Poor Dick! He had not spoken so lightly when he bade Georgia farewell, after a vain attempt to obtain from her a flower, a glove, anything she had touched, as a keepsake. She had looked him through with her clear eyes and observed chillingly that she disliked foolishness, and he broke away from her with a heart full of pain and anger, and on his lips the Disraelian prophecy, “Some day I will make you listen to me!” To work for Georgia, to make himself more worthy of Georgia, had been his ruling impulse during his early years in India, and there was always before his eyes the faint possibility that when he returned home great and famous, his stubborn lady’s heart might be touched at last. And now he had returned, not only famous, but also free from the trammels of his early and hopeless adoration--and Georgia was not at all affected by the fact. Years of unremitting work had turned Dick’s thoughts into a different channel. He was a soldier now, and his professional instincts were paramount, but still, he would have liked Georgia to recognise the change. She did not appear to notice anything, and he had a lurking suspicion that if she had done so, the realisation would not have troubled her. “And so you are going to India, like all the young ladies in these days?” he said, carelessly, recalling what he had just heard from Mrs Wake, not without some idea of piquing Miss Keeling by the suggestion that her latest development had not surprised him in the least. “No, not to India,” she answered. “I am going to Kubbet-ul-Haj.” “What, with Sir Dugald Haigh’s Ethiopian Mission? So am I.” “Yes, Mabel has told me. What a pity she can’t come too!” “Oh, Mab hasn’t set up as a free-lance yet.” “Have you, then? I had an idea that you were going as one of the Mission. Even I have a professional status.” “I am the military member--aide-de-camp to the Chief, or something of the kind, I believe. You are the surgeon, I presume?” “Not exactly. The King of Ethiopia’s principal wife is nearly blind, and he has begged that a lady doctor may accompany the Mission to Kubbet-ul-Haj, and attend the Queen while Sir Dugald Haigh remains there. Lady Haigh is rather glad to find a companion, and I am delighted to have such a chance.” “The Mission is highly honoured,” said Dick, not quite pleasantly. Miss Keeling looked at him in some surprise. “It makes it much pleasanter that you are going too,” she said. “My short Indian experience has taught me how delightful it is to find old friends in a foreign country.” “You are too kind,” said Dick, stiffly. “I’m afraid you overrate my powers of--er--entertainment; but, of course, I shall be delighted to do all I can to make the journey less tedious.”