Produced by Distributed Proofreaders FROM ONE GENERATION TO ANOTHER By Henry Seton Merriman CHAPTER I. THE SEED II. SUBURBAN III. MERCURY IV. FREIGHTED V. AFTER NINETEEN YEARS VI. FOR HIS COUNTRY VII. ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD VIII. RELIEVED IX. RE-CAST X. A LAST THROW XI. A CARPET KNIGHT XII. BAD NEWS XIII. ON THIN ICE XIV. THE CURSE OF A GOOD INTENTION XV. THE TOUCH OF NATURE XVI. THE SPIDER AND THE FLY XVII. TWO MOTIVES XVIII. LIKE SHIPS UPON THE SEA XIX. AT HURLINGHAM XX. IN A SIDE PATH XXI. ALONE XXII. ACROSS THE YEARS XXIII. AND THE TIME PASSES SOMEHOW XXIV. A STAB IN THE DARK XXV. FROM THE JAWS OF DEATH XXVI. BALANCING ACCOUNTS XXVII. AT BAY XXVIII. THE LAST LINK XXIX. SETTLED FROM ONE GENERATION TO ANOTHER CHAPTER I THE SEED Il faut se garder des premiers mouvements, parce qu'ils sont presque toujours honnétes. “Dearest Anna,--I see from the newspaper before me of March 13, that I am reported dead. Before attempting to investigate the origin of this mistake, I hasten to write to you, knowing, dearest, what a shock this must have been to you. It is true that I was in the Makar Akool affair, and was slightly wounded--a mere scratch in the arm--but nothing more. I have not written to you for some months past because I have been turning something over in my mind. Anna, dearest, there is no chance of my being in a position to marry for some years yet, and I feel it incumbent upon me ...” This letter, half written, lay on a camp table before a keen-faced young officer. He ceased writing suddenly, and, leaping to his feet, walked to the door of his bungalow, which was open to the four winds of heaven. In doing this he passed from the range of the lazy punkah flapping somnolently over table and bed. It may have been this sudden change to hotter air that caused him to raise his hand to his forehead, which was high and strangely rounded. “By George!” he said, “suppose I do it that way!” He walked rapidly backwards and forwards with the lithe actions of a man of steel, a light weight, of medium height, keen and quick as a monkey. His black eyes flitted from one object to another with such restlessness that it was impossible to say whether he comprehended what he saw or merely looked at things from force of habit.