PROPER PRIDE. A Novel. Life may change, but it may fly not; Hope may vanish, but can die not; Truth be veiled, but still it burneth, Love repulsed--but it returneth. _IN THREE VOLUMES._ VOL. II. LONDON: TINSLEY BROTHERS, 8, CATHERINE ST., STRAND. 1882. [_All rights reserved._] CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS. CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER I. “THE NEILGHERRIES” 1 CHAPTER II. AFGHANISTAN 20 CHAPTER III. “MY CAPTAIN DOES NOT ANSWER; HIS LIPS ARE PALE AND STILL” 48 CHAPTER IV. MONKSWOOD 80 CHAPTER V. WAITING FOR AN ANSWER 87 CHAPTER VI. THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE 105 CHAPTER VII. “MARY, IT IS MY HUSBAND!” 134 CHAPTER VIII. ALICE’S OVERTURES ARE DECLINED 163 CHAPTER IX. “SIR REGINALD’S EYES ARE OPENED” 200 CHAPTER X. GEOFFREY MANŒUVRES 238 CHAPTER XI. “MEET ME BY MOONLIGHT ALONE” 245 PROPER PRIDE. CHAPTER I. “THE NEILGHERRIES.” Our hero went to the Neilgherry Hills for the remainder of his two months’ leave. It is quite beyond my pen to describe that lovely region, but in common with almost all who have ever been there I have an admiration amounting to a passion for the Blue Hills. I declare them to be the most salubrious, delightful, beautiful range in the whole world. If I were to attempt a detailed description of these most favoured hills, I should fall so far short of their perfections that I would only incur the wrath and contempt of their many devoted admirers, so I shall content myself by merely giving a description of Sir Reginald’s journey up the Ghaut.