mind helping me down?" she asked, sweetly. "I climbed up
+here to get a good view of the interior, and when I try to descend the
+stones slip so, I am nervous. I did not like to disturb you before,"
+she finished, unabashed and unblushing, but carefully lowering her
+eyes a moment.</p>
+
+<p>He stepped forward at once and reached his hand up to her, and she saw
+that his keen eyes were of that intense clear blue seen in so many
+strong, notable men, but that they looked at her in a cold, aloof
+manner which made her feel rather small and childish. "Surely," she
+thought, "he is not genuinely angry just because I did not tell him I
+was there?" Aloud she said:</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," and placed her hand quite calmly in the strong, inviting
+brown one upheld to her.</p>
+
+<p>Then, taken with a fit of devilry out of growing exasperation, she
+added, "I'm not the daughter, I'm the niece."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Pym, I presume," he said, coldly, and bowed to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Diana Pym," she replied, and slightly inclined her head.</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Carew," he told her, with bluntness.</p>
+
+<p>"And are you ... er ... a scientist, evolving a theory about the
+ruins?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am a policeman." He said it brusquely, almost rudely, and Diana was
+taken with a sudden desperate inclination to laugh. All in a moment he
+reminded her forcibly of the uniformed autocrat holding up one lordly
+hand to stop the traffic. She moved towards the entrance, keeping her
+face averted. "The same sort of policeman as Mr. Stanley, I suppose?"
+she suggested, affably, but he seemed not to hear her, and a covert
+glance at his face was not reassuring. But the mere fact only spurred
+her on. If she was silent he might think he had overawed her.
+Goodness! how appalling! She quickened her step, and tossed her small
+head a little with a kind of challenging jerk.</p>
+
+<p>"I rather like your ruin," she said. "It's quite a nice old heap of
+stones."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2>
+
+<h2>THE BEAR</h2>
+
+<p>Once more Carew vouchsafed no reply, but Diana knew perfectly well
+that his lips tightened slightly, which signified that in some way she
+had hit him.</p>
+
+<p>So pretending to be perfectly unaware of his non-responsive attitude,
+she ran airily on:</p>
+
+<p>"Such a mad idea to travel hundreds of miles to see a few old remains
+of a doubtful edifice, built by Bantus! or is the plural Bantams?...
+I'm sure when you heard we were coming you wondered if you had better
+prepare a dwelling for us with padded walls. Now, didn't you?..." and
+she looked up archly into his face.</p>
+
+<p>"I understood Mr. Pym had come to this neighbourhood about some gold
+claims," in cold, even tones.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, so he has. But we haven't; at least Meryl hasn't. She came to
+see Rhodesia. I don't quite know what I've come for," na&iuml;vely. "I was
+just wondering about it sitting on that wall." And still he refused to
+be drawn. "You were looking very grave. Were you wondering what you
+are here for too?"</p>
+
+<p>At that moment they reached a spot where the path divided into two:
+one fork leading to their tent and the other to the police camp. He
+stood still. "I believe I was considering the best solution to a
+native problem that has lately arisen." He glanced towards their tent.
+"I see Mr. Stanley is helping to arrange your camp. Please let him
+know of anything you want. You will find him an excellent guide."
+Then, scarcely looking at her, he saluted and walked away.</p>
+
+<p>Diana returned to their tent feeling baffled and interested,
+half-inclined to be cross and half-inclined to laugh. And almost at
+the same time from the other direction came Meryl.</p>
+
+<p>"O, it's wonderful!" Meryl cried softly, with all her face aglow. "I
+never imagined anything half so fascinating; and I haven't even seen
+the temple yet. Mr. Stanley, do stay and dine with us. Our cook-boy is
+quite good."</p>
+
+<p>"All except his soup," put in Diana, "and he is only good at that in
+the sense of making it out of nothing. Sometimes I think he just boils
+a bit of the harness, or a corner of the tent-flap, or probably he
+makes it of rats if he can catch enough."</p>
+
+<p>Stanley looked at her with all his eyes and accepted the invitation
+eagerly, saying that he must first go back to the camp to change. Half
+an hour later he reappeared, looking quite smart in a white duck
+dress-jacket and a starched collar.</p>
+
+<p>As they sat down to their alfresco meal, taken under the stars, with
+two lanterns suspended on sticks for lights, Diana suddenly said to
+him:</p>
+
+<p>"Who is the bear?..."</p>
+
+<p>"The bear?..." doubtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. The bear who lives down there in the police camp, and rejoices
+in the name of Carew."</p>
+
+<p>Stanley, looking much amused, replied, "You must mean the Major; but
+you haven't met him, have you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I had the pleasure of being snarled at for about fifteen minutes this
+afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>Stanley laughed outright. "But where? He never said that he had seen
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think he did see me. We merely met. Most of the time he
+either looked away or looked through me at something beyond. Still, he
+might have mentioned the meeting. I don't feel flattered."</p>
+
+<p>"O, but that is nothing with Carew. He is an awfully silent chap."</p>
+
+<p>"Silent!... do you call it?... I never felt so ... so ... suppressed
+... in my life. I thought he seemed rather inclined to bite me."</p>
+
+<p>"But where did you meet him, Di?..." asked Meryl, with interest.</p>
+
+<p>"I was sitting on a wall in the temple, and he strode in and sat on
+another wall and stared at the ground ... and I stared at him ... and
+then he looked up and saw me ... and afterwards ..." she paused.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to say you sat perfectly still in front of him, and let
+him sit on, thinking himself alone, and then suddenly discover
+you?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it wasn't very fair on him."</p>
+
+<p>"Such nonsense, Meryl! That's just what he seemed to think. Why
+shouldn't I have a little romance if I want to? Such a dull, prosaic,
+commonplace old world as it is, generally speaking! I was having a
+lovely one. He was a great hunter who had lost his way, and dragged
+himself into the temple to die...."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you said he strode in?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be silly; he wasn't in the romance then. And I was a lovely,
+mysterious veiled lady who lived in the wilderness; but my veil
+happened to be thrown back, and when the dying hunter raised his
+eyes...." she stopped short.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?..."</p>
+
+<p>"That's where the romance stopped, where he brutally spoilt it,
+because when he raised his eyes and saw me there he just scowled
+horribly."</p>
+
+<p>Stanley and Meryl laughed whole-heartedly, but Meryl told her it
+served her right because she was unfairly taking him at a
+disadvantage.</p>
+
+<p>"But I did nothing of the kind. No one was at a disadvantage except
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure you weren't," Meryl remarked. "You never have been yet."</p>
+
+<p>"That's where you are mistaken, my dear. When you are sitting in a
+lovely romance, gazing at a dreadfully handsome, distinguished-looking
+man who is the hero prince, and will presently discover you and smile
+divinely with all his soul in his eyes, and when instead an
+iron-visaged person looks up at you, and scowls and grows as black as
+thunder, I defy any woman not to find herself at a disadvantage."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, how did you get out of it?... What did you do?..."</p>
+
+<p>The alluring twinkle shone suddenly in Diana's eyes, and her lips
+twitched mischievously, as she replied:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I smiled divinely instead, and asked him to help me down from
+my high wall."</p>
+
+<p>"O, you are quite incorrigible," laughed Meryl. "If I had been him I
+would have left you there to get down the same way you went up. But
+who is he?..." turning to Stanley. "He sounds rather interesting."</p>
+
+<p>"He's a splendid fellow," The Kid asserted, warmly. "We couldn't stick
+him at first, Moore and I, but we soon found he only wants knowing.
+There's some history attached to his being out here that no one quite
+knows; but he is a Fountenay-Carew and used to be in the Blues."</p>
+
+<p>"But how nice!" quoth Diana. "This is much more interesting than the
+old ruins. Is he rich and haughty, with lovely estates left to
+dishonest stewards, and all that?..."</p>
+
+<p>"No very poor, I should imagine; nothing but his pay, anyhow. I
+believe when he was in the Blues an old uncle gave him a big
+allowance, but something happened, and he threw the money in the old
+chap's face, and the old chap chucked him out."</p>
+
+<p>"And what happened to cause the quarrel?" asked Diana, all ears. "Why,
+he is more romantic than my prince!"</p>
+
+<p>"That is what I fancy no one knows. Anyhow, in a country like this, no
+one asks. It isn't quite the game, you see; and, anyhow, no one is
+interested now. He has done a tremendous lot for Rhodesia in one way
+and another, especially for the police force and natives; and we're
+quite proud of him in our way for that, independent of his history."</p>
+
+<p>"How nice!" and Meryl's eyes grew very soft. "It is a much finer
+reward than he would probably ever have gained in the Blues. I hope he
+thinks so?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't suppose he cares either way. Certainly, he doesn't appear to.
+He just loves the country, and seems only to want to stay here; but he
+never speaks even of that. Since he came here a few months ago he has
+done a lot of investigation work among the ruins privately. He is most
+awfully attached to them."</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly Diana asked, "I suppose he is pretty sick about two modern
+young women presuming to journey here to gaze at his treasure?"</p>
+
+<p>Stanley coloured up, and Diana laughed. "O, don't bother to deny it. I
+could feel it in my very bones when we met this afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>They finished their meal, and the boys moved the table away, so that
+they could sit round the glowing embers of a small fire, not so much
+for warmth as for the idea, and they lazed low in their chairs,
+talking idly and enjoying the cool, fragrant night.</p>
+
+<p>And presently, not &agrave; propos of anything in particular, Diana said,
+quite aloud, "I guess The Bear is growling and scowling away nicely
+to-night down there in his den. I expect the first time we meet I
+shall forget and call him Bear Carew instead of Major Carew, and then
+he'll shrivel me up with a glance."</p>
+
+<p>A sound beside them in the shadow made all look up suddenly, and the
+lamplight fell full upon Carew's face as he stood near Diana's chair.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl rose hurriedly, blushing to the roots of her hair, while
+Stanley, secretly much amused, stood up likewise. Only the culprit
+remained unperturbed to outward seeming, glancing archly round.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid you overheard what I said ... <i>Major</i> Carew.... I'm quite
+ready to apologise, only ..."</p>
+
+<p>"Please, don't...." For one instant the coldly even voice had a tiny
+inflection in it, as of humour, though he stifled it immediately, as
+he turned to Meryl and said, gravely, with a bow, "Miss Pym, I
+think?... A letter has come for you from Edwardstown by runner. I
+brought it on in case you might wish to send a reply, and to enquire
+if you are quite comfortable here for the night."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl took it from him, thanking him in her low, sweet voice, and with
+a rather shy, upward glance. And Diana, in the shadow, saw the soldier
+suddenly flinch and suddenly grow sterner, standing in an attitude of
+almost unnatural rigidity.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no heed to reply," Meryl said, after reading her note. "It
+is only a message from father to say he may be detained until
+afternoon. Thank you so much for bringing it. Won't you sit down? Can
+I offer you anything? I'm afraid there is not much choice. Father does
+not like luxuries in the wilderness, and we only carry whisky."</p>
+
+<p>"No, thank you." The tones were even again now, and he made no
+movement towards a chair. "Have you everything you need for the
+night? I hope Mr. Stanley has made himself very useful?"</p>
+
+<p>"He has been splendid. I am only afraid we have tired him out. Won't
+you sit down?" and she shyly motioned to a chair.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you. I'm afraid I must get back. I have some despatches to
+write. Would you like a police-boy to keep guard here all night? There
+is nothing whatever to fear, but if it would add to your comfort?..."</p>
+
+<p>"O no, thank you," warmly. "We are not in the least nervous. I think
+there are no lions very near," with a little laugh.</p>
+
+<p>Diana, lying back in her chair, had scarcely taken her eyes off the
+tall soldier, though she watched him covertly, and without seeming to;
+and her quick brain perceived dimly that his aloof attitude was partly
+a mask which had become a habit, and that, however much he suppressed
+her, there was nothing whatever repellant about his chilly reserve.
+And then, suddenly, the little mischievous devil possessed her again,
+and she longed to try her arts upon him, just to see what happened,
+and to show him she was not seriously in the least afraid of him.</p>
+
+<p>And no sooner had Meryl remarked that there were no lions near them,
+than she could not for the life of her help murmuring, "No lions, only
+bears."</p>
+
+<p>Again there was an instant's answering gleam in Carew's eyes, but he
+only smiled very slightly, and said, "Perhaps a bear's growl, like a
+dog's bark, is worse than his bite."</p>
+
+<p>It was as though something altogether too much for him was struggling
+with an inclination to relax just the least bit on Diana's behalf and
+insistently conquering. With scarcely a second look at her he drew
+himself up tautly and said he must be going. Then he saluted gravely,
+said good night in a voice that included them all, and strode away
+through the darkness towards the police camp.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment there was silence round the glowing embers.</p>
+
+<p>"It was kind of him to say good night," said Diana, sarcastically.</p>
+
+<p>"What a fine-looking man!" commented Meryl.</p>
+
+<p>"He is gruffer than usual to-night. Perhaps something has happened to
+upset him. I think I must be going also," and Stanley reluctantly rose
+to follow his chief.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course he is gruffer," said Diana. "Two tiresome women have dared
+to journey to Zimbabwe to look at his ruins."</p>
+
+<p>In the darkness Carew strode on to where a light shone through the
+doorway of a hut, but his eyes were looking straight before him into
+the night, and had the expression of one whose thoughts were very far
+away. It had cost him an effort to go up there with the note, but he
+had made it purposely, determined to take in hand quickly that vein of
+weakness which threatened him at sight of Meryl. He would go up and
+speak to her and break the spell as quickly as possible, regaining his
+old fortitude. More particularly as he felt he could not now leave on
+the morrow, just as Mr. Pym was arriving expecting to find him there.
+Not that there appeared any reason why, just because he happened to be
+a millionaire, a police officer should be expected to wait on him, but
+no doubt the Administration had its own reason for showing special
+attention to a very rich man, and hoped for some benefit to the
+country thereby.</p>
+
+<p>So he had taken the bull by the horns and strode up to the lamplit
+camp, where the travellers sat over the glowing embers; and, of
+course, he had heard Diana's remark, and smiled grimly to himself, in
+no way displeased, for it suited him perfectly to be shunned as a
+bear. And then, keeping an iron control over himself, he had addressed
+Meryl, and looked straight into her face without flinching. The upward
+look, for one second, had shaken him, but the iron control held good,
+and before he left them he had spoken to her and looked at her with
+perfect calmness. The visit had been quite as he wished it, and for a
+few seconds, striding into the dark, he congratulated himself upon
+having so satisfactorily coped with a situation that had threatened to
+be a little difficult and had disturbed him so in the afternoon. Of
+course, she wasn't really like Joan, except in a very general way.
+Just her height and figure and graceful movements and colouring; and,
+of course, the upward glance from confiding, thoughtful, blue-grey
+eyes that had humour lurking in them, and power and possibilities, and
+were so curiously framed in dark lashes in spite of light hair. In the
+midst of his self-congratulation he remembered the upward look again,
+and all in a moment once more it shook him. His gaze went blindly to
+the stars, and his mind flew back. Ah! how sweet Joan had been; how
+strong, how true! How she had stood by him through the beginning of
+the storm, turning the clouds to sunshine, making everything worth
+while! And then, the swift tragedy, the climax; the awful, awful days
+and nights that followed. How he had trodden the lonely Devon moors,
+blindly, passionately seeking a dead weariness of body that would dull
+his mind! How he had cursed the two men who drove in the final barb,
+and vowed never to see their faces again!</p>
+
+<p>And then the little note-book he had found, in which Joan had
+inscribed some of her thoughts from time to time, and copied a few
+favourite passages from favourite authors! It had come to him like a
+voice from the dead&mdash;Joan's voice, calling to him to rise above his
+despair and prove himself still worthy of her. And out there on the
+moors at sunrise he had vowed that he would. Calmly, coldly, as an
+austere monk, he had laid down for ever the things that had made his
+life gay and joyous before, and prepared to turn his back on England
+and all that it held pertaining to him.</p>
+
+<p>And now there is a distant wilderness and great southern stars, and
+mysterious, antique ruins, and a man who has grown strong and silent
+in aloofness, and won a sort of soothing content out of what he has
+given, seeking no reward.</p>
+
+<p>Not, perhaps, that "renewing" a royal friend had spoken of fifteen
+years ago, for the contentment was void of hope and fear and joy, but
+balm upon the passionate, frantic bitterness and despair. But the
+"renewing" might come even yet, however much he scorned the thought;
+for forty-two is at the prime of years, and Life has a tender way of
+her own of healing when she will.</p>
+
+<p>But to-night the memories are bitter, and the reopened wound throbs
+and burns. Carew strode up to his hut, with only a curt good night to
+the trooper, and when Stanley arrived back there was no light burning,
+only darkness and silence.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2>
+
+<h2>A MINING CAMP</h2>
+
+<p>The following day Carew avoided the camp, after telling Stanley he
+might devote his time to the ladies if he wished. In the afternoon,
+however, he saw Mr. Pym and his engineer arrive, and then, presently,
+the party all went down to the ruins together. About an hour later
+they re-emerged, and while the two girls went back to the tents, the
+millionaire strolled towards the police camp. Carew, seizing his
+opportunity, came out, and went to meet him. He considered himself
+fortunate in being able to offer the necessary courtesies when the
+ladies of the party were absent. Mr. Pym hid his surprise at seeing so
+distinguished-looking an officer at such an out-of-the-way camp, and
+received his somewhat curt greetings in his own quiet, business-like
+manner. He thanked him for the attentions he had already rendered, and
+hoped they were not causing any inconvenience in pitching their tents
+near the ruins. Carew assured him they were not, and mentioned that
+Mr. Stanley would be happy to place his time at their service and do
+anything he could to make their stay agreeable.</p>
+
+<p>Henry Pym, noting the obvious intention of the officer not to place
+much of his own time at their disposal, looked quietly into the
+resolute face, and felt his interest growing apace. At the same time,
+following his lead, he made no attempt to lengthen the interview,
+which he felt was more or less regarded as an official duty; and with
+courteous thanks said good night, hoped Major Carew would dine with
+them one evening, and returned to his tent.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, uncle," was Diana's greeting, "what do you make of The Bear?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Bear?..." questioningly.</p>
+
+<p>"The cast-iron soldierman, who condescends to breathe the same air as
+ordinary mortals down there in the police camp."</p>
+
+<p>"O, Major Carew!..." with a quick gleam in his eyes. "I thought him
+rather a fine fellow. Don't you?" and he smiled at her slyly.</p>
+
+<p>"A fine bear," quoth Diana, with a little pout. "I prefer a man with a
+little more flexibility. A little more commonplace flesh and blood, so
+to speak."</p>
+
+<p>"I asked him to dinner to-morrow," her uncle remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"And is he coming?" with ill-concealed interest.</p>
+
+<p>"No. He is going to see two young miners named Macaulay a few miles
+away, and was regretfully compelled to decline," and the humorous
+smile on his face widened, for he knew that Diana would be piqued.</p>
+
+<p>"As if he couldn't go there any day!" she grumbled. "O, of course, he
+is perfectly odious."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl's eyes met her father's, and they both laughed, while he
+remarked, "Never mind; perhaps we can lay a trap for him another time.
+Evidently he has no particular fancy for ladies' company."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know the Macaulays?" Meryl asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No, but I am going to see them in two or three days on business."</p>
+
+<p>"And you will take us?..." she pleaded. "I do want so to see all we
+can of the settlers as well as the country."</p>
+
+<p>"We will see later," he said, and made a move to prepare for dinner.</p>
+
+<p>During the next two days he and his engineer made sundry small
+excursions on business. Their investigation of several outcrops in the
+Victoria district had convinced them the gold was by no means worked
+out by that ancient people who had left so many traces of mining
+operations, and Mr. Pym was prepared to buy up claims and properties.
+On the fourth day he went to see the Macaulays, and took the girls
+with him, having procured a mule each for them to ride. Stanley and
+Carew were also to be of the party; the latter not a little to
+everyone's surprise.</p>
+
+<p>All through the four days he had held consistently aloof, personating
+merely the courteous official upon whom Mr. Pym had a certain claim
+because of the letter from headquarters. As a matter of fact, he had
+undertaken a journey of some length on two of the days to outlying
+kraals; and Diana, hearing of it from Stanley, had laughed a little
+grimly, and said, "He need not have troubled. We have no wish to speak
+to him"; and Stanley, not quite clever enough to understand, remarked
+regretfully, "But you would like him so much if you knew him
+properly."</p>
+
+<p>The reason was not very apparent for his accompanying them to the
+Macaulays' mine, but Meryl shrewdly suspected her father, who had gone
+quietly to smoke a pipe in the police camp with him on one or two
+occasions, had asked him to come more or less as a personal favour.
+For though Stanley knew the road perfectly he knew very little about
+the surrounding country itself; and Mr. Pym, with his unerring
+instinct, had quickly discovered that Carew's mind was a well of
+knowledge on most things Rhodesian. So the taciturn soldier joined the
+cavalcade, though he succeeded in attaching himself to Mr. Pym and
+riding well on ahead.</p>
+
+<p>The two Macaulays were "small miners," working on tribute a mine
+belonging to a block owned by a company in which Henry Pym had large
+interests. Complaints had come through to his ears concerning the
+difficult conditions upon which the two young miners, and many others
+like them, struggled to make a fortune or a livelihood, and he had a
+fancy to go and see them for himself. The mine was in a hollow, banked
+round by tall, gloomy kopjes, which seemed to stand like a bodyguard,
+sternly shutting them off from all sight or sound of the outside
+world. At the same time, the road to it was delightful. Sometimes they
+climbed nearly to the top of a kopje, the mules going up stairways of
+granite as if born to it, and the lovely country lay outspread in a
+glorious panorama before them.</p>
+
+<p>The party said very little, but their eyes told that the fascination
+had crept into their hearts already, though they could only appreciate
+in silence, wondering, perhaps, why they felt this strong attraction
+for a land that was chiefly kopjes and veldt.</p>
+
+<p>Was it, perhaps, the marvellous, translucent atmosphere, or was it the
+blue intensity of the dreaming kopjes, ornamented ever and anon by
+gleaming white battlements of granite, where the sun blazed down on
+giant boulders, or was it the unfathomable, mysterious, syren-like
+allurement of the country, that, without effort, without thought,
+steeped the senses in an irresistible fascination? Why does Rhodesia
+fascinate? Why does she call men back again and again to her manifold
+discomforts and unnerving disappointments, to her pests and glare, to
+her bully beef and unwashed Kaffirs? Who shall say?... Who shall
+attempt to explain?...</p>
+
+<p>There is no explanation; only the foolish would seek it. The country
+just gets up and takes hold of one and smiles, and men become enslaved
+to her. Ever after "the hazy blue of her mountains, the waft of the
+veldt-born scent," is like a germ in the blood. The discomforts are
+forgotten, the disappointments dissolve into air, the noontide glare
+and choking dust are a mere nothing: libellous creations of some
+discontented grumbler. And in the midst of the crowd, or in England's
+green lanes, or on some far shore, the wanderer is caught in the old
+mesh suddenly, and all his pulses beat with swift longing at just that
+heaven-sweet impression: "The hazy blue of her mountains, the waft of
+the veldt-born scent...."</p>
+
+<p>And she, the syren, lies there in her sunshine and her loveliness;
+locked in the arms of the deep, luscious, dreaming nights, whispering
+and murmuring softly under embracing, star-lit heavens; making wild
+riot when the splendid storms fling after each other across her bosom,
+while the thunders roll deafeningly amidst her kopjes, and the
+lightning pierces brilliantly the riotous clouds and makes a glory of
+the mighty scene. Sulky and colourless when she is waiting impatiently
+for the delayed rains; resplendent, and with a colouring that is like
+a Te Deum, when the renewing has come, and all her soul sings aloud in
+the joy of spring, and all her flowers and trees lend her loveliness
+past telling, and her hills a yet deeper blueness under yet intenser,
+rain-washed skies. All this&mdash;all her moods and whims and
+waywardness&mdash;going serenely on&mdash;splendidly, superbly indifferent to
+the men who come to tame her and stay to love in silent enslavement;
+as also to the men who come solely for gain and gold, and go away
+shrieking their complainings to the four winds. Because, perhaps, the
+enchantress has not troubled to show them her allurements, and
+ruffled, discontented minds have discovered only the dust and heat and
+pests.</p>
+
+<p>But what of it to the syren?... There are others who stay, as many,
+perhaps, as she wants, and to whom she puts out a shy hand of
+friendship, and presently soothes and consoles as the strong, silent,
+storm-tossed man who rode with so soldierly a bearing beside Mr. Pym;
+suffering no stab of love and longing any more as he looked over her
+fair bosom, because the shy hand was in his, because there was that
+subtle sense of understanding in his heart which seemed to tell him
+that even as he loved Rhodesia, Rhodesia loved him.</p>
+
+<p>And so they came to the Saucy Susan Gold Mine, at least to the ridge
+of the surrounding kopjes, and looked down to where a cluster of huts
+like beehives told them humans dwelt down there in the hollow.</p>
+
+<p>"It can't be a mine," said Diana. "It's just a hollow in the hills;
+the sort of place giants hide in when they play hide-and-seek."</p>
+
+<p>"But it is," Stanley assured her. "We shall see a little more as we
+wind down."</p>
+
+<p>And presently they came within view of a shaft, and two honest-eyed
+young Englishmen, both old Charterhouse boys, came forward to greet
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl shook hands with her face all aglow with interest; and to their
+humble apologies that they had only huts to invite them into, she
+said, "But it is so nice of you to invite us at all. You wouldn't
+believe how proud I am to come here to see you, and how tremendously
+interested."</p>
+
+<p>And Diana, with a droll expression, remarked, "You seem to live rather
+in the nethermost depths. You must feel as if you were going to heaven
+literally and figuratively every time you ascend to the outer world."</p>
+
+<p>The elder brother laughed pleasantly, but the younger, who had a white
+face and a delicate, refined air, looked at her a little wistfully.
+Meryl chatted on with the elder, but Diana, with her quick perception,
+scented a silent, wordless, plucky endurance of adverse conditions in
+the younger, and gave her attention to him.</p>
+
+<p>Then they went into the dining-room hut, and found a meal spread on a
+roughly made table, with only two chairs for seats and all the rest
+packing-cases.</p>
+
+<p>"Who has to sit on a chair?" asked Diana. "I needn't, need I?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, they are quite sound!... Are you afraid of a spill?..." asked
+Lionel Macaulay, looking amused.</p>
+
+<p>"No, only I can sit on a chair any day of my life. I simply insist
+upon having a packing-case when such a good opportunity offers."</p>
+
+<p>So Meryl and her father were duly ensconced in the only two chairs,
+and Diana mounted gaily on to a tall, thin packing-case, which would
+certainly have gone over backwards if Colin, the rather sad-eyed
+brother, had not caught her just as she was overbalancing.</p>
+
+<p>"How clever of you!..." she laughed. "What happens when you two
+overbalance and don't happen to be near enough to catch each other?...
+Does the dinner come in and find you both sprawling on the floor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we've had a good deal of practice, you see," he told her,
+already cheering visibly. "The tables are turned for us, and we choose
+a chair when we can get it, for a treat."</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards she made him show her all his clever contrivances for
+packing-case furniture, and admired his sackcloth curtain, barrel
+washhand stand, and made him feel vigorous and hopeful.</p>
+
+<p>Stanley was talking to Meryl, and Lionel Macaulay was showing Mr. Pym,
+the engineer, and Carew over the mine, so she gossiped away to him all
+by herself. And she drew from him a little of the bitter
+disappointments they had encountered in the country. A story of first
+one mine and then another failing them; of capital slipping away and
+bills mounting; of the gradual cutting down of comforts and increased
+austerity of living: a story common enough in all colonies where Life
+puts men through the mill again and again to prove and harden them.
+Acting perhaps on the lines:</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i3">"It is easy enough to be pleasant</span>
+<span class="i5">When life moves along like a song,</span>
+<span class="i3">But the man worth while is the man who can smile</span>
+<span class="i5">When everything goes dead wrong."</span>
+</div></div>
+<p>Life wants a lot of men and women whom she knows are "worth while" in
+carrying out her great affairs, and that is perhaps why so often
+"everything goes dead wrong."</p>
+
+<p>Diana maintained her r&ocirc;le of gay inconsequence because it pleased her
+best.</p>
+
+<p>"It all sounds very superior and all that rot, and I'm sure Meryl
+would call you a hero; but I should swear myself black and blue in
+your shoes, and that's about what you do pretty often, I expect."</p>
+
+<p>His smile grew fresher and more genuine.</p>
+
+<p>"It doesn't do much good though."</p>
+
+<p>"O yes it does. Don't tell me! When things get into a silly stupid
+mess with me I just shut the door and say every swear word I know
+until I feel better. That's one advantage of living in a hollow in the
+desert. You needn't even bother to shut the door!... You can shout
+your ruffled feelings to the kopjes, and I suppose they echo the words
+back to you. How perfectly splendid! That's a thing about Rhodesia I
+hadn't thought of before. Of course, the echoes are sometimes
+wonderful; so if you were to shout a few swear words the kopjes would
+shout them after you; and that's much better than 'dreaming stillness'
+in my opinion. But why aren't you and your brother making a fortune? I
+thought everyone in Rhodesia was making one who had a mine."</p>
+
+<p>"We don't get up enough gold. By the time we have paid our royalty and
+the expenses there is nothing left."</p>
+
+<p>"Then the royalty must be too big. Who do you pay it to?"</p>
+
+<p>He coloured, and she watched him humorously.</p>
+
+<p>"Has my uncle something to do with your company? O, don't look
+uncomfortable. I'll just talk to him about it. There ought to be
+occasions when no royalty is taken at all. I'll tell him so."</p>
+
+<p>Colin Macaulay laughed into her smiling eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"As it is, there is a charge for everything, even the grass the
+donkeys eat!..."</p>
+
+<p>"O, monstrous! I never heard of such a thing. I'll interview the board
+about it if you like. Tell your donkeys they may eat anything they
+choose in future, it is not going down in the bill any more!..." and
+they both laughed gaily.</p>
+
+<p>In a more serious mood, however, she asked him presently, "I suppose
+it has been rather a disappointment?... This coming out to Rhodesia to
+make a fortune!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"O, well, lots of reasons. You haven't come within sight of the
+fortune, for one thing; and you've still got packing-case furniture
+and live in huts. And you eat a lot of bully beef, now don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"We do."</p>
+
+<p>"But that isn't what you came for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Still"&mdash;meditatively&mdash;"it's not a small thing to be in a country
+where a fortune may be won any day. It is that, of course, which keeps
+us going. It is better anyhow than a stool and one hundred and fifty
+pounds a year in England."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure?" And she watched him with keen eyes.</p>
+
+<p>He coloured slightly, but answered with firmness:</p>
+
+<p>"Quite."</p>
+
+<p>"But not better than something else, perhaps?"</p>
+
+<p>He saw that her interest was kindly and genuine, and suddenly drawn to
+expand he told her simply:</p>
+
+<p>"It's the isolation that hurts. Day after day, day after day, just
+this hollow and these kopjes, and never anyone to speak to except each
+other. We send for the mail once a week, but sometimes very little
+comes by it; and we get nothing fresh to read except a weekly
+Rhodesian paper. That is a gold mine to us for just one evening; but
+for all the rest there is nothing. Lionel is studying French, and I do
+a little also, but it palls after a time badly."</p>
+
+<p>"I should think so. It sounds as dry as dead bones."</p>
+
+<p>They were sitting upon a rocky knoll, and Diana had her hands clasped
+round her drawn-up knees, presenting a very attractive picture. "I'm
+not a true Imperialist at heart," she informed him. "I hate gush and
+talk and heroics, but between you and me I think an awful lot of you
+men making your solitary fight in the wilderness. It's always a lot
+easier to put up with discomforts when you know your next-door
+neighbour is jolly uncomfortable too. Of course, most people don't say
+so, but that's because they are conventional, and fondly try to
+persuade themselves, very unselfish also; but when they are honest
+they know quite well a misfortune is lightened when several others are
+in the same box. That's why, on a wet day, I console myself sitting at
+the window and watching folks struggling with drenched umbrellas and
+bedraggled skirts. It's so good to be safe inside."</p>
+
+<p>He waited with amused eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"And, of course, the trouble for you is just sitting down here among
+these monotonous kopjes and being uncomfortable all alone. No one to
+grumble to&mdash;ugh, how I should hate that!&mdash;no one to feel superior
+with; no one to envy you, even if there were anything to envy. It's a
+positive grave."</p>
+
+<p>"You've left out one of the worst contingencies. No one to discuss
+with; no friction of mind and opinions."</p>
+
+<p>"That comes under the heading of grumbling. When I discuss I almost
+always grumble about something. It is good for the progress of the
+world." And she laughed whimsically. Then, with one of her sudden
+changes, "How long do you expect to stay on trying to dig up a
+fortune, and pretending it is worth while when you know you hate it
+like Old Harry?"</p>
+
+<p>"We shall probably try another mine soon. That is what we want to do;
+but it cost so much to get our machinery down into this hollow we
+don't quite know where to find the money to get it out again. So we
+just go on hoping we shall strike a good reef soon."</p>
+
+<p>She remained thoughtful and silent some moments, and then, as if to
+change the subject, remarked, "Mr. Stanley seems happy enough in his
+solitary place. He says he used to be in Salisbury, but very much
+prefers Zimbabwe."</p>
+
+<p>"Most of the police prefer a quiet place with good shooting; and now
+that he has Major Carew there so much it must often be interesting."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know Major Carew well?" and her quick voice failed to entirely
+hide her interest.</p>
+
+<p>"As well as perhaps anyone does. He comes to see us fairly often on
+Sundays."</p>
+
+<p>"But he is so silent, he can't be very interesting."</p>
+
+<p>"He is not always silent."</p>
+
+<p>"No, sometimes he snarls," with a little laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! you don't know him. Get him to talk to you about the natives;
+about their habits and legends and customs. There isn't a man in
+Rhodesia knows more, and there isn't one they trust more absolutely.
+He is down in this district now on their behalf, and before he set
+foot here they knew all about him. Natives a hundred miles apart
+communicate that sort of thing to each other. Every kraal here knew
+perfectly that he was stern and rigid, but absolutely just. If he once
+says a thing he stands by it, even if he gets into trouble at
+headquarters, which isn't so very unusual. Someone out of jealousy or
+pique or utter inability to understand stern justice, will
+misrepresent his actions and misreport him for doing his duty. It's a
+heart-breaking business for him sometimes; but he never gives in when
+it is keeping his word one way or the other with natives. He would
+sooner resign, and they know it; and fortunately they recognise his
+value and meet him somehow. Of course, he isn't in the Native
+Department, properly speaking, but he has done a lot of work with them
+for some time."</p>
+
+<p>"And what do you think he is down here for now?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; but it is some abuse or other that has reached the ears
+of the administration. This sort of thing happens among the
+short-sighted, small-minded Native Commissioners. There was a man a
+short time back who charged his house boys five shillings for
+everything they broke. At the end of six months they had had no pay at
+all, and were pretty heavily in debt. He was magistrate as well as
+commissioner and had them brought before his court, and promptly
+sentenced them to work six months for nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"What a shame!" she burst out indignantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Or a Native Commissioner may terrorise a native into selling cattle
+to him for a mere song by nothing but a look. Of course, they are not
+allowed to buy cattle really, but if they are married their wives buy
+them instead sometimes, and then the Commissioner in an outlying
+district can fairly easily fix the price, if he has made himself a
+dread to all the kraals round. He can collect taxes, too, not strictly
+just, to make his accounts look well at headquarters."</p>
+
+<p>"But I thought Native Commissioners were always gentlemen?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are generally, but they don't all live up to the usually
+accepted standard. Some of them seem rather to glory in behaving like
+bounders and treating the native unjustly. It is bad for the country,
+but things are improving. Almost all new appointments now are made
+among public-school boys and Varsity men."</p>
+
+<p>"And do you think Major Carew is here about some such matters?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but it isn't given out so, and no one knows just what. But the
+natives are fortunate to have him on their side. He is not in the
+least afraid, and he won't shelter any unjust steward. On the other
+hand, whatever complaints there are against the natives will be just
+as honestly examined, and woe betide the kraals that are in the wrong!
+He is no Exeter Hall sentimentalist, and they must know it pretty well
+by now."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you think he is out here at all? Surely he might have been a
+general with his K.C.M.G. if he had stayed in the army?"</p>
+
+<p>"I rather fancy Carew would think that a small thing compared to what
+he has done in Rhodesia. After all, K.C.M.G.'s are pretty cheap
+nowadays, aren't they? But it isn't every man who can know a new
+country is grateful to him, and who has achieved all he has at a work
+he loves."</p>
+
+<p>"Why did he come?" Still Diana strove vainly to hide her interest. "Do
+you know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Adventure, probably. A good many men from crack regiments came in the
+early days."</p>
+
+<p>"There must have been something more."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you <i>know</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"No." He looked at her with a little smile. "It isn't the game to ask
+questions out here."</p>
+
+<p>"That is just what Mr. Stanley said, and it is so dull of you both.
+The man's a perfect bear. I christened him 'The Bear' before I had
+known him an hour. But why is he? Why should he be? That's what I
+want to know."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't fancy you will. I doubt if anyone knows. He has never made
+friends, I think, out here, except with the Grenvilles, and they are
+some connection."</p>
+
+<p>"That's the missionary and his wife, isn't it? What in the world can a
+man like that see in a missionary? Of all the soppy, flabby
+individuals give me the usual specimen who goes out to preach
+Christianity to the heathen, and generally disgusts them and everyone
+else."</p>
+
+<p>"Not this missionary."</p>
+
+<p>"O, is he an original also?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's one of the finest men I've ever known."</p>
+
+<p>"Then what in the world is <i>he</i> buried in the wilderness for? I never
+knew anything so absurd. A fine soldier and administrator, just a
+policeman; a splendid man, just a missionary. And you and your brother
+just grubbing about in a God-forsaken mine, apparently for nothing. It
+is enough to make anyone wild." And she faced him with that
+smouldering indignation she rarely allowed to come to the surface.</p>
+
+<p>"But they are both in Rhodesia"&mdash;ignoring her kindly inclusion of
+himself and his brother&mdash;"and Rhodesia wants good men."</p>
+
+<p>"And when she gets them just buries them at her outposts. I haven't
+much faith in your Rhodesia. She is a capricious jade. She absorbs a
+man's finest qualities and best years and gives him nothing in
+return."</p>
+
+<p>"Ask Carew if she gives him nothing. Probably she has given him more
+than anyone else could give."</p>
+
+<p>She got up impatiently. "All the more reason why he shouldn't be such
+a bear. People who have got what they want out of life ought to be
+amiable and friendly."</p>
+
+<p>She turned round, and found herself face to face with Carew himself,
+looking, if anything grimmer than ever.</p>
+
+<p>"I came to tell you that tea is ready, and the others have already
+commenced."</p>
+
+<p>Diana looked straight into his eyes, with a daring, challenging
+expression. "And you heard me discussing your amiable attributes? I'm
+sorry, but"&mdash;with a swift gleam&mdash;"I do discuss something else
+sometimes."</p>
+
+<p>"I heard nothing," he answered, returning her direct gaze, and stood
+aside for her to pass.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h2>
+
+<h2>AN EVENING RIDE</h2>
+
+<p>As they rode home in the evening Diana, more nettled with Carew's
+impassivity than she would have cared to own, contrived to get a
+little apart from the others with her uncle, and in her frank,
+engaging way explained to him the rapaciousness of certain mining
+companies and her own promise on behalf of the donkeys. Mr. Pym
+regretted that he could not immediately grant her request without
+consulting his co-directors, but Diana knew perfectly, by the friendly
+gleam in his eye, that he meant to look into the question; and because
+he was impressed by the sturdy, plucky fight of the two brothers he
+would probably do a good deal more for them in the end.</p>
+
+<p>After which she prattled to him gaily, until Stanley was clever enough
+to distract her attention and remanipulate the party. He had been
+riding with Carew, and the engineer with Meryl; but on the party being
+disarranged the engineer joined Mr. Pym to discuss the mining
+properties they had been visiting, and Carew found himself unavoidably
+partnered with Meryl, while Stanley and Diana went gaily on ahead. It
+was the first time, what he was pleased to term "his luck" had
+deserted him. Heretofore there had been no single <i>t&ecirc;te-&agrave;-t&ecirc;te</i>
+between him and either of the cousins since Diana surprised him in the
+temple ruins. It was his fixed intention that there should be none. He
+argued in himself that he had no "small talk" in his vocabulary, and
+would only reciprocate the boredom he would himself suffer, and rather
+than either should be inflicted he steered a resolute course which
+partnered him with a man. In vain Diana, spurred by pique, had once or
+twice laid a trap for him; and Meryl, with growing interest, had
+sought to draw him into conversation. With masterly art he had steered
+clear of both, and continued his serene, impassive way.</p>
+
+<p>But on that homeward ride Fate, for once, got the better of him.
+Stanley and Diana were cantering gaily ahead along the narrow path,
+that meant smooth-going for one horse and a stumbling amid small rocks
+or long, dry grass for the other; while Mr. Pym and his engineer
+conversed with a solemnity no one could lightly disturb between the
+two front horsemen and the two back.</p>
+
+<p>At first Carew rode along with his eyes fixed rigidly on the horizon,
+and, except for its innate strength, an almost expressionless face.
+Meryl was a little amused. She realised thoroughly that the situation
+was none of his seeking, and she was in two minds whether to give him
+expressionless rigidity in return, or purposely tease him with
+questions. At first she chose silence, and looked around her with eyes
+of growing tenderness at the kopje-strewn country.</p>
+
+<p>And so, instead of being irritated with the "small talk" he dreaded,
+Carew found himself left entirely to his own cogitations; while,
+judging from her rapt expression, she scarcely realised his presence.
