the evaporation of the water.

But Frank found alleviation and comfort in frequent visits to the
Residency, where Mrs. Norton and he spent the baking hours of the
afternoon absorbed in making music or singing duets. For Violet had a
well-trained voice which harmonised well with his. No thought of sex
seemed to obtrude itself on them. They were just playmates, comrades,
nothing more.

Yet it was only natural that the woman's vanity should be flattered by
the man's eagerness to seek her society and by his evident pleasure in
it. And it was delightful to have at last a sympathetic listener to all
her little grievances, one who seemed as interested in her petty
household worries or the delinquencies of her London milliner in failing
to execute her orders properly as in her greater complaint against the
fate that condemned a woman of her artistic and gaiety-loving nature to
existence in the wilds and to the society of persons so uncongenial to
her as were the majority of the white folk of Rohar.

To a man the rôle of confidant to a pretty woman is pleasant and
flattering; and Wargrave felt that he was highly favoured by being made
the recipient of her confidences. It never occurred to him that there
might be danger in the situation. He regarded her only as a friend in
need of sympathy and help. His chivalry was up in arms at the thought
that she was not properly appreciated by her husband, who, he began to
suspect, was inclined to neglect her and treat her as a mere chattel.
The suspicion angered him. True, Violet had never definitely told him
so; but he gathered as much from her unconscious admissions and revered
her all the more for her bravery in endeavouring to keep silent on the
subject.