'You need not trouble about that. In Africa even the strongest of us are apt to lose our balance.' Alec filled his pipe again, and lighting it, blew heavy clouds of smoke into the damp air. His voice was softer when he spoke. 'Did you ever know that before we came away I asked Lucy to marry me?' George did not answer. He stifled a sob, for the recollection of Lucy, the centre of his love and the mainspring of all that was decent in him, transfixed his heart with pain. 'She asked me to bring you here in the hope that you'd,'--Alec had some difficulty in expressing himself--'do something that would make people forget what happened to your father. She's very proud of her family. She feels that your good name is--besmirched, and she wanted you to give it a new lustre. I think that is the object she has most at heart in the world. It is as great as her love for you. The plan hasn't been much of a success, has it?' 'She ought to have known that I wasn't suited for this sort of life,' answered George, bitterly. 'I saw very soon that you were weak and irresolute, but I thought I could put some backbone into you. I hoped for her sake to make something of you after all. Your intentions seemed good enough, but you never had the strength to carry them out.' Alec had been watching the smoke that rose from his pipe, but now he looked at George. 'I'm sorry if I seem to be preaching at you.' 'Oh, do you think I care what anyone says to me now?' Alec went on very gravely, but not unkindly. 'Then I found you were drinking. I told you that no man could stand liquor in this country, and you gave me your word of honour that you wouldn't touch it again.' 'Yes, I broke it. I couldn't help myself. The temptation was too strong.' 'When we came to the station at Munias, and I was laid up with fever, you and Macinnery took the opportunity to get into an ugly scrape with some native women. You knew that that was the one thing I would not stand. I have nothing to do with morality--everyone is free in these things to do as he chooses--but I do know that nothing causes more trouble with the natives, and I've made definite rules on the subject. If the culprits are Swahilis I flog them, and if they're whites I send them back to the coast. That's what I ought to have done with you, but it would have broken Lucy's heart.' 'It was Macinnery's fault.' 'It's because I thought Macinnery was chiefly to blame that I sent him back alone. I determined to give you another chance. It struck me that the feeling of authority might have some influence on you, and so, when I had to build a _boma_ to guard the road down to the coast, I put the chief part of the stores in your care and left you in command. I need not remind you what happened there.'