+And then, just because human nature is stronger, after all, than most
+things, memory, for the sake of a dream-face he would treasure while
+he had breath, made him look at her covertly with seeing eyes. He
+noted first that she was a perfect horsewoman&mdash;slim and upright and
+easy, almost like a part of her horse. Both girls rode astride,
+wearing long holland coats and specially made light top-boots, with
+large shady sun helmets; and because for a long time he had not seen
+anything much but slipshod garments among women riders, or exceedingly
+warm-looking correct home attire, he appreciated their cool smartness.</p>
+
+<p>Unconsciously it took him back to the old buried days, when the
+Devonshire moors and Devonshire lanes knew no hotter rider than Peter
+Carew. To the steeplechases, when he was so slim and wiry that, in
+spite of his height, he had ridden many a horse to victory. To the
+polo matches, when his matchless horsemanship had scored goal after
+goal for his regiment of picked riders. She recalled to his mind the
+stag-hunting in Devon and Somerset, where the first women had ridden
+astride to the meet, realising mercifully how the steep ascents and
+descents were eased for their horses, without the tightly girthed
+side-saddle, and for themselves without the side-seat strain. Almost
+as if it were a carefully permitted luxury, he saw the wide,
+wind-swept moors, heard the cheery shouts and the excited hounds, felt
+his thoroughbred sweeping gloriously along, as if its soul and his
+soul were both one in feeling the joy and exhilaration of the chase.
+What glories there were in those wind-swept, sun-bathed mornings in
+Devon! What joy of life! What lust of manhood! What splendid,
+whole-hearted young inconsequence! In his heart he smiled a little
+grimly. Peter Carew of the Blues had been no shunner of women in those
+days; no taciturn, silent, unappreciative onlooker. Rather he had
+loved too many, kissed too freely, ridden away too light-heartedly.</p>
+
+<p>Until the blue-grey eyes, so like Meryl's, looked shyly up, and then
+in their turn ran away from him. Of course, he had followed blindly
+like the hot-headed, hard-riding sportsman he was&mdash;followed blindly,
+wooed irresistibly, and won gloriously.</p>
+
+<p>And then ...</p>
+
+<p>Over the kopjes, over the vleis, over the veldt a black cloud came
+down, and suddenly all the picture was blotted out. An expression that
+was momentarily almost wistful left the fine mouth; the far-away
+softness left the keen blue eyes, and his face hardened strangely.
+Then he looked up at Meryl, riding beside him, and saw all the
+questioning interest in her face.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid you have a very dull companion," he said; but it was in
+the voice that Diana usually called his snarl.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl smiled. "I did not for a moment suppose that you would talk."</p>
+
+<p>She could hardly say that his face relaxed, but at least there was
+that in it which suggested he liked her answer far better than any
+conventional politeness.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly a wholly unlooked-for twinkle lurked somewhere in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Bears don't usually," he said.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl laughed. "Diana is too fond of nicknaming her friends and
+acquaintances; but on the whole I think she has let you off lightly. A
+bear is a magnificent animal."</p>
+
+<p>"Not given to much amiability. No Prince Charming, for instance," and
+he smiled a little grimly.</p>
+
+<p>"But strong&mdash;and&mdash;well&mdash;dangerous, which is better."</p>
+
+<p>"You think so?" He looked at her rather curiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Decidedly."</p>
+
+<p>They rode on in silence, and, for a little way, the road being rough,
+he reined in his horse to the narrow path behind her. Then, when it
+grew smoother again, she waited for him to come alongside.</p>
+
+<p>"You haven't always been in this part of Rhodesia?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; only recently."</p>
+
+<p>"Long enough to get very attached to it."</p>
+
+<p>"More or less," and suddenly his voice hardened a little, as if
+scenting a discussion and wishful to ward it off.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder why Rhodesia is so fascinating?" And her eyes roved with
+love in them from far horizon to far horizon. "I suppose you do not
+attempt to analyse it? You are content to care unquestioningly."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes"&mdash;with an effort&mdash;"after a time, one just cares."</p>
+
+<p>"And at first?..."</p>
+
+<p>"At first one has to find one's footing, so to speak. She is somewhat
+the bewildering, uncomfortable stranger to the new-comer."</p>
+
+<p>She marvelled that he should say so much, but hid her pleasure lest
+she should unwittingly change his mood.</p>
+
+<p>"She has never seemed that to me. Something has attracted me from the
+very first. I came, I saw, I loved."</p>
+
+<p>"You must remember that you came under exceptional circumstances."</p>
+
+<p>"And you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was among the early pioneers."</p>
+
+<p>"How splendid! I wish I could say the same."</p>
+
+<p>"It was extremely uncomfortable."</p>
+
+<p>"But you didn't mind. I don't need to be told that. There was so much
+to make up for it. How good it must be to be a man!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yet the women are the true heroes out here."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"We get what we came for. Interest, excitement of a kind, freedom...."</p>
+
+<p>"And the women?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is not much for the women, but the plucky ones are often
+heroines."</p>
+
+<p>"Only no one tells them so?"</p>
+
+<p>"No one tells them so; therein lies the heroism."</p>
+
+<p>"I see. They put up a good fight, and no one says, 'Well done!' Isn't
+it the same with the men?"</p>
+
+<p>"The men get many compensations."</p>
+
+<p>"Compensations that make it worth while?"</p>
+
+<p>"Distinctly."</p>
+
+<p>They rode on in silence, both looking ahead to the blue mountain that
+guards the north of Zimbabwe. The peaceful loveliness soothed his
+spirit because he loved it, but in her it awakened a vague, swift
+ache. She felt somehow that he had a right to love the country,
+because he had made it his and given it of his best; that, for all his
+presumable poverty in many things, he was yet so rich in what he had
+achieved, and in what he had won for himself of interest and
+usefulness. While for her?... She was an alien, a mere tourist, a
+looker-on; the daughter of a millionaire who came to Rhodesia for
+wealth, and gave&mdash;how little in return!</p>
+
+<p>He might look at the tender outline of the lovely mountain with the
+glad, restful consciousness of work well done. She could only look at
+it with that ache of divine discontent: unplumbed, wordless longing.
+Even the heroism of the settler's wife was not for her. The women who
+were plucky enough to put up that good fight, although no one ever
+said "Well done!" Compared with them, in his eyes she was probably a
+mere cumberer of the earth; an ornament, intended only to be admired
+by the leisured classes. The young splendid country had no use for
+her, no place for her. She was an alien, an interloper; child of a man
+who came only for gain, and took his gain elsewhere, recognising no
+claim from a land that was no home to him, only an investment.</p>
+
+<p>Her soul cried out it was no wish of hers that it should be so; but
+only silent condemnation seemed to echo back to her from the far blue
+hills.</p>
+
+<p>She glanced at the strong, serene face of her companion, and because
+somehow he seemed a little less stern and uncompromising to-day she
+said to him simply, leaning a little to his side:</p>
+
+<p>"I envy you so, the sense that you have won the right to love her. I
+envy the plucky settlers' wives who are the mothers of her future. I
+feel myself so utterly an alien. Has Rhodesia any use for ... for such
+as I?"</p>
+
+<p>He looked at her strangely, and as he looked she saw an expression
+almost like hungry longing come into his eyes; then as suddenly vanish
+again, leaving him utterly amazingly stony. He turned his head
+sharply, and his gaze became fixed and rigid.</p>
+
+<p>"Millionaires' daughters can usually be pretty useful if they like,"
+he said almost brutally; and she felt as if he had struck her. In
+sudden anger and bewilderment she touched her horse with her whip and
+darted ahead. It was not the words, but the way in which he had said
+them. What did he mean?... What did he not mean?... She bit her lips
+to keep back the smarting tears that blinded her eyes. She felt as if
+she hated him. For a little space he had been so different to the
+cold, callous soldier, and in quiet response she had spoken from her
+heart; and in return he had said this cutting thing with cold intent,
+making her feel that he despised her. Did he see in her only a willing
+accomplice to her father's money-making schemes? The one perhaps who
+spent the gains heartlessly and carelessly elsewhere? Beside those
+settlers' wives he had said were heroines, was she but an idle,
+contemptible, useless heiress? She spurred her horse on, letting her
+thoughts run away with her, unwilling that he should overtake her
+until she had got herself well in hand; and Carew followed behind,
+feeling again that sense of a black, rayless abyss all about him. Why
+had he looked full and deep into her eyes like that?... Why had he not
+gazed only upon the mountains that soothed and refreshed him?... The
+mere discovery that the past he thought to have outlived slept so
+lightly was a shock to him. Had he not then outlived anything? Had he
+only put his memories lightly to sleep, and dreamt all the life he had
+lived since? He was scarcely conscious that he had said anything
+inconsiderate; he hardly knew what he had said. He only remembered he
+had looked full and deep into beautiful eyes, and suddenly it was as
+though his dead love Joan had come back to him.</p>
+
+<p>Presently she slowed down so that he came up to her, and it was
+noticeable that something in her whole attitude had changed. She was
+as upright as he now, and her eyes also looked rigidly ahead. He saw
+the change without understanding it and wondered a little, without
+troubling to probe.</p>
+
+<p>"Your friends, Mr. and Mrs. Grenville," she said coldly, "would they
+care to see us if we called, or would they think it perhaps just
+vulgar curiosity?"</p>
+
+<p>"They would be delighted; visitors are a very rare treat to them." He
+was puzzled a little at her manner, but let it pass. Meryl had it on
+the tip of her tongue to add, "They don't mind even millionaires'
+daughters?" but her own good taste saved her from a momentary
+satisfaction that a man of his breeding could only have considered
+bourgeoise.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps Mr. Stanley would take us," was all she suffered herself; and
+added, "From his account Mrs. Grenville is evidently one of Rhodesia's
+heroines."</p>
+
+<p>"She is," he answered so simply that Meryl felt a little nonplussed.</p>
+
+<p>When they reached the camp Diana had already dismounted and gone into
+their tent, whither Meryl followed her.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," she said, "how did you get on with The Bear? Did he chore you
+up over anything?"</p>
+
+<p>Meryl considered a moment before replying. "One moment I thought him
+the rudest man I have ever met, and the next ..." she seemed puzzled
+how to explain.</p>
+
+<p>"And the next I suppose he didn't seem a man at all, only a pillar of
+stone!..."</p>
+
+<p>For answer, she said thoughtfully, "I wonder if something hurt him
+very badly some time or other?"</p>
+
+<p>"If it did, it doesn't exempt him from the ordinary amenities of human
+intercourse. He isn't the only man who has been hurt." And Diana
+kicked off her boots impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Meryl; "but it makes it a little easier to forgive him."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't do anything so foolish. You'll end by thinking him interesting
+and falling in love with him; which would be too utterly silly when
+you are as good as engaged to Dutch Willy, and when he, The Bear,
+would care about as much as my foot," with which dictum she put her
+head out through the tent flap, and called to Stanley and Carew,
+"Hey! Mr. Stanley! don't go away. Stay and keep us company in my
+uncle's absence. I believe he is venturing into The Bear's den
+to-night."</p>
+
+<p>Carew smiled quite frankly for him.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't I tempt you to come also? I daren't promise you a decent
+dinner, but I've some fresh Abdullah cigarettes out from home, if you
+care to come down afterwards."</p>
+
+<p>Diana was disarmed in spite of herself. "And will you promise to growl
+very prettily?" with an arch expression.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll try not to frighten you away too quickly."</p>
+
+<p>Diana withdrew into the tent.</p>
+
+<p>"O!" she said, "he's a bear with two faces; and that's the most
+difficult to cope with of all."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h2>
+
+<h2>THE MISSION STATION</h2>
+
+<p>They went to the Grenvilles' the next day, while Mr. Pym took another
+of his investigation trips. Stanley acted as escort, and Carew went to
+Edwardstown on business.</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa Grenville met them with her brightest smile, and ushered them
+proudly into her cool, picturesque drawing-room hut.</p>
+
+<p>"How charming!" they cried, with genuine delight; and Diana added, "O!
+why can't I have a hut in the wilderness?..."</p>
+
+<p>Then the khaki-clad, sportsmanlike missionary strode in, and after the
+preliminary greetings Diana asked with charming piquancy, "O! are you
+really and truly a missionary?"</p>
+
+<p>"Really and truly," he told her gaily, and came over to her side of
+the hut to sit beside her. "Why do you ask it like that?"</p>
+
+<p>She considered a moment, and then declared impishly, "Because it
+doesn't seem possible that a man like you should never say 'Damn.'"</p>
+
+<p>He laughed outright. "Well, I'm not going to tell tales out of school;
+but if you'd only got one pair of brown boots in the world and one
+pair of brown gaiters, and the boy tried to clean them with blacklead
+and paraffin oil!..."</p>
+
+<p>Diana moved nearer to him, with her prettiest and most ingratiating
+air. "O, tell me some more!... Tell me lots more."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think that is half so bad as the boy washing the saucepans
+and the teacups all in the same water together," put in Mrs.
+Grenville.</p>
+
+<p>"How perfectly delicious of him!" cried Diana. "What else did he do?"</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to have been here this morning when our stores came out
+from Edwardstown," the missionary told her. "The boy carries them on
+his head, you know; and there was a tin of golden syrup ..."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes ... yes ... and it leaked!..." gleefully.</p>
+
+<p>"Trickled all down his head and neck; you never saw such a sticky
+mess! And as soon as the other boys discovered ..."</p>
+
+<p>"Did they duck his head in a bucket?..."</p>
+
+<p>"O, dear no!... <i>licked</i> him!..."</p>
+
+<p>Diana fairly howled with delight; and then Stanley came in, after
+seeing that the horses were properly watered and fed, and was
+immediately accosted by Grenville with, "Hullo, Kid! you're quite a
+deserter! What have you been doing all the week?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you call him Kid?" Diana asked. "What a capital name for him!"</p>
+
+<p>"He has been 'The Kid' almost ever since he came to this district."</p>
+
+<p>"It pays," remarked Stanley jocularly; "they give me sugar."</p>
+
+<p>"And he lives with The Bear; how comical! Instead of the lion lying
+down with the lamb, in Rhodesia you have The Kid feeding with The
+Bear."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is The Bear?" Ailsa Grenville asked, from the packing-case
+cupboard, where she was reaching down cups and saucers.</p>
+
+<p>"Need you ask?" queried Diana. "Doesn't Major Carew ever growl when he
+is here?"</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa looked much amused. "Not exactly," she said; "but I admit
+sometimes he rolls himself up into a ball, so to speak, and relapses
+into a sort of winter sleep."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you prod him," said Diana.</p>
+
+<p>"Billy wouldn't let me," glancing affectionately at her husband.
+"There is only one Major Carew for him."</p>
+
+<p>"Still, it might do him good. We prodded him last night, didn't we?"
+addressing Stanley. "We went right into his den, and gave him a good
+baiting, while we smoked his new Abdullah cigarettes," and she smiled
+gleefully at the remembrance of the stern soldier, in an astonishingly
+sociable mood for him, humorously parrying her chaff. "You know," she
+ran on, "he simply hated our coming. I almost wonder he didn't dig
+impassable trenches across the road, or fortify himself in the
+Acropolis Hill. Anyone might have thought we were the bears, and he
+the woman."</p>
+
+<p>"I expect he was afraid of your charms," said Grenville smilingly. "We
+wilderness-dwellers have none of the townsmen's armour to withstand
+fair women."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, growling and scowling are very fair substitutes," quoth Diana;
+"and, besides, he didn't even trouble to observe if we had charms. As
+far as he decently could he looked the other way altogether."</p>
+
+<p>While she chatted on, delighting the missionary and his wife with her
+gaiety, Meryl sat in a low chair, and gazed through the doorway out
+over the smiling country, much as Carew usually did.</p>
+
+<p>"It must be very wonderful," she said at last, aroused by a
+sympathetic question from Ailsa Grenville, "to live day after day with
+such a scene as that in one's doorway."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," Ailsa told her. "The wonder never grows less, nor the mystery,
+nor the beauty. Major Carew, when he is here, loves just to sit and
+look at it; and so do I."</p>
+
+<p>Diana, with the two men, had strolled outside; and Ailsa and Meryl sat
+alone in the cool interior.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl sat very still, with her hands lightly clasped on her knees, and
+her eyes always&mdash;always&mdash;to the lovely prospect that was like a mighty
+ocean in which the waves were blue, mystical kopjes; and over which
+the first clouds, that heralded the approach of the rainy season, shed
+entrancing lights and shadows. Ailsa sat a little behind, and her eyes
+roved back from the view that had grown into her being and become part
+of her life to the face of the young heiress. She noted at once its
+instinctive charm; the charm of a woman blessed with most of the
+traits that hold and bind men for ever. Strength was there without
+masterfulness; sweetness that would never cloy; a dreamy elusiveness
+that meant a closed book it would be a joy to study chapter by
+chapter; and some of the chapters would surprise with their lightness
+and mirth, while others would surprise with their depth of sympathetic
+understanding, and yet others would bewilder alluringly with their
+whimsical, irresistible uncertainty. She knew that society papers
+sometimes spoke of the well-known millionaire's daughter as beautiful,
+but to her it seemed the word was hardly the right one. Meryl's face
+had in it something too strong and too distinctive for actual beauty;
+and yet Ailsa thought of all the lovely women she had ever seen none
+were quite so attractive. And because she was a tender-hearted woman,
+the thought crossed her mind to wonder if perhaps, out of the dark
+shadow that she knew hung ever over Peter Carew's life, there might
+yet be a way of escape; a gracious healing, and a final joy. Could two
+such humans meet and not love? Could anything truly separate them if
+once the love were born?</p>
+
+<p>She mused a moment or two happily, sublimely ignorant of all the
+forces that warred between; of what caused the shadow; of the power of
+a dead face; of the pride of a resolute man; of that attractive
+Huguenot Dutchman biding his time down south.</p>
+
+<p>At last Meryl broke the silence. As she sat gazing through the open
+doorway her mind had lingered unconsciously over that last sentence.
+"Major Carew, when he is here, loves just to sit and look at it," and
+in her fancy she saw the silent, watching form of the grim
+soldier-policeman.</p>
+
+<p>"He is an interesting man," she said simply. "I think I understood he
+was some connection of yours?"</p>
+
+<p>"You mean Major Carew? Yes; he is a distant sort of cousin, but we are
+two entirely different branches of the family, and had drifted widely
+apart until we three met out here. Yet it was not surprising we should
+meet like this. The Carews were always wanderers and adventurers, like
+Drake and Frobisher and the other fine old pirates. A humdrum career
+in the Blues would hardly have continued to satisfy Major Carew, any
+more than the conventions and hide-bound prejudices of the Established
+Church could hold my husband."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet, if you will forgive my seeming rudeness, both of them apparently
+took a decided step downwards from the social point of view."</p>
+
+<p>"That would not trouble either of them for a moment. They sought
+Freedom, and found it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet it meant, in a sense, what some people call being buried alive."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, those people do not understand. That is how I took it at first.
+Shall I tell you a little, or will it bore you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Please tell me. I think it is kind of you to trust me so soon with
+your confidence."</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa smiled. "One always knows. Anyone with insight would trust you
+instinctively. But there isn't much to tell. Only that when I married
+my husband he held a living in Shropshire, with a sure promise of
+quick promotion; and then Doubt crept in which he could not overthrow,
+and after a long struggle he gave it up because his conscience would
+not let him be a hypocrite."</p>
+
+<p>"But he is still a Church missionary, is he not?"</p>
+
+<p>"In a sense; but he is not paid by any society, and works on his own
+lines entirely. He had a little money of his own, and I have also, and
+out here it is ample. But at first I was very bitter with him, and let
+myself be influenced by my people who were still more bitter, and I
+would not join him. I went back home and lived the old life of my
+girlhood. He never uttered one word of reproach, although he was just
+breaking his heart for me, and&mdash;for which I bless him every day of my
+life&mdash;he wrote every mail telling me about the country and his work.
+At first I scarcely read the letters, and often did not reply; but he
+wrote on patiently and waited. And at last my mood changed. The
+endless tea-parties began to pall, and the insipidity of my home life.
+Week after week, week after week, the same round of social gatherings;
+the same people, the same conversations, the same everlasting tea,
+buns, and gossip. In each parish around, so many, many unmarried
+women, so many empty, monotonous lives. I think the condition of
+England's country villages is becoming almost a tragedy; all the men
+seem to have gone away to a bigger and wider world, and all the women
+to have been left behind to feed on emptiness. There are the
+clergyman's daughters, the doctor's daughters, the solicitor's
+daughters, and perhaps a few retired veterans and their daughters; all
+struggling through the same old empty round; while the men go out to
+conquer the earth." She paused a moment, but seeing Meryl's rapt
+attention, went on uninterruptedly, "And one day I awoke to the fact
+that I had a special right to one of the finest men who had gone out
+to do his share, and a special place at his side. To cut a long story
+short, I won through the frantic opposition of my family, cut myself
+adrift, and came out here to see for myself what Billy was doing that
+gave him a satisfaction he had never found in his peaceful easy
+living; in spite of the hunger I had always known was wearing out his
+soul for me." She looked out across the country dreamily, before she
+finished. "I shall never forget when I first saw this," motioning to
+the sunny prospect. "We arrived here in the dusk, owing to a
+breakdown, and so I had a long night's rest before Billy first showed
+it to me. I must tell you I was already tremendously impressed, on the
+quiet, with my brown, stalwart, khaki-clad husband in place of the
+decorous, black-coated parson I had parted with; and although the
+journey had been very exhausting, for I had to travel in the
+post-cart, my interest in him and the country had never abated. Then
+he opened the door wide about sunrise, and said casually, 'Sit up and
+look at my view, Ailsa.' I sat up, and for a moment I could not speak
+at all. Do you know, Miss Pym, the country looked positively hung with
+diamonds that wonderful morning. I shall never forget it. Just outside
+the door, forming a sort of framework to the scene beyond, was some
+tall, dry grass, thin and straggly enough to let the light through.
+And where at the top it spread into graceful, hanging, feathery
+seed-ears, it was hung with large dewdrops, reflecting all the colours
+of the rainbow. Behind them was the bluest of early-morning skies.
+Beyond them, what you see here, a far dream-country of untold
+loveliness. I said, 'O, Billy! have you lived beside this all these
+months?' And then I began to cry, because I didn't know what else to
+do, and I was so glad that I had come."</p>
+
+<p>A fleeting shadow of sadness seemed to cross Meryl's face. "I envy
+you," she said in a low voice. "You can stay on with the man you love,
+and see it every day. I must go back to the tea-parties."</p>
+
+<p>"Most people pity me."</p>
+
+<p>"I dare say; and they envy me," with a little forlorn smile.</p>
+
+<p>"You have much power, and power is good," softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Have I?... How, why, where?... What shall I do with all this money my
+father makes? I wonder what I could do to take from my heart this
+feeling that I am an alien and an intruder in this lovely country,
+among you people who are quietly making history? If your husband
+wants money for his mission, I could get him a cheque for a thousand
+pounds from my father, I know; but what is that compared to giving
+one's life as you do, and growing right into the heart of the country,
+and feeling just that it is yours because of what you have given? I
+know that is how Major Carew feels also. One can see it in his rapt
+gaze. He does not care for very much else in the world. But we, my
+father and I, we just take riches out, and give nothing but cheques
+which we never even miss." She got up and moved to the doorway,
+controlling with an effort her sudden, unexpected show of emotion.
+"The others have been looking at your fowls and cattle," she said,
+"and now they are coming back. I hope Mr. Grenville will show us over
+the mission station."</p>
+
+<p>"He will be delighted," Ailsa answered, following her lead with quick
+understanding; "and another day you must come and sit in my doorway
+again."</p>
+
+<p>"I should love to;" and she stepped out into the sunlight to join the
+gay trio Diana was still the life of.</p>
+
+<p>Then Mr. Grenville took them into his workshops and his little mission
+hall, and showed them how he taught the boys carpentering and
+blacksmithing, and reading and writing and farming; making good,
+useful labourers of them with even greater zeal than that with which
+he made them Christians. Diana, the outspoken, could not resist a
+surprised comment.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought people who had been abroad always ran down missionaries,
+and scoffed at missionary work?"</p>
+
+<p>"They do very often," Grenville replied, with frankness, "and not
+without reason. A great many missionaries are naturally not very
+suitable men. It is almost impossible to pick and choose."</p>
+
+<p>"There are some," put in Stanley disgustedly, "who just confirm all
+the blacks they can, without bothering about how much they understand,
+and then make communicants of them so that they can send good figures
+home to their society for the missionary magazines. They don't teach
+them anything useful at all, and they do a roaring trade with the
+garments sent out by pious ladies' work guilds; as if the natives
+weren't better in their own natural state than they are ever likely
+to be dressed up in clothes and fuddled with doctrines."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Grenville, standing very upright and looking every inch a man,
+said simply, "It isn't entirely their fault always. The home folk like
+the figures; they imagine they stand for progress, and they know
+nothing about the conditions. Many missionaries are very fine men, and
+they would do even better work if left a little more to their own
+initiative, and not cursed with this atmosphere of competition in
+figures. It isn't fair to damn the whole flock because a few of the
+sheep are black."</p>
+
+<p>"And don't you ever feel you are wasting your talents?" Meryl asked
+him a little shyly.</p>
+
+<p>He threw his head back and squared his shoulders with a characteristic
+movement. "It is better than the hypocrisy and feebleness of the
+condition of affairs at home; and I am very fond of the natives. They
+are most lovable, when one once gets their confidence and understands
+them. And the freedom is good, and the primitive conditions. The
+getting right down to the bedrock of nature, so to speak, without too
+much highly developed civilisation. Yes, it is a good life for a man.
+Sometime I should like to show you the mission farm. We've made
+tremendous strides lately."</p>
+
+<p>"And you?..." Diana turned with a winsome air to Ailsa Grenville. "Do
+you find the natives lovable, and the primitive conditions?... And are
+you proud of the mission farm?... Or doesn't it all sometimes make you
+just long to scream?... It would me!..."</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa smiled into her eyes. "One grows adaptable very quickly. I
+confess I am very happy here. Certainly there are times when one feels
+rather as if one had dropped off the world into space, but it doesn't
+take long to struggle through it. But then, of course, it is well to
+remember that Billy and I are rather an exceptional couple; quite
+absurdly, idiotically satisfied with each other's company. If it were
+not so our lives would be purgatory. The tragedies of these far
+countries are for the husbands and wives isolated from all other
+companionship, and having perhaps nothing in common with each other.
+There are few conditions worse than isolation under those
+circumstances. It breaks the woman's spirit and sours the man and
+brings shipwreck, where a little other congenial companionship might
+have brought them through in safety."</p>
+
+<p>They were interrupted by the sound of voices outside, and found that
+Mr. Pym and his engineer, having encountered Major Carew returning
+from Edwardstown, had persuaded him to show them the way to the
+mission. Mr. and Mrs. Grenville greeted them with eager warmth, and,
+the afternoon sun having sunk behind some trees, tea was spread
+outside the huts, so that they could drink it while admiring the view.
+Carew, though silent as ever, was less rigid, and Meryl saw how
+insistently his eyes strayed back to the blue vista of kopjes. She
+wondered what he thought of all day long, in his continuous silences,
+and behind the quiet, forceful eyes. It was noticeable that Diana
+seemed to have outgrown both her awe and chagrin towards him; and
+though at first he proved very unbending, she eventually won something
+like a repartee out of him. Ailsa watched them quietly from the
+background, and waited hopefully, but in vain, to see his eyes stray
+to Meryl. Indeed, he seemed almost to shun her, and she noted it with
+regret. Was it possible that already his preference was given to
+Diana, with her light raillery and ready laugh? Diana so pretty, so
+attractive, so original, and yet to Ailsa's thinking, so far less
+reliable and restful than Meryl. In the end, by a clever little
+man&oelig;uvre, she brought Carew and Meryl together.</p>
+
+<p>"You are almost outvied, Major Carew," she told him lightly. "Miss Pym
+likes my view already, as much, if not more, than you. I told her you
+loved to sit and look at it, and that is exactly what she likes to
+do."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl smiled, but made no comment. Mere admiration seemed superfluous,
+and Carew was grateful that she spared him raptures. So they sat quite
+still, and instead of any constraint between them because of the
+silence, there was a vague sense of restfulness and understanding.
+Meryl spoke first, and then she made no allusion to his love of the
+spot.</p>
+
+<p>"I think you were right," she said simply. "Mrs. Grenville must be one
+of Rhodesia's heroines."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you specially mean it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean it, because one <i>knows</i> there must be times when the isolation
+is almost unendurable, and when she must long for many of the things
+of her old life, however much she declares otherwise."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I think there are. She evidently had many friends, and she has
+almost lost them all. It is difficult to keep up friendships by post."</p>
+
+<p>Then Ailsa herself joined them.</p>
+
+<p>"Has Major Carew been with you into the temple, yet?" she asked Meryl.
+"He is better than any guide-book for information."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl coloured faintly, but looked a little amused. He had so
+persistently withstood every friendly hint or invitation to accompany
+them among the ruins.</p>
+
+<p>"He has been very much occupied ever since we came," she said,
+glancing towards him.</p>
+
+<p>Carew looked quite unconcerned, and merely assented, which made Ailsa
+rather want to shake him. "But it ought to be part of your business,"
+she told him, "to interest visitors in our wonderful old ruin."</p>
+
+<p>"I can hardly imagine anyone needing any incentive to that from me,"
+he said.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl glanced at him humorously. Some new phase she had detected in
+him, since Diana persisted in what she called "baiting" him, made her
+more ready to overlook his bearishness and less quick to feel
+repulsed.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you take me if I promise not to ask any silly questions?" she
+asked, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>He looked up, and for a brief moment the past seemed to lie still as
+one that is dead. His keen, direct eyes looked straight into hers, and
+he said simply, "I should like to take you."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl felt her cheeks glow a little with sudden, swift, indefinable
+pleasure, and almost at the same moment Diana broke in upon them.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know, Major Carew, your singularly appropriate nickname has
+been subjected to a little embroidery?... You are now called, after
+the C&oelig;ur de Lion, 'The Bear with two faces.'" All in a moment he
+stiffened and the shadow loomed; and while Meryl wondered Diana ran on
+unheedingly, "If I say to you when we meet, 'Which face is it to-day?'
+you will know that I mean, is it your day of lordly graciousness, or
+is it the cast-iron, beware-of-the-bull frown day?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think you are excessively rude, Diana," Meryl said, though she
+smiled with the rest.</p>
+
+<p>Carew smiled too, but he rose from his seat and moved away on some
+small pretence.</p>
+
+<p>And as he went, Meryl, watching with eyes that were daily gaining
+clearer sight, saw that the shadow was as of some deep, unfathomable
+pain.</p>
+
+<p>She too got up and moved a little away from the rest, gazing with
+grave, tender eyes across the kopjes, lying how bathed in a faint
+ethereal flush of rose and gold.</p>
+
+<p>"He had not always two faces," she said in her heart. "Something hurt
+him badly once, and ever since he has taken refuge behind the iron
+mask."</p>
+
+<p>"Rhodesia," her heart whispered, almost without her consciousness,
+"cannot you with your fairness reward him for his work by soothing
+away the memory so that the refuge is no longer needed?..."</p>
+
+<p>A little later, as they all prepared to ride home, she saw how
+resolutely he took his place with the engineer, and hastened on ahead,
+quenching even Diana by the stoniness of his mien.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII</h2>
+
+<h2>A DECISION THAT FAILED</h2>
+
+<p>As Carew sat outside his hut that evening smoking a solitary pipe, two
+thoughts seemed to fill his mind. The one that he had told Meryl he
+would be pleased to visit the temple ruins with her; the other the
+warning unconsciously conveyed in Diana's raillery, reminding him that
+he was in danger of straying from the rigid pathway he had chosen of
+unsociable aloofness, and therefore in a measure, perchance, inviting
+trouble.</p>
+
+<p>But of course he need not go. A polite message by Stanley, or a call
+as he rode past perhaps, already starting on some convenient
+engagement. Yet as he sat on he knew it was not entirely his wish to
+resort to either subterfuge. Why, after all, should he not go with her
+just once, and no doubt Diana also, and tell them a little about the
+mysterious walls?</p>
+
+<p>He pulled hard at his pipe, staring into the darkness. Why not go and
+get it over, instead of troubling to send an excuse? Surely that were
+the simpler plan? One moment he thought he would, and the next he
+found himself shrinking unaccountably, warned again by Diana's chaff.
+He knew quite well she was right. He was a man, or a bear if she
+preferred it, with two faces; but the trouble was that she should so
+thoroughly have grasped the fact. He had only intended to show one
+face, the uninviting, frigid one; and yet unconsciously she had won
+from him more than one glimpse of the other.</p>
+
+<p>And if he unbent so far as to act as their escort to the ruins, he was
+yielding still further to an atmosphere of friendliness he had
+forsworn.</p>
+
+<p>He turned in at last, still in indecision, but the next morning he
+said he would not go.</p>
+
+<p>So Meryl waited a little forlornly through the morning hours. It was
+unusually cool for Zimbabwe, the hot sun being hidden by grey clouds,
+and she knew no question of heat could possibly be detaining him. She
+had hoped he would call for her about eleven and then come back to
+lunch; but the morning wore on, and no tall figure in khaki strode out
+from the clearing where the police camp stood.</p>
+
+<p>Neither did the afternoon bring any word or sign, until Stanley
+arrived for a cup of tea and to ask them to stroll up to the store
+with him at the head of the valley. Diana agreed readily, having found
+the hours somewhat tedious; but Meryl felt tired and headachy, and
+chose to remain behind. Once, as casually as she could, she asked if
+Carew had gone anywhere for the day.</p>
+
+<p>"No, he's grinding away at his report for the Native Commission, and
+as solemn as a judge. I don't think he has spoken two words all day."</p>
+
+<p>"Is there some special haste then?"</p>
+
+<p>"O no; it is just his mood. He gets a sort of black day sometimes,
+when he barely answers if you speak to him, and looks like a bronze
+figure. Then he grinds away at something or other as if his life
+depended on it, and Moore and I have to just shut up."</p>
+
+<p>When they had gone away up the valley Meryl sat on alone in the shade,
+thinking deeply. Evidently he had some reason of his own for not
+following up his promise, and she need not any longer expect him. He
+did not want to take her, and probably was vexed that he had said that
+he would. It did not seem very polite, but she hardly looked at it in
+that way. Somehow, with this stern-featured soldier-policeman, the
+ordinary amenities of conventional intercourse seemed to have little
+weight. If he regretted his words and did not want to go, she liked
+him better for calmly remaining away, than coming against his wish,
+because he felt he ought. Another man would have done that, any man,
+in fact; only Peter Carew, and a few like him, would calmly change his
+mind and remain aloof without saying anything.</p>
+
+<p>Yet how keenly she was disappointed. It was quite idle to pretend
+otherwise to herself, and with a strength like his she calmly faced
+the fact. When she went to bed the previous night she had lain awake
+thinking of the morrow, hugging to her consciousness with shy
+gladness that he was on the point of unbending at last and showing a
+little friendliness. In a few days now they would be journeying on,
+and she had begun to expect he would remain unbending to the last, and
+let them go away, perhaps never to meet again, with nothing beyond the
+official courtesy and the occasional sparring with Diana. And then had
+come this sudden hope, and she had been strangely glad. One might live
+a lifetime and not again meet a man quite like him. Even if their
+intercourse were to be of the merest afterwards, still it was better
+than nothing, better than a final end to all friendship when they
+journeyed on again, leaving him and the ruins behind.</p>
+
+<p>And now had come this swift disappointment. He must have regretted his
+move instantly, and made up his mind to be more rigid than ever.</p>
+
+<p>She hardly troubled to ask why. Doubtless he had his own reasons, and
+whatever they were, they were nothing petty or small. Her eyes strayed
+a little longingly to the police camp, and she watched the door of his
+hut from her chair securely hidden behind some low bushes.</p>
+
+<p>Was he still grinding at his report, she wondered, looking like a
+bronze figure? The simile pleased her, and she smiled. Yes, bronze was
+the right word to use, for his face and hands and arms were tanned
+almost to the colour of his khaki with exposure, so that he sometimes
+looked all of a piece, except for the close-clipped dark moustache and
+keen, intense blue eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Then as she looked she saw some movement in the camp. A boy appeared,
+apparently in answer to a call, and stood a moment receiving
+directions. Then the tall figure itself appeared, stood a moment to
+give an order, and strode down towards the little gate. She sat up,
+and her breath came a little unevenly. Was he really coming at last?
+Had he, after all, been seriously delayed?</p>
+
+<p>No; outside the gate, without one glance towards the tents on the
+hill-side, he turned to the left and disappeared in the direction of
+the Acropolis Hill.</p>
+
+<p>So there was nothing further to hope for. He would never come now. It
+was the end.</p>
+
+<p>She got up, feeling suddenly a new tiredness, and wishing vaguely that
+they were leaving on the morrow. Perhaps it would be possible to
+persuade her father to do so without exciting much comment. Diana was
+already a little bored with their camping-place and ready to be off,
+and she ... without daring to probe too deeply, Meryl felt, for the
+sake of her own peace of mind, it would be wiser to go quietly away
+from a presence so likely to disturb her peace.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, she would ask her father to plan a move as soon as he came in,
+and in the meantime she must do something herself to pass the next
+hour more helpfully than sitting alone in the shade.</p>
+
+<p>The greyness had rolled away now, and the evening grown exceptionally
+lovely, with clear skies overhead and great banks of pearly tinted
+clouds on the horizons. Where should she go? Only two ways lay open.
+Either she must follow Diana and Stanley up the valley, or she must
+stroll down to the temple alone. The third route lay to the Acropolis
+Hill, and that was formidably closed by the presence of the man who
+should have been her companion. Finally she decided on the temple, and
+tying on the large grey hat that blended so charmingly with her eyes
+and the soft tints of her skin, she walked along the little footpath
+skirting the police-camp vegetable-garden to the western entrance.</p>
+
+<p>Inside the temple walls all was very peaceful and still, while the
+sunshine made a network of gold through the leafy trees upon the
+antique masonry. Yet as she looked around upon the empty desolation
+her heart grew sad with a nameless sorrow; that old, old ache, and
+old, old tiredness, for the utter futility of work and of striving,
+that sometimes seems to fill the human heart, when in a depressed mood
+it looks upon the ruins of something that has once had strength and
+greatness. Meryl carried in her hand a little pocket edition of Omar,
+but she did not open the leaves nor read the lines. In a vague way it
+was enough to have it with her; it was like having in her hand the
+hand of a friend who understood. For of all poets the world has known,
+perhaps none have so perfectly voiced the cry of the human heart when
+it questions the why and the wherefore and the worthwhileness of its
+own mysterious existence. So she sat very still in the ancient temple,
+and pondered the old questions that live from age to age&mdash;unanswered.</p>
+
+<p>And because Sorrow seemed for the moment to have her in his keeping,
+all her thoughts were tinged with sadness. She looked around upon the
+broken walls, and it seemed to be brought home to her with sudden
+force, how little time was given to each one to play his part before
+he must make room for another.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i3">The Bird of Time has but a little way</span>
+<span class="i3">To fly, and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.</span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And because there was that element of greatness in her, which was also
+in her father, she thought less of the "worthwhileness" of doing than
+of the poorness of <i>not</i> doing. His talents were given to
+money-making, because it was the thing he had a genius for; but she
+knew that in a measure he fulfilled his trust, and besides subscribing
+generously to charities, helped many a "lame dog" over his stile in
+secret. But what had this to do with the trust that was hers? She who
+did not even bear the heat and burden of the day in making the
+money?... She who had but to spend it.</p>
+
+<p>In the ruined temple she sat on&mdash;thinking, thinking.</p>
+
+<p>How the spot fascinated her!</p>
+
+<p>In this far Rhodesia, how strange that she, the product of the most
+modern and presumably enlightened age, should linger there amidst
+these broken walls, and feel strange kinship and fascination about
+those old people in that remote age; should stretch a hand out to
+them, as it were, across the centuries, with this feeling that their
+thoughts had been even as her thoughts, and that the passing of the
+ages could never eradicate the essential likeness of one people to
+another in those old eternal questions of whence and why and
+wherefore.</p>
+
+<p>And they, the maidens of that day, had loved the man who was big and
+strong and true, even as the maidens of to-day; the man who achieved;
+who was ever fearless to do and dare; who gave his service to the
+world quietly, unostentatiously, indifferent to praise or reward. And
+what was the use of it all: the love, the heartache, the silent
+admiration.... The maidens were dust now, and all the strength and the
+heroism of the strong men could not give them one age longer to do and
+dare ere they too made room for others.</p>
+
+<p>Yet always&mdash;always&mdash;deep-rooted in the heart and mind of humanity, was
+this ineradicable belief in the simple act of <i>doing</i>; this
+half-contempt of the lives content to flutter their little way in
+aimless self-seeking. The spirit that took men through the terrible
+solitudes of untrodden places, that urged them across uncharted seas,
+that carried them fearlessly aloft to conquer the air&mdash;not for gain,
+not for notoriety, not for praise, but just that simple splendid need
+to be <i>doing</i>. How it appealed to her, how it enthralled her senses,
+how it made her ache with a great overwhelming desire to discover
+quickly what "doing" in a big sense there might be for her!</p>
+
+<p>Of course he, the stern soldier-policeman, was of the fearless band.
