"Can't help it, Gwen. I must swear."

"Well, Harry, if it will save you from injury"It's damnable! ... Thanks, awfully, Gwen. I feel some better now."

"I hope that you'll not have another attack for some time."

"Then we'll have to talk about something else." "What a marvellously versatile entertainer Dr. Sinclair is! I think that he is quite a wonder."

"What is better, he has both brains and gumption. He was as keen on getting to the front as a hound on a scent. But, unlike most hounds, he didn't give tongue. He said nothing. Just went, and that at once."

"I was afraid that it would come to a passage at arms between him and Carteret? Did you ever hear so much insult put into the tone of voice as Carteret did last evening?"

“It will be a bad day for Carteret when he pushes Sinclair too far. Most men from Sinclair's country don't take much stock in titles. They would pull a peer's nose just as soon as a peasant's. That's the kind of Sinclair. . . . Hallo, Puss, what time is this to be getting down to breakfast?

66

Good-morning, daddy. This is a lovely time to be getting down, much nicer than eight o'clock. Goodmorning, mother. Have you been up long?"

66

Long enough to have my breakfast eaten. I hear that you were a bad girl last evening, Constancethat you didn't stay in bed or go to sleep till all hours."

But Constance-a tall, straight child of nine, with a step as light and graceful as that of a fawn, and a wealth of dark-brown curls framing her clear-cut fea

tures and frank eyes-did not seem to be very peni

tent:

66

Oh, mother, it was just lovely to hear the singing. I could have listened to you, and daddy, and Miss MacAllister, and Dr. Sinclair all night.”

66

Wise child!" remarked her father, somewhat grimly. "She knows the proper selection to make and whom to put first."

"There were others singing, Constance, besides the ones you mentioned," said her mother.

"Oh, yes; I know. I did not recognize some of the voices. But I knew Mr. Carteret's and Mr. De Vaux's."

"Mr. Carteret is a fine singer."

Yes, I suppose. But I didn't like the way he sang. He put such a funny tone in his voice. He kind of Oh, I don't know how to describe it. It sounded like the way Carlo used to howl after daddy sent Fan over to Amoy."

"Good heavens!"

"And Mr. De Vaux's voice was just like my singing doll after I burst the bellows in her. She could give only one squeak, and then had to wait till I put some more wind into her before she could give another."

"That'll do, Constance; we've had enough of your opinions on singing. Get busy with your breakfast or you'll get none.'

66

All right, daddy."

'Boy! You tell coolie boys to roll the lawn. Tennis this afternoon. Can savey?"

"All lite! All lite! My can savey. Loll lawn.

A-paw phah-kiû" (Afternoon strike-ball).

"Oh, goody! Dr. Sinclair will be here."

"No, Constance; Dr. Sinclair will not be here." "Why, mother?"

"He has gone away over to Keelung to care for the sick and wounded after the battle."

66

'Oh, mother!" The finely-curved lips trembled A big tear stole out of each eye.

66

Mother, do you think that he might get killed? "No, Connie. I do not think that he is in any danger."

The big tears rolled down the cheeks and dropped. "Mother, will he come back?"

"Yes, I think that he may come back in a little while."

"I'm so glad!"

"By Jove! I'll have to watch that Sinclair. He makes conquests of both old and young."

I

XIII

MORE CONFIDENCES

N the building at the foot of the hill, near the

shore, occupied by MacAllister, Munro Co. partly

as a warehouse and partly as a residence for the company's European employees, another matrimonial tête-à-tête was taking place. De Vaux and his two or three assistants, the representatives of the big London firm in North Formosa, had found temporary quarters in the buildings of the customs' compound or with the staffs of other firms. Mr. and Mrs. MacAllister and their daughter, with the native servants, had the living-rooms of the big hong to themselves.

It was little more than seven o'clock, an extraordinary hour for rising the morning after a late dinner. But, with characteristic regularity of habits, Mr. MacAllister was already up and shaving. As was fitting at such an hour, he was clothed only in pyjamas and slippers. But even those shapeless garments were worn with an attention to neatness quite lacking in most men whom a score and a half of years of married life have made entirely indifferent to personal appearance in the intimacy of the bed-chamber. He had even taken the trouble to brush his hair, at least what was left of it-another extraordinary proceeding on the part of a man who was likely to be seen by no person but his wife.

The shaving process was nearly done. He was carefully feeling the hard spots on each side of his

chin to see if any offending hairs had escaped the relentless sweep of the razor and still projected within its range.

66

'Hector, you are a most extraordinary man."

The voice came from within the canopy of the mosquito curtains draped around the high-posted iron bed which occupied the centre of the room.

Good-morning, my dear! Is it only now that you have found that out?"

"You are a most extraordinary man."

"What new marvel have you found in me, my dear?"

"To think that there is only about one hour of the twenty-four in this disgusting climate in which one can sleep comfortably and you would not allow me to have that, but must get up and disturb me by shaving."

"I am exceedingly sorry if I have disturbed you, my dear. But every time I wakened during the night you were sleeping very peacefully, and-"

"Not a bit of it! I have not slept at all."

"And when I got up you were not only sleeping, but snoring gently, and-"

66 That's all nonsense! I've been wide-awake all night."

66

And, although I have been about for nearly an hour, you continued to snore very gently until a moment before you spoke, and-"

66

Hector, I'm astonished at you! You know perfectly well that I never sleep in hot weather. I do not understand why you ever chose to come to such a country as this in the summer."

"And now you are looking thoroughly refreshed and fit for anything, and