"By Jove, I will," said Tommy eagerly. "And if there is anything I can
do, old chap--anything under the sun--"

"I'll let you know," said Monck.

So, like the lifting of a thunder cloud, Tommy's very unwonted fit of
temper merged into a mood of great benignity and Ralston complained no
more.

Monck took up his abode at the Club before the brief winter season
brought the angels flitting back from Bhulwana to combine pleasure with
duty at Kurrumpore.

Stella accepted his departure without comment, missing him when gone
after a fashion which she would have admitted to none. She did not
wholly understand his attitude, but Tommy's serenity of demeanour made
her somewhat suspicious; for Tommy was transparent as the day.

Mrs. Ralston's return made her life considerably easier. They took up
their friendship exactly where they had left it and found it wholly
satisfactory. When Lady Harriet Mansfield made her stately appearance,
Stella's position was assured. No one looked askance at her any longer.
Even Mrs. Burton's criticism was limited to a strictly secret smile.

Netta Ermsted was the last to leave Bhulwana. She returned nervous and
fretful, accompanied by Tessa whose joy over rejoining her friends was
as patent as her mother's discontent. Tessa had a great deal to say in
disparagement of the Rajah of Markestan, and said it so often and with
such emphasis that at last Captain Ermsted's patience gave way and he
forbade all mention of the man under penalty of a severe slapping. When