+In his quiet way he was "doing" with the foremost, though it might be
+a work that would never bring him anything in this world but enough
+pay just to live upon. But that was beside the point. The band to
+which he belonged did not linger in the shallows, counting the cost,
+counting the gain; they plunged straightway into the deep waters, and
+struggled to some mysterious, perhaps fugitive, goal ahead, finding
+their reward in the struggle itself and the difficult headway won.</p>
+
+<p>And afterwards!...</p>
+
+<p>O, what did it matter about afterwards, if one had put up a good fight
+and dared the deep waters? How much better to be overwhelmed there,
+than to fritter away a butterfly life in the shallows! How splendid to
+win through and stand on the far bank with the quiet band of strong
+workers, even though no one knew aught of the struggle, instead of
+being lauded to the skies by the playing butterflies!</p>
+
+<p>Only, what could she do; ah, what?</p>
+
+<p>A wave of hopelessness seemed to seize upon her, and back across her
+mind like a lash cut the dictum of the strong, rigid man, "A
+millionaire's daughter can generally be pretty useful if she likes."</p>
+
+<p>Of course, signing cheques, cheques, cheques&mdash;a mere machine&mdash;and
+never to get in touch with the deep need, the inarticulate sorrow of
+the world that her soul ached to comfort. It would seem that even to
+him, the figure of bronze, it was what she should seek as her
+<i>m&eacute;tier</i>. She almost wondered if somewhere in his heart he had a
+faint contempt for her, because she was a millionaire's daughter: a
+product of the new r&eacute;gime; someone who could not be permitted to stand
+in the same light as the women of his ancient, illustrious name; who
+had no part with the proud, patrician ladies of his great family.</p>
+
+<p>She rose to her feet suddenly, feeling unaccountably hurt by the
+thought, and her eyes roved half unconsciously, and fixed themselves
+upon the spot where the scarlet petals of the Kaffir boom showed
+blood-red against the ancient northern wall. The ache in her heart
+coloured all her mind for the moment, shutting out the glad sunshine
+with its golden evening glow resting tenderly upon the granite blocks,
+showing her only the splashes of scarlet like blood upon the ancient
+walls. Was it the altar of sacrifice? Did the Kaffir boom shed its
+great red flowers for ever, like drops of blood upon the altar of the
+world's pain?</p>
+
+<p>The sound of a step upon broken stones roused her suddenly; a man's
+firm tread close beside her. She looked round slowly as it stood
+still, and with the ache and the question lingering in her face, found
+herself looking into blue eyes of a disconcerting directness&mdash;the eyes
+of the soldier-policeman.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw you from the Acropolis Hill," he said, "and so I came."</p>
+
+<p>No word of why he had not come sooner; no explanation of his presence
+on the Acropolis Hill when she had a right to expect him with her; no
+preliminaries at all, no self-conscious excuses, no apparent
+realisation that he had behaved a little oddly; only the simple,
+direct announcement, "I saw you, so I came."</p>
+
+<p>Yet there was something more&mdash;a vague intangible something, that made
+the directness of his eyes disconcerting in a way it had not been
+before. Meryl felt a pink flush stealing over her face, and turned her
+head away to hide it.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder what you were thinking about just then?" he said, with the
+slightest softening. "I awoke you from a very deep reverie."</p>
+
+<p>She raised her eyes, and they fell again upon the scarlet flowers.
+Something born of her own deep understanding told her, give this man
+straightness for straightness always if you would stand well with
+him; no begging the question, no subterfuge.</p>
+
+<p>"I was thinking," she answered simply, "that those scarlet petals of
+the Kaffir boom, falling on these ancient walls, suggest great blood
+drops offered, upon the altar of the world's pain throughout the
+ages."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!..." The exclamation escaped him quickly, unheedingly&mdash;sharp,
+short, abrupt. It was as though she had struck him suddenly in a
+vulnerable place. It told her, as perhaps nothing else could have
+done, she had gauged rightly when she remarked to Diana that sometime
+something had hurt him very much.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment there was a tense, pulsing silence, and then he turned
+aside towards the sacred enclosure which stood behind them. Meryl
+turned also, and ventured as she did so to glance into his face. It
+was stern again now, but she knew for a brief moment as he made the
+exclamation it had not been so, and for a reason she did not seek to
+fathom her heart was strangely glad.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV</h2>
+
+<h2>THE ANCIENT RUINS</h2>
+
+<p>When Carew had started up into the Acropolis Hill an hour previously,
+he had not had the faintest intention of fulfilling his engagement and
+going in search of Meryl. On the contrary, he had gone there to avoid
+her.</p>
+
+<p>All day long, as Stanley described, he had been grinding away at his
+native report in a gruff, determined silence: a silence even gruffer
+and more determined than usual. Because of his thoughts the previous
+evening and of his decision in the morning, he had finally made up his
+mind not to visit the temple with Meryl Pym, and not to run any
+further risk of slipping unconsciously into the friendly attitude he
+was so anxious to avoid. When Stanley set out towards the tents, he
+mentioned casually that he was going up the valley to the store, which
+is also a most attractive and comfortable hostel for Zimbabwe
+visitors, and should ask the two girls to go with him. A little later,
+glancing in the valley direction, Carew saw the khaki figure for a
+moment going up the pathway, and the flutter of a light dress, or
+possibly two, just ahead. He took it for granted that Meryl and Diana
+had both accompanied Stanley, and that his escort was no longer
+expected. He told himself he was glad, and decided to go into the
+Acropolis Hill, about that point of interest still unravelled between
+himself and Grenville, and so avoid any chance encounter.</p>
+
+<p>But when he found himself among the ruined fortifications, he became
+conscious of a flagging interest wholly unlooked for. Something seemed
+to have gone out of him, or out of the ancient stones, and he knew
+himself in some vague way not in tune. He gazed at the amazing walls,
+erected upon granite boulders two hundred to two hundred and fifty
+feet above the valley, and the marvel in him that never seemed to die
+was, at any rate, less arresting than it had ever been before.</p>
+
+<p>Here, on an isolated hill, rising to a height of three hundred and
+fifty feet, were fortifications which in their ingenuity, massive
+character, and persistent repetition at every point of vantage had
+astonished the highest experts of modern military engineering. Rampart
+walls, traverses, screen-walls, intricate entrances, narrow and
+labyrinthine passages, sunken thoroughfares, banquettes, parapets, and
+other devices of a people thoroughly conversant with military
+engineering and defence, and not one word, not one line, not one clue
+as to the identity of the builders nor the object of their colossal
+labours; labours which one felt could only have been achieved through
+the compulsory service of many slaves, for thousands of tons of
+granite blocks had been transported up the precipitous kopje to a
+height of no less than two hundred feet, which a careful examination
+of the rocks on the hill proves must mostly have been quarried from
+granite about twelve miles distant. And all this in spite of the fact
+that Nature alone had made the hill already impregnable, it being
+inaccessible on three sides and very difficult of ascent on the
+fourth. It is one of Rhodesia's mysteries, and one also of its
+fascinations; those mysteries and fascinations which so far have
+effectually baffled all efforts to find the clue and read the closed
+book. Who was it came for gold in those old, old days? Who was it
+built the line of forts to Solfala on the coast to guard the route
+along which the gold was undoubtedly carried, and of which remains may
+still be seen at regular intervals the whole distance? Where was the
+gold taken to from Solfala, and by whom?</p>
+
+<p>And no less strange perhaps is the absence of all clue to the
+burial-ground of this stalwart race; for only a stalwart people could
+have built those temple walls and those amazing fortifications. Where
+then are the bones of their dead? Strange and incomprehensible as it
+may seem, no excavations have yet unearthed human bones, or brought to
+light any spot that might be supposed to have been a burial-ground.</p>
+
+<p>To Peter Carew the mystery and the fascination had become such an
+ever-present companion in his thoughts, that it was not surprising a
+moment should come when he stood among the ramparts and found their
+interest for the time being crowded out. The surprising thing was the
+source of that crowding out. For it was not even the lengthy report
+for the Native Commission to which he was giving such infinite thought
+and pains that filled his mind; neither was it anything to do with the
+police force he had grown to care for as truly as his old regiment;
+nor any far-reaching, visionary dream for the welfare of the country.
+Chiefly it was a pair of grave blue-grey eyes, with a gleam in them as
+their owner said, "Will you take me if I promise not to ask any silly
+questions?" And he had said "Yes." Yet now he was here on the
+Acropolis Hill alone.</p>
+
+<p>He stared moodily at the broken walls and pondered within himself. Why
+had he not taken her? Or why, since he had chosen not to do so, could
+he not put the whole remembrance from his mind? Nay, why did he half
+begin to wish that he had not let himself be overruled by his own
+counsel of prudence? They would be going so soon now, and it might be
+long before he would again be given an opportunity to speak with any
+woman of Meryl's charm, or look into any face so full of attraction.
+And yet that was just what he wished; was actually the chief reason
+for his unsociable resolutions. His own inconsistency puzzled and
+worried him, and his eyes as he looked steadily to the horizon had a
+lurking cloud in them.</p>
+
+<p>Then quite suddenly and unexpectedly he had turned his gaze to the
+temple walls lying far below, and seen the figure seated idly on
+fallen masonry, lost in thought.</p>
+
+<p>Then she had not gone with Stanley and Diana? She had remained behind
+alone, nettled perhaps by his bearishness, and choosing to be
+independent, and still take her stroll to the temple without him.</p>
+
+<p>But it was not the thought of her possible censure that spurred him
+unexpectedly to a new decision. He had accustomed himself to be
+indifferent to that in most people. It was a perfectly simple and
+direct desire to join her. And because at heart he was a perfectly
+simple and direct man, he suddenly left off cogitating and started
+down the hill. Perhaps until that moment he had not truly known which
+way his desire lay. Perhaps in the first discovery he had purposely
+not chosen to give himself time to weigh and probe. Anyhow, he
+hesitated no more, until he stood at her side and looked into her
+eyes with that direct gaze that Meryl so unexpectedly found
+disconcerting. But the sensation passed rapidly, and in its place came
+a quiet content. Whether he had avoided her all day or not, at least
+he came now entirely of his own initiative, and for the time it was
+enough. She was too honest to pretend anything herself, and possessed
+too fine a nature to cover what might have held embarrassment by a
+coquettish taunt or feigned pique.</p>
+
+<p>"I had given you up," she said; "it seemed probable that you had
+spoken unthinkingly when you said you would come."</p>
+
+<p>"I have been working all day at my report," he replied simply.</p>
+
+<p>He seemed a little different somehow, and besides, he had come
+entirely of his own free will. She remembered it, and put away all
+sense of restraint, fought down and conquered the self-consciousness
+that sometimes seemed to grip her when he was taciturn and aloof.</p>
+
+<p>He had placed one foot on a low wall, and leaned back against a tree
+in a natural, unrestrained attitude, and quite naturally she seated
+herself on the wall before him.</p>
+
+<p>"You found it very engrossing?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is interesting work."</p>
+
+<p>"Has it any special object, or just a general one?"</p>
+
+<p>"A little of both. We want to benefit the natives as a whole and
+improve their conditions; and we want also to make some changes in the
+native administration of the country."</p>
+
+<p>"And you are fond of the natives? For you at least they are worth
+while?"</p>
+
+<p>"Emphatically so."</p>
+
+<p>"To any particular end?"</p>
+
+<p>His face grew grave and thoughtful, but the hardening stayed away
+still&mdash;the hardening that so often came when either she or Diana,
+sought to draw him. Only apparently to men would he speak of his work
+and his beliefs.</p>
+
+<p>"It is difficult to say. Probably nothing but time will show us the
+true solution of the problem of the black and the white race living
+together in one country. But meanwhile the black man is eminently
+worth while. With firm and just treatment he is capable of great
+development."</p>
+
+<p>He raised his eyes and looked out into the distance. "If only we could
+ensure it for him everywhere! Native commissioners and their clerks
+and the magistrates, all men of fine fibre, who honestly care about
+the natives under them and the welfare of the country. So much could
+be done if ... if ..." He smiled a little grimly. "We are so apt to
+expect the impossible," he finished. "How should numbers of men of
+fine fibre ever reach Rhodesia at all? In so many cases we must just
+take what we can get."</p>
+
+<p>"But the standard will improve as the country grows?"</p>
+
+<p>"O yes; it is improving steadily. All the signs are hopeful, if we can
+but light upon what is truly the best method of administering the
+native laws, and get good men to carry the work out."</p>
+
+<p>And still the heavenly sense of unrestrained mental kinship lingered.
+Happy, yet fearful, Meryl ventured a word of appreciation.</p>
+
+<p>"It must make you glad to feel you are doing such a useful work for a
+young country. It seems as if ... as if ... it is just what a man
+might ask to be doing."</p>
+
+<p>He drew himself up with a slightly taut movement, and she divined he
+did not wish for any personal praise; yet, because a tinge of red
+showed under the bronze, she was glad she had seized the opportunity
+to offer a tribute that might at some odd moment heal a passing sense
+of uselessness and appreciation.</p>
+
+<p>She stood up also, and they moved slowly round the ruins together,
+while he explained to her much that he had read and gathered and
+surmised in his leisure hours, not only about the temple itself, but
+about all the ancient remains and the mysterious people who had dwelt
+there long ago. Told as he told it, the listener could only find it
+enthralling, for the man's heart was in his subject; and where another
+might have rhapsodised or sentimentalised, he only stated certain
+remarkable facts, and gave her the simple reasons for and against
+certain deductions, that she might decide her own view for herself.</p>
+
+<p>"But you?..." she questioned at last. "In spite of the scientific men
+who have scoffed, and their followers who have thrown cold water upon
+all enthusiastic belief in the antiquity of the ruins, you are quite
+satisfied that they are really of a very great age, are you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Absolutely."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you tell me why chiefly?" She smiled a little. "I believe it
+absolutely myself, but I am afraid it is partly a sentimental belief.
+Already I love them, and it makes me jealous for them. I feel I cannot
+bear anyone to throw doubt upon their antiquity."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not easy to explain in a few words, without a great many facts
+and a lot of detail, but I can tell you one or two salient points. For
+one thing, Zimbabwe was evidently connected with a gold industry on a
+very large scale. Mr. Telford Edwards, a well-known and able mining
+engineer in Rhodesia, measured up, about fourteen years ago, the
+length, breadth, and depth of most of the then known old workings in
+Rhodesia, and calculated the cubic contents of what had been taken
+out. And taking the assay value in each old working to be per ton the
+same as it is in the reef in each case now, he estimated that at the
+present value of gold more than one hundred million pounds' worth had
+been taken out. Even two hundred years ago gold was worth very much
+more than it is now; so that it is inconceivable that such an amount
+had been produced within the last two thousand years without any
+mention of it anywhere. Such a production of gold would have upset the
+markets of the world."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said eagerly as he paused; "please go on."</p>
+
+<p>He did so, but without withdrawing his gaze from the distance.
+"Another point is that the workings are so widely dispersed and so
+numerous, requiring such an enormous amount of time and labour, that
+it seems only reasonable to believe that the gold-mining went on for
+many hundreds of years, probably before the age of writing at all. I
+am not prepared to agree offhand that Zimbabwe is probably the ancient
+Havilah of the Scriptures, but I see no very good reason why it should
+not be. On the other hand, the ancient workings and fortifications and
+temples may have been the work of Ph&oelig;nicians or Mongols several
+thousand years ago. Certainly against Mr. McIver's theory, that the
+Temple was the work of Bantus a few hundred years ago, I think we may
+put the fact that an admirable drainage system has been
+unearthed;&mdash;drainage systems of any kind being more or less unknown to
+black races of a low order. In the meantime, we can but await fresh
+clues, which may put us upon the track of proofs, and hope that the
+day is not very far distant when much of the mystery will be cleared."</p>
+
+<p>"O, I hope so," she said; "and thank you so much for telling me all
+that you have. I shall think of it often when I am back in 'the cities
+of the plain,'" and she smiled a little wistfully.</p>
+
+<p>He did not answer, and she wondered what deep thoughts at the back of
+his brain made him always so grave. She felt instinctively he had not
+always worn this serious, preoccupied air, and her heart grew tender
+anew at the thought of that "something" which had hurt him long ago.</p>
+
+<p>Had he ever told anyone? she wondered. Would he ever tell anyone?...
+or would he go quietly on through his life, self-contained,
+self-dependent, aloof? Well, it was good to have met him and known
+him; a simple, strong soul going quietly about its appointed service
+is always good to have known. Perhaps the recollection of the meeting
+later would help her to do likewise, and in the maze of her life learn
+at least to do the simple, strong thing at the moment.</p>
+
+<p>They were moving towards the western entrance now, and she wondered if
+he would accompany her back to the tents, and perhaps stay a little,
+as Stanley did evening after evening. But just as they approached the
+opening voices were heard, and a moment later Diana and Stanley stood
+in the wide aperture. Diana's winsome face was lit with whimsical
+mischievousness, but it fell somewhat when she beheld Carew.</p>
+
+<p>"O goodness!" she remarked comically. "Who would have thought of
+finding you here?"</p>
+
+<p>Stanley and Meryl laughed at her apparent discomfiture, and even Carew
+relaxed as he replied, "You don't seem entirely pleased."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no, I'm not; but if you are just leaving it doesn't matter."</p>
+
+<p>"I think I shall stay; I scent some vandalism."</p>
+
+<p>"O well," airily, "if you will have it, we were just coming to dig for
+corpses;" and she tossed her head with an independent air.</p>
+
+<p>"It is strictly forbidden to dig for anything on pain of various dire
+penalties," Carew told her.</p>
+
+<p>"I know it is, and that is just exactly why it interferes with my
+plans to find <i>you</i> here."</p>
+
+<p>"I see. And what about Mr. Stanley, who is also a representative of
+the Government that made the laws?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Stanley is only a trooper, and I am Diana Pym. It is not his
+place to interfere with my actions. It would only be mine to shield
+him if he was persuaded to help me and got into trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"And what in the world do you want with a corpse, Di?" asked Meryl.</p>
+
+<p>"Why gold, of course! Mr. Stanley has been telling me a perfectly
+thrilling theory about corpses with a lot of antique gold ornaments on
+them being buried in the ruins; and he knows where one or two are,
+because a gold-diviner showed him with his divining-rod, and he marked
+the places in case he wanted to remember later; and to-day is when he
+did want to remember later, and he's just strolled round with me to
+point out the spots; and if that isn't a long enough sentence for you,
+you must add some more yourself," drawing a long breath.</p>
+
+<p>The Kid, enjoying himself hugely, hastened to add for Carew's benefit,
+"It's only just a joke. Miss Pym wanted me to show her where our
+visitor of the other day said he had divined gold."</p>
+
+<p>"It's not a joke at all," declared Diana defiantly. "It's the key to
+the whole mystery. While all you scientific folks are arguing this,
+that, and the other, I want to look and see. Besides, if there are
+antique gold ornaments, perhaps a few thousand years old, I want some.
+I'm not specially in love with your old broken walls, but I'm ready to
+be in love with your jewellery, worn a few thousand years ago."</p>
+
+<p>"You Philistine!" exclaimed Meryl. "If you can't appreciate the ruins,
+you certainly ought not to be allowed to possess a single treasure
+taken from them."</p>
+
+<p>"O rot!... What's the use of decayed old walls anyway? You and Major
+Carew can have the heaps of stones. We don't want to rob you of so
+much as a pebble. But we do badly want to dig down and look for a
+corpse."</p>
+
+<p>"And when did you propose to begin?" asked Carew.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I suppose a moonlight night would be best, when you're rolled
+up in your den or else when you've gone off to a distant kraal."</p>
+
+<p>"You would see a ghost in about half an hour," from Meryl, "and fly
+for your life."</p>
+
+<p>"O, are there ghosts?" looking suddenly dubious. "Did your diviner
+divine any ghosts while he was about it?..." turning to Stanley. "You
+never told me that. Of course, I shouldn't much like to be handling a
+corpse, and feel its ghost put a cold, clammy hand on my shoulder.
+What a horrible idea! Do you think there are any?"</p>
+
+<p>"There might be;" and The Kid's eyes twinkled. "Of course, I supposed
+you would imagine we ran risks of that sort."</p>
+
+<p>"Ugh!..." with a cold shudder. "I believe I can see one now. It must
+have overheard me saying I coveted those gold ornaments. Come away
+quickly. I want ... I want ... now don't look shocked, Meryl; I want a
+whisky and soda!..."</p>
+
+<p>They followed her out from the gathering gloom of the walls into the
+quick-coming darkness, and as she and Stanley pressed on ahead, Carew
+and Meryl could only follow. As they did so they spoke little. It was
+as though some bond of sympathy between them had slipped into being of
+itself outside their consciousness altogether, and with a blessed
+sense of quiet understanding neither attempted to make conversation;
+and neither questioned as yet whence came this unsought bond, this
+link forged as by a power outside themselves. The time for probing was
+near, but it lingered yet a little.</p>
+
+<p>As they approached the tents and joined the other two waiting to make
+their adieux, Diana's voice again broke in upon their quiet,
+dispelling its curious sense of unreality.</p>
+
+<p>"It wasn't you I was afraid of, Major Carew," she called lightly.
+"Baboons and owls and bears I dare tackle any day; but a ghost three
+thousand years old!... ugh!... I give it up!... You will not need to
+add to that precious native report another one, concerning the daring
+theft of a corpse from the ancient ruins of Zimbabwe by a well-known
+young lady from Johannesburg."</p>
+
+<p>He smiled into her laughing eyes in a manner that surprised her, and
+made his face extraordinarily attractive in a way she had not yet seen
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"And what would have happened to Stanley, do you suppose?... I'm
+afraid the police force might have considered it necessary to dispense
+with his services."</p>
+
+<p>"O, that wouldn't have mattered in Rhodesia in the least! He'd have
+opened a butcher's shop, or come on with us as our butler, or gone and
+dug a hole in a kopje and called it gold-mining. No one would have
+thought any the worse of him, and I'd have felt indebted to him for
+life. We'd both have had a run for our money, anyhow!..." and she
+laughed gaily as she turned away.</p>
+
+<p>But in their tent, alone together, she suddenly made the epigrammatic
+remark, "Dangerous, very dangerous indeed; like most bears. Mind you
+don't get badly clawed, Meryl!..." and then with her usual lightness
+ran off into another subject.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV</h2>
+
+<h2>CAREW RIDES AWAY</h2>
+
+<p>With the coming of the dark, velvety southern night, resplendent with
+brilliant southern stars, it would seem the time for probing was at
+hand. By the tents on the hill-side Mr. Pym, the engineer, Meryl, and
+Diana sat outside in the starlight, rather a silent party, listening
+to the intermittent sound of tom-toms coming from some kraal near by.</p>
+
+<p>Then Mr. Pym alluded somewhat suddenly to their departure, and Meryl
+made the discovery that it was a topic she had been dreading all the
+evening. Diana, on the other hand, seemed relieved.</p>
+
+<p>"I have one more journey to make," he told them, "and then I propose
+to start at once for Enkeldorn and Salisbury. Unfortunately, I am
+afraid this journey will take two and possibly three days."</p>
+
+<p>"Then take us with you," said Diana at once.</p>
+
+<p>"It is an unhealthy district or I would. I do not think it would harm
+you, but I am afraid for Meryl." There was a slight pause, then he
+added, "As we returned to-day we stayed for a cup of tea at the
+mission station with Mr. and Mrs. Grenville. I happened to mention my
+journey, and Mrs. Grenville said she would be delighted if you would
+both go and spend the two or three days with her."</p>
+
+<p>"But I want to come with you," Diana cried; and leaning towards him
+added confidently, "Uncle, you will have to take me; don't make a
+fuss."</p>
+
+<p>"Why shall I have to take you?" with amusement in his small, keen
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Because I have made up my mind to go," was the prompt rejoinder; and
+he gave an amused chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>"And what do you say, Meryl? Will you spend two or three days with
+Mrs. Grenville?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to, if Di really wants to go; otherwise we could quite
+well have remained on here, couldn't we?" There was a note of anxiety
+in her voice that she was unable to entirely hide. Only three more
+days, and they to be spent several miles away!</p>
+
+<p>"I do not particularly want to leave you here as long as that. I would
+rather you visited Mrs. Grenville, and I think it would be an
+interesting change. She invited you both."</p>
+
+<p>"It was very kind of her," said Diana, "but I am quite decided about
+wanting to go with you. I suppose we could both come?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think I would as soon go to Mrs. Grenville"; and Meryl sat very
+still, gazing at a distant star.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think?" said Mr. Pym to his engineer. "Will it be all
+right for my niece to accompany us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, certainly, if she takes quinine regularly. It is a
+beautiful neighbourhood. She can either ride her mule or be carried in
+a machila."</p>
+
+<p>Diana clapped her hands, feeling her point was won easily, and then
+added, "Couldn't we take Mr. Stanley with us? He would so love the
+shooting, and he is such good company."</p>
+
+<p>"As I came past to-night I called in and asked both him and Major
+Carew. Stanley accepted at once."</p>
+
+<p>There was a slight movement where Meryl sat, but she did not speak;
+and her father, almost as if with intent, kept his eyes turned away.</p>
+
+<p>"What did Major Carew say?" asked Diana.</p>
+
+<p>"He was uncertain. He thought he might be obliged to go to Edwardstown
+on business, and he left the question open."</p>
+
+<p>Diana laughed. "He wanted to make quite certain sure that there were
+to be no ladies in the party."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know why he should suppose there were likely to be."</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly not, but he is a cautious man. Anyhow, when you tell him I
+am going he will make ready to start to Edwardstown on business."</p>
+
+<p>So they sat on under the stars, each busy with thoughts. Henry Pym's
+were a trifle anxious. So little ever escaped his clear eyes that it
+was not in the least surprising he had seen whither Meryl's mind was
+trending, almost before she knew of it herself. And much as he admired
+Major Carew, he feared, with the clear sight of a great love, that
+indefinable something that stood as a barrier between the man and his
+outlook upon certain phases of life. Whatever it was, his studied
+avoidance of social intercourse, and his turning his back so
+resolutely upon England and all his people there, suggested to the
+astute man of the world that he had taken out of his life's plan all
+thought of marriage, and was not very likely to turn from his purpose.
+Hence the shadow of anxiety in the father's eyes, for his deep
+knowledge of Meryl told him further that she would neither love
+lightly nor forget easily.</p>
+
+<p>And still the girl herself sat on and made no sign. The joy of the
+evening hour was still too new. Under the stars at present she asked
+nothing better than to live through it again and again in her memory.
+For whereas a woman is often fearful to anticipate a joy for dread of
+a disappointment, afterwards, when the realisation is sure and sweet
+and all her own, she will draw delight from it for many a silent hour
+in quiet contentment.</p>
+
+<p>And down at the police camp the two troopers and the officer sat
+likewise under the stars. Stanley was very full of his trip, for Carew
+had readily given him the two or three days' leave; and in the
+direction whither they journeyed were roan and sable and water-buck
+and probably lions to rejoice the heart of a game young British South
+African policeman with a bloodthirsty desire to kill. Moore, in his
+quaint, Irish way, chaffed him a good deal, as was his wont; for
+though one had received his education at the Bedford Grammar School
+and was a clergyman's son, and the other at a board-school and was the
+son of a small innkeeper, in the Rhodesia police force all troopers
+are equals, and there is a frank camaraderie which is very creditable
+to its members. Carew himself showed very little difference, and in
+the same spirit the homely Moore had received a cup of tea from
+Diana's dainty hands, poured out for him by Meryl.</p>
+
+<p>Only, as they twitted each other in slow, easy tones, neither of them
+attempted to include Carew, who sat a little apart in the darkness
+smoking his beloved pipe; and when they rose to turn in, he merely
+acknowledged their pleasant "Good night, sir," with a short "Good
+night" in reply, and made no movement himself. Even when the lights
+at the hill-side tents went out he still sat on, alone with the night
+and the stars. Later, because he knew he should not sleep, he started
+off up the valley towards the store, feeling a need for action.</p>
+
+<p>And all the time, under the covering darkness, his face seemed to grow
+graver and graver. He was too wise not to know when danger threatened,
+and too direct not to face it squarely at once. And the danger that
+seemed to threaten him now was the likelihood that if he saw much of
+Meryl Pym he would grow to love her, and perhaps she would reciprocate
+his love, and for them both there would be only a great pain. That it
+could by any possibility be anything else did not enter his
+cogitations. According to his own ideas he could not marry, and least
+of all could he marry the only child of a millionaire. And it seemed
+to him further that if he cut off all intercourse at once the danger
+would be averted. He was quite satisfied in his own mind that the
+evident attraction had not had time to sink very far down. In two or
+three days she would go away again and he would go on with his work,
+and it would all be the same as if they had never met. Manifestly the
+chief consideration now was to avoid any further friendliness
+whatever, except the merest courtesy which had obtained at the
+beginning. If possible, he decided it would be better not to meet any
+more at all. When a man is strong in one thing, he is usually strong
+in others; and the quiet strength that had enabled him to break away
+from an old life of leisure and ease and excitement, and build up
+another life for himself on entirely different lines in a new country,
+helped him now quietly to make his decision and try to take the
+simple, direct course, out of a threatening danger.</p>
+
+<p>And yet it was not entirely easy; the simple, direct way very seldom
+is. Byways are apt to have softer grass for the feet, deeper shade
+from the sun, smoother banks to rest upon. The direct, straightforward
+way often goes on mercilessly up the steep hill, having sharp flints
+in its pathway, cold winds, dry dust, untempered glare. But the man
+who dares it with steady eyes usually arrives first at the goal,
+tempered metal ringing true, while he who dallies in the pleasant
+byways may find his armour has grown rusty and his powers lax.</p>
+
+<p>As he walked quietly back to the police camp Peter Carew looked
+straight before him to the dim horizon, and in his eyes there was an
+expression that few, if any, had ever been permitted to behold. For
+the hidden sorrow that was his was his alone, and he had never sought
+nor asked the sympathy of a fellow-creature. In the starlight he
+looked back into the eyes of his dead love, and it was between him and
+her only the sorrow might be shared. As he had loved her memory all
+these years, he would love her still, though in the great loneliness
+of his heart he might be drawn to that one other woman who so
+strangely resembled her and so deeply attracted him.</p>
+
+<p>But Meryl was not for him, the penniless policeman, and he knew it.</p>
+
+<p>The hour spent together in the temple ruins had been too sweet, too
+dangerously sweet, and therefore he would run no further risk. He
+would not go with Mr. Pym, because that might forge a link of
+friendship it would be difficult to break; and he would not remain at
+the camp, because that might involve considerable intercourse if Meryl
+and Diana stayed behind at the hill-side home alone. He would instead
+retire to Segundi on the pretext of meeting the Resident Commissioner
+expected there, and stay until the millionaire's party had departed
+from Zimbabwe for good. It would be as well to start early, he could
+easily manage it; and if he saw no prospect of saying good-bye to Mr.
+Pym in person, he would write him a short note giving some sort of
+explanation.</p>
+
+<p>So it happened the next morning, before anyone at the hill-side camp
+was dressed, a Black Watch boy presented a note to Mr. Pym's boy, and
+a little distance off on the road Major Carew waited on his horse for
+a message.</p>
+
+<p>And in his tent, still in a sleeping-suit, Mr. Pym read the note, and
+looked hard for a moment at the sunshine beyond the open flap, as if
+seeking out there to read, not what was said in the little letter, but
+what was <i>not</i> said.</p>
+
+<p>Then he stood up, slipped on some shoes, and went outside into the
+fragrant morning air. Directly he saw Carew on his horse, he took the
+little path through the scrub and rocks and went towards him. Carew
+alighted, and came a short distance along the path.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pym spoke first. The other had already done his speaking in the
+note.</p>
+
+<p>"This is very sudden. I hoped you would have accompanied us to Susi."
+He looked up hard into the soldier's bronzed face, though without
+seeming to do so. To any other man the steadiness of Carew's eyes
+might have been disconcerting.</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly expected to be able to. Mr. Jardine was almost certain to be
+at Segundi one day this week, and I knew I should have to meet him."</p>
+
+<p>"How long will you be away?"</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly a week."</p>
+
+<p>Henry Pym was a little taken aback, but he did not show it. The cool
+brain that had manufactured the income of a millionaire was fully
+alert now, not so much because he did not wish to be taken unawares,
+but because Carew interested him beyond most men, and he wanted to try
+and grasp the working of his mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Then we may not see you again before we start for Salisbury?"</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly not. Will you kindly say good-bye to the ladies for me,
+should I be prevented doing so in person?"</p>
+
+<p>"They will be disappointed not to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry also." A little smile of grim humour played suddenly about
+his lips. "You must tell your niece The Bear sent her a farewell
+growl, and he hopes she will find more amiable Rhodesians at her
+future camping-places."</p>
+
+<p>"I think she is not one to care much about the average type of amiable
+cavalier. She will miss The Bear's growl a good deal. But we shall see
+you again shortly, I hope," he hastened to add. "Any time if you care
+to come to Johannesburg we shall be delighted if you will visit us at
+Hill Court."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you. If I come that way, I shall remember."</p>
+
+<p>Then he held out his hand. Mr. Pym grasped it with unwonted warmth.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, sir," said the soldier simply.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, Carew; I have been glad to meet you," answered the
+millionaire. And then as the horseman rode away without one backward
+look, he walked slowly along the little path to the tents.</p>
+
+<p>At breakfast he broke the news quite simply, but once more he did not
+look at Meryl. He told them Major Carew had been called away to
+Segundi, and would not return before they had departed north.</p>
+
+<p>"Gone?..." echoed Diana blankly. "Do you mean he has gone already and
+without saying good-bye?"</p>
+
+<p>He felt Meryl's eyes upon him with a strained expression, and he
+turned lightly to Diana to give her time to grasp the news.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but he left you a message. He passed before you were up, and I
+went out to speak to him. He asked me to make his farewells to both of
+you, and particularly to tell you that The Bear sent you a growl, and
+he hopes you will find more amiable Rhodesians at your other
+camping-places."</p>
+
+<p>But Diana was in no mood for light messages; rather unaccountably, she
+received it with impatience.</p>
+
+<p>"O, he is simply odious!" she exclaimed. "I have no patience with him.
+Why can't he behave like an ordinary man just once in a way? Going off
+at sunrise, and never stopping to say good-bye! It is downright
+rudeness, and there is no reason why he should conclude he can be as
+rude as he likes with impunity. You don't seem to mind his
+bearishness, Meryl? but I hope you have spirit enough to resent his
+casual departure."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl was rather pale, but she managed to reply lightly, "I can't see
+why you seem so surprised. He is only acting as he has done all along.
+It is his affair, whether he keeps it up to the last, or suddenly
+changes altogether and becomes the polite, conventional society man.
+Personally, it would have surprised me far more to see the change."</p>
+
+<p>"O, you're just shielding him," with impatient disdain; "I suppose
+because he happens to be rather good to look at. But I call it rude;
+just plain, unvarnished rudeness to go off like that for some
+trumped-up reason and never say good-bye to you and me. I hope I
+<i>shall</i> meet more amiable Rhodesians elsewhere, and I should like to
+have a chance to tell him so." Then she rattled off into another
+subject, leaving neither Meryl nor her uncle any necessity to help the
+conversation, for which, in their secret hearts, they were deeply
+grateful.</p>
+
+<p>And perhaps Diana's clever little head made an effort which had no
+appearance of an effort; for like the two brothers who had been
+respectively her father and her uncle, very little transpiring in her
+immediate circle ever escaped her notice.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI</h2>
+
+<h2>"THE SHIP OF FOOLS"</h2>
+
+<p>Meryl had not been long with the Grenvilles before Ailsa's sympathetic
+nature divined that some shadow seemed to be brooding upon the girl's
+spirit. She was so pensive and silent, with sad eyes turned often to
+some far horizon full of wistful thought. And then perhaps suddenly
+she would make an effort and be unusually gay, but the gaiety was not
+spontaneous nor the laughter frank.</p>
+
+<p>In truth, it had been a weary two days and nights for Meryl, since the
+early morning when her father and Diana, with the engineer and
+Stanley, rode away, after escorting her to the Mission Station and
+leaving her there to await their return. It was as though the very
+abruptness of Carew's departure had crystallised all her wavering,
+uncertain thoughts, and told her bluntly what he was to her. Before
+she had been half dreaming; now she knew.</p>
+
+<p>And it seemed to her that she knew also, beyond any questioning, that
+he had no feeling whatever for her beyond the merest friendliness; and
+since they would probably never meet again, she must, if possible,
+conquer her own foolish heart, and resolutely withdraw the love she
+had given unasked. It seemed to her, at any rate, the strongest thing
+to do, and while she made the effort she would turn a smiling face to
+the world and let no one suspect. If she failed&mdash;well, that would
+still be her own affair and no one need know. So she rallied herself
+often and talked gaily, encouraging an interest in all Mr. Grenville's
+plans and hopes that she did not always feel. What she liked best was
+to sit silently before the large sitting-room hut, with her hands on
+her knees, gazing at the wonderful prospect, while Ailsa sewed beside
+her and talked quietly. Ailsa who knew him so well, and loved him so
+well, and appeared to be the only woman friend he possessed. Ailsa
+also who loved this far country so well, the country he had adopted
+for his own land, and seemed quite content, as he, to give the best
+years of her life, in her small measure, to its welfare.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl thought much of the lives of these three quiet workers in the
+wilderness, and mused a little sadly upon what seemed but gilded
+pleasure-seeking emptiness to which she would presently go back.</p>
+
+<p>It was in one of these thoughtful moods she asked Ailsa with plain
+directness how she thought a millionaire might best benefit Rhodesia,
+supposing he were willing to make an effort in that direction. Having
+asked, she added with a light touch, "I imagine you are hardly ready
+yet for libraries and public parks and orphanages?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," Ailsa answered; "but we want settlers badly. Think what it would
+mean to the country if just one rich man or company, instead of
+acquiring large tracts of land and holding it until the price mounts
+to a high figure, were to make a genuine effort to get a white
+population upon it as quickly as possible, even though it meant small
+or no profits. It is too much to expect from any company naturally,
+but there are individuals holding up their land, and therefore holding
+back the country, who might show a more generous spirit. I could name
+a well-known man who owns immense tracts, one of them two hundred
+thousand acres not far from a town, and there it lies in idleness,
+awaiting a land boom. Not long ago it was given out through the
+newspapers that he had a great scheme in hand for getting settlers,
+but nothing has come of it yet, and no one has much hope that it ever
+will."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if my father owns land here? Do you happen to know?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think he does."</p>
+
+<p>"And it is lying idle?" divining that her companion knew more than she
+implied.</p>
+
+<p>"As far as any outsider knows, it is."</p>
+
+<p>"I see." Meryl got up and moved down the rustic verandah, standing a
+moment at the far end and looking across the country with grave eyes.
+Then she came back. "Has anyone ever thought of a Rhodes Scholarship,
+that might take the form of grants of land and be won by competition,
+I wonder? Would a scheme like that work, do you think?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have often thought that it would. Besides bringing the settler, it
+would more or less ensure a desirable one, if he had to prove himself
+a useful, hard-working youth of good sound education. But, of course,
+it would mean a big outlay. A man might inaugurate such a scheme to be
+carried out by his will, but he would hardly be likely to do it in his
+lifetime."</p>
+
+<p>"Still, I suppose something of the kind might prove workable if the
+owner of the land were content to forego a large profit, and let
+settlers have farms or plots on exceptional terms, if they could prove
+themselves capable, useful men?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that is very much what we want. The owner of the land a patriot,
+keeping an eye on the scheme himself, and helping it forward for love
+of the country, not holding it back and keeping it idle for the sake
+of his own already well-filled pocket."</p>
+
+<p>"I will sound my father about his possessions," the girl said simply,
+looking to the far blue hills.</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa watched her a moment covertly, and then asked with a little
+wonder in her voice, "The country seems to have taken hold of you very
+quickly. You speak as one who already loves it."</p>
+
+<p>"I love all South Africa. I have always been happier out here than in
+England. In some way it seems more thoroughly my own land."</p>
+
+<p>"Why is that, do you think?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly know, unless it is the remembrance that all we have we owe
+to Africa. I believe my father was penniless when he came out here."</p>
+
+<p>"It has been the same with many, but they do not remember. It is more
+usual to come here for gain, and go away to spend it in more luxurious
+countries."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps, but it has never seemed to me to be fair. My father is not
+like that. He loves Africa as I do, but he is a very hard-working man,
+and perhaps some things do not occur to him. I think he is up here now
+to see the country, as well as acquire fresh mining properties, and
+all the time he seems so busy and preoccupied, he is probably thinking
+out development schemes of general benefit."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so," and Ailsa spoke very earnestly. "Your father is a fine
+man; one has only to talk to him to perceive that quickly, and it
+would be a good day for Rhodesia if he began to take a genuinely
+practical interest in her welfare. I know he has talked much of it to
+Major Carew, and no one could tell him more of our hopes and needs."</p>
+
+<p>They were silent a few moments, and then Ailsa added with a touch of
+emotion, "You know, when one thinks of the service some men give so
+quietly and unquestioningly to the far-off lands, it seems, after all,
+but a small thing for rich men who have benefited by them to give of
+their riches. Yet how few ever do! There are more men ready to risk
+their lives than to put their hands in their pockets. But then that is
+just perhaps because they are fools, and fools never make any money to
+give; have nothing, in fact, except their lives to offer."</p>
+
+<p>She smiled with a little twist to her lips, playing fitfully with a
+thread in her fingers. Evidently it was a subject that moved her
+deeply. "Of course, you know the verse from 'The Ship of Fools':</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p><span class="i3">'We are those fools who could not rest</span>
+<span class="i3">In the dull earth we left behind,</span>
+<span class="i3">And burned with passion for the West,</span>
+<span class="i3">And drank strange frenzy from its wind.</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="i3">The world where wise men live at ease</span>
+<span class="i3">Fades from our unregretful eyes,</span>
+<span class="i3">And blind, across uncharted seas,</span>
+<span class="i3">We stagger on our enterprise.'</span></p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Those are the men who appeal to me; the men to whom gain is the
+secondary consideration; who come blindly out just as much to give as
+to take. My husband is one, Major Carew is another, Stanley under
+Carew's influence will become a third. Think of them all, all over the
+world; guarding the frontiers, making the paths, exploring the
+danger-zones!</p>
+
+<p>"Think of the little band now gone into the sleeping-sickness belt to
+investigate the disease, and try to learn how best to cope with it!
