She saw his brief smile for an instant. "My life is occupied with other
things," he said. "But I don't lead a hermit's existence. I am going to
the officers' picnic at Khanmulla on the twenty-fourth for instance."

"Being a case of 'Needs must'," suggested Stella.

"By no means." Monck leaned forward to light another cigarette. "I am
going for a particular purpose. If that purpose is not fulfilled--" he
paused a moment and she felt his eyes upon her again--"I shall come
straight back," he ended with a certain doggedness of determination that
did not escape her.

Stella's gaze was fixed upon the court below her and she kept it there,
but she saw nothing of the game. Her heart was beating oddly in leaps
and jerks. She felt curiously as if she were under the influence of an
electric battery; every nerve and every vein seemed to be tingling.

He had not asked a question, yet she felt that in some fashion he had
made it incumbent upon her to speak in answer. In the silence that
followed his words she was aware of an insistence that would not be
denied. She tried to put it from her, but could not. In the end, more
than half against her will, she yielded.

"I suppose I shall have to go," she said, "if only to pacify Tommy."

"A very good and sufficient reason," commented Monck enigmatically.

He lingered on beside her for a while, but nothing further of an
intimate nature passed between them. She felt that he had gained his
objective and would say no more. The truce between them was to be