"I mean—I feel I ought to tell you—your wife’s intimacy with the Bauers is causing ill-feeling. It is all nonsense, of course, but you know how it is—people talk. Forgive me for putting it plainly—Bauer has a bad reputation. They say he has already escaped dismissal from the Army by a hair’s-breadth. It is well to be careful." He waited a moment, and then went on, "It has been on my mind some time, Wolff. I felt I ought to warn you, but was afraid you might take it amiss." Wolff shook his head. "You have only told me what I already suspected," he said quietly; "and of course, now that I know, I shall speak to Nora about it. She will see how it is at once. It is all my fault—I should have taken more care. And then, there is another thing——" "Is it anything in which I can help?" Seleneck asked, as Wolff again hesitated. "You know you have only got to say what it is. There need be no humbug between us." "No; that’s true." Seleneck waited patiently, seeing that whatever it was Wolff found it hard to express the matter on his mind. He was digging his spurred heel into the sand and frowning, not in anger, but with a curious shamefaced embarrassment. "It’s this," he said at last. "You know how it was, Kurt, when we first came here. Of course we did the duty round of visits and so on, and went out in a quiet way, but we kept as clear as we could of the swell affairs. I made my work the excuse, and it was quite an honest excuse, though of course there were other reasons. Now I think it was a mistake. I think, for my own advantage, I ought not to have refused certain invitations—one gets a bad name at head-quarters—or is passed over; and if it were possible I should like to get back on the lists again——" He stopped short, and Seleneck stared at him in puzzled silence. For the first time he had the opportunity of studying Wolff in a state of thorough confusion. "Of course, that is easy enough," he said at last. "But all that sort of thing entails heavy expense and——" "I think the expense justified," Arnim broke in hastily. "I am convinced that a certain outlay—a certain ostentation, if you like—is necessary to a rapid career. And I should be immensely grateful to you if you would help me." "But your work—and the money?" Seleneck inquired bluntly. "Both are my affairs," was the quick, irritable answer. The next minute he repented, and held out an apologetic hand. "I don’t know what is the matter with me," he said. "I’m not fit companion for a savage. Don’t take me seriously, there’s a good fellow, and lend me a helping hand this once. I want it badly." Seleneck shook his head.