+How little reward will they get! how little acclaim! But that is just
+a side issue. They did not go for reward. Disaster shook a
+threatening hand at a splendid young country, and instantly some from
+The Ship of Fools were ready to risk their lives in going to the
+rescue. God bless them for it, and bring them safely back! But in any
+case one knows they will be content, if but the work is carried
+forward and the new pathways rendered safe.</p>
+
+<p>"Those types of men are the heroes of to-day, because the spread of
+the Empire, and the welfare and progress of the colonies, grows every
+year a more important factor to England; yet many a good football
+player, and many a popular actor, will win an honoured name, while the
+man who died at the outposts in some dangerous investigation work will
+pass away unknown and unheard of. But they do not mind, that is the
+splendid thing. They are just fools, fools, fools</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p><span class="i3">'Who burned with passion for the West,</span>
+<span class="i3">And drank strange frenzy from its wind.</span>
+<span class="i3">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*</span>
+
+<span class="i3">And blind, across uncharted seas,</span>
+<span class="i3">They stagger to their enterprise.'</span></p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"How many threw up everything at home and came out in the time of the
+Boer War! Think of the men who carried the railways across Canada and
+America, fighting for the pathway, step by step! Think of them in the
+awful climate of West Africa, laughing and playing and singing one
+evening and dead the next! Think of them struggling up here in the
+early days, and undaunted by the horrors of the Matabele rebellions,
+going steadily on with their railways, making their homes! Think of
+them in India! Ah! what The Ship of Fools has achieved in India is
+beyond telling. Only one doesn't feel it in the same way at home. One
+has to come out oneself, and see the path-finders at their work, to
+realise all it means. It does one good just to hear them grumble. How
+shall I explain? It makes you understand that they are the sort of
+heroes who hate to be thought heroic; so they grouse and swear and
+grumble; and talk about a God-forsaken country and a God-forsaken
+existence, and wonder what in the name of all that is wonderful they
+are here for. And perhaps they go off home vowing never to return;
+until the 'strange frenzy' catches them again, and back comes the dear
+Ship of Fools, with every berth taken and the stoutest grumblers
+hurrying to be the first ashore. Fools or heroes, it is much the same.
+I think I have read somewhere that a man couldn't be a hero unless he
+were also a fool."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl got up, and moved behind her companion's chair that she might
+not see the glisten in her eyes, for the longing for that one
+Fool-Hero who had brought such sudden desolation in her heart. Placing
+her hands on the back of it, she leaned over her affectionately and
+said, "It doesn't carry men only, that ship of yours: some of the
+fools are women. O, I know, I know; you are one of the chief among
+them and I envy you." In a whisper, "God knows, I envy you."</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa reached a hand back and laid it over the girl's. "It is very
+sweet of you to say so, but I mayn't accept it. Seeing I have a
+husband like Billy, I should be a very real fool in the most literal
+sense if I stayed away. No, the women-heroes in this land are those
+who face it with a careless, selfish husband, or perhaps in a home
+having no love, and who win through their little day and make no
+plaint. God help them!"</p>
+
+<p>"And you mustn't envy me," she added after a moment, "for presently,
+you will be doing far more than I can ever hope to do. Because it is
+in your heart it will find a way, and then your money will give you a
+great power and influence. Be hopeful, you sweet child," with a little
+playful pat. "Your eyes are over-sad for twenty-four, and sometimes
+when you smile it goes no further than your lips."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl brushed her hand quickly across her eyes, and tried to laugh
+with an attempt at lightness.</p>
+
+<p>"O yes, I will. When I get back home I'll sign cheques, and more
+cheques, it is so easy for me. And I'll persuade father to plan out a
+scheme to bring settlers on the land; land scholarships for
+public-school boys, or something of that sort; and I'll try and
+comfort myself with the thought that in this way he is giving back for
+what he has received. I think I'll take a stroll now it is cooler. The
+others will no doubt come back to-morrow, and this may be my last
+evening in this part of the world. I know you want to worry your
+cook-boy and your head about the dinner, so I'll just go a little way
+alone."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," Ailsa answered cheerily, guessing that she wished to take
+the stroll in solitude; but as she moved away towards her kitchen she
+said to herself, "Poor little girl! you will comfort yourself you are
+helping your father to fulfil his trusts, and at the back of it all
+quietly, silently, you will be breaking your heart for a man of iron
+who unbends to none."</p>
+
+<p>And along the rocky pathway, that was a short cut to Edwardstown and
+led along a low ledge of kopjes commanding a lovely view of the valley
+which lay between the Mission Station and Zimbabwe's lofty northern
+mountain, Meryl walked slowly, with a sense of desolation she could
+neither gauge nor dispel; and over and over through her mind as she
+looked to the far kopjes passed the lines of England's strong
+woman-poet, Emily Bront&euml;:</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p><span class="i3">"What have those lonely mountains worth revealing?</span>
+<span class="i3">More glory and more grief than I can tell:</span>
+<span class="i3">The earth that wakes <i>one</i> human heart to feeling</span>
+<span class="i3">Can centre both the worlds of Heaven and Hell."</span>
+</p></div></div>
+
+<p>What have those lonely mountains worth revealing? was the dumb,
+inarticulate cry in her heart. Ah! what?... what?... And it seemed as
+if all the loneliness in the world were brooding over the blue kopje
+and over the spot where the ancient ruins lay, and creeping into her
+heart and her life for ever.</p>
+
+<p>Would he ever come again, that grim soldier-policeman, who just once
+or twice had shown her a glimpse of the strong man's heart behind the
+barrier, and the strong man's everlasting charm?... Or was it indeed
+all finished for ever? Just an episode that came and went and had no
+sequel, except in that brooding sense of a great loneliness upon the
+distant hills and upon the path of her life. She told herself again
+that it must be so; that evidently the momentary softness had been
+only passing moods; that she counted for nothing at all to him, not
+even a friend it was worth while saying "good-bye" to.</p>
+
+<p>With the deep sadness still in her face she turned, because a step was
+approaching round a tall boulder beside her. And a moment later she
+was looking full and deep into Peter Carew's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"You?..." she said. "<i>You?</i> ..." as if she could not believe her own
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>He said nothing. Suddenly speech seemed to have gone from him, but an
+expression in his face that was new to her quickened her pulses with a
+strange glad quickening.</p>
+
+<p>After a moment he spoke, and it was as though his whole expression and
+figure stiffened.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not expect to find you here," he said. "I was told you had gone
+with your father."</p>
+
+<p>"Not I; Diana only." And her eyes fell, and a faint colour dyed her
+cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>There was a moment's awkward pause: she remembering his unceremonious
+departure, wondering at his unceremonious return; he nonplussed at the
+trick Fate had played him, bringing him again, in spite of his
+decision, into the sphere of her beauty and her quiet charm.</p>
+
+<p>"I was going to the Grenvilles'," he told her at last.</p>
+
+<p>And suddenly a tiny smile played about the corners of Meryl's mouth.
+"I thought you could not possibly return from Segundi for a week?"</p>
+
+<p>She looked away as she said it, so she could not see the swift
+contraction of his face and the swift gleam in his eyes. For one
+moment, of all things in heaven and earth, he felt suddenly that he
+wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her&mdash;roughly perhaps; yes,
+roughly and masterfully, for daring to aim her little shaft at him.
+Instead he replied gravely, "I had to come, because Mr. Jardine wanted
+Grenville's opinion on a particular native question, and it was a
+difficult matter to explain in a letter."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I mustn't hinder you." And she stood aside. "Of course you are
+thinking of starting back to-night and are in a great hurry?"</p>
+
+<p>And then for once the man's armour failed him. "No, I am not going
+back to-night, and I am not in any special hurry. If you were going on
+to the top of the kopje, may I come with you?"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII</h2>
+
+<h2>AN EVENING CONVERSATION</h2>
+
+<p>As they climbed slowly up the zigzag path, neither of them troubled to
+make conversation. All in a moment it had come back&mdash;mysteriously,
+unaccountably&mdash;the sense of understanding, the quiet kinship of
+minds&mdash;for her, the sudden utter content at his nearness. While he was
+there beside her, by his own seeking, what did the future matter?&mdash;the
+future might wait. It is generally so with women. In the "afterwards,"
+the deepest pain is usually theirs, because it is not given them to
+break away and drown the ache and the longing in action and change;
+but in the present, if he, the loved, is with her, she can forget so
+much in that blessed sense of nearness. The man's ache, perhaps,
+spreads more uniformly over both presence and absence, for in each,
+for him, there is the very human craving to possess.</p>
+
+<p>So they reached the summit, and stood a moment gazing at the prospect
+outspread. A sunset in a novel has become too banal for repetition; it
+seems, indeed, almost the last word in literary mediocrity; and yet at
+the evening hour in Rhodesia, in September, when the rains are nearly
+due, and great masses of cloud begin to gather on the horizon, there
+is again and again a pageant of wonder and colouring to steep man's
+senses afresh at every renewal, as if it was the first time of
+beholding. Nothing banal, nothing mediocre in the actual
+phenomenon&mdash;just a riot of colouring, a riot of splendour, a riot of
+revelation. It is not a glory in the west spreading a little way
+overhead. It is an all around, north, south, east, and west, colouring
+beyond all telling&mdash;something aloof, overpowering, incomprehensible,
+with the remote majestic splendour of the Rockies, or the Sahara, or
+the Victoria Falls.</p>
+
+<p>Neither Carew nor Meryl spoke. They were of those who know that the
+highest appreciation of all is in silence. But to herself Meryl
+whispered:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Lord, Thy glory fills the heavens."</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>At last he turned and glanced at the little book in her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"You read Omar?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. And you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I like Adam Lindsay Gordon better. Omar is apt to undermine a strong
+purpose. Gordon inspires one."</p>
+
+<p>"Doesn't Omar help one to see things as they <i>are</i>, and dare to be
+strong in spite of it, while Gordon avoids many essentials, and writes
+chiefly of how we would have things be?"</p>
+
+<p>"But surely the inspiration is the chief thing. The man who inspires
+is better than the man who reveals, and in revealing unnerves." She
+was silent, and he added, "I suppose it is the difference between the
+&aelig;sthetic and the practical, and so they appeal to the &aelig;sthetic or the
+practical side of man."</p>
+
+<p>She wondered if it were possible such as he should have an &aelig;sthetic
+side, and presently said:</p>
+
+<p>"You are all practical, I should imagine."</p>
+
+<p>He glanced at her half humorously. "I wonder why you say that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, except that one does not usually associate &aelig;stheticism
+and strength." Another man might have asked her if she was satisfied
+he <i>was</i> strong, but Carew only looked to the horizon. He was asking
+it of himself instead.</p>
+
+<p>And he asked it, because he was leaning there beside her, alone on the
+kopje top. Suddenly yielding to an impulse he did not seek to analyse,
+he said quietly, "I have never been a great reader of poetry, but long
+ago I was engaged to be married, to some one who cared very much for
+it. Omar was one of her favourites, and sixteen years ago he was very
+little known compared with to-day."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl felt the colour ebbing from her face, and averted her eyes.
+Without any telling, she knew that this woman he had loved sixteen
+years ago was the cause of that mysterious shadow on his life to-day.
+When she felt she had complete control of her voice, she asked, "And
+you were never able to be married?"</p>
+
+<p>"She died." There was a pause, before he added, "You remind me of her
+more than anyone I have ever known." And for both their sakes he
+finished, "That is one reason why I have been glad to talk to you one
+day, and found it perhaps too painful the next."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl felt suddenly as if an icy hand had closed on her heart. His
+meaning to her was so obvious. But she managed to say naturally, "I am
+afraid it has been a great sorrow to you. Was she ill for long?"</p>
+
+<p>"She died suddenly. There was a tragedy. Afterwards I came out here."</p>
+
+<p>"And you have never been back?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I have never been back."</p>
+
+<p>"But you will go?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think not. When I came away it was like closing a book and writing
+'Finis.' I do not want to reopen the book for many reasons."</p>
+
+<p>"But your people?" she ventured, longing to hear more, yet fearful of
+staying his unexpected confidence.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no people," and his voice was suddenly stern.</p>
+
+<p>"But your home?..." bravely; "your country?..."</p>
+
+<p>"My home is here. My country is here. I am a Rhodesian."</p>
+
+<p>Still with her face averted, she looked to the far kopjes lost in
+thought. She seemed to be realising slowly all that his words meant;
+feeling throughout her consciousness the utter exclusion of herself
+from any plan of life he might formulate. It was as she had seen
+before. His work, the country were everything to him&mdash;would continue
+to be everything. Any unusual softness he had shown to her, any
+unexpected pleasure in her company, was just for the sake of a certain
+memory he held very precious, for the sake of what the book contained,
+upon which he had written "Finis."</p>
+
+<p>Of course, she might have known. What should such a man as he be drawn
+to except in friendly intercourse in a girl as young and simple and
+undeveloped as herself? What a madness it had been, what a
+foolishness! and yet how it hurt, how it hurt!</p>
+
+<p>With a sudden blind sense of ineradicable pain, she breathed over to
+herself one verse of the "Immortal Persian" that is not contained in
+many editions:</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p><span class="i3">"Better, oh better, cancel from the scroll</span>
+<span class="i3">Of universe one luckless human soul,</span>
+<span class="i3">Than drop by drop enlarge the flood that rolls</span>
+<span class="i3">Hoarser with anguish as the ages roll."</span></p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>What pain there had evidently been for him! What pain for her now&mdash;and
+to what end....</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p><span class="i3">"Tis all a chequer-board of nights and days</span>
+<span class="i3">Where Destiny with men for pieces plays;</span>
+<span class="i3">Hither and thither moves, and mates and slays,</span>
+<span class="i3">And one by one back and closet lays."</span></p></div></div>
+
+
+<p>She stood up suddenly and brushed her hands across her eyes. This was
+a weakness, and she knew it. He must not know, he must not guess.</p>
+
+<p>But he saw enough to cause him to say suddenly, with quick concern,
+"You are not well. Something is troubling you."</p>
+
+<p>"O no," and she gave a little laugh that he could not but know was
+forced. "I've been rather bothered with a headache to-day. Shall we go
+back?" She had been carrying the large grey hat slung over her arm,
+but now she tied it on, pulling it down over her face, so that he
+could see nothing but the small, firm chin and sensitive mobile mouth.
+And neither could she see that, under or through the rigidity, his
+face wore now a troubled aspect, and his eyes looked to the horizon
+seeing nothing. Why had he come back? he was asking. Why was he
+hovering in the grip of it again, that strong need of the human,
+however resolute, for sympathy, for companionship, for understanding?
+For now, as they stood together alone on the kopje, all the ache of
+the last sixteen years seemed to be merged into one great longing for
+her. And then in his heart he laughed harshly. He, the British South
+African policeman, not even a regular soldier; and she, the only
+child, and sole heiress, of a millionaire father who adored her. He,
+with his tragedy in the background, that he could not speak of, in his
+forty-third year. She young, beautiful, fresh, with all the world at
+her feet. Ah, of course, he had been a fool to run any risk of another
+encounter; and he was sore with the fate that had led him thither in
+ignorance.</p>
+
+<p>And Meryl, walking a little stumblingly over the rough pathway, was
+glad of the big shady hat that hid her eyes and gave her time to pull
+herself together. Of course, that other woman he had loved sixteen
+years ago had been one of his own people&mdash;one of those whom the great
+Fourtenay family of Devon regarded as an equal. Whereas she was just
+Meryl Pym, and though many needy peers chose rich wives from across
+the sea, anyone might know Peter Carew was not of these, and would
+sooner shun such riches than seek them.</p>
+
+<p>So they walked back, mostly in silence, only no longer the silence of
+quiet, contented understanding, but rather a silence which she showed
+no inclination to break, and he felt baffled, and worried, and
+anxious. And at dinner, though Meryl made one of her spasmodic efforts
+and contrived to be gay, he remained somewhat preoccupied and
+taciturn. And Ailsa looked from one to the other secretly, and
+wondered what had been said before they reached the Mission Station;
+and felt again that womanlike desire to shake the man for the very
+resoluteness she most admired in him.</p>
+
+<p>When she said good night to Meryl she could not refrain, from just one
+little delve into the perplexing situation. "If you and Major Carew
+met at six o'clock and did not get back until seven, you must have had
+quite a long chat together. Such a new thing for him! I don't think
+even I, his trusted friend, can boast of such an incident."</p>
+
+<p>"We just stayed to watch the sunset," and Meryl turned away on some
+slight pretext. "He certainly was a little more communicative than
+usual. Did you know he was once engaged to someone who died?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," in slow surprise, "I had never heard of it. But then, he never
+speaks of himself, and I did not know his branch of the family at all.
+We lived near London about that time, and seldom went into Devonshire.
+Still, I wonder Billy did not know. Probably he heard it, and took no
+notice. That would be so like Billy. He was perhaps scheming some new
+move for his boys, as he used to call his parishioners."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he would rather I had not mentioned it," Meryl said.</p>
+
+<p>"It will be safe with me, dear. I shall only speak of it to Billy. How
+terrible it must have been! It is Impossible not to feel it has
+shadowed all his life. And for her!&mdash;he must have been a very
+striking, attractive man in those days. One hears rumours without
+attaching much interest to them at the time, but looking back now, I
+remember my father alluding once or twice to the two brothers as if
+they were very well-known men. But that would be when I was but a
+schoolgirl, and soon afterwards I went abroad for a year with an
+aunt." She lingered a moment longer. "I am glad he told you. It was
+nice of him. And he tells so little. It was a great compliment. Good
+night, dearie. Sleep well."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl sat on the little bed, in the round wattle and daub hut, and
+pressed her fingers against her eyes to still their throbbing. Then
+she looked round at her surroundings, and a little wry smile twisted
+her lips. A rough floor of ant-heap composition and cow-dung hardened
+to cement, with some native reed matting laid down; a small stretcher
+bed; a packing-case for a washhand-stand, and enamel ware. Another
+packing-case for a dressing-table, and a little cheap glass nailed to
+the wall. Walls of baked mud, which had fallen in places, laying bare
+the wattle stems, and a door made from packing-cases which fitted
+badly, and was fastened only by a string and a nail. For ceiling long,
+thin wattle stems converging upwards, and outside a thatch of dried
+grass. And against this in her mind she placed the Johannesburg
+bedroom, with its costly appointments, its beautiful windows opening
+to a wide, flower-decked verandah, which commanded a lovely view of
+distant hills; its lavish display of wealth and luxury. And she smiled
+that little wry smile, because for the sake of just one man, a mere
+soldier-policeman, this room might have been a paradise, and the other
+a grave. In truth she had learnt much from her sojourn in the
+wilderness&mdash;much beyond the life and aspect of a far country.</p>
+
+<p>Then she crept to bed feeling tired and disheartened, but finding a
+little comfort in the thought that she would see him in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>But at sunrise Carew aroused Grenville and said good-bye, and rode
+away before breakfast.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII</h2>
+
+<h2>THE CHARTER FLATS</h2>
+
+<p>Later in the day the party arrived back from Susi, and in the cool of
+the afternoon a last good-bye was said to the mission station, and
+they all returned to the Zimbabwe camp for their last night.</p>
+
+<p>It had been casually mentioned that Carew had paid a flying visit the
+previous evening and gone again early that morning, but very little
+was said about the circumstance. Stanley was already beginning to look
+and feel disconsolate over the approaching exodus, and Diana was very
+full of the fact that she had shot a duyker. "I didn't really aim at
+him, you know," she told Grenville na&iuml;vely; "I just held up the gun
+and pulled the trigger. I couldn't believe my own eyes when I saw the
+buck lying dead. All the same I did shoot him, and I've got his horns,
+and they will occupy the place of honour when I get back in my own
+private sanctum. I shall not tell the Jo'burg folk about not aiming;
+why should I? If I describe the buck going at full speed, and how I
+bowled him over with one shot, it won't be any more of a lie, if as
+much, as most of you colonists tell when you get home to
+civilisation."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not," agreed Grenville gravely; "but why not make it a lion
+while you are about it, or even a rhinoceros?"</p>
+
+<p>The Kid began to giggle. "And let it be just charging you," he
+suggested joyfully. "And first you must take a snapshot of it
+charging, and then you must fire into its mouth and blow its brains
+out."</p>
+
+<p>"And you might have its horns polished and mounted and its tail
+stuffed," added Grenville.</p>
+
+<p>"Silly idiots," scornfully. "You're both jealous. If you could have
+<i>seen</i> the things The Kid <i>missed</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>"The Kid generally misses," chimed in Ailsa cheerfully. "He gets so
+excited, he quivers all over, and the wild beast, or whatever it is,
+just lollops away, throwing a grin over his shoulder at him."</p>
+
+<p>"If you don't mind," threatened Stanley, "I'll give away your hippo
+story."</p>
+
+<p>"It has increased," said Ailsa's big, schoolboy husband, chuckling to
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible!..." ejaculated The Kid. "Surely it had already reached
+the limit of human ingenuity?"</p>
+
+<p>They both spluttered, and Ailsa threw a newspaper at them, but Diana
+demanded to be told the story.</p>
+
+<p>"O, it's only about a hippo in the Zambesi, above the Victoria Falls,"
+began Stanley; "a perfectly harmless hippo really, but it had the
+impudence to look at the canoe in which Mrs. Grenville was travelling
+back to the hotel in the dusk."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought it bumped the canoe up and down on its back," said the
+missionary, still chuckling.</p>
+
+<p>"That came later"; and Stanley addressed himself gravely to Diana.
+"But at one time the story really did stop at the hippo chasing them
+on to an island and off it again, and opening and shutting its mouth
+at them."</p>
+
+<p>"If you had been there you would have been terrified, and had
+hysterics or something," Ailsa flung at him.</p>
+
+<p>"I certainly should at the later period of the story," he assured her.</p>
+
+<p>"When it played catch-ball with them?" suggested the missionary.
+"Threw them all into the air and caught them again in the canoe."</p>
+
+<p>"That wasn't so bad, since it <i>did</i> catch them," said Stanley. "My
+horror would have been when it climbed the tree after them!..."</p>
+
+<p>"That is the part that has increased," put in the schoolboy husband,
+beginning to shake again. "It now jumps after them from one tree to
+another," and then they both spluttered insanely, and Diana joined in
+because it was so infectious, and Ailsa called them all ridiculous
+children who ought to be given a sweetie and tucked up in bed.</p>
+
+<p>A little later the cavalcade got under way, and Grenville and his wife
+stood waving to them somewhat sorrowfully from their wilderness home.</p>
+
+<p>"They are dear people," Ailsa said; and added, "O, Billy, if Major
+Carew would but come out of his shell and love Meryl!... I am sure she
+cares for him ... and she is so sweet ... and he&mdash;O, he is just like a
+figure of stone."</p>
+
+<p>Grenville pinched her ear affectionately. "Little matchmaker! No one
+by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature; and no one by just
+wishing it, I am inclined to think, can influence the little god Cupid
+whither he will aim his arrow. Perhaps, perhaps not; that is all there
+is to say ever."</p>
+
+<p>The next morning after a very early breakfast, the travellers started
+on their way to Enkeldorn <i>en route</i> for Salisbury. And at the top of
+the valley, whither they walked to save the mules, both girls stood
+and turned for a long last look at the grey walls of the ancient
+temple, lying in a soft haze of morning mists. It seemed to Meryl it
+had never held a deeper fascination, a stronger allurement. Just those
+old, old walls, and the soft enfolding mists which must have enfolded
+them even so for perhaps three thousand years. The red of sunrise was
+still in the sky, for Mr. Pym was an early starter, and it tinged the
+mist with a soft flush where the sun's rays had not yet lit a clearer
+light.</p>
+
+<p>"It was good to come," said Diana simply. "I have to thank you for
+it."</p>
+
+<p>But Meryl only smiled in response. She had nothing to say. She felt
+she was leaving behind with the ruins the best memory her life would
+ever hold. Then they climbed into the ambulance waiting for them, said
+"good-bye" charmingly to the lonely dwellers at the store and hotel,
+with whom they had had some pleasant chats, drinking tea and admiring
+the lovely view from their delightful huts, and went clattering away
+down the road, their faces turned to the north.</p>
+
+<p>And in the valley they left behind there was desolation.</p>
+
+<p>Carew arrived back at his quarters, grim and taciturn, in the evening,
+to find Stanley looking a veritable image of disconsolate hopelessness
+in spite of Moore's persistent droll badinage.</p>
+
+<p>"O, what did they want to come for," he groaned, "if they had to go
+away again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Faith!..." said the astute Irishman. "Did ye ask either of them to
+share your little wooden hut?..."</p>
+
+<p>But The Kid paid no attention. As Carew stood a moment beside him,
+filling a pipe, with a cold, expressionless face, the youngster
+glanced up with a momentary gleam, and remarked, "Eh, sir? But women
+are the devil, aren't they?"</p>
+
+<p>Carew said nothing; but with a low chuckle Moore ejaculated, "Come,
+give the divil a chance; we find him very accommodating sometimes in
+auld Erin."</p>
+
+<p>Stanley got up and stretched himself. "Days and weeks of desolation
+now," he moaned; "and we were so happy and content before. Moore, old
+chap"&mdash;giving that harmless individual a smack on the back that nearly
+knocked him over&mdash;"yours was the wise choice when we spoke of gifts
+from heaven. I said, 'Give me millionairesses,' and you, with the
+wisdom of the ages, said, 'Give me whisky.' I'll take a little now and
+hope for the best."</p>
+
+<p>And still Carew said nothing. The pipe was filled and he slowly lit
+it. Then unexpectedly he tapped it with light significance. "This is
+the best friend of all," he said, and went away into his hut.</p>
+
+<p>Stanley glanced after him a moment with a curious expression.
+"Gad!..." he murmured. "Was our bronze image a bit hit too? He looks
+fierce enough and stern enough to be resenting a dent."</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime the travellers reached the Charter Flats, and decided
+to camp there for the night. They had travelled for some time along
+the sandy tracts, enjoying the sense of space all around and the wide
+horizons, and both Mr. Pym and the girls were loth to hurry away. It
+is customary to dread these wide sandy tracts, and either hurry across
+them or avoid them; but to these city-dwellers their vast calm held a
+deep allurement; for though only scrub and sand stretched from horizon
+to horizon, with occasional little strips of stunted trees, the clear
+southern atmosphere lent a lovely effect of light and shade and
+colour. Many large patches here and there were blackened with veldt
+fires, but these in the distance formed delicate shadings that
+enhanced the charm of a strip of yellow sand or young green grass or
+purple-shadowed wilderness. It was like a world that contained only a
+colour scheme; no dwellings, no humans, no landmarks, no hills and
+valleys, no roads: just delicate shadings and haze as far as the eye
+could see, with no clear line between earth and heaven. They might
+have been looking over the edge of the world into a delicately tinted
+space, so boundless it seemed, so unfathomable, so remote. They
+pitched their camp on a little rising ground, near a slow meandering
+stream that crept lazily across the miniature desert. And when the
+dusk came down the effect was more unusual still, for the flats are on
+high ground, and the heavens seem to stoop down all round, hanging a
+dark curtain, decorated with brilliant stars, on every side. Across
+all the world no sign of human life, no sound; only vast emptiness
+everywhere&mdash;above, around, below; and for companions, worlds and suns
+and solar systems.</p>
+
+<p>It is a scene in which a man may seem to get very close to his God;
+not a remote, incomprehensible Deity, dwelling vaguely beyond the
+stars, but a Presence that is in the breathing silence and the velvety
+deeps at hand. And a man may meet himself there also; not the aping,
+grinning, chattering mask of a personality custom more or less compels
+him to wear in the crowd, but the hidden, mysterious being, conscious
+of a soul beyond his ken, that in such quiet hours desires eternally
+some goal, some good, afar off. The indestructible, incomprehensible,
+infinite hunger, that lies as a germ in every human heart and is man's
+best attribute, in that it raises him for ever incontestably above the
+beasts that perish, and stands serene and steadfast as the Rock of
+Ages, the one barrier past which the materialists and the scientists
+cannot go: the divine spark within the human, which no theory can
+account for and no learning of sage or cynic obliterate.</p>
+
+<p>The travellers sat round a glowing fire, for the night air was keen
+and cold; and much that is inevitably disturbing in the friction of
+daily being and daily doing seemed to fall away from them and cease to
+exist for that one wonderful night. And the next day, when the small
+black attendant brought their early tea and opened wide the tent-flap
+to a brilliant morning, yet another picture awaited them. This time it
+was a world decked with enormous diamonds. Tall, sparse grasses leant
+over and whispered to each other outside the tent, and every ear and
+every seed was hung with a lovely brilliant dewdrop. Out beyond was
+that same vague, remote, fathomless horizon, painted now with
+wonderful rose tints, where the rising sun caught the lingering mists
+and merged the dark streaks of blackened veldt into the general scheme
+with a softness of shading beyond all description. Meryl lay still,
+gazing with her soul in her eyes, but after a time Diana sat up.</p>
+
+<p>"It makes me ache almost like the Victoria Falls did. I wonder why God
+painted such lovely scenes where no one ever came, or scarcely ever,
+to see them?"</p>
+
+<p>She was silent a moment, then ran on again, "We fight and sweat and
+struggle for diamonds, and God hangs them on the dry grass, in the
+wilderness. Meryl, I wonder if we shall ever see anything quite like
+this again? And they told us to avoid the Charter Flats!... I suppose
+God feels about it something as we do. He knows most people like
+Brighton parades and Durban sea-fronts, so He lets them arrange their
+own sights; and for Himself, in far wonderful places, He paints scene
+pictures, and plants lovely gardens, and fills them with birds and
+flowers and sunshine, and splashes down upon the world, in some remote
+corner, a glorious colour scheme, just for his own delight."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl raised herself on her elbow, with a little tender smile. "And I
+suppose He said to Himself, 'I will let Diana and Meryl Pym see one of
+my secret, treasured places'?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, exactly. And though I don't hold with saying grace before meals,
+because, since God made us, it seems the least He can do to enable us
+to obtain food to keep us alive, I will say a grace this morning to
+Him for letting me see His colour scheme on the Charter Flats at
+sunset and sunrise."</p>
+
+<p>A little later they had a fragrant breakfast of liver from a buck the
+engineer had shot about daybreak; and that is a delicacy known only to
+those who fare forth across the veldt, and have a bright wood fire
+burning in readiness for the spoils of the hunt directly they are
+brought in.</p>
+
+<p>Then they started away again across the flats, once more moving in a
+vague world of soft shadings, with only the long sandy road
+stretching away into space behind them and before. And sometimes,
+before the sun mounted too high, they found themselves moving across a
+space of gold and bronze, where grass that had not been burnt shone
+like amber in the morning glory; and again presently a space of
+loveliest emerald-green, where the grass had been burnt early and the
+new blades were already sending up joyous blades into the sunlight.
+And sometimes a Kaffir-boom tree added a splash of brilliant scarlet,
+painted upon a canvas of soft, hazy shadings; and sometimes the veldt
+showed them a little piece of her flower-carpet&mdash;the carpet that was
+to spread broadcast presently&mdash;of delicate-tinted lovely flowers in
+reckless profusion upon a ground of rich terra-cotta soil.</p>
+
+<p>Neither girl talked. It was not a scene to talk in. It did not call
+for raptures and exclamations; only for dreaming and absorbing. It
+seemed as if it might have been the spot where God rested upon the
+seventh day, so utter and absolute and complete was the sense of
+detachment from all the exigencies of being and doing.</p>
+
+<p>Two verses of a poem by Arthur Symons repeated themselves in pleasant
+rhythm in Meryl's mind:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><p>
+<span class="i3">"I leave the lonely city street,</span>
+<span class="i3">The awful silence of the crowd;</span>
+<span class="i3">The rhythm of the roads I beat.</span>
+<span class="i3">My blood leaps up, I shout aloud,</span>
+<span class="i3">My heart keeps measure with my feet.</span></p>
+<p>
+<span class="i3">"A bird sings something in my ear,</span>
+<span class="i3">The wind sings in my blood a song</span>
+<span class="i3">'Tis good at times for a man to hear;</span>
+<span class="i3">The road winds onward white and long,</span>
+<span class="i3">And the best of earth is here!"</span>
+</p></div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX</h2>
+
+<h2>THE CONVENTIONALITIES ONCE MORE</h2>
+
+<p>Later in the day they reached Enkeldorn and once more pitched their
+tent beside the police camp; but the place is not inviting, and they
+were glad to leave early the following morning; for Enkeldorn is the
+centre round which many Dutch people congregate to farm small farms,
+in what it must be confessed is often the most slovenly and lazy
+fashion conceivable. And some of them speak quite openly of how they
+hate the English, and look forward to a day when they will be strong
+enough to turn them out of the country.</p>
+
+<p>But before that day can come, before union with a South Africa in
+which there is Dutch predominance, it is to be hoped England will send
+out more and yet more strong, vigorous young settlers, to put brains
+and heart and energy into the virgin soil, waiting only for the
+craftsman's hand; and so ensure for ever, in union or out of it, an
+unswerving predominance of Cecil Rhodes's countrymen: holding his high
+aims and hopes and splendid Imperialism in Cecil Rhodes's land.</p>
+
+<p>Two days later the party arrived in Salisbury, and not a little to
+their regret, the fashionable garments that had travelled thither by
+train to await their arrival had to be duly unpacked and worn. Diana
+glanced at herself disconsolately the first afternoon, dressed in an
+elegant summer frock, awaiting tea in a drawing-room, and one or two
+lady callers known to Mr. Pym who were likely shortly to arrive.
+Meryl, seeming lovelier than ever, though perhaps a trifle frailer, as
+if some sadness in her mind weighed upon her waking and sleeping
+hours, stood at the window, looking over the pretty, well-kept town.</p>
+
+<p>"Why are we here? This is not the wilderness," Diana said grumblingly;
+"this is suburban mediocrity. It was not fair to bring me all this way
+from home, to have to dress up and look pleasant, and talk banalities
+to people I have never seen before and probably shall never see
+again."</p>
+
+<p>"You are so inconsistent, Di," Meryl said, with a little affectionate
+laugh. "When we arrived at Zimbabwe you said you did not want only old
+ruins, you wanted a man. Judging by the number of cyclists in
+flannels, carrying tennis racquets or golf clubs, who have passed this
+window in the last half-hour, you will find more men, ready no doubt
+to hang upon your lightest smile, than you will know what to do with."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want them," with an impish pettiness. "I hate young men in
+flannels. I hate houses. I hate afternoon frocks. I hate clean hands.
+I hate having to be polite. I want The Kid, giggling insanely at his
+own silly jokes. I want The Bear's den and The Bear inside it. I want
+to have grubby hands and old shoes and a red face, and eat things in
+my fingers, and forget I have heaps and heaps of money for the simple
+reason that it is no earthly use if I have."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl smiled softly and wistfully. "I wonder what they are doing?... I
+think they will miss us. It is extraordinary how Zimbabwe gets into
+one's heart. I have never seen anything anywhere that appealed to me
+quite like those old walls, with their untold story and their patience
+of the ages. The Sphinx in Egypt may be older, but we know how it came
+to be there and who built it. One of Zimbabwe's fascinations seems to
+be the absence of all knowledge about it, of all why and wherefore."
+She broke off as a Cape cart drove up to the door. "Here is someone
+coming to call. I think it is Mrs. Cluer, by father's description."</p>
+
+<p>"Then bother Mrs. Cluer!" snapped the peevish one. "In this country I
+wonder if people say they are 'out' or 'asleep' when they do not want
+to be found 'at home'?"</p>
+
+<p>But Mrs. Cluer knew both Major Carew and Stanley, so the conversation
+was not quite so uninteresting as Diana had anticipated. She was,
+moreover, a woman of exceptional charm, and at any other time they
+would both have lost their hearts to her.</p>
+
+<p>"You probably did not see much of Major Carew," she said. "He is the
+most unsociable man in the country. One can get him to a man's
+bridge-party, but not much else; and most of us have given up trying.
+I expect it is partly his own doing that he is down there. He always
+manages to get work that takes him out on the veldt, if possible."</p>
+
+<p>"He appears to like it," Meryl commented; "and Mr. Stanley and his
+companion are very fond of him, in spite of his unsociable ways."</p>
+
+<p>"O, all the men are fond of him," she told them, evidently glad of an
+opportunity to sing his praises. "He never gives himself any airs with
+them for one thing, and he's just a man all through, living a clean,
+sportsman's life; and whether they do the same themselves or not, they
+all look up to him and admire him for it, without being afraid he will
+come down like a sledgehammer upon their failings. One knows the tone
+of the whole police force is better for having an officer like Major
+Carew, and it is a thousand pities there are not more like him. And
+Cecil Stanley is just the dearest boy in the world. Every one in
+Salisbury was fond of him. He is so good at games and dancing, and
+always so jolly and boyish and natural. We miss him badly, but I
+believe he likes being down there better than in the town."</p>
+
+<p>"I think he does; he seemed perfectly happy."</p>
+
+<p>They went on to speak of the gaiety of Salisbury; its golf and tennis
+and polo and dancing; and their visitor urged them to stay for a
+fancy-dress ball, when four hundred guests all in costume were
+expected. But neither of them were in the mood for balls, and the only
+attraction they cared about was an early-morning gallop with the
+hounds after jackal. Nothing could solace them for the careless, happy
+days they had left, and as soon as Mr. Pym had transacted his
+business, they persuaded him to take them out to Lomagundi with him,
+rather than be left behind in the town.</p>
+
+<p>"They seem to be rather touchy ladies here, and so superior," Diana
+urged, when he demurred; "and you know I am never safe for two minutes
+with that type. I should be driven into saying appalling things, and
+our reputation might be ruined for ever."</p>
+
+<p>In the end, as usual, they won him round, and departed one morning
+gleefully in the little toy train that runs out across the Gwebi Flats
+to the Eldorado Gold Mine. And to Diana's joy, they had a luggage-van
+fitted up as an impromptu saloon for them, and were able to spin along
+with both doors wide open, enjoying the air and the country. The
+Eldorado is the show mine of Rhodesia, having a native compound equal
+to any in South Africa, and charming bungalows for the staff, and an
+airy, comfortable hospital. But mines were not likely to hold much
+interest to lady travellers from Johannesburg, and all their eagerness
+was to go out to Sinoia to see the limestone caves, where, like an
+exquisite jewel in a massive setting, an underground lake, of
+wonderful colouring, lies in lonely loveliness.</p>
+
+<p>Or perhaps it were better likened to a butterfly, with its wings
+closed, and only the more or less drab outside showing. The veldt,
+somewhat uniform and colourless, with its surrounding hills, is the
+butterfly with its wings closed. Enter the wide hole in the ground,
+beside the hidden lake, and descend the rough natural staircase of
+rocky boulders, to where the sun through an opening in the ground
+above shines down on to the translucent water, and there lies the
+butterfly with its wings open, and all their exquisite design and
+colouring and blending unfolded to the eye.</p>
+
+<p>"You have some rare treasures in this far Rhodesia," Meryl said to
+their guide and host as they reluctantly left the hidden jewel behind;
+"treasures that your children and your children's children will be
+very proud of some day."</p>
+
+<p>"If they have time," he answered a trifle cynically. "Not many
+Rhodesians to-day have time to care for any but the treasures that
+they can work for and grasp and carry away. The time for natural
+beauties to be appreciated is not yet. Why, we do not even pay a
+native half-a-crown a week to keep the caves free from the baboons and
+bats that defile them. I am afraid, at present, Rhodesia lives almost
+entirely for to-day," he continued. "The spirit ready to sacrifice
+itself for the good of future generations has yet to be developed." He
+was a clever-looking man, with quiet, thoughtful eyes, and he and
+Meryl had talked much together during her short stay. "The nobility of
+the bee is not found much among humans. In all the annals of the race,
+is there anything to compare with their service to the coming swarm?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only that we do not know it is the result of calm reasoning," she
+answered. "The bee perhaps comes into existence, permeated through and
+through with this one idea, and lives solely to fulfil it. The service
+humanity asks of humanity is something even higher, surely&mdash;a
+willing, conscious sacrifice of present ease to future good. The
+spirit of heroes and fools"; and she smiled a little sadly,
+remembering Ailsa Grenville's verse and her enthusiasm for the dear
+Ship of Fools. "But you have some fine men out here," she added. "I
+think your future looks exceedingly hopeful."</p>
+
+<p>A few days later they started on their return to Bulawayo, and the
+tour was practically ended. There was nothing more now but dusty
+railway journeys and elegant garments and conventionalities.</p>
+
+<p>"No more grubby hands and red faces and 'anyhow' clothes that did not
+matter," was Diana's constant lament. Meryl said nothing. What was
+there to say? But the pain that dwelt in her eyes sometimes, when she
+thought no one was looking, sent deep stabs to her father's heart.
+With all his money, and all his power and influence, what could he do
+in this one thing that seemed to matter beyond all other things?
+Nothing except to look quietly on, and hope the wound was not too deep
+for healing. That, and to humour her in anything she asked. Which was
+partly why some of the long hours of the hot, dusty journey were spent
+in discussing plans for the settlement of young men upon his land, on
+exceptionally easy terms. He was not quite sure that the country was
+ripe for such a scheme yet; but Meryl's great wish for it, and obvious
+pleasure in the discussions, took him to lengths he might otherwise
+have avoided.</p>
+
+<p>So they came to Bulawayo, and as they stepped out on to the platform,
+Meryl saw suddenly among the other passengers a tall form in khaki
+that caused her to draw in her breath with a little catch, while her
+eyes grew strained and anxious. Diana was still in the saloon, only
+half dressed, and her father was talking aside to someone who had come
+to the station to meet him. She was quite alone, rooted momentarily to
+the spot, waiting for the tall man to turn in her direction, if he
+chanced to look that way at all before hurrying off.</p>
+
+<p>Then someone accosted him, and she saw the strong, self-contained
+face, as he turned to the speaker. A moment's suspense followed; then
+the man who had accosted him went towards the station entrance, and
+Carew came slowly in her direction, with his helmet low over his eyes.
+Thus he did not see her until they were face to face, and in the
+first moment of recognition she saw him start, as one taken in swift
+surprise. Then a slow colour crept up under the sunburn on his cheeks,
+and something came into his eyes that she had never seen there before.</p>
+
+<p>But he only came forward with a formal air and saluted her solemnly.
