III. THE OBSTACLE 27
IV. THE SETTING OF THE WATCH 37
V. THE CHAPERON 47
VI. THE PAIN-KILLER 62
VII. THE PUZZLE 74
VIII. THE ELASTIC BOND 86
IX. THE PROJECT 97
X. THE DOOR 108
XI. THE IMPOSSIBLE 120
XII. THE PAL 129
XIII. HER FATE 149
XIV. THE DARK HOUR 155
XV. THE AWAKENING 167
XVI. SECRETS 177
XVII. THE VERDICT 189
XVIII. SOMETHING LOST 198
XIX. THE REVELATION 205
XX. THE SEARCH 217
XXI. ON THE BRINK 228
XXII. OVER THE EDGE 235
XXIII. AS GOOD AS DEAD 243
XXIV. THE OPENING OF THE DOOR 252
XXV. THE PRICE 264
PART TWO
I. COURTSHIP 281
II. THE SELF-INVITED GUEST 287
III. THE NEW LIFE 297
IV. THE PHANTOM 305
V. THE EVERLASTING CHAIN 317
VI. CHRISTMAS MORNING 327
VII. THE WILDERNESS OF NASTY POSSIBILITIES 340
VIII. THE SOUL OF A HERO 350
IX. THE MAN WITH THE GUN 357
X. A TALK IN THE OPEN 367
XI. THE FAITHFUL WOUND OF A FRIEND 376
XII. A LETTER FROM AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE 390
XIII. A WOMAN'S PREJUDICE 403
XIV. SMOKE FROM THE FIRE 414
XV. THE SPREADING OF THE FLAME 426
XVI. THE GAP 437
XVII. THE EASIEST COURSE 452
XVIII. ONE MAN'S LOSS 462
XIX. A FIGHT WITHOUT A FINISH 472
XX. THE POWER OF THE ENEMY 487
XXI. THE GATHERING STORM 503
XXII. THE REPRIEVE 510
XXIII. THE GIFT OF THE RAJAH 518
XXIV. THE BIG, BIG GAME OF LIFE 528
XXV. MEMORIES THAT HURT 537
XXVI. A FOOL'S ERRAND 548
XXVII. LOVE MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE 556
XXVIII. A SOLDIER AND A GENTLEMAN 570
XXIX. THE MAN'S POINT OF VIEW 578
XXX. THE LINE OF RETREAT 588
PART I
CHAPTER I
THE LESSON
"Then he's such a prig!" said Olga.
"You should never use a word you can't define," observed Nick, from the depths of the hammock in which his meagre person reposed at length.
She made a face at him, and gave the hammock a vicious twitch which caused him to rock with some violence for several seconds. As he was wont pathetically to remark, everyone bullied him because he was small and possessed only one arm, having shed the other by inadvertence somewhere on the borders of the Indian Empire.
Certainly Olga—his half-brother's eldest child—treated him with scant respect, though she never allowed anyone else to be other than polite to him in her hearing. But then she and Nick had been pals from the beginning of things, and this surely entitled her to a certain licence in her dealings with him. Nick, too, was such a darling; he never minded anything.
Having duly punished him for snubbing her, she returned with serenity to the work upon her lap.
"You see," she remarked thoughtfully, "the worst of it is he really is a bit of a genius. And one can't sit on genius—with comfort. It sort of flames out where you least expect it."
"Highly unpleasant, I should think," agreed Nick.
"Yes; and he has such a disgusting fashion of behaving as if—as if one were miles beneath his notice," proceeded Olga. "And I'm not a chicken, you know, Nick, I'm twenty."
"A vast age!" said Nick.
For which remark she gave him another jerk which set him swinging like a pendulum.
"Well, I've got a little sense anyhow," she remarked.
"But not much," said Nick. "Or you would know that that sort of treatment after muffins for tea is calculated to produce indigestion in a very acute form, peculiarly distressing to the beholder."
"Oh, I'm sorry! I forgot the muffins." Olga laid a restraining hand upon the hammock. "But do you like him, Nick? Honestly now!"
"My dear child, I never like anyone till I've seen him at his worst.
Drawing-room manners never attract me."
"But this man hasn't got any manners at all," objected Olga. "And he's so horribly satirical. It's like having a stinging-nettle in the house. I believe—just because he's clever in his own line—that he's been spoilt. As if everybody couldn't do something!"
"Ah! That's the point," said Nick sententiously. "Everybody can, but it isn't everybody who does. Now this young man apparently knows how to make the most of his opportunities. He plays a rattling hand at bridge, by the way."
"I wonder if he cheats," said Olga. "I'm sure he's quite unscrupulous."
Nick turned his head, and surveyed her from under his restless eyelids. "I begin to think you must be falling in love with the young man," he observed.
"Don't be absurd, Nick!" Olga did not even trouble to look up. She was stitching with neat rapidity.
"I'm not. That's just how my wife fell in love with me. I assure you it often begins that way." Nick shook his head wisely. "I should take steps to be nice to him if I were you, before the mischief spreads."
Olga tossed her head. She was slightly flushed. "I shall never make a fool of myself over any man, Nick," she said. "I'm quite determined on that point."
"Dear, dear!" said Nick. "How old did you say you were?"
"I am woman enough to know my own mind," said Olga.
"Heaven forbid!" said Nick. "You wouldn't be a woman at all if you did that."
"I don't think you are a good judge on that subject, Nick," remarked his niece judiciously. "In fact, even Dr. Wyndham knows better than that. I assure you the antipathy is quite mutual. He regards everyone who isn't desperately ill as superfluous and uninteresting. He was absolutely disappointed the other day because, when I slipped on the stairs, I didn't break any bones."
"What a fiend!" said Nick.
"And yet Dad likes him," said Olga. "I can't understand it. The poor people like him too in a way. Isn't it odd? They seem to have such faith in him."
"I believe Jim has faith in him," remarked Nick. "He wouldn't turn