“Houbigant’s Forest Violets,” he murmured. “She is at least semi-civilized!” He was dreaming of the far off lotos land which he had left, as he felt the rebellious protest of his young blood and the defiant spirit awaked by the mechanical luxury of the well-ordered dinner. “These human pawns seem to be all prosperous, if not happy! I’ll have another shy at it! By God! I must get back to India!” The whole checkered past rushed back over his mind! The fifteen years of his “wanderjahre”! Scenes which even he dared not recall! Incidents which he had never dared to own to any European! He but too well knew the origin of his loosely applied title of Major--a field officer’s rank more honored at the easygoing clubs of Yokahama, Shanghai, and Hong Kong than on the Army List--a rank best known at the ring-side of Indian sporting grounds, and only tacitly accepted in the extra-official circles of Hindustan. For it figured not in the official Army List, either as active or retired. The whole panorama of the mystic land of the Hindus was unrolled once more by the memories of fifteen clouded years, He saw again his far-away theater of varied action, with its huge grim mountains towering far over the snow line, its arid wastes, its fertile plains bathed in intense sunshine, its mystic rivers, and its silent, solemn shrines of the vanished gods. Major Alan Hawke silently ran over his slender professional accomplishments. “I’m not too heavy to ride yet. I’ve a fair hand at cards--tough nerves, and even a bit of staying power. Luck may turn my way yet and there’s always the Pamirs! At the worst, the Russians--the Afghans,--or those fellows up in Sikkim and Hill Tipperah! An artillerist is always welcome there!” But even in his moral desperation, he hung his head, for a flush of his boyhood’s bright ambitions returned to shame him. An old song jingled in his memory, “When I first put this uniform on.” He lapsed into a bitter reverie! The soldier of fortune was finally aroused from a brown study by the impassive steward presenting two great dishes. The clatter of some late convive seating himself also caused him to turn his head. “Hello, Anstruther! You are a long way from staff headquarters here!” quietly said Hawke, as the new arrival gazed at him in a mute surprise.