+"I joined the train in the night," he said. "I had no idea you would
+be coming to Bulawayo so soon."</p>
+
+<p>It was all very ordinary, very sedate, and a little wooden, but Meryl
+paid no heed to that, paid no heed to the obvious conclusion he had
+taken no chance journey hoping to see her again. For what his lips
+could not say, and his manner would not, his eyes had revealed to her
+in that first swift moment of surprise. She knew that whatever came
+between them in the future, whatever was between them now, Peter Carew
+was not indifferent to her.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX</h2>
+
+<h2>FAREWELL</h2>
+
+<p>"Did I hear the growl of a bear?" sang out a voice from behind a drawn
+blind of the saloon coach beside which they were standing.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid you did," said Carew, addressing the blind.</p>
+
+<p>"O, joy! joy! Growl again, growl again&mdash;like the Christmas bells. How
+would it go?... 'Growl out, wild bear'&mdash;I forget the rest, but it's a
+silly song I learnt to sing when I was young. Don't go away; I shall
+be dressed directly. If these God-forsaken railways had not such a
+mania for landing you at your destination when all respectable people
+are snug in bed!..." and sundry sounds suggested the impatient speaker
+was flinging things about. Then a face with bright eyes appeared over
+the blind, which was a wooden shutter, and could be lowered to a
+discreet distance. "Hullo!... I simply had to take a look at you. I've
+been pining for a glimpse of The Kid's smile and your scowl. It's been
+deadly since we left Zimbabwe. Ugh!... how I hate civilisation!"</p>
+
+<p>Carew looked at her with his rare, slow smile. "Is that why you keep
+the whole train waiting in the station, and the station-master,
+conductor, and guard in a state of ferment, because they cannot clear
+the line until you are dressed?"</p>
+
+<p>"Rude man!" came back the quick retort. "You haven't yet said, How do
+you do?"</p>
+
+<p>"How do you do, Miss Diana Pym?" gravely. "I hope I see you well! And
+how did you leave Salisbury?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do very nicely, thank you, Major Carew. You cannot see me very well
+through a wooden shutter, I imagine. And how is your old heap of
+stones?" ... with which she vanished again to the interior. "Tell the
+conductor I've come to the last curl and the last hook and eye," she
+called, and a few minutes later stepped out on to the platform, a
+vision of fresh daintiness. "I'm rather glad," she remarked to Carew,
+with a twinkle, "that you will have an opportunity of seeing us in our
+best clothes"; then running on, "I see you look as fierce and
+awe-inspiring as ever; but having learnt, in Rhodesia, to keep quite
+calm with cockchafers and beetles running about in my bed, I am not
+likely to be afraid of a bear."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to the Grand Hotel?" Mr. Pym asked him, having joined
+them while Diana was finishing her toilet, "because there is plenty of
+room in our motor."</p>
+
+<p>Carew thanked him, and they all moved away together. At the hotel,
+however, he vanished, and it was only after a little adroit persuasion
+later that Mr. Pym got him to accept an invitation to dine with them
+in their private room in the evening.</p>
+
+<p>And after accepting, Carew went about the work that had brought him to
+Bulawayo with an uneasy mind. The fortnight that had elapsed since the
+evening he found Meryl unexpectedly at the Grenvilles' had been a
+somewhat disturbed one for him. For many years now his life had flown
+so evenly in all big essentials. Little worries, little disturbances,
+disappointments, were inevitable for a man whose heart was so
+thoroughly in his work, and for whom the conditions of work were often
+so trying. But these had only ruffled the surface; underneath the
+smooth river flowed along strong and self-contained. After the
+upheaval that had been as a volcanic eruption upon smiling
+sunshine-flooded fields in his life, and the black desolation that
+followed, there had succeeded a long quiet period of calm action that,
+if it held nothing which could be termed joy, held nothing either that
+was sorrow except his buried memories. And he had been well content
+that it should be so; well content to contemplate just that and
+nothing else to the journey's end.</p>
+
+<p>And now, suddenly, had come this vague unrest. He sought for its
+source and its reason, and could not find a satisfactory answer. For
+though it dated from the coming of the millionaire and his party, he
+would not admit himself capable of the folly of falling in love with
+Meryl. To him it was such inexcusable foolishness, in view of many
+things. Rather he chose to believe it was a voice from the old life,
+reawakened in his heart, and calling to him across the years. When he
+smoked his pipe outside the huts, and pondered deeply some knotty
+point in his report and in the work of the Native Commission, he found
+himself suddenly remembering that it was September. And away in his
+beloved Devon they would be out after the partridges&mdash;striding
+through the heather and across the stubble-fields, ranging over the
+purple moors with purple horizons all round, and in the distance a
+strip of turquoise, which was the sea. He could almost hear the
+whir ... rr of wings and the shots on some far hill-side. And he knew
+that, though the shooting in a wild, vast country like Rhodesia is a far
+finer and more sportsmanlike affair than shooting driven birds in
+England, he yet felt, and would ever feel, that intense British love
+of the soil that had reared him, and the moors where he fired his
+first gun and shot his first bird. And, of course, upon the heels of
+the shooting came the hunting, which had once been the joy of his
+life, ever after he first put his pony at a stiff fence, entirely on
+his own, and sailed gloriously over, in spite of an anxious groom
+shouting caution to the winds.</p>
+
+<p>And then all the woodcraft and fieldcraft he had learnt from his
+uncle's keepers and his uncle's farmer tenants. He remembered how it
+had been part of his education as a youngster, and how in pursuit of
+knowledge he had been up early and late and in the middle of the
+night, picking up information about the woodland creatures from anyone
+who could teach him or finding things out for himself. There was the
+poacher who had shown him, for love of the sport, if sport it could be
+called, how he got the pheasants silently off the boughs in the
+night&mdash;taking them from their roosting-places and never a sound. He
+had given that poacher a bright half-crown, he remembered, and his
+firm lips twitched a little over the recollection. He had not seen the
+humour then of paying the man who was stealing his uncle's
+pheasants&mdash;the pheasants that would some day be his. He wondered if
+the boys in England now, the future landowners, were taught woodlore
+as he had been taught it, because it was good for an English gentleman
+to know all the scents and signs and sounds of his estate.</p>
+
+<p>And after all, he was no landowner at all. By his own act, instead,
+merely an officer in the British South Africa Police, with a few
+hundreds a year income, and nothing but a meagre pension ahead.</p>
+
+<p>Ah well! he had had a good deal besides for what he had lost, and it
+had been a good life enough, dependent solely on himself, and far
+removed from the caprices of a rich uncle. He regretted nothing at
+this stage of what had transpired after the upheaval came. Of course,
+his brother was now owner of the estates that might have been his, and
+was married, and had children; whereas he was a soldier-policeman
+looking forward to a meagre pension.</p>
+
+<p>Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered. It was only that, seeing so
+much more of the Pyms socially than he had been wont to see of anyone,
+old memories had been awakened. He hoped they would soon go to sleep
+again, for, in passing, they had taken some of the restfulness out of
+Rhodesia's far horizons, and fretted the flow of the strong, silent
+river, with a vague discontent. Sometimes between him and those far
+horizons there was a face now&mdash;sometimes a voice&mdash;sometimes just a dim
+presence&mdash;the voice and the face and the presence of Meryl Pym. And it
+was a thing to be fought down and crushed and conquered&mdash;a weakness
+that was well-nigh a foolishness&mdash;a folly such as stern men trample
+underfoot.</p>
+
+<p>So when Mr. Pym asked him to dine with them privately, he made some
+excuse, and only yielded under pressure. And when he joined them he
+was in one of his gravest moods, as if he had barricaded himself round
+with impenetrable reserve. There were two other guests, so Diana did
+not twit him openly; she only murmured in an aside, for his ear alone,
+"I'm so sorry it's a party, and we shall feel obliged to be polite.
+This civilisation is becoming a positive burden."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl was a little late, and she wore a beautiful gown, of a classic
+cut, with exquisite classic embroideries and a filigree band on her
+lovely hair. It was the first time he had seen her in evening dress,
+and he took one keen, sweeping glance and then looked away. He had
+rather the attitude of a soldier on parade, to whom the colonel had
+said "eyes front." Only he was his own colonel, obeying his own laws
+and restrictions. And Meryl only dared to take a fleeting glance also,
+for fear her eyes might betray her. And though he looked as striking
+as a man may, in immaculate evening dress, with his strong, clear-cut
+features, and inches that dwarfed most men, with the inconsistency of
+a woman she decided she liked him best in khaki that had seen hard
+service, and that look of being all of a piece, because his hands and
+face were so brown. He sat on her left, while Lord Elmsleigh, who was
+passing through from the Victoria Falls, sat on her right; and though
+she chatted lightly to his lordship, she was conscious every second of
+the hour of the big, silent, rather grim soldier-policeman. He spoke
+very little. Just an opinion now and then when he was asked for it, or
+the corroboration or correction of a statement, when someone looked to
+him questioningly. The millionaire, chatting in his quiet, weighty way
+to his two other guests, noted everything. He knew that Carew and
+Meryl scarcely once looked at each other, or addressed each other
+direct, and with a deep sense of regret he had again that feeling of
+being brought up against some barrier where neither his money nor
+power nor influence could be of any avail. And at the same time he
+knew in his heart that he had never met any man to whom he would
+sooner entrust Meryl and the fortune that must be hers. For though
+their very silence together revealed to his astute brain that neither
+was indifferent to the other, he could not but see also that
+undercurrent of grim determination in Carew. True, he was almost
+always silent, but Henry Pym perceived that his silence to-day was not
+quite of that of yesterday. Something had gone out of it&mdash;some quiet,
+grave, unquestioning content. In the keen, direct, steel-blue eyes now
+there was a shadow lurking behind, that might have been of some old
+memory, or might have been of some new pain, but which vaguely hurt
+the millionaire host.</p>
+
+<p>Meryl's eyes were less smiling than her lips, turning a little
+unsteadily this way and that, with a restlessness that added a touch
+of vivacity to her quiet beauty. But that, he knew, was the thing we
+baldly name pluck. It was not to-night he need fear what he should see
+in her eyes, nor perhaps to-morrow. It was any day, any hour, any
+moment in the weeks to come, when she believed no one was observing
+her.</p>
+
+<p>So the evening passed, and the last rubber of bridge was played, and
+the first move made towards departure.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we have your company for a day or two? I must stay here over
+to-morrow!" Mr. Pym said to Carew.</p>
+
+<p>"I leave early in the morning," was the quiet reply. "I only came here
+to see Mr. Ireson, and now I go to Salisbury."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl, with her face turned away, blanched a little in the shadow.
+This was the end then. This casual, conventional good-bye at a
+dinner-party. To-morrow he would go east before they were up; and the
+next day she would go back to Johannesburg, and later England. She
+turned quickly to make a gay remark. Something in her heart tightened.
+She felt suddenly appalled at the future, and was afraid she might
+show it.</p>
+
+<p>But the evening had still one little unexpected treat in store for
+her. Lord Elmsleigh had a big-game trophy in his room that he wanted
+to show Mr. Pym and their other guests&mdash;something that he had shot in
+the Kafue valley. And in consequence, while Diana and Carew and Meryl
+were standing together by the open window that led on to the wide
+balcony, he took them both off with him.</p>
+
+<p>And then Diana said to Carew, "As you are going to-morrow, I will give
+you those snapshots to-night. I have them in my room," and she went
+away, pulling the door to after her.</p>
+
+<p>So Carew and Meryl were left alone by the window, looking out into the
+pulsing southern night. Meryl, quite suddenly, felt a little dizzy,
+and she drew back into the corner, leaning against the woodwork,
+feeling glad of some support. Carew remained upright and rigid, with
+something in that very rigidity that suggested a special need to keep
+himself well in hand. If he had stopped to think about it, he might
+have felt that Fate was treating him a little unkindly. So far he had
+done the strong thing every time, and gone quietly away from danger;
+not because he was a coward, but because he knew it is sometimes far
+more cowardly to skate on thin ice, and hope it will be all right,
+than to remain in safety on the bank. For Meryl's sake as well as his
+own he had chosen to remain on the bank. And yet here, for the third
+time, was Fate deliberately bringing the danger zone to him, in spite
+of his efforts to avoid it. But he did not stop to cogitate either one
+way or the other. Sufficient for him that he knew himself in the
+danger zone, and therefore it behoved him to be very wary. Not by act
+or word, if he could help it, must he let Meryl see how she had
+disturbed his peace. And there, again, it would seem, Fate had played
+with him. A subtler man would have perceived that an added rigidity
+was not entirely the safeguard he needed now. Meryl already knew him
+too well for that. Had he talked and laughed a little, she might have
+been puzzled and baffled. But Carew was not subtle. He was simply
+sincere. And so he just stood very rigid and silent; not perceiving
+that in the circumstances that it was hardly the best way to baffle
+the eyes of love. Meryl knew instinctively he was putting some special
+restraint on himself, and the knowledge made her quietly glad,
+underneath the sudden pain of the knowledge that it was farewell.
+Back, in her vantage of shadow, she looked at him. And she saw, not
+for the first time, but perhaps more fully, that inner force in this
+man, which told any who had eyes to see and understanding to perceive,
+that nothing would turn him from a set purpose, if he were persuaded
+it was a right one; and whatever woman's arts she might possess, they
+would be as the waves against a granite rock. They might play round
+him, and sprinkle foam on him, and soften his aspect, but they would
+not <i>move</i> him. So, with an inner strength not unlike his own, she
+accepted his decree. For some reason, or set of reasons, love might
+not come into being between them. He was determined that it should
+not. Very well, she would hide her hurt and face her future without
+it.</p>
+
+<p>And if she chose to cherish his image, hidden deep down in her heart,
+that was her affair. A laughing, mocking world need never know.</p>
+
+<p>She broke the silence first:</p>
+
+<p>"If you are going early to-morrow, we shall not meet again."</p>
+
+<p>"No." He looked at her a moment, about to say something else; then
+changed his mind, and looked out of the window in silence. Leaning up
+against the lintel, in the softened light, her outline and features
+and deep, true eyes made too fair a picture for him to trust himself
+to look upon.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you will be coming to Johannesburg presently?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think not."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor England?..." with a little wistful smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Nor England."</p>
+
+<p>"You speak almost as if you never expected to go there again?"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall never go there again."</p>
+
+<p>There was a pause; then she continued:</p>
+
+<p>"Yet you are so absolutely an Englishman, and they say"&mdash;with another
+little smile&mdash;"an Englishman always wants to go home to be buried."</p>
+
+<p>"I am more a Rhodesian."</p>
+
+<p>"And you feel like Cecil Rhodes?... We went out to the Matopos this
+afternoon. It was a big thought, that of his, to be buried there. It
+gives you people in the north something that we of the south have
+not&mdash;your own special great man, lying in your midst. What a country
+you will be some day! I envy you your share of the building."</p>
+
+<p>"The south is a great country <i>now</i>. It is not a small thing to be
+building there."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but we have two races, and it spells division and weakens our
+enthusiasm."</p>
+
+<p>"Help to bridge over the gap. Help to make it spell union. That were a
+work that any man might be proud to give his life to."</p>
+
+<p>And at that slowly she became taut and rigid almost as he, with wide
+eyes gazing into the night. He had struck a hidden chord; struck it
+full and strong.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean," she said a little breathlessly, "that though my
+sympathies are so much with the north, my work, any usefulness I may
+attain to, ought to be given to the south?... that ... that ...
+perhaps it belongs to it?..."</p>
+
+<p>He was silent a moment, weighing his words.</p>
+
+<p>"I think," he said, "that you in the south are passing through a
+critical stage, and there must be much need for strong women as well
+as strong men. Dutch Predominance is the cry now, but the scales turn
+easily, and it may be English Predominance to-morrow. No country can
+make real headway, and consolidate its greatness, while there is this
+changing and interchanging of power. There must be no predominance but
+that of the country's good; and to that end Dutch and English <i>must</i>
+be merged into South African. It is the duty of every true patriot to
+look this way and that, and see how it can best be achieved; and to be
+ready to sink all personal aims and triumphs for the furtherance of
+the great end."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it possible," she asked slowly, "when it seems one side only is
+honest in its protestations?"</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot be sure about that. Seek out the strongest and best men of
+both sides, and help them to gain the power and hold it. Your own side
+is not without blame. At the first big election after the country was
+settling down again, you could not even stand together. At the polls
+there were three parties, where there should have been only two.
+Englishmen opposed Englishmen, mostly over a question of small
+differences, and for personal pride of place. South Africa has never
+yet recovered from that mistake. You must not hold two hands out to
+the Boers&mdash;the hands of differing Englishmen&mdash;but <i>one hand</i>, that is
+absolutely reliable and sincere."</p>
+
+<p>"It is what I have heard my father say, and others also, but progress
+is very slow. There is much racial hatred rampant still."</p>
+
+<p>"It will yield gradually. The fittest must prevail in the end; but
+obviously that fittest will prove to be neither Dutch nor English, but
+South African."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you think it will prevail?" She was white now, and her eyes
+were gazing very straight out into the night.</p>
+
+<p>"By intermarriage chiefly. It is almost the only solution to the
+problem. Speaking one tongue, owning one country, will never help it,
+as Dutch and English interests united upon one hearth. That is why you
+must be patient, and just go steadily on, avoiding dissension as much
+as possible, while trying to raise the tone of both races on every
+side."</p>
+
+<p>There was a little tremor in her voice as she said, "And are we to
+take it just meekly when Englishmen are ousted for Dutchmen and loyal
+service ignored?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think you can only be patient at present. The strong part will lie
+with you, though the others seem to triumph. If the party in power
+find the country is at a standstill, and not progressing as they want
+it to, they will end by rearranging the public posts, and the
+Englishmen will come back because they are the fittest. As a race, you
+know, we are inclined to be domineering and somewhat overbearing. We
+certainly have ourselves to thank for some of the trouble. Probably
+while the Dutchman is 'top dog' he is having his fling, and we are
+learning a little wholesome wisdom. When the reaction comes the
+country will be the gainer."</p>
+
+<p>"And in the meantime intermarriage?" she questioned slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"In the meantime intermarriage," he said, with quiet emphasis.</p>
+
+<p>But he little dreamt that at the cross-roads he was pointing her to a
+path of tears.</p>
+
+<p>They heard Diana returning, and he moved restlessly.</p>
+
+<p>"If I do not see you again"&mdash;with a hesitating voice unlike
+himself&mdash;"I hope you will be very happy.... Meeting you has been a
+great and unexpected pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," was all she could trust herself to say.</p>
+
+<p>And then Diana came into the room.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later the other men returned, and they all said good-bye. And
+when Carew shook hands with Meryl, he noticed that her hand was as
+cold as ice and her cheeks as white as snow, and that she scarcely
+raised her eyes to his face.</p>
+
+<p>And wondering and fearing, he walked away into the darkness, with the
+sense of a new shadow walking beside him&mdash;a shadow that had come to
+stay, in spite of all his resolutions and strong endeavours, the
+shadow of his love for the woman he had just left in silence and never
+thought to see again.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a>XXI</h2>
+
+<h2>A "HOARDING HUSTLING"</h2>
+
+<p>There was probably no family in Johannesburg better known or better
+loved than that of Henry Pym, the millionaire. Even Aunt Emily was
+something of a favourite, in spite of her peculiarities, perhaps a
+little for the sake of the delightful entertaining that took place at
+Hill Court. Diana was adored for her spirits, and Meryl was regarded
+somewhat as a treasure Johannesburg had a right to be proud of.
+Certain it was that if eventually she followed the example of her
+American cousins and enriched an English peerage with her wealth, she
+would hold her own amidst the loveliest and most charming of England's
+peeresses. At the same time, though many perhaps hoped that she would
+lead the way for the young South African heiresses, not many had much
+belief that she would lead it in the particular fashion they hoped;
+for there was ever that uncertain elusive quality about Meryl, that
+suggestion of the visionary and dreamer, that betold a nature not very
+likely to follow in any beaten path, or give overmuch value to the
+advantages of a high alliance from a worldly point of view. It was
+probable she would see things in quite a different light to the
+majority and act for herself. Nevertheless Johannesburg hoped for the
+best, and would have been pleased to number a peeress among her
+daughters; if it were only to show the world, for one thing, that some
+of South Africa's heiresses were every whit as refined and clever and
+charming as America's, whatever may have been implied to the contrary
+by scathing comments on Johannesburg's millionaires which have
+appeared from time to time in varied guise.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pym himself, however, was not among those who nursed such high
+hopes. When he took the Piccadilly mansion the preceding spring, and
+transferred his household to London for the season, he meant to
+entertain lavishly, and give the girls every possible opportunity to
+see the world of the highest London society, knowing full well he
+could do this because his friends numbered many among England's high
+names. That he should take them into the wilds of Rhodesia instead had
+certainly been the very last thought in his mind. On the other hand,
+as we have said, it did not greatly perturb him. He was inclined to
+think they might gain as much from their pioneer pilgrimage as from a
+rush of continuous gaiety. What exactly they <i>had</i> gained it would
+have been difficult to gauge; nothing perhaps that Aunt Emily would
+detect, fussing and exclaiming round them upon their first arrival.</p>
+
+<p>Diana, in a mood for merriment, and possibly to cover a certain
+invisible shadow that rested as a dim cloud upon the party, rouged her
+face to a brilliant red with an alarmingly fiery nose end. When she
+lifted her veil and confronted her aunt with a perfectly unconcerned
+smile, that lady raised her hands in horror and bemoaning. "O, my
+dear!... my dear!... your complexion is ruined. How could you be so
+careless? How could Meryl let you?... It will take weeks of care to
+undo the mischief."</p>
+
+<p>"O, don't make a fuss, aunty! Complexions don't matter
+tuppence-halfpenny in Rhodesia. You surely didn't imagine I was going
+to carry a sun-umbrella about, did you?"</p>
+
+<p>"But my dear child!..." still in great distress. "It is a dreadful
+thing to say, but you really look as if ... as if ..." but there her
+courage forsook her, and she could not name the dreadful possibility.</p>
+
+<p>"As if I had been drinking!" finished Diana cheerfully. "Yes, it's a
+little awkward, but perhaps if I don't lurch or look foolish ..." Then
+she encountered the astonished eyes of a young footman, who had come
+in with some small paraphernalia from the motor, and unable to keep
+her face, turned hurriedly away.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm rather afraid James is going to have a fit," she remarked to
+Meryl. "I hope it won't incapacitate him for the rest of the day," and
+she chuckled to herself. Meryl had not yet raised her veil, and the
+anxiety on Aunt Emily's face, which she vainly strove to hide, was
+delighting Diana more than ever. "Better not take your veil off
+downstairs, Meryl. Aunt Emily has had rather a shock from my face; I
+don't think she could bear any more."</p>
+
+<p>But the poor lady's concern was too pitiful to Meryl, and she threw
+her veil far back, saying, "She is a wicked creature, aunty. Her face
+only wants washing"; and then Aunt Emily, reassured and comforted,
+joined in the general laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"But soap and water won't remedy all the defects," Diana told her.
+"I've acquired a violent dislike to houses and rooms and tableclothes
+and clean hands, and all the absurd paraphernalia of civilised
+existence. Of course, I suppose I shall become rational again in time,
+but at present I thought of having a tent on the lawn and becoming a
+hermit."</p>
+
+<p>"How is everyone, Aunty?" Meryl asked, as the poor lady seemed again
+somewhat overcome. "Have you had hosts of visitors while you were all
+alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, people have been very kind, and I have not had much time to be
+dull; and everyone is delighted you are back again. Mr. van Hert has
+called twice this week to know which day you would arrive."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl's lips contracted a little, but Diana murmured, "Oho!... Dutch
+Willie! ready to be on the doorstep, of course, in spite of the
+hullabaloo you've been causing in the country, unrestrained by my
+caustic criticisms."</p>
+
+<p>"I expect he thought he would make hay while the sun shone," Meryl
+told her, "and air his pet theories while they were not in danger of
+being stamped on."</p>
+
+<p>Then they both went upstairs, and Meryl stood awhile at the wide
+window, looking over the lovely garden; and though she still answered
+kindly to her aunt's flow of chatter, the good lady having followed
+them to their room, her heart was far away among distant kopjes, where
+mysterious grey walls basked in the sunlight with the silence and the
+patience of the ages.</p>
+
+<p>For the next two or three days a continuous stream of visitors passed
+up and down the drive, and invitations poured in, and the girls found
+themselves quickly in a very vortex of social life.</p>
+
+<p>William van Hert did not come until the third day, and then he chose
+as late an hour as he well could, hoping to escape the throng. This he
+succeeded in doing, but Diana he could not escape. If it had been his
+hope to see Meryl alone he was entirely frustrated. Diana's small,
+practical head perceived the wisdom of avoiding all haste in what
+these two might have to say to each other, and van Hert had to bow to
+her decision. Still further, he had to undergo a small fire of chaff
+with an edge to it, concerning some of his political doings and
+sayings during their absence. But this from Diana he could always
+take. Whether she knew it or not, and whether she cared or not, at the
+time she probably wielded a more direct influence over van Hert than
+anyone else living. Certainly a more direct influence than Meryl and
+her father, for whereas his liking for them only tempered his rashness
+and indiscretions, Diana aimed shafts straight at any of his rabid
+policies in a manner that caused him secretly to reconsider. Yet all
+his devotion was drawn to Meryl in her fairness and quiet strength,
+and the hope of his heart was still to win her.</p>
+
+<p>As it happened, it was a very white-faced, silent Meryl who sat on the
+deep verandah that afternoon of his first call, and was content
+chiefly to listen to Diana waging her usual war. That astute young
+person had much to say, in her own slangy phraseology, concerning
+certain utterances of the Dutch extremists, openly derogatory to the
+English, and seemingly opposed to any spirit of racial conciliation.</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you try and teach your people to play the game?" she asked
+him, with a fine scorn. "Do you hear any of our eminent men haranguing
+about 'keeping down the Dutch' and 'steam-rollering the Dutch,' and
+without any hesitation openly speaking of themselves as a separate and
+superior race? Whatever our men think, they are at least sportsmen
+enough just now to keep it to themselves, for the sake of the hopes
+and aims of the country. But you apparently allow your following to
+say anything, and either pretend not to hear or take no notice. Listen
+to this, said by a predicant of the Dutch Reformed Church...." She
+picked up a pamphlet, lying near, and read aloud: "'We are a nation
+with our own taal, traditions, and history. We must now stand shoulder
+to shoulder and hand in hand for the rights of <i>our</i> people.... May
+God give <i>our</i> people strength to be unanimous!' Unanimous in what?...
+Why, forcing the issue of the language question according to their own
+ends, and retrenching English teachers, and generally looking upon
+themselves as the superior, chosen people whom God meant to reign
+alone in South Africa."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear young lady," he remonstrated, "can you blame me for the
+unwise, indiscreet utterances of every Dutch predicant who opens his
+mouth?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course I do. You are a leader, and you ought to protest
+openly against any such utterance; but naturally, if you only consider
+it unwise and indiscreet, you don't regret the purport of the words at
+all, merely their being uttered at perhaps the wrong time. Well, that
+sort of spirit isn't 'cricket,' as we understand it; and your
+attitude, in professing to hold out a hand to the English section,
+while the other is making secret signs to the Dutch, is what we call
+trying to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds; and that is an
+experiment being attempted by far too many of your colleagues just
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"I am doing nothing of the kind," he repudiated indignantly. "I am
+standing by my countrymen, that they may maintain the dignity of their
+nation and not be trampled under foot by the English."</p>
+
+<p>"O fiddlesticks! No one wants to trample you under foot. We mostly
+want to raise you. We want to broaden your outlook and widen your
+views. But you know perfectly well that that means a great united
+country, for the back-veldters might learn at last where strength lay;
+and then your precious taal, traditions, and history will have to take
+their proper place in the general scheme, and that will be on a plane
+of equality and not blatantly on top."</p>
+
+<p>Again he protested with outspread hands. "But we have a great country
+now through union. You overlook the most important fact."</p>
+
+<p>"We should have had," she corrected, "if the Bond in Cape Colony, and
+Het Volk in the Transvaal, and the Unie in the Orange River Colony had
+not chanced to be powerful enough to work almost entirely in the
+interests of a Dutch South Africa all the time they were waving a
+flag, and cheering the colours, and delivering orations on the beauty
+of Union and their love for the great Mother Country, meaning the
+Liberal Government, who mostly, it would seem, told them to do as they
+like and please themselves and not make a fuss, so long as they called
+it Union."</p>
+
+<p>He turned to Meryl with a deprecating air, as if asking for her
+support, and she smiled rather a tired smile and said, "It is only
+that she has had to bottle it all up for a long time, as you were not
+at hand. The next time you come she will be ready to smile on you."</p>
+
+<p>"But I hope in the meantime you do not endorse the slander?..."</p>
+
+<p>"I have plenty of hope to balance a certain amount of doubt; and if it
+is any pleasure to you to know it, Diana never troubles to cross
+swords with a man she has not considerable regard for."</p>
+
+<p>He flushed and looked gratified, and Diana remarked coolly, "O, I've
+lots of regard for you. I'm only sorry that a man who might be
+brilliant is content to be mediocre because of his prejudices. Now
+when we were in Rhodesia ..." and she paused, regarding him with the
+bright, piquant eyes of a small bird.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what about Rhodesia? You didn't find much brilliance there, I
+imagine? Brilliance does not thrive on bully beef and existence in a
+mud hut."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither does 'back-veldt' obtuseness and narrow-minded bigotry and
+indiscreet loquacity, Meinheer van Hert."</p>
+
+<p>He could not help laughing at the droll way she made the statement.
+"Well, what does thrive?"</p>
+
+<p>"Silence," thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"But that did not appeal to you?" with significance.</p>
+
+<p>"Not perhaps so much as the growl," was her enigmatic reply.</p>
+
+<p>"And did you like this wild, wilderness land of silence?"</p>
+
+<p>She regarded him with half-grave, half-mocking eyes. "Well, we
+understood why <i>you</i> want to have a finger in Rhodesia's pie, you and
+your various active organisations working in the interests of a Dutch
+South Africa. Any child could see what such a country would be worth
+to you. But you won't succeed, my friend. They've got a few strong men
+up there who believe in 'to-morrow' more than 'to-day,' and are not
+afraid to forego present honours for future progress. You won't bribe
+them, and you won't hoodwink them, and you won't get them. They may
+not have much weight or power or money to back them, but there's
+something in the atmosphere up there, something in the very air, that
+would tell anyone with a grain of perspicacity they could be dangerous
+if they liked. I shouldn't rouse the sleeping lion in Rhodesia if I
+were you, Meinheer, you and your colleagues, with coercion or anything
+else&mdash;that way lie explosives."</p>
+
+<p>At that moment Mr. Pym joined them, and the conversation at once
+became general, though van Hert laughingly told his host he had been
+undergoing a regular hoarding hustling. Then he told them of a few
+happenings since they went away, and because he was as glad as he
+could be to see them back again, all his natural versatility came
+uppermost, and one could easily perceive why he was a leader of men,
+and likely to remain so.</p>
+
+<p>"If only one could make him see straight," said Diana, when they spoke
+of it afterwards, "instead of with the warped vision of a one-idea'd
+fanatic."</p>
+
+<p>Later she tried to draw Meryl a little concerning her attitude towards
+him, but Meryl would only maintain an unrevealing silence, and Diana
+was baffled and troubled. She felt vaguely that some new thought was
+forming in Meryl's mind, some thought that held danger, but she could
+not grasp in what direction it tended.</p>
+
+<p>And van Hert smoked his pipe with a very thoughtful air that evening,
+pondering deeply. Meryl had neither encouraged him nor repulsed him,
+and she seemed just the same and yet different; and once more that
+half-formed dread came back to his memory that through Rhodesia he
+might lose her.</p>
+
+<p>And then he thought he would put the uncertainty at an end quickly and
+learn his fate as soon as possible; for he was treading on rather thin
+ice in his public capacity just now, and a strong coalition against
+him, which was rumoured in the air, might place him in an unpleasant
+position.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, Mr. Pym's support and Meryl's charm might prove
+weapons which would see him safely through, and help him to mould his
+position anew on broader lines.</p>
+
+<p>But for another three weeks Diana successfully baffled his intention,
+influenced by that vague fear she could not fathom, and a futile,
+helpless desire to ward off some pending destiny. And in the meantime
+she puzzled her small head daily concerning the invulnerable silence
+and aloofness of Peter Carew, and the blue shadows deepening under
+Meryl's eyes, though she strove hourly to be ever her old self and
+show no sign.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a>XXII</h2>
+
+<h2>MERYL'S DECISION</h2>
+
+<p>Although van Hert had no opportunity to reopen the subject of his
+hopes to Meryl during those three weeks, she knew quite well that he
+had in no wise changed to her. His every look showed it, and an
+intangible something in his manner whenever he addressed her. And all
+the time, though her heart was given hopelessly elsewhere, she felt
+herself in the grip of circumstances that might determine her action
+against her inclination.</p>
+
+<p>It would be difficult to relate just what passed in her mind through
+those three weeks, while outwardly she moved in the whirl of social
+happenings dependent upon their return with all her usual charm and
+dignity. Certainly she was rather quieter than usual, but as Diana
+talked and laughed faster, possibly with intent, the change was not
+noticed. She was specially quieter when van Hert was there, and Diana
+was specially talkative; entertaining him, rallying him, teazing him,
+in a way that, at any rate, brought out his best side, and in a sense
+buffeted the bigot good-naturedly into the attractive companion. And
+it seemed to show Diana at her best too, for behind all her flippancy
+there was undoubtedly a purpose and a depth which she would not for a
+moment have admitted, but which nevertheless was sincere and true.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, I don't really care either way," she would tell him
+mockingly. "You may have a Dutch South Africa and welcome, if you
+won't interfere with my personal schemes and general affairs. I've
+nothing modern about me, in the sense of wanting to reconstruct the
+world generally and be a Joan of Arc to my retrenched compatriots. But
+when some of you talkers get up and express high-flown sentiments of
+brotherhood and union for the benefit of the public Press one moment,
+and swerve right down and wink at such sentiments as steamroller the
+English or the finances or the language question the next, it is time
+you had a little wholesome plain speaking. Anyhow, who <i>did</i> vote the
+money for the new Government buildings?..."</p>
+
+<p>But whether Diana cared or not, one thing was certain: the utterances
+of that well-known minister William van Hert were showing gradually a
+higher and broader tone, and an atmosphere of conciliation was
+beginning to spread over his hitherto rabid sectarianism.</p>
+
+<p>And van Hert himself found it went well with his feelings to exchange
+wordy battles with Diana and keep his dreams for Meryl. The younger
+girl invigorated and enthused him, while the elder, curiously enough,
+appealed more to his senses. He wanted her fairness, as a strong, dark
+man often feels himself drawn to a woman who is frail and fair. And
+yet even while he wanted her he was a little afraid of her, a little
+baffled, a little uncertain of himself.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the three weeks passed, and the moment of the inevitable decision
+came near.</p>
+
+<p>And all the time Meryl felt herself rather as one who stood upon a
+difficult, stony place, with the forbidden land behind her and the
+clear call of a great need before. She believed that she would never
+see Carew again; that definitely and forever he had cut the threads of
+deep sympathy both had known existed. It was his dictum and she could
+only abide by it. What then should she do with her life? To what end
+turn this existence, blessed by fortune with wealth and the power
+wealth brings, though suddenly swept bare of joy?</p>
+
+<p>And ever and again back to her mind came Carew's words that last
+evening at Bulawayo: "Help to bridge over the gap. Help to make
+division become union. That were a work that any man might be proud to
+give his life to."</p>
+
+<p>And every day, more and more fully, she recognised that whatever she
+had to give she owed to South Africa. She gradually thought herself
+into a state in which she existed for herself and her own inclinations
+no more, but only for that sacred claim upon her.</p>
+
+<p>For the spirit of noble deeds, the spirit that carried Joan of Arc to
+the rescue of her country and to martyrdom, is not dead in the world,
+though no modern historian may depict a woman in armour leading allied
+armies on the battlefield. In quieter guise, in hidden corners, in
+unsung self-forgetfulness, women still answer to the divine call that
+sounds in their hearts, more inspiringly perhaps than in a man's; and
+for the everlasting good of the human race let us hope it will never
+cease to sound.</p>
+
+<p>Lamartine has said: "Nature has given woman two painful but heavenly
+gifts which distinguish her from the condition of men, and often raise
+her above it: pity and enthusiasm. Through pity she sacrifices
+herself; enthusiasm ennobles her. Self-sacrifice and enthusiasm! What
+else is there in heroism? Women have more heart and imagination than
+men. Enthusiasm arises from the imagination, self-sacrifice springs
+from the heart. They are therefore by nature more heroic than heroes."</p>
+
+<p>Enthusiasm and a divine spirit of self-sacrifice held a very deep part
+in Meryl's heart, though never for a moment would the thought of
+heroism have occurred to her. Where Diana, out of her mocking, but
+staunch and loyal heart, amused herself dashing cold water and playful
+satire upon all heroics, Meryl said nothing at all, but at a critical
+moment both were equally capable of <i>acting</i>.</p>
+
+<p>And it did not require much thought on Meryl's part to see now where
+this spirit of enthusiasm and self-sacrifice seemed to call her. South
+Africa was at the cross-roads; she was at the period of her most
+urgent need for great women as well as great men. The only question
+that seemed to arise was, what did she specially want of the women
+ready to serve her?</p>
+
+<p>In her own case Meryl found an answer from the lips of Carew himself.
+"Intermarriage," he had said; "that is the real solution to this great
+barrier of racialism. The same hopes united upon the same hearth." And
+it did not need much thought to perceive that should she, the admired
+and beloved heiress, fondly expected to marry an English nobleman and
+blossom into a peeress, marry instead a Dutchman and devote herself
+absolutely to South Africa, she would give a tremendous impetus to
+this question of intermarriage which was to consolidate the great
+South African Union. She saw herself giving this impetus, because it
+seemed to be the service life asked of her, and following it up by a
+wise and steadying influence upon the man who was likely always to be
+in the forefront of South Africa's politics.</p>
+
+<p>And yet, sometimes in the silence of the night, how her spirit
+shuddered and shrank from it, lying bare and desolate and bleeding
+under the hopeless, unconquerable ache for that strong Englishman in
+the north&mdash;that soldier-policeman for whom she would willingly have
+foregone all pride of place, all luxury of wealth, all satisfaction of
+achievement! Yet this he would never know, seeing her, as he ever
+must, framed in a vast fortune from which she could not extricate
+herself. She thought if she might choose, she would remain quietly
+with her father for ever, doing good, as he, by stealth and without
+ostentation, feeding her heart on a memory that would never die; but
+here the spirit of self-sacrifice intervened, and gave her no hope of
+rest but in fulfilment of what she believed life asked of her.</p>
+
+<p>And so the day of decision came, and all unconsciously Diana struck
+the final note. In the morning, glancing through various papers,
+magazines, and pamphlets with an extraordinary skill to glean any
+little essential point without wading through column upon column of
+matter, she came upon a paragraph that aroused her instant
+indignation.</p>
+
+<p>"O listen to this!" she cried. "If they are not at it again! Somewhere
+or other General Grets has been making a speech, and here is part of
+his noble sentiment: 'I earnestly appeal to parents to prevent their
+children marrying any of the English race. They must not let this
+colony become a bastard race the same as the Cape Colony. If God had
+wanted us to be one race, He would not have made a distinction between
+English and Dutch.' Well, I wonder what Dutch Willie will have to say
+to that?" and she smiled grimly to herself in anticipation of some
+satisfaction to come. "This man Grets is certainly one of his
+supporters. If he comes this afternoon I shall have a nice little bomb
+ready for him!"</p>
+
+<p>But instead of waiting for his usual late hour, van Hert came early,
+and asked to see Miss Meryl Pym alone; and when Diana returned from a
+game of golf ready for the fray, she was presented to van Hert as her
+future cousin.</p>
+
+<p>For once even she was nonplussed and at a loss for words. "O well, it
+would be silly to pretend to be surprised, wouldn't it?" she said
+rather lamely, and crossed to the tea-table to pour out her own cup of
+tea. "And it is superfluous to hope you'll be happy and prosperous and
+all that; so I'll just say, my dear future-in-law, I think you're a
+devilish lucky man!..." And Diana snapped it out as if an
+unaccountable sensation demanded an explosive of some sort.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear!... my dear!..." cried Aunt Emily in outraged horror. "Do try
+to remember where you are and who you are! If you indulge in such
+vulgar, disgraceful language on the golf course, you certainly cannot
+expect to repeat it in the drawing-room." But Diana paid no heed. She
+had already observed that Meryl, though blushing faintly, avoided
+meeting her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"And what about this brilliant speech of General Grets' reported this
+morning? Will your party allow you to consummate the match, do you
+think?..." with biting sarcasm.</p>
+
+<p>But van Hert only laughed good-temperedly. "Could it in any way better
+be given the lie?" he asked, and before that irrefutable logic Diana
+was silent.</p>
+
+<p>Neither could she see her way to raising any reasonable objections,
+when a little, later the engagement was announced broadcast with
+considerable beating of big drums, but she flung a few sarcasms about
+with some violence.</p>
+
+<p>She flung one or two at her uncle, being at a loss to understand his
+taking the engagement so quietly; but if she had been present at the
+interview between him and Meryl before the final sanction was given,
+she would have seen that he too could hardly act otherwise. In truth,
+Meryl perplexed them both in those first few days, for she was so calm
+and quiet and self-contained they both felt a little dumb before her.
