He found her asleep in her chair. The devil which had brought him to her side was thrust back. Why, she was nothing more than a beautiful child! A great yearning to brother her came into his heart. He did not disturb her, but waited until five, that grave and sober hour, when kings and clerks stop work for no logical reason whatever--tea. She opened her eyes and saw him watching her. He rose quickly. "May I get you some tea?" "Thank you." And so the gulf was bridged. When he returned he set the cup and plate of cakes on the arm of her chair. "I was very rude a little while ago. Will you accept my apologies?" "On condition that you will never take your playthings and go home." He laughed engagingly. "You've hit it squarely. It was the act of a petulant child." "It did not sound exactly like a man who had stoked six months from Singapore to the Andaman Islands. But there is one thing I must understand before this acquaintance continues. You said, 'Who knows what manner of man I am?' Have you ever done anything that would conscientiously forbid you to speak to a young unmarried woman?" Take care of herself? He rather believed she could. The bluntness of her question dissipated any doubt that remained. "No. I haven't been that kind of a man," simply. "I could look into my mother's eyes without any sense of shame, if that is what you mean." "That is all I care to know. Your mother is living?" "Yes. But I haven't seen her in ten years." His mother! His brows met in a frown. His proud beautiful mother! Elsa saw the frown, and realized that she had approached delicate ground. She stirred her tea and sipped it slowly. "There has been a deal of chatter about shifty untrustworthy eyes," he said. "The greatest liars I have ever known could look St. Peter straight and serenely in the eye. It's a matter of steady nerves, nothing more. Somebody says that so and so is a fact, and we go on believing it for years, until some one who is not a person but an individual explodes it." "I agree with you. But there is something we rely upon far more than either eyes or ears, instinct. It is that attribute of the animal which civilization has not yet successfully dulled. Women rely upon that more readily than men." "And make more mistakes," with a cynicism he could not conceal. She had no ready counter for this. "Do you go home from Rangoon, now that you have made your fortune?" "No. I am going to Singapore. I shall make my plans there." Singapore. Elsa stirred uneasily. It would be like having a ghost by her side. She wanted to tell him what had really drawn her interest. But it seemed to her that the moment to do so had passed. "Vultures! How I detest them!" She pointed toward a sand-bar upon which stood several of these abominable birds and an adjutant, solemn and aloof. "At Lucknow they were red-headed. I do not recollect seeing one of them fly. But I admire the kites; they look so much like our eagles."