+It was as if, having finally made up her mind, she was determined to
+avoid all paths that might weaken her and take her stand alone. She
+was far more quiet and composed than either her father or Diana. These
+did not say much, but they showed perhaps the more. Henry Pym's hair
+whitened perceptibly, as if from some stern mental trouble, and Diana
+was uncertain, peevish, and difficult to please. Only once the subject
+was alluded to between them.</p>
+
+<p>"I confess the news took me rather by surprise," her uncle admitted in
+reply to some sally of hers, "and I was a little at a loss to follow
+her actions."</p>
+
+<p>"Actions?..." sniffed Diana. "What actions?... None were needed; it is
+the result of meditation."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean?..." questioningly.</p>
+
+<p>"Heroics and martyrdom," she snapped, and flung out of the room,
+leaving him perplexed and grave.</p>
+
+<p>"If I thought so," he said in his heart, "if I were sure of it, I
+would forbid the banns myself."</p>
+
+<p>He moved to the window, and stood for a long time looking silently and
+sadly to the far blue hills. He was thinking that, though he had given
+his life almost to be all in all to Meryl since she was left
+motherless, there was one part now he could not play.</p>
+
+<p>"A mother would have seen through anything and known what to do," he
+finished, and sighed heavily.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXIII" id="XXIII"></a>XXIII</h2>
+
+<h2>CAREW'S STORY</h2>
+
+<p>The news reached Carew through a newspaper. He was back in Salisbury
+now, attending the renewed sitting of the Commission, giving
+invaluable assistance. Whatever he said was instantly listened to. The
+chief members of the Commission, men of note and weight, wondered a
+little over this distinguished-looking man, merely a
+soldier-policeman, who knew such an extraordinary amount about the
+black races in Rhodesia; but if they sought enlightenment they were
+disappointed. No one knew anything about Major Carew, except that he
+was once in the Blues and now in the British South Africa police, and
+that the natives were more or less his hobby.</p>
+
+<p>But there was one morning when he was more silent than usual; when he
+seemed a little <i>distrait</i> and very difficult to approach. And the
+moment the sitting was over he declined, somewhat curtly, an
+invitation to dinner that evening, and rode out across the veldt
+alone. That was the morning the daily newspaper contained the news
+that the only child of Henry Pym, the well-known millionaire, was
+engaged to be married to Mr. William van Hert, the eminent politician.</p>
+
+<p>And Carew's comment was to ride out across the veldt alone.</p>
+
+<p>The news was undoubtedly a shock to him. Of course, he had known she
+would marry, but, more or less unconsciously, he had pictured her with
+an English home and a permanent place in English society.</p>
+
+<p>The reality,&mdash;what actually had happened,&mdash;had not entered his head at
+all. Of course he knew van Hert by name; everyone did. And because of
+his reputation for anti-English views Carew both marvelled and at the
+same time gleaned a probable motive. And the result of his cogitations
+was that added sternness which always came into his face when he was
+seriously troubled.</p>
+
+<p>Yet what use to fret and trouble now? She had gone out of his life for
+ever, and with her his last chance of glad renewing. Henceforth he
+must go back to his quiet life of service which asked and gave nothing
+else, and to the companionship of those old memories which sometimes
+awakened from their sleep.</p>
+
+<p>He rode far across the veldt, and for the first time for many a long
+year turned back the leaves of the closed book. And the reason he did
+this was the remembrance of Meryl's face, as she leaned up against the
+lintel of the window that last evening at Bulawayo, when they both
+felt it was a final parting. Something that had been in the depths of
+her eyes, and which she had been powerless to hide, although she made
+no other sign. It was a remembrance that called that added sternness
+to his face: the sternness of deep trouble suppressed. For he knew no
+woman of Meryl's nature would look as she had looked that evening and
+love another man in a month. Therefore it was probably for some
+altruistic motive and not love that she had consented to marry van
+Hert; no shallow, selfish motive he knew well enough, but perhaps some
+call she had found the courage to answer.</p>
+
+<p>But if it was also a sacrifice, an offering of herself and her
+happiness upon some altar of need, ought he to let her fulfil it?
+Between her and the husband he had pictured for her he could not allow
+himself to stand; between her and van Hert, whom he was convinced she
+did not love, was another matter. Yet he knew in his heart that he
+could not save her now; the die was cast, both of them must abide by
+it. And in any case, how could he tell her his story? How could he go
+to her with that story and empty-handed as well; she the heiress of
+great wealth, and he without even a name and position?</p>
+
+<p>Away out in the kopjes he rode his horse slowly up a steep hill-side,
+and on the top dismounted and sat upon a boulder, looking over a vast
+tract of lovely country to infinite blue distances. As ever in moments
+of stress, he had chosen the height, with wide horizons, fresh-blowing
+winds, far spaces of sunlight; and in the flickering shade of the
+thinly foliaged trees he took off his helmet, baring his head to the
+breeze. And it could be seen that the grey about the temples had been
+increasing, while the strong lines on the face had deepened already,
+as if it had gone hardly with him of late.</p>
+
+<p>He sat very still; so still that a little squirrel ran down almost to
+his feet to investigate the strange figure, and little birds chirped
+all kinds of personalities about him to each other close at hand. He
+was taking a journey into a far land&mdash;the far land of the buried past.
+He was thinking of that story he would have had to tell Meryl Pym. Of
+Joan's sad life, sad love, sad death. Of how long ago she had lain
+dead upon the heather, as far as anyone could tell, slain by his hand.</p>
+
+<p>He went back to it now, page by page; it seemed in some sort of
+penance that he must give. The first pages dealt with those two gay
+young brothers in the Blues; the elder, Peter, the recognised heir to
+the rich bachelor uncle, who now made life gay for them with an
+allowance of two thousand a year each; but he was an autocrat and
+something of a tyrant, the old uncle, and his will had to be law. He
+did not mind their sowing of wild oats if they were what he called
+gentlemanly wild oats, and merely got them talked about as gay young
+dogs, and he was always generous with an extra cheque if they got into
+difficulties; but he would not have foolhardy, quixotic affairs at
+all. There he put his foot down. When the younger brother, Geoffrey, a
+youth of small, mean aims and temperament, led the pretty daughter of
+one of the keepers into trouble, he told his uncle he was going to
+give her a fixed sum out of his own allowance yearly while she was
+unmarried, and something always for the child.</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense," said the old gentleman tartly; "the girl shouldn't have
+been such a fool. I will pay one hundred pounds into the bank for her,
+and she shall not have another penny." Geoffrey thought himself well
+out of the scrape, but before the incident closed there were words
+between the brothers that neither ever forgot. Peter took a different
+view of the matter entirely; he knew the girl, and he knew that she
+was gentle and confiding, and that Geoffrey had won her round with
+promises. So he called his brother a cur, and a few other things with
+strong adjectives, and because he knew he was in the wrong Geoffrey
+never forgave him. He went further, and hated him from that time
+onward.</p>
+
+<p>But the incident was destined to bear fruit of a far more searching
+nature. Because he heard the girl was very ill and quietly fretting
+herself to death, Peter went one day to see her, prepared to make any
+amends in his power for his brother's sin. And beside the sofa where
+the girl lay he met Joan Whitby. And such are the vagaries of human
+nature, with its beginning on that day, the gay, light heart, the
+fickle fancies, light loves, wild escapades of the devil-may-care
+young sportsman, all vanished away into thin air before a love that
+filled his whole being. Lovelier, gayer, cleverer women, ready enough
+to meet the heir of Richard Fourtenay-Carew halfway, had left him only
+gay and careless. Joan Whitby, shy, distrustful, reserved, won the
+prize unsought. She had run away from him, avoided any spot where they
+might meet, hidden if she saw him in the distance, tried to hurry past
+if they met unawares; more than that she could not do, because she was
+the governess at the agent's house, and she and her charge must often
+cross the park. But Captain Peter Fourtenay-Carew was a hot-headed,
+determined young man, and having lost his heart to Joan's grey eyes
+and delicate, lovely face, he was not very likely to be abashed by the
+fact that she hid from him; rather it whetted his determination to win
+her. And in the end, because Joan perceived he was an honest gentleman
+and that he truly loved her, and because with all her pure, strong
+soul she truly loved him, she left off running away and came shyly
+through the wood to meet him. And of course Geoffrey, the jealous,
+spiteful brother, discovered their secret, and carried the tale to his
+uncle in violent, indignant guise, precipitating anger for his own
+ends, where a little discretion might have found a compromise. Mr.
+Carew's lips curled a little cruelly as he remarked he would easily
+nip that peccadillo in the bud. He would have no penniless, unknown
+governess reigning at Dartwood Hall, having already quite other views
+for his future successor. Then he informed his agent the young lady
+holding the post of governess in his house must be sent away at once,
+with a quarter's wages which he would be pleased to remit. To Peter he
+said nothing; he merely waited for an indignant scene, easily to be
+squashed with cold and cursory logic concerning allowances and future
+inheritance if his wishes were disregarded. But it was just there that
+he misjudged this gay, handsome nephew of his, possessed also of a
+fund of spirit and strong character which his uncle had not had the
+perspicacity to perceive.</p>
+
+<p>The interview duly transpired, but there was no indignation at all. If
+he had looked for melodrama he was disappointed; the melodramatic did
+not appeal to Peter Fourtenay-Carew. He merely told his uncle quite
+quietly and respectfully that he intended to marry Joan Whitby.
+Richard Carew condescended to reason a little before he resorted to
+that cold, cursory logic, but he might just as well have saved himself
+both. Peter stood in the library window, looking across the grand old
+park, and heard, apparently unmoved, that all those rich acres and
+woodlands and well-stocked waters and preserves would pass from him to
+his brother, if he chose to remain obdurate and marry the poor
+governess, instead of the lady of high lineage his uncle had already
+selected for him.</p>
+
+<p>What he said was, "Do you wish me also to lose my career and leave the
+Blues?"</p>
+
+<p>For the moment his uncle had been too angry to reply. "Get out," he
+had said roughly. "You can't be yourself this morning. I will not
+believe you seriously contemplate losing anything."</p>
+
+<p>Peter had turned back from the window, and stood a moment looking
+squarely into his uncle's face. "I am going to marry Joan," he said,
+"and as you have brought me up to be perfectly useless, except in a
+crack regiment, I only want to know if you will continue my allowance
+long enough to give me time to find out what I can be useful at," then
+he had walked quietly out of the room.</p>
+
+<p>And Richard Carew, distrusting his own ears and far more upset than he
+would ever for a moment admit, remembered that he had seen just that
+look on the face of Peter's mother when he had had to break to her
+that her husband had been killed in the hunting-field&mdash;a look of
+desperate finality and unswerving resolve. Within the year he had
+stood beside her grave also, and taken the two baby boys home to his
+own house.</p>
+
+<p>Then Geoffrey had come to him, and because he was clever and
+unscrupulous he fanned the flame easily to white-heat. Finally the
+uncle had decreed, "I will give him a week to think it over, and in
+the event of his remaining obdurate I will offer him one thousand a
+year for five years, and at the end of that time the allowance to be
+renewed or decreased, or stopped, according to my pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the week Peter's reply was "I am going to marry Joan on
+the 25th by special licence, in London. If you will not receive us
+together, I should be glad if my man might pack my clothes and bring
+them to me, with a few other belongings."</p>
+
+<p>And Richard Carew's answer to that had been a lawyer's letter,
+politely enquiring of Captain Peter Fourtenay-Carew to what address he
+wished the allowance sent, which was to be his for five years. Peter,
+not yet too angry to be cautious, asked if the five thousand pounds
+might be invested for him in entirety, and made arrangements at once
+to exchange into a far cheaper regiment, aware that as a soldier he
+might still keep a home for his wife, whereas any experiment in the
+untried fields of labour might swallow up all he had. In due course
+the solicitor replied that the request would be granted. But ere the
+wedding was solemnised the unlooked-for hand of fate dealt him a
+pitiless blow. He had many friends in the neighbourhood of his uncle's
+estate, friends who were glad and willing to receive Joan for his sake
+and her own; and in an unhappy hour he received a pressing invitation
+to meet her at the house of one of them, and have a week with the
+pheasants before he had to rejoin his regiment. It was a bitter cold
+month that year, and every sportsman's temper was a little on edge at
+having to face December blasts in October. And one day when they were
+out in a preserve that adjoined Richard Carew's, he and his friend
+heard shots and voices over the dividing hedge; and it brought up the
+subject of young Geoffrey's cold-blooded delight in his good fortune
+at becoming his uncle's heir, and unthinkingly the friend commenced to
+repeat a report of something he had said in the local club when a
+little the worse for drink. Then he had stopped short abruptly, trying
+to turn away the subject, but with a sudden dangerous light in his
+eyes Peter had demanded to be told; and because the other man's heart
+was sore for his friend, and he wanted to give Peter an excuse to
+cross swords with his brother, he told how Geoffrey had implied his
+relations with Joan had been exactly the same as his own, Geoffrey's,
+with the keeper's daughter in the beginning, but that he had not been
+clever enough to get clear of the affair as he had done, and that now
+he was nicely sold for his high-flown superiority.</p>
+
+<p>And then the wrath in Peter's face had been a terrible thing to see.
+It was as if his very nature reeled. He ground his teeth together, and
+his eyes had a red look as he muttered savagely, "God damn him; he
+shall pay for this!" He was standing with his face towards his uncle's
+preserve, and even as he cursed there was a sound of shots, and a
+second later a hare dashed out and fled past them.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely knowing what he did in the blind white-heat of his passion,
+but possessed suddenly with an awful desire to kill, he swung
+completely round and fired at it. And just at that moment Joan and
+their hostess were coming up behind, hidden by the brushwood and
+shrubs, to go with them to the luncheon-place,&mdash;and Joan fell, shot
+through the heart. In the first awful moment no one seemed able to
+grasp the appalling fact. Peter threw himself down on his knees beside
+her, and was like a man struck dazed and speechless. He had a feeling
+that it was some horrible dream or hallucination, and presently this
+bewildering dazed sense would pass away and he would find the horror
+had not been real. Then across his torment he heard a voice that stung
+him alive with dreadful venom. His uncle and his brother had climbed
+the fence and had come to see what had happened, hearing from a scared
+keeper that someone was shot. Peter looked up and saw them. It was a
+dreadful moment for the three to meet. His friend, Maitland, seeing
+the unnatural ferocity in his eyes, tried to draw him away. Even
+Richard Carew, the uncle, looked a little alarmed. But Peter in his
+madness took a step forward. "You cur, you libelled her," he hissed at
+his brother, and cursed him bitterly. And then Geoffrey lost his head
+too. An ugly sneer distorted his face as he answered, "Well, anyhow,
+you won't get your inheritance back now, just through a casual shot.
+Lady Lilton is going to marry me, and ..." But he had no time to
+finish, for Peter suddenly hurled himself upon him, and struggled
+fiercely to get his hands at his throat.</p>
+
+<p>The scene was terrible. Those who were present never forgot it, and by
+the time a keeper and Maitland managed to separate them Geoffrey was
+too much hurt to stand alone. They left him lying on the ground, while
+Richard Carew forced a little brandy between his clenched teeth, and
+Maitland dragged Peter away to where his wife and a keeper were
+watching with horror in their eyes beside Joan's lifeless form. For a
+moment they feared he had lost his reason, and then some dreadful
+tension in his brain seemed to snap suddenly and they saw he was
+himself again. Without a word to either of them he stooped down and
+lifted the still form in his arms, and carried her unaided back to
+the Maitlands' house.</p>
+
+<p>He did not lose hold of himself again, but for weeks suffered a mind
+agony that might well have permanently turned the brain of a weaker
+man. Night after night the Maitlands heard him leave the house, after
+all had gone to bed; and they knew that he went out to tramp the moors
+till morning, for it was only from utter physical exhaustion he ever
+slept. No word came from the Hall, but rumour said the younger brother
+was injured so that he would not walk for months. Richard Carew's only
+action was to lavish hush-money, and keep as much as possible out of
+the papers. One mistake he made. Through his solicitor he informed his
+nephew he was willing to give him his former income, that he might
+remain in his old regiment. In answer to that Peter wrote to the
+lawyer: "I am leaving England for ever, and I shall cease to remember
+from this moment that I have the misfortune to be related to Richard
+and Geoffrey Fourtenay-Carew. No letters will reach me. I leave no
+address," and then he signed himself "Peter Carew" without the
+Fourtenay, and used the second name no more. And immediately
+afterwards he joined one of the early pioneer bands setting out for
+Rhodesia, possessing nothing in the world but a little money gained by
+the sale of his personal possessions and a memory that would shadow
+his whole life.</p>
+
+<p>Sitting alone on the kopje-top, he leaned his elbows on his knees and
+buried his face in his hands, and it was as though the waters of
+bitterness overflowed him.</p>
+
+<p>No, of course he could never tell Meryl such a story as that. For
+sixteen years his path had lain alone and his bitterness been shared
+with none. It must go on so now to the end. When he could bear it the
+memory of Joan's dear face still came to him as in infinite love and
+compassion; but he seldom dared allow himself even that; it was better
+to have nothing in his life&mdash;no past, present, nor future except his
+work.</p>
+
+<p>He got up and stood for a moment leaning against his horse, resting
+his arms on the saddle and gazing far away. Then he rode slowly home
+under the stars, and by the time he reached the police camp his face
+was only rigid and mask-like.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXIV" id="XXIV"></a>XXIV</h2>
+
+<h2>A RAIN-WASHED MORNING AND A DISCUSSION</h2>
+
+<p>It was the first rain-washed morning of the wet season when Ailsa
+Grenville heard the news, through a letter from Diana.</p>
+
+<p>And the first rain-washed morning is an epoch in the Rhodesian year;
+therefore it cannot be dismissed with a curt announcement.</p>
+
+<p>All night long the vigorous, boisterous spring-cleaning had been in
+progress. Ailsa, snug in her little bed, with the rain slashing and
+banging and pounding on the corrugated-iron roof, and the trees
+swishing and swaying, and the wind rushing around like a mad thing,
+apparently from all four corners of the earth at once, had laughed
+softly to herself at the commotion Mother Nature was making upon the
+dusty, dishevelled, rubbish-strewn land. It was as if, having been
+very busy elsewhere for three months, she meant to stand no nonsense
+now, but get the whole country furbished up in one night. What a time
+they were having, those dusty, untidy-looking trees! Bucket after
+bucket, millions of buckets as big as a house, full of delicious
+rain-water, flung at their heads! And the dusty, disgraceful roads
+swept bare, with gallons upon gallons of water driving their refuse
+hither and thither, all of it, as if mightily ashamed of itself,
+scrambling along in masses; and, of course, in its haste choking up
+the drains, and becoming a serious hindrance until a veritable
+water-spout was necessary to clear the course.</p>
+
+<p>And then the dead branches and twigs that the trees had been too lazy
+to shed; short shrift for them on the first spring-cleaning night.
+Down they came, helter-skelter, and no notice taken of the tree's
+groaning, or its crackling cries of protest.</p>
+
+<p>And the little river-beds and stream-beds, carelessly left to get
+filled up with dead leaves and rank grass, such a turning out for them
+as the resistless water was driven in sweeping streams along their
+bosoms! And woe betide any carelessly thatched or unsightly roofs! Off
+they went, away with the general medley. The coming summer would have
+none of them. And the granite, which had allowed dust and dirt and
+dead grasses to accumulate upon it, how it got its face scrubbed and
+washed that first night, and the wind shrieking with glee all the
+time, dashing the sheets of rain against it with its whole might!</p>
+
+<p>But, of course, one could tell that everything liked it. The laughter
+in the trees and the wind was quite distinct, and the little rivers
+were fairly shouting with joy. It was not their fault that all that
+piece of the earth had grown so dusty and untidy; it was Mother
+Nature's own fault for being so long coming with those big buckets of
+hers. How could any land, however willing, look spruce and green and
+clean with no rain for four months? No wonder there was such a
+commotion, and it was such a noisy, vigorous business, when at last
+the rain did come! Every tree and every blade and every flower had a
+special little life-plan of its own to carry out, if only it could get
+enough moisture, to say nothing of all the myriad insects and birds
+and animals, who were too lackadaisical, after the long, dry heat, to
+thoroughly begin their summer preparations until the rain came. The
+activity among the humans, with their gold-mines and farms and
+fanciful erections, would be nothing, would not be worth mentioning,
+compared with the activity going on in the hidden world all around
+them on the morrow. Even the flowers had been chary of wearing their
+best dresses in such a dusty, untidy world.</p>
+
+<p>But wait till to-morrow, and then see them! Far, far outvying any
+assembly of Ascot frocks or Lords' cricket week or Henley Sunday. The
+boisterous rain was a little severe on the dainty blossoms, but one
+may be sure they bore it with the pluckiest patience, whispering to
+each other gleefully about the lovely frocks they were going to wear
+the next day. And there would be such eager, joyful cogitations in the
+bosoms of all the little males anxious to be off on their spring
+courting affairs. How could any self-respecting young cock bird or
+male insect go and pay his addresses in a dusty, dirty, faded coat? Of
+course, it wasn't to be thought of. The other chap, who waited, would
+get all the running. But to-morrow there would be no further need to
+wait at all. Plumage and coats would be spring-cleaned, and
+expectations for the coming summer of the highest. Well-filled
+storehouses, leaf-cosy nests, glorious hunting-grounds. Never mind
+these boisterous winds and the violent way they hurl the rain about;
+sit tight and make lovely plans for to-morrow.</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa, snug in her little bed, thought happily about the earth and its
+glad renewing, and woke up her precious Billy to say, "Are you awake,
+Billy? Can you hear it?... We shan't know our little world to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>And Billy, who was sometimes of a very prosaic turn of mind, answered,
+with a grunt, "Just in time to save that top patch of mealies and the
+bed of onions, by Jove!..." and then rolled over and went to sleep
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"Bother your onions and mealies," said his adoring wife. "The world
+wasn't made for you to grow vegetables in!..."</p>
+
+<p>But the next morning they climbed a kopje together, just for the joy
+of it, and laughed softly, and exclaimed in hushed voices at all the
+wonder outspread.</p>
+
+<p>Such a glorious new heaven and new earth! In the heaven a rain-washed
+sky, resplendent with armaments of fairy cloud-vessels sailing across
+deepest, loveliest blue. On the earth every leaf and every blade
+flashing light, as if it had a little sun of its own; every flower in
+its loveliest court dress; the very stones gay with beautiful shades
+of lichen; the granite kopjes in the distance, with their faces so
+thoroughly scrubbed, gleaming with the dazzling brightness of
+new-fallen snow. Dark, rich soil where the plough had been, renewed
+with the richness of velvet. Sullen, colourless veldt, radiant in a
+few short hours with the first outposts of its coming spring glory.
+Far, blue hills, bluer and intenser than ever in the rain-washed
+atmosphere. Little cock birds and male insects away off soon after
+sunrise about those courting affairs that had been delayed. A whole
+world rejoicing; a whole world singing Te Deums of praise and
+thanksgiving in its own dear, happy, overflowing way.</p>
+
+<p>No wonder the big fellow in the well-worn khaki, with his vigorous
+enthusiasms and wide sympathies, thought a little regretfully of the
+hide-bound, clause-bound, doctrine-bound, sober-minded black cloth he
+had felt himself obliged to put off. Would humanity ever sing again
+as the sons of the morning? Ever burst into Te Deums of overflowing
+thanksgiving to the Giver of all good, such as echoed and re-echoed
+from a long-parched earth on its first rain-washed morning.</p>
+
+<p>Well, he could but try to keep the long face and depressing atmosphere
+and thin air of superiority safely out of his own little sphere, and
+while he taught the natives to be active, useful members of society,
+try to help all the settlers about him, hard cases or otherwise, to be
+honest, fearless, clean-living men, whether they achieved it to the
+accompaniment of good round oaths and a Sunday morning spent in bed,
+or on their knees between consecrated walls in the accepted way. Of
+course, he liked them to come to his little stone tabernacle with its
+thatched roof, and he made his service just as attractive as ever he
+could on their behalf; but if they were too lazy or too busy to
+come&mdash;well, it didn't follow they couldn't be honest, clean-living
+fellows without it; so then he went to them, and sat over their camp
+fire, and told them a good story or two, and in the end there wasn't a
+camp within twelve miles where the "bloomin' sky pilot" wasn't one of
+the most welcome guests.</p>
+
+<p>But to do them justice, they mostly liked going to his little
+tabernacle, for it was always a pleasant meeting-place, and men in
+exile, even "hard cases," like to sing a good old-fashioned hymn just
+once in a way; to say nothing of the big home-made cake, full of
+plums, which was usually ready to be handed round afterwards on the
+"sky pilot's" verandah, and which he teasingly informed Ailsa was her
+way of bribing his congregation to come to church, rather than suffer
+the ignominy of hearing him preach to empty benches.</p>
+
+<p>But that was as it might be; anyhow, if a settler within reach chanced
+to be ill, he might be sure he would get a jelly or soup or milk, even
+if he had never put a foot inside the little wilderness church. And if
+Billy could not take it The Kid or Moore had to, for Ailsa ruled her
+little sphere with a rod of iron, and the two troopers had long been
+her willing slaves.</p>
+
+<p>But though she had cut herself adrift from the pleasant world of her
+girlhood, and won a real satisfaction out of life that would be death
+to most women, she had never lost her sympathies with all that went
+on in that existence, where</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+<span class="i3">Life treads on life</span>
+<span class="i3">And heart on heart;</span>
+<span class="i3">We press too close in church and mart</span>
+<span class="i3">To keep a dream or grave apart.</span>
+</p></div></div>
+
+<p>And when they came back from their ramble on that joyous morning,
+Diana's letter caused a shadow to come over all the sunlight, and a
+quick anxious ache to grow up in her heart. After baldly stating the
+news of Meryl's engagement her cousin wrote:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Was it you, or was it that bearish policeman, who suggested to such a
+dreamer as Meryl the desirability of a martyr's crown?... She is far
+better suited to love in a cottage and babies, but just because that
+is the case and it is easy to obtain, she chooses to break her heart
+on some vague altar of sacrifice. I have no patience with these
+high-falutin ideas myself, nor with the cottage and babies either, for
+the matter of that; but I suppose a few people had to be practical and
+selfish and commonplace, to keep the world going round without violent
+bumps and jerks. Don't send Meryl congratulations; send her an In
+Memoriam card. Believe me, it is better suited to the auspicious
+occasion."</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa showed the letter to her husband, feeling that it was the worst
+news she had had for many years. "What does it mean, Billy?... What
+can have influenced her?... My sweet Meryl! What is it?... What can it
+be?... that keeps Major Carew so aloof? It was easy to see how they
+attracted each other."</p>
+
+<p>"He is a proud man," her husband said, gravely. "It is not easy for a
+proud man with nothing to choose a wife with a large fortune."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but there is something more," she cried, "it cannot be only that.
+What has kept him so reserved in every particular all these years?"</p>
+
+<p>But Grenville could not help her, and all the afternoon she worried
+and fretted in silence.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening she said to him anxiously, after again discussing the
+news, "Mrs. Fleetwood has often asked me to visit her in Salisbury.
+Shall I go now? Perhaps if I could get Major Carew to talk?..."</p>
+
+<p>"You will never get him to talk," with quiet conviction.</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, my husband, I feel I must try. We have so much, you and
+I. One can but make the effort."</p>
+
+<p>She got up from her chair and went round to him, and climbed on to his
+knee and hid her face, because she was troubled and unhappy.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me something I can do to help them, Billy?" she pleaded.</p>
+
+<p>He fondled her hair in silence a moment, and then, because he thought
+it might comfort her afterwards to know she had tried, he said, "There
+is no harm in your going to Mrs. Fleetwood's. I think the change would
+do you good."</p>
+
+<p>And Ailsa went to bed a little comforted that at least he sanctioned
+her journey.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXV" id="XXV"></a>XXV</h2>
+
+<h2>AILSA LEARNS CAREW'S SECRET</h2>
+
+<p>Ailsa had to journey to Selukwe in the post-cart, and she found it
+very trying; all the more so because her tender heart, which loved all
+animals, suffered agonies of compassion for the poor underfed,
+overworked mules, some with sores, urged pitilessly along by their
+black driver. She wished vainly that she was the happy possessor of a
+fortune, and might at once finance in Rhodesia the Society for the
+Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, for which funds are so urgently
+needed. At Selukwe she had some little time to wait at the hotel
+before taking the train, and she went round to the posting-stables to
+interview any white man she could find who might be in a responsible
+position towards the post-cart mules on the subject of their
+condition. The man, of course, complained of the roads, which were in
+a hopeless condition, and beyond satisfying in a measure her own sense
+of compassion, she knew she had done little good. But while she talked
+to the white man at the stables, a thin, scholarly looking,
+grey-haired gentleman chanced to overhear their discourse, and raising
+his hat to her with grave courtesy, expressed his admiration of her
+action.</p>
+
+<p>"But can nothing be done, do you think?" she asked him dolefully.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid not. You see, the Government do not particularly wish that
+route used, and so they have allowed the road to lapse. Let us hope
+there will very shortly be a railway, at any rate, to Edwardstown, and
+that then visitors will be encouraged to go and see your wonderful
+Zimbabwe ruins, instead of discouraged by the discomforts of the way."</p>
+
+<p>They moved towards the hotel together, and Ailsa asked, "Have you seen
+them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only for a few short hours, which were all I could spare from some
+research work I was doing elsewhere in Rhodesia. I was tremendously
+impressed by the little I had time to see, and look forward to a long
+sojourn there presently."</p>
+
+<p>They talked on, their conversation drifting from one subject to
+another, and then he discovered her name was Grenville, and she that
+his was Delcombe, and they greeted each other anew as both hailing
+from lovely Devon. After that he proudly assumed the r&ocirc;le of escort,
+and waited upon her hand and foot. As it chanced, he also was
+journeying to Salisbury, so they became travelling companions, and the
+chance acquaintanceship ripened rapidly. In the evening they dined
+together in the restaurant-car and sat long over their meal; and then
+it was that Ailsa chanced to mention the name of Major Carew.</p>
+
+<p>Henry Delcombe at once remarked, "There was a Major Carew at the
+Zimbabwe police camp, I think, when I visited the ruins, but I did not
+see him. I should like to have done. I understood from the young
+trooper there that he is some relation to the Fourtenay-Carews?" and
+he paused interrogatively.</p>
+
+<p>"It was the man I am speaking of. He <i>is</i> a Fourtenay-Carew."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!..." and Ailsa saw instantly the swift interest in her companion's
+eyes; a wave as of thought-telepathy that this man probably held the
+key to Peter Carew's past. Delcombe read in her sparkling eyes that
+her interest in the soldier-policeman was no casual one, but of the
+warmest friendship.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you know him before he came out here?" she ventured.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew his father well; I lived near to them in Devon. I was doing
+some research work, and I had a quiet little home in a lovely valley
+close to the little place that was then this man's home, and quite
+near also to Dartwood Hall, where the elder brother, Richard
+Fourtenay-Carew, lived. They are not a rich family at all, you know.
+Dartwood Hall and estates and money came to Richard Carew through a
+very eccentric godmother, who brought him up, and he could do as he
+liked with it all. His younger brother, Peter Fourtenay-Carew, and his
+wife had, I think, only a very small income between them besides his
+pay as a captain. They rented a pretty little place in Devonshire
+close to Dartwood Hall, and came there for the hunting whenever he was
+able. The brothers were good friends, and he always had the run of
+the Dartwood stables. They were an interesting pair, but it was the
+younger whom I regarded as a friend, and that was why I was anxious to
+find out if I had stumbled across his son. As you may have heard,
+Captain Fourtenay-Carew, the father, was killed in the hunting-field
+and his wife died within the year. The two boys, then quite babies,
+were adopted by Richard Carew and brought up as his own sons."</p>
+
+<p>He paused and studied Ailsa's face gravely. She was almost breathless
+with interest, and he seemed a little taken aback by it. She saw the
+question in his eyes, and hastened to add frankly, "I cannot tell you
+how interested I am to hear this. My husband and I think there is no
+one in the world like Major Carew; in fact, in some vague, distant way
+I believe we are related. But he never speaks of his past life at all.
+For some reason he seems to regard it as a closed book; he even
+persists in calling himself a Rhodesian, and resolutely ignores the
+fact that he is anything else as well."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!..." and the thin, scholarly face of her companion looked as if he
+were obtaining a clue he wanted. There was a pause, and each seemed to
+be weighing something in his and her mind. Then Ailsa spoke: "I
+conclude he has some reason for his extreme reticence, and I hope I
+should be one of the last to pry into anyone's secrets; but for a
+reason I can hardly explain, I should be very glad to know something
+now that might possibly help me to do a special service for him. I
+shall see him in Salisbury."</p>
+
+<p>"What I know is no secret in a general sense," said Delcombe, speaking
+with grave deliberation; "but the facts of it were cleverly hushed up
+by his uncle, and you will easily understand that Major Carew would
+never speak of it now. My own interest in the matter is because of my
+regard for his father, and, I think I may say, admiration for himself.
+Anyone seeing the two brothers together as I did&mdash;that is, the younger
+men&mdash;must have felt deeply drawn to the elder and repulsed by the
+younger. A finer young fellow than Peter Fourtenay-Carew never
+stepped. The other brother was good-looking also, but he was cunning
+and crafty and little liked. Yet, such are the mysterious ways of
+Providence, the younger brother, by an unlooked-for turn of events,
+became the possessor of wealth and place and influence, and the elder
+went out from his country penniless, exiled, and alone. As far as I
+can judge, no one in England has ever heard of him since. I don't
+think it is even known where he is. A few of us knew that he came out
+to South Africa, and journeyed to Rhodesia with one of the pioneer
+columns, but that is quite sixteen years ago, and events at home move
+quickly, and his utter silence lost him the warm places he might have
+held in most hearts, or, at any rate, left them in abeyance. I only
+came out to Rhodesia a few months ago, and I have been much on the
+veldt, studying ancient relics; but I have kept my ears open. I heard
+of the man you are speaking of at the police camp at Zimbabwe, but the
+young trooper, Mr. Stanley, was not communicative. With a very
+praiseworthy <i>esprit de corps</i>, he declined to be drawn into any
+discussion whatever concerning his officer. I heard after I left that
+he, Major Carew, was a very reserved, taciturn man, but it was
+generally credited he had once held a captaincy in the Blues; that and
+a personal description persuaded me he was my old friend's son."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," Ailsa said, "there can be no doubt about it. I suppose you knew
+that he was going to be married just before he came away, and
+something rather dreadful happened?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah; he has revealed that much, has he?" in some surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Not to me; to a great friend of mine."</p>
+
+<p>"I see."</p>
+
+<p>He seemed perplexed, uncertain evidently, how much to tell her. Ailsa
+understood, and was a little at a loss how to act herself.</p>
+
+<p>"I should not have mentioned the fact to anyone else," she said, "as
+he evidently wishes to keep all personal matters entirely to himself;
+but, of course, you were very likely to know it. I also learnt from my
+husband that he was the elder brother and originally his uncle's heir,
+but something happened to cause Mr. Carew to change his mind."</p>
+
+<p>Then Mr. Delcombe said thoughtfully, "I think there is no reason why I
+should not tell you a little more about him. I have always felt
+exceedingly sorry for his determined exile, and the isolation from all
+his old friends and old delights. I know that he dearly loved Devon,
+and one feels it is time now that he came back to try and pick up the
+threads. You and your husband appear to be his only friends, and as a
+distant connection you might be able to approach him upon a subject
+where a stranger, or shall we say a forgotten friend, would be
+diffident." He paused, then added, "I wonder if he has the remotest
+idea that, owing to several deaths, he is now the next heir to the
+Marquis of Toxeter?"</p>
+
+<p>A sudden joy seemed to sweep Ailsa through and through, and her eyes
+shone, and she clasped and unclasped her hands with excitement as she
+breathed, "O, is that <i>really</i> true? It seems too good; too much like
+a story-book."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is a fact. Major Carew's family was a younger branch, and
+sixteen years ago it would never have entered anyone's head that the
+marquisate might fall to them. Time makes many changes, and three
+heirs have died in succession. The present marquis is old and has no
+children, therefore the next heir was Richard Fourtenay-Carew, also
+childless, and after him Major Carew's father. Richard Carew died very
+shortly after this man left England, and young Geoffrey Carew then
+succeeded to all his possessions. I believe something was left to
+Major Carew, but he refused to touch it. It is since then that (his
+uncle being dead) he has become the heir of the present marquis, and I
+think it highly probable he has no notion of the fact whatever."</p>
+
+<p>"I am almost certain he has not," Ailsa intercepted, "for I think he
+would have mentioned it to my husband."</p>
+
+<p>"Unfortunately there is very little money with the title, but he is
+not a man to trouble much about that; and, of course, the present
+marquis may live some time. But I have thought sometimes if he <i>knew</i>
+it might wipe out a little of the past bitterness. His brother robbed
+him of so much, but in the end it would seem Nature is making things
+even again. Geoffrey would give half his wealth to have the title, and
+I have reason to believe that it is a great bitterness to him to know
+that his brother, who cares nothing at all about it probably, must
+inevitably inherit it if he outlives the present owner."</p>
+
+<p>"And you will tell him?..." eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps. Or it may be that you!..." He hesitated, and looked at her
+thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>And then Ailsa said impulsively, "Let me give you trust for trust. I
+am taking this journey now chiefly on Major Carew's account. There is
+trouble in the air. I cannot tell you the facts; I scarcely know them.
+But he has lived his isolated, reserved life so long, I feel it has
+perhaps warped his view a little, and if he could be persuaded to open
+his heart to a friend he might see things in a clearer light, and save
+himself and a dear friend of mine great unhappiness." She paused, then
+added sadly, "But I am so much in the dark concerning him I hardly
+know how to win his confidence. There appears to have been this
+something before he left England, something rather terrible, that has
+shadowed all his life."</p>
+
+<p>"There was; I will tell you in confidence. Richard Carew hushed it all
+up, but there were a few of us who <i>knew</i>. His quarrel with his uncle
+was because he insisted upon marrying a poor governess, a most lovely
+and charming lady, instead of the bride his uncle had chosen. He was
+disinherited, and his allowance so curtailed that he would have to
+leave his regiment; but none of that troubled him in the least. He
+adored his fianc&eacute;e, and was supremely happy, as anyone could see. Then
+the tragedy fell. I cannot tell you all the details, probably no one
+knows them except his friends the Maitlands and his brother, and uncle
+who is now dead. He was out shooting with Maitland, and the other two
+were near at hand; and Maitland had repeated something to him his
+brother had said, which was a deadly insult to Miss Whitby. He was in
+a blind fury, and scarcely knew what he was doing, when he swung round
+and fired at a hare behind him...." There was a moment's intense pause
+before he finished in a low voice&mdash;"and the shot killed the poor girl
+he was to have married in a week."</p>
+
+<p>"O, how terrible!..." Ailsa gasped, and went white to the lips. "How
+terrible! Poor man! O, poor man!" Tears came into her eyes, and she
+turned away to hide them, and for some moments both were silent.</p>
+
+<p>Then Delcombe continued, "It is no wonder that he has been always
+reserved and silent. I suppose in a way it killed the part of him that
+could be anything else. He just went right away to a strange country,
+dropped the double name they had always been proud of, and cut himself
+adrift altogether from everything connected with his old life. It is
+no doubt his intention to remain apart, and take up the old threads no
+more. But I loved his father, and I loved him in my old-fashioned way
+which he was not likely to perceive; and when the Royal Geographical
+Society offered me a chance of a trip to Rhodesia I took it gladly.
+One of my first thoughts, when the decision was finally made and I was
+appointed, was, 'Perhaps I shall come across Peter Carew's son.'"</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa rested her elbow on the table and leaned her head on her hand,
+still with the glisten of tears in her eyes. "It makes one feel there
+is surely a Providence," she told him softly, "for my chance meeting
+with you may save him, and that other, from everlasting regret."</p>
+
+<p>A little later, when they went to their separate compartments for the
+night, she thanked him again. "You have made me feel quite
+broken-hearted for our dear soldier-policeman. Think what his memories
+must have been all these years! But perhaps his dark day is finished.
+I am very hopeful now. God bless you for remaining so staunch a friend
+to him and giving me your confidence!"</p>
+
+<p>And in Johannesburg that night Meryl said simply and quietly to van
+Hert, "I will marry you as soon as you wish. As you say, there is
+nothing to wait for, and, afterwards, there is much that we can do
+together."</p>
+
+<p>"In a fortnight?" he urged, and she assented.</p>
+
+<p>But Diana insisted otherwise. "It is simply indecent haste," she
+exclaimed, "and nothing in this world will persuade me to decide upon
+my bridesmaid's frock and have it ready in less than three weeks, and
+it may be a month."</p>
+
+<p>And Meryl&mdash;a quiet, white-faced Meryl nowadays, with little enough
+enthusiasm for frocks and wedding-presents&mdash;let her have her way.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXVI" id="XXVI"></a>XXVI</h2>
+
+<h2>"HOW CAN I GO TO HER!..."</h2>
+
+<p>The first meeting between Ailsa and Carew was a very difficult one for
+the woman. Directly she saw him she realised that he had drawn back
+into his shell further than ever, and the increased greyness on his
+temples spoke for itself of anxious, troubled hours. At first he had
+been difficult to entrap. In reply to her note came just a vague
+regret that he was exceptionally busy, and often out on the veldt,
+with a hope that he would see her before she left. One or two other
+attempts failed entirely to procure the interview, and she was almost
+at her wits' end. Finally, she had to resort to strong measures, and
+gain her end by subterfuge. Carew went to the house of a man friend by
+invitation, and was shown into his friend's den to find Ailsa awaiting
+him alone. The expression on his face told her instantly that he felt
+himself trapped, and resented it. But she could be very disarming when
+she liked, and she had tact enough to follow the straight course most
+likely to appeal to him now that she had gained her interview.</p>
+
+<p>"You must not be angry with me," she said, with engaging frankness. "I
+simply had to see you."</p>
+
+<p>He stood very upright, with a cold, unresponsive face, and waited for
+her to proceed.</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you sit down? You make it difficult for me when you
+are ... so ... so ... distant and unbending."</p>
+
+<p>He moved away to the window, and stood looking out, with his back to
+the room. "Will you tell me what it is you have to say?" he asked very
+quietly. He knew perfectly well it had to do with Meryl, and he did
+not want her to see his secret in his face. In fact, he did not wish
+to speak of the subject at all.</p>
+
+<p>Ailsa stood silently a moment, looking at his back, and then she said
+very quietly, "I have heard the story of your past life. I ... I ...
+know it all."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment there was such a stillness in the room that one could
+almost hear heart beats. The figure in the window never moved.</p>
+
+<p>"Who told you?..." he asked at last.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Henry Delcombe, the scientist, who was a great friend of your
+father's."</p>
+
+<p>Another silence. At last&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Is he in Rhodesia now?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is here, in Salisbury. He will not tell anyone else," she added.
+"He told me because ... because ... he perceived that Billy and I
+cared for you very much, and for your happiness." She moved a little
+nearer to him, and continued gently, "I felt almost as if I could
+break my heart with sympathy for you,&mdash;and that you should have borne
+such memories all these years, <i>alone</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"I have put them behind me," he said, speaking almost harshly. "The
+past is dead. What does it matter who and what I was before?... To-day
+I am a Rhodesian, and my work is <i>here</i>. I shall remain here now until
+I die."</p>
+
+<p>"You may not be able to do that," and her voice had suddenly a ring in
+it that seemed to arrest him.</p>
+
+<p>"Why may I not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because presently&mdash;very soon perhaps&mdash;you will have to answer to a
+call that requires you in England."</p>
+
+<p>He half turned to her, waiting silently and unmoved, with grave eyes
+fixed on the distance.</p>
+
+<p>She came a step nearer. "Mr. Delcombe told me also, that because of
+many changes that have taken place in the sixteen years since you cut
+yourself adrift from home, you are now heir to the marquisate of
+Toxeter. When the present marquis dies you will succeed him."</p>
+
+<p>It seemed at first as if he heard without understanding. Once more
+there was a silence in which one might hear heart beats.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you let me congratulate you?" Ailsa asked a little timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"I think he must have been dreaming," he said in slow comment.</p>
+
+<p>"No; there is no doubt about it whatever. He will tell you himself if
+you will let him. He wants to see you very much."</p>
+
+<p>And still he was only silent, gazing, gazing to the far distance. If
+it was true, how was it he had never heard?... Could it possibly all
+have transpired during the times he had been away shooting in the far
+north, or out on the veldt, away from newspapers for months?</p>
+
+<p>"There is something else I want to speak about," and her voice
+trembled somewhat. "This news concerning your future will make it a
+little easier. You know, of course, that Meryl Pym has become engaged
+to Mr. van Hert, the well-known Dutch politician?"</p>
+
+<p>Instantly he stiffened. "I saw it in a newspaper."</p>
+
+<p>She came close up to him suddenly. "O, Major Carew"&mdash;and there was an
+infinite pleading in her voice&mdash;"Billy and I thought you cared for
+her, and we believed she cared for you. Don't let her wreck her whole
+life now.... Don't stand by and let her marry a man she does not love.
+Go to her before it is too late!"</p>
+
+<p>Under his iron control his face seemed to work strangely. She saw the
+swift compression of his lips, the swift pain in his eyes, the strong
+hunger he could not entirely hide.</p>
+
+<p>"It is impossible," and the usual steadiness of his voice was shaken.
+"You say you know my story!... How can I go to her and tell her that
+once I killed the woman I loved?... How can I speak to her of love&mdash;I,
+the policeman, she the heiress?... How can I tell her that story which
+was told to you?... The story of damnable hate and passion, when I
+tried to strangle my own brother. I tell you she would shrink away in
+horror. She must shrink. Why did you speak to me about it at all! Your
+thoughts are folly and madness. <i>I</i> offer love to Meryl Pym?... My
+God! I have some decency&mdash;some pride left." And the pain and
+bitterness in his voice shocked and stabbed her.</p>
+
+<p>But in spite of her inward shrinking she answered him boldly, drawing
+on a courage lent her by love and sincerity.</p>
+
+<p>"And I say that if you love her truly, you ought to be able to trust
+her with your story. It is not noble and spirited of you to stand
+aside as you perhaps think. It is cowardly. Pride is generally
+cowardly. For the sake of your pride, of your own personal feelings,
+you will let her go on with this marriage and never say a word and
+never move a finger to save her from shipwrecking her whole life.
+First you will let your own sad past come between you; then you will
+let her hateful gold drive you away; then you will talk of yourself
+as just a policeman. And in any case&mdash;you must know it as well as I
+know it&mdash;none of these things would estrange Meryl Pym from the man
+she loved. There is nothing whatever between you except your pride,
+and you think that demands a renunciation from you, careless or no
+whether it brings heart-break for her."</p>
+
+<p>He had grown deathly white now, with dark hollows round his eyes, and
+she could almost see how his teeth were clenched behind the firm lips.
+She had taken him entirely by surprise in her outburst, and her news
+concerning himself; and he discovered she had swept his secret from
+him concerning his love for Meryl, almost before he knew what he was
+speaking of.</p>
+
+<p>"There might be something in what you say if Miss Pym cared for me in
+return. That she does is the merest supposition."</p>
+
+<p>"And how do you know that with such sureness?" she cried. "No, no,
+Major Carew; in your heart you know otherwise. But you just let her go
+away without a word, without a hope, and one or two of us know what
+this hasty engagement means. Diana calls it martyrdom. She wrote me to
+send Meryl an <i>in memoriam</i> card instead of congratulations, for it
+was more in accord with the occasion."</p>
+
+<p>His face worked visibly, in spite of his stern suppression, but he
+still stood rigid and upright, looking away from her&mdash;out over the far
+shadowy veldt, seeing nothing.</p>
+
+<p>In the pulsing silence that followed he beheld again that terrible
+October scene, when his love lay dead upon the heather. Could he ask
+any other woman to share that with him?... let the burden of such a
+memory faintly touch her life?... He knew that at the inquest it had
+been decided no one could possibly say who fired the shot. His uncle
+and brother were both shooting at the time, in the same direction; but
+though his friend Maitland had insisted upon a verdict of accidentally
+shot by someone unknown, and Richard Carew had resolutely supported
+him, in his own heart he had stood condemned. Yet if penance were
+required, what had he not given?... Exile, loneliness, nonentity for
+all the best years of his life; and her image, the beloved face of his
+lost Joan, the only woman's presence in his life. And yet now, as he
+stood gazing, gazing to the far blue hills, it seemed that her face
+and Meryl's were strangely blended. From the very first their eyes
+had been as the eyes of one woman, infinitely comprehending,
+infinitely true. Was it possible that Ailsa's accusation was true? One
+woman had been sacrificed more or less to his mad, insensate fury
+against his brother. Was the other perhaps to be sacrificed to his
+rigid, indomitable pride? One picture seemed to stamp itself upon his
+brain with ever-increasing strength and clearness: the picture of
+Meryl, leaning up against the window lintel that last evening at
+Bulawayo, white as a frail, exquisite lily, with the anguish in her
+deep eyes that she could not entirely hide. That, and the iron control
+he had needed to put upon himself, making him seem grim and unfeeling
+for fear one instant's weakness should make his longing arms enfold
+her. Well, he had played his man's part as well as he could; ridden
+away from her, disappointed her, openly avoided her, only in the end
+to love her with the deep, wise, understanding, all-embracing love of
+a man past his first youth, and with a wide knowledge of human nature.</p>
+
+<p>And this engagement of hers to van Hert! What might it not result
+from?... What hopelessness, what despair, what heroic resolve to play
+her little part in the country's good, and win some satisfaction
+perhaps, since she might not have happiness!</p>
+
+<p>Standing silently at the window it all seemed to pass through his mind
+with piercing clearness, and Ailsa's spirited attack rang still in his
+ears: "First you will let your sad story come between you, then her
+hateful gold, then your lowly position, answering to the call of your
+own pride, careless whether it wreck her life's happiness or no."</p>
+
+<p>Yes, she was quite right, it <i>was</i> his pride. Even now the thought of
+the gold was hateful to him.</p>
+
+<p>Still, if some day he would indeed be the Marquis of Toxeter!... if he
+could at least offer her a high position!... if it was no longer a
+question of going to her empty-handed....</p>
+
+<p>The silence continued, and in the background Ailsa waited and watched.
+She could read nothing from the tall figure in the window, except that
+his thoughts were far away and he was probing deeply. She leaned back
+in a low chair, feeling suddenly very tired and overwrought. She had
+come all the way from far Zimbabwe for this interview, just to say to
+this man, before it was too late, the spirited things she had said.
+And now?...</p>
+
+<p>She looked round the den of the man who was her friend, and his, and
+had helped her to win the interview, noting each trivial detail, each
+attempt at decoration and hominess, each cunning substitute such as
+every Rhodesian contrives out of his ingenuity for some trifle not
+easily procured in that far land. And all the time she was tensely
+painfully aware of that strong man in the window, and of the issues
+that hung upon his decision. How, in the event of his deciding to
+approach Meryl, the recognised fianc&eacute; was to be treated, was beyond
+her. She was too tired to probe further. She only cared that Meryl's
+happiness should be saved. Her own had been so nearly lost, she had
+seen so much unspeakable bitterness arise out of one great mistake,
+made once by many women at the altar, and she only waited to know if
+she had lost or won.</p>
+
+<p>At last the silent figure moved. At the window Carew turned and came
+towards her. She watched him with all her soul in her eyes, unable to
+rise from her chair for very tension.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you going to do?..." she asked, hoarsely.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you tell me where I can find Henry Delcombe?" he said.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXVII" id="XXVII"></a>XXVII</h2>
+
+<h2>DIANA BEGINS TO GROW PERPLEXED</h2>
+
+<p>In the meantime the household at Hill Court was a restless, uneasy,
+depressed one. No person in it, except Meryl, seemed undisturbed by
+the unsatisfactory atmosphere. She by taking thought, had, contrary to
+the old dictum, added to her stature; but it was the stature of her
+mind. The spirit that takes a woman through the troubled waters at
+hand, with all her consciousness set upon the great goal ahead, upheld
+her now; and in the presence of onlookers gave her a grave serenity,
+not in any way akin to joy, but baffling to those who would fain have
+seen her show a stronger feeling either of gladness or regret.</p>
+
+<p>It baffled even van Hert himself. To him she seemed so strangely the
+same, yet different, from the woman he had loved before the Rhodesian
+tour. In all his work, his plans, his schemes, she was as earnest and
+interested as he could possibly wish; but that fairness his dark
+strength had coveted seemed to elude him at every turn. When he kissed
+her, he felt vaguely that she suffered his caress; on one or two
+occasions it almost seemed as if she went further and shuddered, and
+yet she never actually repulsed him. And then the dainty, light humour
+that had been hers as well as Diana's!... What had become of it?... It
+seemed now as if Diana had absorbed it all, for Meryl was nearly
+always quiet, while the younger girl was almost boisterous. And yet
+even in Diana there was a note that puzzled him. She was so jumpy and
+uncertain. Childishly gay one moment, and cuttingly brilliant the
+next. He was glad she was there. After the first week of the
+engagement he found himself quite willing to further Meryl's obvious
+wish for her company upon every occasion. So if she rose to leave them
+alone they deterred her with vague requests and excuses; and when they
+went in public together, Diana was always with them. And when she was
+snappy, they laughed at her and did not mind. Diana snappy was better
+than no Diana at all.</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Emily thought otherwise, and was deeply grateful to them in her
+heart whenever they took her refractory niece safely out of her way.
+Her escapades were apt to be so wild nowadays, and her language so
+horrifying; and whenever the poor lady remonstrated, she was always
+told that it was the result of the Rhodesian trip.</p>
+
+<p>"It will take me quite a year to get over it," Diana informed her.
+"You can't eat rats, and sleep with a frog in your bed, and go
+unwashed for weeks on end, without suffering from it in some way. God
+bless my soul!... is it likely?..."</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the second week, anyone watching with keen insight might
+have seen a still more significant change creeping over the three most
+noticeable inmates of the house; for Mr. Pym was only silent and grave
+and retiring, going early to his study and feigning to be much
+occupied. And Aunt Emily had acquired a habit of going to sleep after
+dinner during her solitariness, which Diana wickedly called a
+dispensation from Heaven to bless the household of Henry Pym.</p>
+
+<p>So the lovers and Diana were left to themselves, and usually sat upon
+the deep verandah. And it became apparent presently that all the
+talking was done by Diana and van Hert; Meryl was merely a silent
+listener. Perhaps she was not even a listener; one could not tell. She
+sat so still, with wistful eyes looking out beyond the stars. But
+Diana, on the other hand, exceeded herself; and in doing so she made
+van Hert exceed himself also. She was brilliant, mischievous,
+reckless, serious, satirical, nonsensical, all in a breath. She drove
+him hither and thither; led him on one moment, and withered him with
+her satire the next. It was obvious the man very soon left off
+treating her with any careless levity; if he did he was outwitted in
+no time; torn to shreds, and cast to the four winds on merry logic
+that had ever the sting of satire behind its laughing lightness. Very
+quickly he was on his guard, with thrust and parry; keen, watchful,
+alert&mdash;the politician to whom South Africa listened. And finally there
+came a day when, after unfolding a plan to Meryl, he added, "That is
+my idea, but I thought I would consult your cousin first." It seemed
+to strike him that it was a little odd, and he added, "She is
+extraordinarily observant. She may see some weak point we have
+overlooked."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, consult Diana," Meryl had replied at once; "she knows a lot
+about statistics of that kind. She has often had arguments with father
+over them."</p>
+
+<p>So in the evening van Hert came in eager haste to have his talk with
+Diana. And Diana had taken herself off to a dinner-party and was not
+forthcoming. So the lovers sat on the verandah alone, and after a
+little they began to feel at a loss for anything to say, and wished
+devoutly that Diana would return.</p>
+
+<p>As she was likely to be late, van Hert got up and spoke of departing.
+He said he had a measure to study carefully, ready for the reopening
+of Parliament at Cape Town. And while he was still explaining, Diana
+returned. She had made an excuse and left the party early.</p>
+
+<p>"It was so dull," she said. "I have no patience with people who let me
+bite them, and do not try to bite back. I bit them all, more or less,
+in the end, and left them bathing each other's sores, so to speak, and
+exclaiming with bated breath at my cleverness. Fools and blockheads!
+just because I've got a banking account that would buy half of them
+up, and never miss it. As if I didn't know, when I'm in that mood, I'm
+a cattish little spitfire!..."</p>
+
+<p>"So you came home to worry us?..." and the pleasure in his face was
+suddenly illuminating.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you have the pluck to hit back," and she looked at him with a
+flash of her eyes that made his senses reel a little. She threw her
+costly evening-cloak on to a chair, and pushed it a little aside with
+her foot, with a graceful action that displayed a dainty slipper and
+ankle, in no wise lost upon him. "I always hit back myself," she
+continued. "I've no sympathy with the 'other cheek' theory. I hit
+twice as hard as the attacker if possible. If Aunt Emily were here, I
+should say I give a dickens of a smack; but as she isn't, it is not
+worth while." She came forward with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.
+"Poor dear Aunt Emily! I sometimes have her conscience very much on my
+mind; but there ... I can bear it." And her comical enunciation in the
+poor lady's exact tones set both Meryl and van Hert off laughing.</p>
+
+<p>The laughter was coming back to her own eyes too. When she entered
+they had been clouded, and her lips pouting. If they only knew it,
+she had been bored to tears at the party; bored utterly and
+completely, longing to be back on the verandah fighting a wordy, keen,
+good-tempered battle with van Hert; and she felt sure he would have
+gone when she returned. She had noticed he never stayed late when she
+was absent. But she was just in time. He had not gone, was only just
+going, and she perceived the face of each was tired and depressed.</p>
+
+<p>"What have you been doing?" she rallied them. "You looked as if you
+had been intending to read the marriage service through together, and
+had read the funeral one by mistake; or possibly because it appealed
+to you more!... You both seemed doleful enough for anything."</p>
+
+<p>"We missed you," Meryl said, simply. "William wanted to ask you about
+a new measure he is planning."</p>
+
+<p>Van Hert said nothing, but he was looking at her unconsciously, with a
+light in his eyes that staggered her. Other men had looked at her with
+admiration, but this man had an expression that seemed to envelop her
+with himself. She felt throughout her pulses that he was all fire and
+eagerness and intensity, a strong, wilful, obstinate, fierce, virile
+personality that reached out mute, unconscious arms to her
+level-headed coolness. The fire in his eyes was only smouldering as
+yet, but it seemed to tell her that he was a fine-toned, brilliant
+instrument that she, and perhaps she only, could play upon as she
+liked, bringing forth both thundering chords and enveloping sweetness.</p>
+
+<p>And in the sudden silence that had fallen upon the verandah, Diana
+knew that she liked to play, would always like to play, that with this
+man at least boredom would never fret her restless soul.</p>
+
+<p>Then she plunged into words with him, and they sparred delightedly,
+and that work he had spoken of as awaiting him at home was left to
+take care of itself.</p>
+
+<p>Later, Diana went outside on the verandah of her room and Meryl's and
+looked at the stars. The tables had turned utterly, but it was
+doubtful if either of them perceived it. Meryl went quietly to bed
+with only a few words, and either slept, or feigned sleep. Diana
+loitered on the verandah, and looked at the stars. She hardly knew
+why, only some strange half-consciousness was springing up inside her
+that made her restless. Somehow van Hert seemed to be gaining a hold
+over her. She could not gauge how, nor why, nor wherefore; but as she
+thought of his fine dark eyes in the starlight, with that luminous,
+glad expression when he looked at her, she had a sense of violent
+antipathy one moment, and of a gladness that made her blush secretly
+the next.</p>
+
+<p>But within three days the date of the wedding was fixed, and all the
+papers paragraphed it far and wide.</p>
+
+<p>It appeared in Salisbury the day after Ailsa had had her talk with
+Carew, and it came as a shock to both of them. It left just three
+weeks for action, and no more. What was to be done? Ailsa tried to get
+another interview with Carew at once, and found he had had to ride to
+some place twenty miles distant, and might not be back until the
+morrow. So, in distress, she sought Henry Delcombe. What he had to
+tell her was faintly reassuring. Carew had gone to see him after he
+left Ailsa, and had asked for proofs of his heirship to the marquisate
+of Toxeter. Delcombe had been able to satisfy him, and he had been
+gravely friendly, but that was all. At last, in desperation, Ailsa
+decided to write to Diana. The mail left that morning, and would reach
+Johannesburg in three days. Diana was full of resource, and she might
+think of a plan. Ailsa decided to tell her as much as she could
+without betraying any confidence. She said no word of the tragedy.
+That only concerned Meryl, and if she were to hear it at all, she must
+hear it from him. Neither did she mention his changed position; that
+also he should tell himself. She contented herself with letting Diana
+know that he had admitted he loved Meryl.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime she waited anxiously for Carew to return, but heard no
+word of him until the Sunday afternoon. In reply to an urgent little
+note he came to see her. She had wondered if he would be changed at
+all; if his new position would shed a ray of gladness in his steady
+eyes. But he seemed exactly the same, and she could read nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see the announcement yesterday?" she asked. "There is so
+little time. I had to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"I did."</p>
+
+<p>"And what are you going to do?"</p>
+
+<p>He looked down at the carpet, lost in thought. "I hardly know," he
+said.</p>
+
+<p>"O, won't you at least go to Johannesburg?..." she pleaded. "See Meryl
+once. If you fail her now, perhaps you will never forgive yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"On the other hand, I may only disturb her mind. How do you know she
+has not cared for this man for a long time? In any case, what right
+have I to cross <i>his</i> path now?"</p>
+
+<p>"O, your logic!..." she cried. "The way you men think this and that
+and the other, when a woman just <i>knows</i>! Go and see her. Go and make
+sure of things for yourself."</p>
+
+<p>But he shook his head in doubt and perplexity. To him it seemed almost
+like stealing to go and attempt to take from this other man what he
+had won fairly and openly; and though Ailsa tried other arguments, she
+could not move him. Only one half-hope she extracted from him.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps," he said, "I will write to Mr. Pym and ask his advice."</p>
+
+<p>Then he went back to the hours of desperate mental stress, that were
+steadily increasing the grey about his temples. To Ailsa he might have
+seemed cold and self-contained as ever, but if she could have known
+it, all his being was torn with conflict. With the hourly growing ache
+and longing to throw everything to the winds and to try to carry Meryl
+off while there was yet time there was the fear lest a wrong step on
+his part should shatter for her some newly found content.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXVIII" id="XXVIII"></a>XXVIII</h2>
+
+<h2>DIANA'S PERPLEXITIES INCREASE</h2>
+
+<p>The two days after Diana came home early from her dinner-party were
+chiefly noticeable for the fact that for the first time since the
+engagement van Hert remained away from Hill Court. No one knew why,
+and the excuse he sent was of the vaguest. Diana asked her own heart
+and was troubled. When he came on the third day, he walked into the
+drawing-room to look for Meryl, and found Diana reading in the window
+alone. They discovered each other suddenly, and it was almost as if he
+gave a guilty start; and he looked unusually pale, with haggard eyes,
+as if he had slept badly of late. Diana saw it all, but gave no sign.</p>
+
+<p>"You are something of a stranger, Meinheer van Hert," she said
+lightly. "My sword had almost time to rust."</p>
+
+<p>"It would never do that. The best of swords is none the worse for an
+occasional rest; unless"&mdash;with a somewhat tired gleam of humour&mdash;"you
+have been keeping it bright at the expense of poor Aunt Emily."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it has had a real rest. I am saving it again for the best
+swordsman worthy of it."</p>
+
+<p>His eyes came suddenly to her face, and she realised at once that
+until that moment he had scarcely looked at her; and in that second's
+flash she saw something in them that hurt: a swift, deep trouble that
+he was struggling to hide. He looked away again quickly, noting the
+lovely shades of the room, the masses of violets, the general airiness
+and elegance.</p>
+
+<p>"Is Meryl at home?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I will go and tell her you are here."</p>
+
+<p>Diana went upstairs very slowly, lost in thought. And when she had
+told Meryl, she stood a long time at the window, thinking still.
+Presently Meryl came back. "William came to ask me to definitely fix
+the date of the wedding. We decided on the fifth; that will give us
+just a week before he must go to Cape Town." Then, as if she did not
+expect Diana to make any comment, she added, "The invitations must go
+out to-night."</p>
+
+<p>That evening van Hert came as usual, but, simply because he was gayer
+than usual, Diana perceived that his gaiety was forced; and she saw
+also that he shunned meeting her eyes, looking anywhere, nowhere,
+rather than into her face.</p>
+
+<p>The next day she rode in a direction where she and Meryl often met and
+joined him for a gallop. Meryl had suggested coming as usual, but
+Diana had contrived to put her off. She wanted if possible, without
+quite knowing why, to see van Hert alone; and as it happened, Fortune
+favoured her, for he appeared up a side road suddenly, and had no time
+to escape her, even had he wished. So they rode together, and he tried
+to talk to her as usual. When they came to a spot where they often
+dismounted, and sat to enjoy the lovely view of distant hills, Diana
+prepared to get off her horse. She saw him hesitate, and then he
+muttered something about an important engagement.</p>
+
+<p>"O, nonsense!..." with a gay, airy smile. "If I'm not in a hurry, you
+can't be. I only want to sit for about fifteen minutes."</p>
+
+<p>So they gave their horses' reins to the smart black groom, who always
+rode with the girls, and sat on the rustic bench where the three had
+several times sat together.</p>
+
+<p>And suddenly, Diana, giving rein to her impulsive temperament, said,
+"What is your opinion of a man who marries one woman and loves
+another?"</p>
+
+<p>She saw him start and stiffen, but he tried to parry the thrust. "What
+a question to ask a fianc&eacute; of a few weeks, on the eve of becoming a
+bridegroom!..."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that's why! I thought you would have formed many opinions on
+the subject of love and marriage."</p>
+
+<p>"And why do you want to know?"</p>
+
+<p>"O, just a fancy! I know men sometimes do that kind of thing.
+Personally I think it is rather cowardly."</p>
+
+<p>"Why cowardly?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Because it shows a man hasn't the pluck to own he has made a mistake.
+He would rather go on with it, and pretend everything is all right."</p>
+
+<p>She saw him bite his lip, and felt more thoroughly that he would not
+meet her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"It is hard on the other woman, the one he <i>does</i> love, too. It might
+make her very happy to be told. One joy is better than two miseries
+any day, even if his lordship did have to own to a mistake and look
+rather silly!..." with a little laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I shall know more about it when I am married," trying to
+speak carelessly. "You must ask me later."</p>
+
+<p>"Probably I shall not want to know then; my fancies are always
+varying. What should <i>you</i> do, for instance, if you suddenly found you
+cared for someone else more than Meryl?"</p>
+
+<p>She was watching him closely, and she saw the swift, tell-tale blood
+rush to his face.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I don't know," he answered, with a forced, unnatural laugh.
+"It is rather a remote probability now."</p>
+
+<p>"O, one never knows!..." Diana spoke with assumed lightness, and
+looked away to the hills, feeling a little unnerved by the sudden,
+swift palpitating in her blood. "Shall we go on now?" rising and
+turning her back to him. "I mustn't keep you any longer from that
+important engagement."</p>
+
+<p>She might have added that she had learnt what she came out to learn;
+but instead she put her horse to a smart gallop, and rode back without
+scarcely speaking, flinging him a gay good-bye over her shoulder when
+their roads separated.</p>
+
+<p>When she reached home she found Meryl surrounded by dressmakers, and
+trying hard to assume an interest in the proceedings; but Diana's
+clear eyes saw the effort as plainly as if it had been written across
+her forehead. She saw that she looked ill, too; ill and worn and
+joyless, as if something had damped for ever her natural fount of
+gaiety. And withal she was so sweet-tempered and considerate, studying
+everybody else's feelings in this wedding of hers; everyone's
+apparently except her own. Diana wanted to shake her one moment, and
+howl round her neck the next. Instead of doing either she was a little
+more snappy than usual.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you have your dress fitted now?" Meryl asked her. "Madame has it
+all ready."</p>
+
+<p>"No," shortly. "I haven't time this morning; and besides, one can't be
+fitted just after a ride. I'm going to have a hot bath and a
+cigarette," and she flung out of the room, leaving Meryl a little
+perplexed and Madame considerably perturbed.</p>
+
+<p>In her own apartment she tossed things about, and was very irritable
+with her maid. Later, she went out into the garden to a shady nook
+where she was not likely to be disturbed, because she wanted to think.
+But thinking was no easy matter. On every side were perplexities.</p>
+
+<p>"It's just the devil's own mess," she summed up at last, unable to
+think of any other sufficiently strong description. "Meryl doesn't
+want to marry van Hert, and van Hert doesn't want to marry Meryl; they
+both want to marry someone else; and yet they both mean to go on to
+the bitter end, because of some rotten-cotton notion about serving
+South Africa. O! I've no patience with these heroic attitudes! They
+are not suited to commonplace everyday life. If they'd a little more
+sound common sense, and a little less of the noble and lofty soul
+spirit, they would perceive they will only do more harm than good by
+going against nature and trying to force inclinations. But the absurd
+thing is, that neither has yet had the perspicacity to perceive the
+other's unwilling frame of mind. That exactly bears out my point.
+These heroic attitudes do not suit the exigencies of everyday life. If
+they weren't both so bent on doing the noble thing, they would
+perceive they are merely making fools of themselves, and incidentally
+straining my powers of resource beyond all reason. Of course it can't
+go on; but what in the name of all that's wonderful can I do to stop
+it?... Send for The Bear, and compel him to make the best of the awful
+fact that Meryl possesses a fortune, and console dear Dutch Willie
+myself, I suppose!..." And she smiled grimly. Then her face softened,
+and tears unexpectedly gleamed in her eyes. She brushed them away,
+apostrophising herself impatiently. Then she swallowed down a sob,
+murmuring, "I can't bear the thought of Meryl, standing with that
+smile on her lips and that expression in her eyes, to be fitted for
+her wedding-dress. It makes one want to tear the whole world to
+pieces, and sink South Africa in the nethermost ocean. No wonder uncle
+shuts himself in his study so much nowadays. He must be just as hard
+put to it as I am to know what to do." A step disturbed her
+cogitations at that moment, and Aunt Emily came into view.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, my dear, I thought I saw you come down the garden. There is a
+letter for you with a Rhodesian stamp. I thought you might like to
+have it." And she handed it to her, at the same time sitting down on
+the garden-seat beside her.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you seen Meryl's dress," she enquired, with an expression that
+had suddenly grown sentimental. "The dear child. To think of her in
+her wedding-dress, so soon to be a bride!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that's a commonplace enough event! Girls like Meryl usually do
+become brides, and later on they wear shrouds, and have a nice little
+coffin all to themselves. There really isn't very much difference!..."</p>
+
+<p>"O, my dear!... What a dreadful remark to make! I am sure it is
+unlucky to speak like that."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I hope it will be unlucky enough to postpone the wedding
+indefinitely."</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Emily turned and looked at her niece as if she thought she had
+taken leave of her senses, but that was not by any means a new
+expression upon the face of Henry Pym's sister confronting Henry Pym's
+niece.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, Diana!..." she expostulated. "I think it is hardly a subject
+for jesting. Marriage is a very serious thing. I hope God will bless
+dear Meryl with great happiness. I confess, at first, I was
+disappointed that she chose a Dutch husband; but Mr. van Hert has very
+good Huguenot blood in his veins, and he is undoubtedly a very
+charming man; and then, of course, her children will only be half
+Dutch."</p>
+
+<p>"Her children ought to be bear cubs!" snapped Diana, wishing her aunt
+would go away and leave her to read her letter in peace.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment Aunt Emily was too horrified to reply, and then Diana
+added, "Don't trouble to expostulate any more. I'm not really mad,
+only eccentric. I never could see why people make such a silly fuss
+about weddings; anyhow, they are all the same and all commonplace.
+When I marry, I shall give all my friends the shock of their lives,
+something to talk about for a year, and then for once in my life I
+shall be a public benefactor. I see Helen looking about on the terrace
+as if she wanted you. Shall I ask her?..."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I will go in to her"; and she got up and walked towards the
+house, still wearing a shocked expression.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if Helen will have the sense to manufacture some request?"
+thought Diana, glancing after her. "As if I could see the terrace from
+here!..."</p>
+
+<p>Then she opened her letter.</p>
+
+<p>When she had read it through once, she turned back to the beginning
+and read it through again. And all the time she was so rigidly still,
+that a little bird hopped close up to her foot to investigate.</p>
+
+<p>Then she laid the letter down and looked out across the garden. Five
+minutes later she got to her feet.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment of crisis Diana was the type who courageously follows an
+inspiration, without overmuch weighing and sifting. She had faith in
+her own keen woman's instinct and she knew there were times when
+sharp, decisive action is better than lengthy, minute attention to all
+the laws of war, and far-reaching considerations of what might or
+might not result.</p>
+
+<p>A gate at the far end of the garden led out to the main road, and not
+very far down was a post office. Diana went straight to it, and sent a
+wire, with prepaid reply, directed to Major Carew, which ran:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Can you come at once? Urgently wanted. Go to
+Carlton and send message on arrival to me.</p>
+
+<p>
+"<span class="smcap">Diana Pym."</span>
+</p></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXIX" id="XXIX"></a>XXIX</h2>
+
+<h2>A USEFUL BLUNDER</h2>
+
+<p>The railway journey from Salisbury to Johannesburg takes three and
+sometimes four days; so that whether Carew responded to her urgent
+message or not, Diana had rather a long time to possess her soul in
+patience and make up her mind what course to take next. She was in two
+minds whether to take her uncle into her confidence or not, but
+decided men were always apt to bungle, and she had better trust
+entirely to her own guidance. Beyond a doubt the situation required
+the most delicate and skilful handling. First of all, she felt she
+must convey to van Hert some suggestion that would prepare him for the
+shock of what might be expected to follow upon Carew's arrival,
+supposing he came. Meryl she did not worry greatly about. She might be
+expected to be swept off her feet and go with the tide, by the very
+suddenness of it all. The two men presented the obstacles. Carew would
+have to be inveigled with the greatest finesse into an interview with
+Meryl, without ever letting him perceive a woman was leading him. In
+her heart Diana was a little afraid of the steady, unbending face. He
+was not likely to prove pliable; he might even refuse to come. Nothing
+she could say could alter the fact that he was a policeman and Meryl
+was burdened with a fortune, and that was the only barrier Diana was
+aware of. She laughed a little to herself as she wondered whether it
+would help matters if Mr. Pym made a will disinheriting Meryl, and
+dividing his money between her and charities. She could easily give it
+back to Meryl later. Then she sighed. "More heroics!... and they tell
+us it is a base world. Here am I driven out of my senses nearly,
+positively suffocated with high-mindedness, because three delightful
+people can't come down from their unlivable altitude and exhibit a
+little practical common sense."</p>
+
+<p>Then, of course, there was van Hert's pride to consider. What in the
+world, at this time of all others, was to be made of an English girl
+jilting a prominent Dutch politician a week before the wedding day!
+"It's almost enough to cause another war!" sighed poor Diana. "I'm
+really beginning to wish I had let them all go their own foolish ways.
+If I don't mind I shall end in becoming a heroine myself, and that's
+really too alarming!..."</p>
+
+<p>However, the bull having been taken by the horns, it was wiser to keep
+a firm hold of them; though more than once Diana felt herself very
+entirely in sympathy with Mark Twain when he says, "It is better to
+take hold by the tail, because then you can let go when you like."</p>
+
+<p>Obviously van Hert must be tackled first, but she waited until the
+morning after sending her wire, hoping for a reply. It came early, and
+fortune favoured her in that she received her orange-coloured envelope
+unknown to anyone. She carried it upstairs and opened it with a
+beating, anxious heart. It contained only two words, and was not
+signed:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Arrive Saturday."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment she felt a little dazed. He was coming then, the stern
+soldier-policeman. What in the world was she to say to him?...</p>
+
+<p>Then a flood of gladness began to well up in her heart. After all, it
+meant before all things, that a day of great joy might be at hand for
+Meryl. Did anything else really matter?... If she personally came
+through the transaction a little battered&mdash;well, it wouldn't really
+matter, if Meryl and The Bear were safely off the rocks. Rather than
+let any shadowy good for South Africa come between them now she would
+marry van Hert herself, and at that she gave a little low laugh. In
+the meantime she had three days to think out a plan and convey to van
+Hert some sort of preparation.</p>
+
+<p>When he came that Wednesday evening it was easily seen that he was
+feverish. His eyes were unnaturally bright and his face flushed, and
+at dinner he only played with his food and ate nothing. He talked and
+laughed gaily, but with intermittent shivering which he tried hard to
+hide. Everyone saw it, and Meryl grew concerned. He tried to laugh it
+off, but was not successful. Finally Mr. Pym advised him to go home to
+bed. And then Aunt Emily made the crowning blunder of her life, and
+like some other big blunders now historical, it proved a blessing in
+disguise.</p>
+
+<p>She glanced at Diana with a scared face and exclaimed in perturbation,
+"Now if the wedding is put off it will be your fault, Diana. I told
+you it must bring ill-luck to speak about it as you did."</p>
+
+<p>There was an awkward pause, and in spite of herself Diana flushed
+scarlet.</p>
+
+<p>"What did Diana say?" van Hert asked of Aunt Emily, half grave and
+half casual.</p>
+
+<p>The poor lady, having quickly discovered she had made an unfortunate
+remark and become considerably flurried, made matters worse by
+stammering guiltily, "O, it was nothing much; she was only talking at
+random. She ... she ..."&mdash;distressfully discovering van Hert's eyes
+still fixed upon her&mdash;"said something about hoping the wedding would
+be postponed, and I said it was unlucky."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment the constraint was painful. Meryl had grown as white as
+the tablecloth, and Mr. Pym looked thoroughly worried. Diana, however,
+had quickly recovered herself, and was now the most composed of any.
+She gave a little sniff and glanced defiantly at van Hert. His eyes
+roved round the table and finally fixed themselves upon hers. She did
+not waver, but looked steadily back at him. He gave a self-conscious,
+constrained laugh. "I presume you had your reasons?" he said.</p>
+
+<p>She narrowed her eyes a little as she replied with a directness
+probably he alone understood, "Yes, I suppose I had. It was yesterday,
+Tuesday. Tuesday is often a queer day with me."</p>
+
+<p>And he knew she was referring to their conversation during the
+morning's ride.</p>
+
+<p>Then Meryl got up to relieve the tension, and because she began to
+feel a little uncertain of herself.</p>
+
+<p>"Di often has queer days, but they have nothing to do with your
+feverishness, William. Jackson had better go back with you, and we
+will telephone Dr. Smythe to look in and see how you are." She went
+away to order the motor, and van Hert seized an opportunity to speak
+to Diana unheard.</p>
+
+<p>"I know what you are alluding to," he said, gravely. "We cannot very
+well leave it like this. Will you ride the same way to-morrow?"</p>
+
+<p>"But if you have fever?" hesitatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"In the war I fought all day long with fever on me. Surely I can ride!
+You will be there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>When van Hert arrived at the meeting-place next morning, he wore an
+overcoat and looked as if he ought to be in bed, and Diana's heart
+smote her. But she comforted herself with the thought that his fever
+was very much of the mind, and her medicine, if drastic, might still
+do him more good than any physician's.</p>
+
+<p>They rode side by side to the seat they had sat upon before, and
+without saying much he helped her to alight and gave the reins of both
+horses to the black groom.</p>
+
+<p>Once seated, however, he turned to her and said, gravely, "Of course,
+that remark of yours had to do with our conversation the last time we
+sat here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," agreed Diana, calmly. The intricacies of the task she had
+set herself were beginning to interest more than scare her, and she
+was not afraid as to her skill in handling van Hert.</p>
+
+<p>"May I ask in what exact particular?"</p>
+
+<p>"Merely that you are the man about to marry a woman you do not love."</p>
+
+<p>He opened his lips to expostulate and deny, but she rested a little
+hand on his arm a moment and interrupted. "No, do not trouble to deny
+it. I should not have dared to say such a thing without being sure of
+my ground. Your face told me on Tuesday."</p>
+
+<p>He was silent, feeling himself unaccountably in the grip of something
+he could no longer thwart.</p>
+
+<p>"Now listen to me. When Meryl went to Rhodesia you <i>did</i> love her. I
+think she was all the world to you. So she was when she came back, <i>at
+first</i>. You were in haste to win her, and she consented to be engaged
+to you. Afterwards...." She paused.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, afterwards?..." in a strained, unnatural voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Afterwards you found in some vague way she was changed. You had won
+her, but you did not possess her. Something had happened. You seemed
+to have seized the substance and found it shadow. I seem to be talking
+like a book, but we will let that pass! Instead of trying to find out
+whether this really was the case, you attempted to hurry forward the
+wedding. That, I think, was weak of you."</p>
+
+<p>"And something had happened?..." he asked, hoarsely. "What?..."</p>
+
+<p>Diana spread out her hands with a little French gesture. "It is
+sometimes just as poignant to say, '<i>Cherchez l'homme</i>' as, '<i>Cherchez
+la femme</i>.'"</p>
+
+<p>"You mean?..."</p>
+
+<p>"That what had happened was another man."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!..." in quick surprise; and after a short, tense silence, "Then
+why in the world?..." But again she stayed him with a little arresting
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>"You wonder why she engaged herself to you?... When you have the clue
+it is quite simple. The other man loves her, but he has not told her
+so. I do not know that he ever will. He is a proud, obstinate
+Englishman, and has no position and no money. Apparently he is ready
+to let Meryl wreck her life, rather than bless his with herself and
+her fortune. Some men are like that. It is a mixture of pride and
+heroics very difficult for a well-meaning cousin like myself to cope
+with. I think it may even turn my hair grey yet." Again she spread out
+her hands. "Can you not see the rest?... You yourself led up to it.
+You urged your united service to South Africa (though why poor South
+Africa should be dragged in, I don't know), and she, having as she
+thought lost all hope of simple, personal happiness, decided to give
+herself to you and to her country. Now do you understand?"</p>
+
+<p>He was silent for a considerable time, thinking deeply; and then, with
+one of his quick versatile changes, he turned and pounced upon her
+with the question, "Granting all is as you say, what I want to know
+is, how have you discovered it?" He looked hard into her face with
+keen, searching eyes. "How did <i>you</i> know that <i>I</i> had changed?"</p>
+
+<p>He had taken her a little unawares, and suddenly she felt the hot,
+tell-tale blood mounting higher and higher up her face. She moved
+restlessly, impatiently, as if his gaze were intolerable, and then
+replied a trifle lamely, "You must have heard the English proverb,
+'Lookers-on see most of the game.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I wonder at what particular point you saw first?..."</p>
+
+<p>"In any case it is beside the question," she declared, anxious to get
+the conversation away from herself. "As I asked you on Tuesday, I ask
+you again, 'What do you think of a man who marries a woman when he
+does not love her?'"</p>
+
+<p>"That is not the question you asked me."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes it is," a trifle shortly. Diana was beginning to feel rather like
+a swimmer out of his depth.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon, it is not; but we will let it pass for the moment.
+Granting that what you have told me is true, what do you expect me to
+do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tell Meryl the truth."</p>
+
+<p>"And what is the truth?" He was gazing hard at her again, and Diana
+began to wish she could run away and hide. She knew that her changing
+colour and averted eyes were telling him something he badly wanted to
+know.</p>
+
+<p>"O, you're very dense!" she cried, seeking to cover her discomfort.
+"Tell her you have discovered it is all a mistake; that you do not
+think she loves you better than all the world; and that you feel
+yourself wedded to your work, and ... and ... that kind of thing. Of
+course it won't be nice, but surely you can see it is a far <i>braver</i>
+thing to do, than just to go on because you are afraid of what the
+world will say?"</p>
+
+<p>"And suppose Meryl wishes to hold to her promise and give herself to
+her country?"</p>
+
+<p>"She can still do that, only in some other way."</p>
+
+<p>"And what do you think South Africa will say?"</p>
+
+<p>"O, that's quite beyond me!..." with a little comical grimace, "but,
+of course, at any cost, you must avert another war!..." They both
+smiled, and she added more seriously, "You can announce that you
+discovered in time you were not very well suited to each other, and
+mutually agreed to break off the engagement."</p>
+
+<p>Again he was silent for a long time, lost in thought. At last, "And
+when do you think I should say this to Meryl?"</p>
+
+<p>"It will not be any easier through waiting. Why not to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>Again he was silent, and something in the air, some secret, veiled
+magnetism, told Diana whither his thoughts were tending, and her
+cheeks grew hot in spite of herself.</p>
+
+<p>"If I speak to Meryl to-night, and she decrees that the engagement
+shall end, will you promise to ride this way to-morrow morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"What for?" trying to speak with nonchalance.</p>
+
+<p>"To answer the question I asked you just now."</p>
+
+<p>"Which question? I have forgotten it."</p>
+
+<p>"I will ask it again to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"But why all this mystery?... Ask me now. I will answer it if I can."</p>
+
+<p>"I would rather wait until to-morrow. Come, you have said all you
+wanted to say to me. Let me have my turn now." And she knew that his
+eyes, sharpened by love, were reading things she had scarcely yet
+admitted to herself.</p>
+
+<p>She got up suddenly, feeling a little breathless. She began to have
+again that alarming sensation of being mastered; as if he had some
+hold upon her, against which it was her instinct to fight, not because
+of any antipathy to him, but because, like all women of her
+independent character and fearlessness, she dreaded the mere thought
+of losing her liberty or yielding her independence. And at the same
+time she knew that the thought which held a dread held a charm also.
+Diana would never lose her grit and personality, she would never
+submit for a moment to any overshadowing, but deep in her heart she
+knew she was true woman enough to like to be conquered by the right
+man. Her instinct was to contradict van Hert in anything just then and
+deny any wish, but she was glad he quietly insisted upon her granting
+his request, and that when they finally rode away it was an understood
+thing she would come again the next morning.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXX" id="XXX"></a>XXX</h2>
+
+<h2>DIANA IS RESTLESS</h2>
+
+<p>It would be most difficult, indeed well-nigh impossible, for any
+chronicler to describe the state of Diana's feelings that afternoon;
+and very certain that under no circumstances would she have attempted
+to describe them herself. The swift coming into life of the love
+between her and van Hert was like the man who said he had not been
+born, he just happened. One could imagine Diana calmly stating their
+love had no explanation, it just happened. Perhaps it had been there
+longer than either of them knew; perhaps it took form suddenly when
+each realised the unsubstantial nature of the engagement to Meryl.
+Diana had always had a special liking for van Hert, and had said so
+openly; but as he had for some time been presented in her mind as her
+cousin's lover, there had been no reason why the liking should grow to
+anything warmer, and probably it never would have. But when she
+thoroughly realised how unsatisfactory a basis he was about to build
+his wedded happiness upon, a certain resentment on his behalf took
+shape in her mind, as well as troubled anxiety for Meryl. From this it
+was not a very far step to a warmer feeling still, and as we have
+seen, the old gaieties ceased to attract her if he was not a partaker.
+And then, knowing well that Meryl's heart was given elsewhere, she
+spent no anxious moments as to whether this warmer feeling of hers
+were unfair to her cousin. It was as though it was just held in
+abeyance waiting for something to happen; and when the something had
+happened, she swam out fearlessly into the deep water. With van Hert
+it had necessarily been different. He knew nothing of Carew, and only
+felt vaguely that Meryl had changed; nothing tangible that he could
+take hold of, and yet a something that was as an invisible barrier
+between their closer knowledge of each other. Puzzled and baffled, he
+turned with eagerness to Diana's frank camaraderie, to awake suddenly
+one evening to the fact that, unknown to him, his heart had slipped
+out of his and Meryl's keeping into hers. Yet even then he tried to
+deny the change even to himself; he would not believe he could so
+suddenly transfer his affection. It was not until later, seeing the
+whole from the vantage-ground of distance, that he realised his
+affections had not been transferred. His affection for Meryl still
+existed; he admired her profoundly as before. What had died was his
+desire, starved by the growing sense that she chiefly suffered his
+caress. But he had not the moral courage to go to her frankly and tell
+her this; and rather than face the consequences he attempted to stifle
+this strong longing for Diana and put himself beyond the reach of it.
+Fortunately for all three, that practical common sense of Diana's,
+which she was pleased to call selfish commonplaceness, dared swift,
+unconventional measures, careless of consequences, rather than to sit
+still and let the mistake pass beyond recall.</p>
+
+<p>But at the beginning she had not given much thought to her own
+personal feelings in the matter, and it was only after the ride with
+van Hert she found these suddenly confronting her in their full
+significance. And because the turn of events was becoming a little
+overwhelming, she spent the hours between parting with him and his
+coming interview with Meryl in a whirl of emotion wholly new to her.</p>
+
+<p>Once or twice Meryl asked her if anything was the matter, she was so
+extraordinarily restless, but she only laughed it off and tried to
+steady her feelings.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening, when they left the dinner-table after dessert, she
+mysteriously vanished; but later, swept with an inexplicable wave of
+longing and uncertain dread, she crept down to the dining-room to try
+and discover what had happened. It was growing in her consciousness
+with illuminating clearness that her own happiness depended upon what
+decision Meryl made.</p>
+
+<p>At last there was a movement in the drawing-room as of someone
+stepping in from the verandah, and she waited breathlessly for a
+glimpse of Meryl's face. She and van Hert came out into the hall
+together, and Diana saw that her cousin looked extraordinarily frail
+and white and rather exhausted. Van Hert was very gentle to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I see your father to-night?" he asked, and she answered, "No, I
+will tell him myself. I expect he will see you to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Good night," and Meryl held out her hand.</p>
+
+<p>Diana saw him hesitate; and then, with a movement that had in it the
+graceful courtesy of the Huguenot and the reverence of a fine spirit,
+he bent very low before her and kissed her hand. Afterwards he went
+quietly away, and Meryl stood alone in the hall. For one moment she
+waited, as if listening to his departing footsteps, and then very
+slowly turned and walked to her father's study.</p>
+
+<p>Diana slipped out and went upstairs, but presently her restlessness
+again caused her to descend. She could not settle to anything until
+she knew the truth and how Meryl took it. Thus she was again in the
+dining-room when the study door opened and Meryl came out. Her father
+came with her to the threshold, and it was evident that she had been
+crying. Diana saw her raise a white, tear-stained face, and saw Henry
+Pym kiss his child with ineffable tenderness. Then Meryl went slowly
+upstairs, and Mr. Pym went back into his study and closed the door.</p>
+
+<p>But something in his face, at her last glimpse of it, went swiftly to
+Diana's loyal, devoted heart; and because she loved him as if he were
+her own father, an impulse carried her straight across the hall with
+noiseless feet to the study door. Without knocking, she opened it
+softly and crept in. Henry Pym was seated at his writing-table, with
+his face hidden in his hand; and she saw, perhaps more poignantly than
+ever before, how the last few weeks had whitened his hair.</p>
+
+<p>As she softly closed the door and crossed the room he looked up. Diana
+warm-hearted to a degree when she deeply loved, slipped on to her
+knees beside him, and taking the hand hanging limply at his side in
+both hers, raised it to her lips.</p>
+
+<p>Henry Pym looked down into her eyes, and for the first time guessed
+from whence the solution had come.</p>
+
+<p>"You saved her?..." he said a little huskily.</p>
+
+<p>Diana nestled up against him. "I saved <i>them</i>," she corrected. "Van
+Hert is a fine man; he deserves a wife who gives him her whole heart,
+just as truly as Meryl deserves a husband who has no thought for
+anyone else in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you knew he cared for someone else?"</p>
+
+<p>"Did he tell her so?" She lowered her head that he might not see her
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Did he say whom?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps Meryl knew?"</p>
+
+<p>"She did not say."</p>
+
+<p>She kissed his hand again, and asked in low tones, "Why was she crying
+when she came out of the study? She ... she ... is not sorry about
+things?..."</p>
+
+<p>"No; she is glad. She sees she made a mistake."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why was she crying?"</p>
+
+<p>She saw him flinch, and read in his face all the pain in his heart.
+Evidently he knew of that hidden sorrow shadowing his child's life;
+evidently her sorrow was his sorrow. The wedding he so dreaded was
+safely prevented, but would the happiness come back?... the happiness
+that had been in that household before they went to Rhodesia? Could
+all his love and hope and tenderness bring back joy to the eyes that
+were his heaven and his earth?</p>
+
+<p>"Dearie," murmured Diana again, "was she crying because of that big
+soldier-policeman up north?"</p>
+
+<p>He did not reply, and suddenly she knelt upright, and took his sad,
+careworn face in her hands and nestled her soft cheek against it.</p>
+
+<p>"Because he's coming on Saturday, dearie. Hush! don't breathe a word;
+it is my secret; only I had to tell you because of what I saw in your
+face just now. He is coming because he loves her."</p>
+
+<p>Then slowly a great tear gathered in Henry Pym's eyes and fell
+unheeded upon Diana's hand. He held her fast and made no attempt to
+speak. And Diana hid her face because there were great tears in her
+eyes also.</p>
+
+<p>After a moment she got up, and shook the hair back from her face, and
+rallied him tenderly.</p>
+
+<p>"You see, Meryl must 'mother' something in the way of a country: it is
+her tremendous Imperial instinct; so I thought she had better 'mother'
+Rhodesia." And with a last tender kiss she went softly away and left
+him.</p>
+
+<p>In their own room she found Meryl had sent the maid away, and was
+waiting for her in the dark, standing in the window with her form
+dimly outlined against a moonlit sky.</p>
+
+<p>She went up to her at once and slipped her arm through that of the
+silent figure. Meryl pressed it, but for a moment or two did not
+speak. Diana did not speak either; for once in her life she had
+nothing to say.</p>
+
+<p>At last Meryl said, as if answering some thought deep in her own mind,
+"William told me to-night that there was someone else he loved. Di
+darling, I think there is only one woman it could be."</p>
+
+<p>And still Diana was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"I gathered also that something had been said between you and him;
+something that resulted in ... what has happened to-night...."</p>
+
+<p>"But you are not angry?..." Diana whispered.</p>
+
+<p>"O no. Every moment now I see more clearly what I ought to have seen
+before. I am afraid I have only been foolish, and ... and ... I wanted
+so to do what seemed the best," with a little break in her voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you did; we all know that," said Diana loyally. "But I saw
+the mistake quickest, and I couldn't just sit still and do nothing; I
+am not made that way."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl pressed her arm affectionately.</p>
+
+<p>"Di," she whispered, "I want it all to come right as quickly as
+possible. I won't ask you any questions. Of course, I know it is you
+William cares for, and it seems so perfectly natural now that it
+should be. If you care for him, don't delay anything on my account. It
+would make me glad to hear that you were engaged to him to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>Diana pressed the hand in hers. She felt strangely bashful with Meryl
+to-night; unable to say anything at all. In her heart she was a little
+shy with herself too. When she started out with a more or less light
+spirit to change the course of two lives, she had hardly realised how
+great a mountain she would be moving.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you love him, Di?..." Meryl asked her softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," and Diana felt a little breathless as she made the admission.</p>
+
+<p>"God bless you! I'm very glad." And Meryl took the girl's face in her
+two hands and kissed her.</p>
+
+<p>Then they went quietly to bed, and Diana knew she had said no word of
+Carew's coming because she was afraid to.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXXI" id="XXXI"></a>XXXI</h2>
+
+<h2>THE SOLUTION IS SEALED</h2>
+
+<p>It was a rather sobered Diana who rode out the next morning to meet
+William van Hert, and when she saw him she felt suddenly conscious of
+herself in a way she had never done before and hoped she never would
+again. The glow in his eyes made it difficult for her to meet them,
+and they dismounted and went almost in silence to their usual seat.</p>
+
+<p>"You know, of course, what happened last night," he said, with
+ill-suppressed eagerness. "It has seemed like weeks and months since;
+every hour a week. I have not slept all night with longing for the
+morning."</p>
+
+<p>He was looking at his very best: another man almost since they last
+sat there; not good-looking, no one would ever call van Hert
+good-looking, but muscular and lean, with an air of virility and force
+always alluring. A man destined to be a leader in some way; one who
+must carry others along with him, if only because of his enthusiasm
+and fervour. The main point was, that he should carry them in a
+useful, practical direction. And hitherto there had been no special
+reason to hope this would be the case; it seemed more probable that,
+for the sake of making a noise in the world and gaining a following,
+he would identify himself with policies which the older and wiser men
+left alone; not from any indifference to the influence he was likely
+to wield, but because he was so full of warmth and intensity it must
+find an outlet. Some men are like that, especially politicians. They
+seem to be obsessed with the idea that they must make a hit somehow at
+once and come to the front <i>now</i>. And so they are apt to seize upon
+the first available policy likely to prove a good solid tub to stand
+and shout on; whether it is a durable tub, or one certain to be to
+their credit, is something of a side issue. The main point is a tub
+big enough and strong enough to bear them while they make the
+commotion and gain the hearing they are bent upon. And this spirit,
+like most spirits, may have its uses; it is not entirely to be
+deprecated. It may bring home very forcibly to the electors a weak
+spot that had otherwise been overlooked. In listening to the shouter,
+they may perceive how very entirely he is wrong; and, none the less,
+make the useful discovery that he is a good shouter. This then becomes
+the critical point. Having gained his hearing, will he condescend to
+moderate his views and listen to a little wisdom from older and more
+experienced men; or will he be obtuse enough to continue to stamp and
+shout on his tub, for fear people will call him a turncoat, or a few,
+who really do not matter, will leave off listening to him if he grows
+less noisy? And it is then perhaps a great politician is marred or
+made. Perhaps it often depends very much upon the main influence that
+held sway when the moment came to leave off shouting. That moment had
+come for van Hert, and he had the perspicacity to perceive it; though
+whether he would have acted upon his wiser judgment, left entirely to
+himself, it is impossible to say. It is, on the whole, pleasanter to
+think that, just because he was a clever, capable, sincere man and
+South Africa had need of such, the God of nations placed the matter
+beyond all doubt by sending the right influence across his path.</p>
+
+<p>Diana's mocking spirit loved to make game of heroics and big matters,
+but it was an affectation and nothing more: as Meryl and Henry Pym had
+long ago perceived, not van Hert himself nor Meryl cared more at heart
+for the great questions of the day affecting South Africa, and through
+her the Empire itself, since every year shows more clearly how
+tremendously England's colonies must matter to the mother country. The
+older and wiser men were already beginning to shake their heads over
+the grave and difficult problem of the white races and the black; over
+the tremendous increase of the latter in comparison, which threatened
+to swamp the white man out of South Africa altogether. One thing was
+obvious to all thinkers, the white races <i>must</i> combine. Union must
+indeed be Union and not an empty name. The Englishman and the Dutchman
+<i>must</i> join hands and sink differences, not only for the common good,
+but the common safety. So when Diana's practical spirit perceived how
+great and real an attraction van Hert had for her, she did not try to
+put it from her and struggle against it because he was a Dutchman. The
+moment she was sure, and the course was clear, she let herself go
+fearlessly; not as an act of sacrifice at all, she was far too
+practical to have much faith in a sacrifice such as Meryl had
+conceived, but because she loved the man and believed in him, and had
+no shadow of doubt as to his courage and sincerity if he were but
+influenced to move in the right direction.</p>
+
+<p>Well, he had stood on his tub and done his shouting right well; and
+now he had a goodly following and was the object of not a little
+execration, which is a usual thing for tub-shouters, and does not
+matter very much. What mattered was whether he possessed the genius to
+keep his followers and carry them along with him, after moderating his
+views and coming into line with the older and wiser men. Diana
+believed that he did, and as to be believed in is a very strong aid to
+all men, there was very little doubt that eventually the God of
+nations would prove to have given South Africa a fine statesman, even
+if he were built up upon a rabid politician. And if the instrument
+used was a woman, has not a great nation itself been built up through
+such instrumentality?</p>
+
+<p>And here one pauses a moment to think the old question, how often is a
+woman at the back of a man's greatness or a country's or any greatness
+whatsoever? Only these women do not need to do any shouting, because,
+as a rule, they only want to be heard by <i>one</i>. And when the result is
+a fine edifice, they are still content to go unnamed and unsung if
+that <i>one</i> be lauded generously. For God made women in the beginning,
+the best women of all, to want love and be content with love, and care
+very little about fame. And so they go quietly on their way, creating
+great results, moving mountains, and saying very little about it. It
+is that old heroic spirit Lamartine wrote about. And there is a spark
+of it in the soul of every woman waging her solitary fight on the
+outposts of the Empire, whether she put new life and hope and spirit
+into a miner's cabin, or a farmer's little wattle-and-daub home, or in
+the heart of any servant of the Empire. What the colonies owe to their
+women is so little talked about, partly perhaps because words are all
+too inadequate to express it, and also perhaps because if the <i>one</i> is
+there to listen and the <i>one</i> to love, many women want no recognition.</p>
+
+<p>But all this time it only remains to be said that Diana believed in
+van Hert and believed in his work for her country, and that was why
+she had been able to give her love so frankly and absolutely, and was
+not in the least deterred by those mutterings of execration which
+there is very little doubt she intended shortly to put an end to for
+good and all; for if she had entertained any doubts as to how much he
+loved her and was ready to do for her, they must have been swept away
+utterly out of sight after the first moment of their meeting this
+morning. What he had fought to keep out of his face before was now
+flooding through it. Never at any moment, even when he first loved
+Meryl, had he looked at her as he now looked at Diana. In every pulse
+of her being she felt he loved her, not perhaps with the calm, strong
+love of her own countrymen, but with a fierceness and intensity,
+inherited maybe from some French ancestor, that appealed to her love
+of vigour. She at least had level-headedness enough for the two.</p>
+
+<p>But it would hardly have been Diana to sit demurely and listen to his
+outpouring, now that he might speak and she might hear. It was far
+more natural that the very certainty of everything should make her
+feel contrary and want to tantalise him; particularly when, after his
+first question had been answered with a quiet affirmative, he plunged
+into the subject filling his heart without any preliminary, and with
+all that quick enthusiasm of his bursting its bounds.</p>
+
+<p>"Then we need not say any more about it. Why should we?... There is
+only you and I now. It seems for the moment as if there were no one
+else in the entire universe. But I want the answer to that other
+question of mine"; and he leaned near to her, with his whole attitude
+a sort of inspired interrogation.</p>
+
+<p>"What question?..." A shade of lightness had crept into Diana's voice;
+the shadow of a smile into her eyes. She felt on the verge of being a
+little unnerved, and a feigned or real inconsequence was ever her
+refuge.</p>
+
+<p>"The question you were not willing to answer yesterday, and which I
+told you I should ask again to-day. You said that you had asked me
+what I thought of a man who married a woman when he did not love her.
+And I said that was not what you had asked. Do you remember the
+original question, or must I tell you what it was?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't remember anything about it. I'm afraid I'm rather given to
+asking questions."</p>
+
+<p>"That means I must tell you. Diana, what you asked me was, what did I
+think of a man who married one woman and loved another? Now, I want to
+know how and when you discovered that I loved another?..."</p>
+
+<p>"It was the obvious conclusion"&mdash;studying the toe of her smart
+riding-boot with exaggerated interest. "Otherwise you must have loved
+Meryl; you could not help it."</p>
+
+<p>"I see." The smile dawned in his eyes now. "And was it equally obvious
+who the other woman was?"</p>
+
+<p>She glanced away to hide her tell-tale mouth. "It might have been if
+it had interested me."</p>
+
+<p>"But, of course, it didn't?..." and he laughed a low, happy laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Not in the least. Why should it?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, why?..." and his hand suddenly closed over hers, and at the
+strong, possessive touch the magnetism of the man made her blood race
+through her veins. She tried to draw her hand away, but he only held
+it more tightly, and his face was very engaging as he said, "I've a
+good mind not to tell you who the other woman is as you are not
+interested."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I shall conclude she will not have anything to do with you,"
+came the quick retort. And then her fascinating mouth twitched at the
+corners in a way that threatened to undo van Hert entirely. He looked
+away with a half-fierce expression. "If you don't want me to crush you
+in my arms out here in a public road, don't do that."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't do what?..." innocently; and then they both laughed.</p>
+
+<p>When they were serious again his voice sounded a deeper and more
+forceful note. "Dearest," he said, still imprisoning her hand, "it
+seems superfluous for me to tell you how much I love that other woman,
+as superfluous as to name her. I seem as if I had neither a thought
+nor an idea nor a feeling that does not love her."</p>
+
+<p>"Then let us hope she is not a stiff-necked Britisher," quoth Diana,
+still as if a little afraid to be serious.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!..." and he raised her hand to his lips. "I believe you will make
+me love the whole race."</p>
+
+<p>"That would complicate matters exceedingly for you," with a
+mischievous taunt in her eyes. "You seem to have hated them so very
+satisfactorily up to now. What shall you say to your colleagues the
+next time they are expecting you at one of their fiery denunciation
+meetings?... I have married a wife, an English one, therefore I cannot
+come?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I have married her?..." and he looked hard into her face,
+blissfully indifferent to her shafts.</p>
+
+<p>"Married whom?..." she asked, provokingly.</p>
+
+<p>He clenched his teeth together. "I feel as if I could shake you!..."
+and he glanced round to see if anyone were in sight.</p>
+
+<p>"O, if you're going to be that sort of a tyrant!..." Diana began. But
+she got no further. No one was in sight, not even the boy with the
+horses. And van Hert just gathered her into his arms and crushed her
+for the sheer joy of it until she cried for mercy. "Say you will be
+good and treat me with proper respect," he demanded before he released
+her, and Diana was compelled to promise.</p>
+
+<p>"But I won't marry you," she added, wickedly, the moment she was free.
+And then to save herself from a second undignified surrender she had
+to capitulate quickly, and add, "At least, not before next week."</p>
+
+<p>Then she raised her eyes, shining with happiness, to his. "Meinheer
+van Hert, if my memory serves me rightly, you have not yet asked me
+the most important question of all."</p>
+
+<p>He raised her hand again to his lips, with a movement of reverence,
+and said, very simply, "Diana, I love you with all my heart and soul
+and strength; will you do me the honour to become my wife?"</p>
+
+<p>And there was a little warm glisten in her eyes as she answered, "Yes,
+dear; I am ready to take the long trek with you."</p>
+
+<p>A little later she went home with an air of quiet radiance that told
+Meryl all she needed to know the moment she set eyes on her, and her
+embrace was full of warmest affection.</p>
+
+<p>Only Aunt Emily seemed thoroughly perplexed, and not able to entirely
+grasp the happy aspect of affairs when she heard it all for the first
+time.</p>
+
+<p>"How extraordinary!..." she exclaimed; and then, with an air full of
+mournful reproach, she looked at Diana and added, "I told you
+something dreadful would happen, my dear, if you spoke of the wedding
+so strangely."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, aunty, so you did! and it was very clever of you," Diana
+replied. "But, of course, you ought to have warned me before I said
+it. Now, you see, I've got caught in the net myself. Ah well!..." she
+finished comically, "I can bear it."</p>
+
+<p>And Meryl's low laughter, as she hastened to soothe poor Aunt Emily's
+wounded feelings, had a happier note than it had known for many a day.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I quite understand," continued the perplexed lady. "It
+reminds me of a story I once heard about the aunt of a friend of my
+father's, that is to say, the aunt of a friend of your
+grandfather's...."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I remember," said the incorrigible; "but she didn't do it in the
+end, you know. And, anyhow, the great question just now is, having
+taken over the bridegroom, ought I to take over the wedding presents
+as well?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, they must all be sent back," Aunt Emily replied, with
+great gravity. "Dear me, what a pity!... What a pity!... And he is
+really quite a nice man, although he is Dutch."</p>
+
+<p>"O, do you really think so?..." Diana asked, and went laughing out of
+the room.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXXII" id="XXXII"></a>XXXII</h2>
+
+<h2>A CHAPTER OF SURPRISES</h2>
+
+<p>In Diana's happy state of mind there was not the slightest doubt her
+interview with Carew, when it came off, would be the reverse of
+conventional.</p>
+
+<p>He arrived at the Carlton the day after it had been notified to the
+papers that the engagement between Miss Pym and William van Hert was
+broken off by mutual agreement. The new engagement was looked upon
+only as a secret understanding at present, and no announcement was to
+be made for some weeks.</p>
+
+<p>Carew saw the news in a paper he got at Kimberley, so that when he
+stepped out upon Johannesburg station, from a difficult, perplexing,
+somewhat equivocal situation he found himself suddenly and
+unexpectedly with a clear course.</p>
+
+<p>He had responded to Diana's urgent summons with alacrity, although it
+left him entirely in the dark as to what had transpired; his action
+had in fact something of the daring which had led to the sending of
+the telegram. Wearied out physically and mentally with the struggle,
+he seized swiftly the chance of a solution the message suggested, and
+trusting to Diana's resourcefulness let himself go with the tide. It
+was as though after sixteen years some spirit of the past suddenly
+re-entered him; some of that old reckless, dare-devil spirit that had
+distinguished him in his regiment long ago.</p>
+
+<p>Without doubt the news that he would some day inherit the Marquisate
+of Toxeter, if he outlived the present owner, had worked a wonderful
+change in him. He still hated Meryl's fortune, when he dared to let
+himself think of a future they might possibly share, but at least he
+could now offer her a position that might one day be among the highest
+in England. And all that it meant to him after his long exile and
+lonely life, apart from all the friends and delights of his youth, lit
+a new light in his eyes. And when he saw the paragraph in the paper,
+and realised Diana had indeed not sent for him for nothing, he seemed
+to let many years slip from his shoulders. Only a week earlier he had
+felt middle-aged, and looked every year of his forty-two. The man who
+strode down the platform on Johannesburg station, drawing all eyes
+after his upright, distinguished form, looked at the very prime of
+manhood, and the grey on his temples only enhanced whatever it was
+that caused those eyes to turn in his direction.</p>
+
+<p>Diana, waiting for his message in no small trepidation, went off at
+once to the hotel. Nothing was to be gained by hanging back, and she
+felt more sure of herself generally if she dashed headlong into a
+delicate situation.</p>
+
+<p>So she walked boldly up to the door of his private sitting-room, gave
+a little sharp knock, and entered.</p>
+
+<p>He was standing with his back to the door, looking idly from the
+window, but when he heard the door open he turned round and faced her.</p>
+
+<p>Diana closed the door and walked into the room, glancing about her.</p>
+
+<p>"What a nice den!..." she said. "I'm sure you could only growl
+prettily here."</p>
+
+<p>He came towards her with outstretched hand, and she was instantly
+struck with the change in his eyes. The steadiness was still there,
+the expression of unflinching purpose, but behind it all was that new
+light now: the light she had never seen in Carew's eyes before.</p>
+
+<p>"You look very well," she told him, warming swiftly to their old
+friendship and forgetting her moments of trepidation. "You ... really
+... you almost look as if you might have come into a kingdom!..."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I have," with a humorous gleam.</p>
+
+<p>"Umh!... I'd be very sorry for the subjects; they would be ruled with
+a rod of iron."</p>
+
+<p>He pulled a chair forward, a large cosy one, such as he knew her soul
+loved, and she sank down into it. He still stood upright, watching her
+with kindly eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Well!..." he began. "You sent me a very curt summons."</p>
+
+<p>Diana coloured a little, not quite clear where to begin.</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you sit down? You seem so far away up there. I feel a little
+lost somehow, you are so ... so ... Perhaps if you were to growl I
+should feel more at home with you!..." she finished.</p>
+
+<p>He smiled and took the chair beside her.</p>
+
+<p>"I never did growl really. It was all your imagination."</p>
+
+<p>"O, was it?..." emphatically. "Why, thunder in the distance was dulcet
+music beside it!..."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he said again, "about that summons?..."</p>
+
+<p>"It's just this way," began Diana. "I had a letter from Mrs.
+Grenville...." She watched him keenly, and saw that he grasped at once
+something of what the letter had contained.</p>
+
+<p>"And she told you?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Not very much, but enough, in my mind"&mdash;with a sudden flash&mdash;"to
+justify my summons."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I quite understand." He was grave again now, with a
+line between the straight brows.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, don't get too serious or you will frighten me. I suppose I'd
+better be quite direct. You and I don't either of us care for much
+beating about the bush and subterfuge, do we?"</p>
+
+<p>He signified his agreement, and she ran on.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew that Meryl cared for you; I have known it a long time. Yet she
+was going to marry van Hert. And van Hert cared ... well, he cared for
+someone else too, yet he was going to marry Meryl. It was just a silly
+muddle altogether, do you see?... Honestly, I was at my wits' end-to
+know how to prevent them making fools of themselves. Then came Mrs.
+Grenville's letter. Mrs. Grenville had seen you. She had discovered
+that you cared for Meryl, and she told me so. I didn't stop to think
+then. I saw in a moment it was your business to help me help them out
+of the tangle. So I just sent you a telegram and asked you to come at
+once."</p>
+
+<p>"And now I am here?"</p>
+
+<p>Diana began to look roguish. "I just wanted to suggest," she said,
+demurely, "whether it wouldn't simplify things all round if Mr. Pym
+disinherited Meryl, and divided all the silly money between me and
+charities!..."</p>
+
+<p>He could not help smiling, but there was something more than mere
+friendship in his eyes as he looked at her. He understood perfectly
+that she had strained every nerve to bring him and Meryl together.</p>
+
+<p>"And in the meantime," he commented, "I gather from the newspaper the
+knot disentangled itself, and everything is smoothed out."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I shouldn't exactly say there were no wounded left on the
+battlefield!..." with a low laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"I see; and you think it is for me to attend to the wounded?"</p>
+
+<p>"To <i>one</i> of them," with significance; and then suddenly her
+unmanageable mouth began to twitch. Carew divined something lay beyond
+the remark.</p>
+
+<p>"And what about the other one?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," with a little air of coyness, "I rather thought of attending
+to his hurt myself."</p>
+
+<p>He watched her keenly for a moment, and at last she raised a pair of
+laughing eyes to his face.</p>
+
+<p>"The only thing that's worrying me is that I may unintentionally find
+myself a heroine."</p>
+
+<p>His low laugh was full of amusement, and his eyes grew kindlier still.</p>
+
+<p>"You are evidently a most resourceful young woman. Have you made up
+your mind how you propose to heal him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," with feigned gravity. "I thought on the whole it would simplify
+matters if I took Meryl's place at the wedding."</p>
+
+<p>He stared at her with undisguised astonishment. "You mean?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Just exactly what I say. I've taken over the prospective bridegroom,
+and incidentally I thought of taking over the wedding presents as
+well...." And then she threw her head back and laughed whole-heartedly
+at his incredulous face.</p>
+
+<p>"You have given me a great surprise," he said. "I suppose you are in
+earnest?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your surprise is nothing to what is coming upon my friends. Just
+think of it!... I can hardly think of anything else. I do so love
+giving people shocks. Do you remember our first meeting in the ruins,
+when I sat quite still and watched you until you looked up?... That
+was your shock!... You were frightfully disgusted with me, but I
+didn't mind, I'd had my bit of amusement and no one was hurt; any
+other silly girl would have coughed or walked away. Goodness!... how
+black you looked!..." And again she laughed mirthfully.</p>
+
+<p>He began to tell her he hoped she would be very happy, but she stayed
+him and suddenly sobered.</p>
+
+<p>"Not now. We haven't much time left, and we must plan something. Meryl
+will come here and call for me soon in the motor. She knows I have
+come to see a friend, but she does not know whom. She will not come in
+herself, because she is shy about being seen just now. What shall we
+do? When will you see her?"</p>
+
+<p>He got up, and walked to the window with a grave face, and for some
+time he did not speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you still worrying about that absurd money? My dear good man, she
+isn't stuffed with it, and she doesn't care tuppence about it. Isn't
+it enough that you know she could love you as a Rhodesian
+soldier-policeman? Why torture yourself unnecessarily?"</p>
+
+<p>"If I were only a Rhodesian policeman I should not have come."</p>
+
+<p>She looked at him with quick curiosity. Then something had happened!
+There really was some great change in him. He smiled into her
+questioning eyes. "Then Mrs. Grenville did not tell you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me what?..." with swift eagerness. "O, do be quick, I love
+surprises. Have you found a gold-mine up there?... or the corpses in
+the temple hung with gold ornaments?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither."</p>
+
+<p>She took his arm and gave it a little shake.</p>
+
+<p>"Then what? O, do tell me quickly!..."</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't very much, but it gives me courage to hope, where a
+policeman might consider himself called upon only to renounce. And,"
+he added, quietly, "I owe the knowledge of it to Mrs. Grenville."</p>
+
+<p>"It must be a legacy?..."</p>
+
+<p>"Not exactly. It is only that when the present Marquis of Toxeter dies
+I shall succeed."</p>
+
+<p>"O, my goodness!..." comically. "Am I going to be own cousin to a
+marchioness?..."</p>
+
+<p>"That is as your cousin decrees." Then with a little smile he added,
+"So the shocks are not all given by you, you see."</p>
+
+<p>At that moment a knock sounded on the door, and in reply to Carew's
+"Come in," a hall-porter informed them that Miss Pym was waiting in
+the motor.</p>
+
+<p>"And we haven't decided what to do," said Diana, in dismay.</p>
+
+<p>He was thoughtful a moment, then told her he would endeavour to find
+Mr. Pym at his office and come to Hill Court later.</p>
+
+<p>So Diana went downstairs alone. But on the way, with that mixture of
+restlessness and level-headedness that was so characteristic of her,
+she decided Carew's plan was much too prosaic and dull, and speedily
+commenced to think out a better one. After which she accosted Meryl
+with the words, "I want to introduce you to my friend. It won't keep
+us long. She has a sitting-room upstairs, but she has a cold, and
+could not come down to you."</p>
+
+<p>Meryl looked unwilling, but finally yielded to persuasion and
+alighted. Outside the door of Carew's room, Diana was so afraid her
+face would betray her, she had to pretend to sneeze, in order to hide
+it with her handkerchief. Quite suddenly it had occurred to her
+humour-loving mind, that if shocks were the order of the hour, Carew
+and Meryl were going to have the biggest all to themselves for that
+day at least. Then she opened his door and half pushed Meryl in in
+front of her. They saw only a broad back at the window first, then he
+half turned. The next instant the door closed softly, and Meryl found
+herself alone in the room, face to face with Peter Carew.</p>
+
+<p>There were a few tense seconds in which they each seemed trying to
+realise the other; and then she understood. She went slowly towards
+him, seeing with unerring tuition all the love in his eyes, and
+without knowing it held out both hands.</p>
+
+<p>And across the long years, that self that he had thought for ever dead
+seemed to reawaken by leaps and bounds. He would always be somewhat
+quiet perhaps, a little grave, but the spirit of vigour and reckless
+daring was in him still, if sobered by sixteen years and all that the
+years had brought. He did not stop to explain. Quite suddenly it all
+seemed unnecessary. Between these two the hours of probing were ended.
+He took her outstretched hands in his and drew her into his arms.</p>
+
+<p>It was some time before he told her of his changed position; there was
+so much else to tell first. And when at last it was said she paid
+little heed.</p>
+
+<p>She only looked at him a trifle anxiously, saying, "But, of course,
+you could never give up Rhodesia? You wouldn't let any claim come
+before hers?"</p>
+
+<p>He kissed the finger-tips of the hand imprisoned in his, and murmured,
+"Bless you; it would have gone hard with me if you had wanted me to
+leave Rhodesia for good."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall never do that," softly. "It was the Rhodesian policeman I
+loved first. The other does not greatly matter, except that perhaps it
+brought us together." Then with one of her rare flashes of humour she
+added, "I'm not sure that we shall even have time for a honeymoon. We
+may have to go up there any time about this settlement scheme of
+father's and mine. As Diana is going to help William van Hert to run
+South Africa generally, we must get to work quickly with Rhodesia...."
+And her smile was a very happy one.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="FINIS" id="FINIS"></a>FINIS</h2>
+
+<p>And so in the end Diana had her little jest, and gave Johannesburg its
+shock and its nine days' wonder, and was certainly the most surprising
+bride of the year; though, of course, afterwards most people said they
+were not surprised at all, and had expected it all along.</p>
+
+<p>Before the wedding a sufficiently characteristic letter found its way
+to a certain mission station in Rhodesia to delight the hearts of its
+contented occupants. After duly relating all that had transpired and
+how the problem had been solved, it added: "And now the only
+difficulty seems to be how to relieve Meryl of her superfluous
+fortune, in order that she and The Bear may live upon love and air,
+and how to save me from appearing in the guise of a heroine!..."</p>
+
+<p>To her old friend Stanley she wrote gaily of the perfectly splendid
+surprise she had succeeded in administering to about half the
+English-speaking population of South Africa.</p>
+
+<p>And Stanley wrote back, with many regretful qualms tugging at his
+heart: "The astonishment of South Africa is a mere detail. When the
+news reached Zimbabwe, bones that have lain buried for three thousand
+years rattled in their grave-clothes, and antiquities of the ages
+crumbled to dust. In the morning, over our coffee, Moore and I ask of
+the four winds and of the liquid butter and of the unyielding bread,
+'Which did he actually marry in the end, and what became of whom?'" ...</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h3>PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD.,
+
+BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E. 1, AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3>Hutchinson's 1/- Net Novels.</h3>
+
+<h5><i>Bound in <span class="underline">Cloth</span>, with pictorial wrappers.</i></h5>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<div class="table">
+<table style="margin:auto;"  cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="0">
+
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE CAP OF YOUTH</b></td><td align='left'>Madame Albanesi</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE SUNLIT HILLS</b></td><td align='left'>Madame Albanesi</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>ODDSFISH</b></td><td align='left'>Robert Hugh Benson</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>INITIATION</b></td><td align='left'>Robert Hugh Benson</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>LONELINESS</b></td><td align='left'>Robert Hugh Benson</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>AN AVERAGE MAN</b></td><td align='left'>Robert Hugh Benson</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>COME RACK! COME ROPE!</b></td><td align='left'>Robert Hugh Benson</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE COWARD</b></td><td align='left'>Robert Hugh Benson</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE RETURN OF RICHARD CARR</b></td><td align='left'>Winifred Boggs</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE WOOD END</b></td><td align='left'>J. E. Buckrose</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>MEAVE</b></td><td align='left'>Dorothea Conyers</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE STRAYINGS OF SANDY</b></td><td align='left'>Dorothea Conyers</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE SCRATCH PACK</b></td><td align='left'>Dorothea Conyers</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>TWO IMPOSTORS AND TINKER</b></td><td align='left'>Dorothea Conyers</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>A RASH EXPERIMENT</b></td><td align='left'>Mrs. B. M. Croker</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>WHAT SHE OVERHEARD</b></td><td align='left'>Mrs. B. M. Croker</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>IN OLD MADRAS</b></td><td align='left'>Mrs. B. M. Croker</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE SERPENT'S TOOTH</b></td><td align='left'>Mrs. B. M. Croker</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>SANDY'S LOVE AFFAIR</b></td><td align='left'>S. R. Crockett</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>TWILIGHT</b></td><td align='left'>Frank Danby</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>LILAMANI</b></td><td align='left'>Maud Diver</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>A DOUBLE THREAD</b></td><td align='left'>Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>WE OF THE NEVER NEVER</b></td><td align='left'>&AElig;neas Gunn</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>BIRD'S FOUNTAIN</b></td><td align='left'>Baroness von Hutten</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>SHARROW</b></td><td align='left'>Baroness von Hutten</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>MARIA</b></td><td align='left'>Baroness von Hutten</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE LORDSHIP OF LOVE</b></td><td align='left'>Baroness von Hutten</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE GREEN PATCH</b></td><td align='left'>Baroness von Hutten</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>PAUL KELVER</b></td><td align='left'>Jerome K. Jerome</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>"GOOD OLD ANNA"</b></td><td align='left'>Mrs. Belloc Lowndes</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE DEVIL'S GARDEN</b></td><td align='left'>W. B. Maxwell</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>A BRIDE OF THE PLAINS</b></td><td align='left'>Baroness Orczy</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>PETTICOAT GOVERNMENT</b></td><td align='left'>Baroness Orczy</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE ELUSIVE PIMPERNEL</b></td><td align='left'>Baroness Orczy</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>A TRUE WOMAN</b></td><td align='left'>Baroness Orczy</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>MEADOWSWEET</b></td><td align='left'>Baroness Orczy</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>THE MONEY MASTER</b></td><td align='left'>Sir Gilbert Parker</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><b>MABEL BARNES-GRUNDY</b> has rapidly come to the front as one of our most
+successful novelists. Her stories excel in wit, humour, observation
+and characterisation. The complete and uniform edition of her novels,
+as under, will be published at short intervals, <b>at the popular price
+of 1/-.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;By</p>
+
+<h6>Mabel Barnes-Grundy</h6>
+
+<p><i>Each bound in <span class="underline">cloth</span>, with most attractive picture wrapper in colours,
+<b>1/-</b> net.</i></p>
+
+<div class="table">
+<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;">An Undressed Heroine</span></p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Marguerite's Wonderful Year</span></p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Hilary on Her Own</span></p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">Two in a Tent&mdash;and Jane</span></p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 5em;">The Third Miss Wenderby</span></p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;">Patricia Plays a Part</span></p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 7em;">Candytuft&mdash;I mean Veronica</span></p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 8em;">The Vacillations of Hazel</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Like Gertrude Page's Shilling Novels, <span class="underline">Mabel Barnes-Grundy's Shilling
+Novels for 1917 will be the outstanding success of the year</span>.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 33%;' />
+
+<h3>London: HUTCHINSON &amp; CO., Paternoster Row.</h3>
+
+</body>
+</html>