“_Father seems to have decided now that I am to stay in England. I am horribly disappointed. It may be the only chance I shall ever have of seeing the East--and the East is changing so fast. Mother is still on my side, I think, though she doesn’t like to say very much. It is so difficult for her and for me to argue, because neither of us knows anything about China, and Mr. Ordith, who has been staying with us again, is full of facts and figures. I wonder why he is so much against my going? He is always pointing out difficulties. He has a mind like a blue-book, all tabulated and accurate. You can almost hear him saying, ‘Section Two, Sub-section Four--so-and-so; Sub-section Five--so-and-so.’ What can an ordinary human being do in face of that? Of course, father is tremendously impressed. He says it is so refreshing to meet a young man with an orderly mind. There’s no doubt that Mr. Ordith is clever, and very attractive--in a way. I dare say he is right about the Chinese horrors, but, even if he is, there’s no need to tell the truth so often. But I still have hopes. Nothing is definite yet. Perhaps if I light enough of father’s cigarettes and warm his_ Times _for him every morning, he may relent. Or perhaps all the aunts will refuse to have me, if I get my word in first._” When these letters arrived Hugh paid little attention to them. He had made up his mind that his family was leaving England, and he refused to be deluded by false hopes. But now, when his attitude towards the matter had been changed, he read over with real anxiety such of Margaret’s letters as he had not destroyed. “This fellow Ordith,” he said to John, when the extracts had been read aloud, “seems likely to be an infernal nuisance. He is a Gunnery Lieut. R.N.--a star-turn at Whaley, an inventor and that kind of thing. My father’s firm, Ibble and Company, has a lot of Admiralty contracts. I suppose that’s how they met.” “What has your sister said about it since?” “I tore up the letters before we left the _King Arthur_. I kept these only by chance--mixed up with some books. But, so far as I can remember, she hasn’t said anything--certainly nothing definite. And she hasn’t mentioned Ordith, I’m sure. It’s odd, isn’t it?” “I don’t know.” “Do you think she has had a row with him?” “No; but---- Anyway, we shan’t know anything until we get home to England.” Hugh laughed. “I believe you are just as keen as I am that my--that my people should go to China.” John answered quickly: “You see, I am counting on your invitations to give me an excuse for leave.” II After spending nearly a week at home, John came up to London on the first Friday of his leave. He was to stay with the Fane-Herberts, who were giving a dance on the following day, and before he returned to the country he and Hugh were to go together to Mr. Reeve’s London branch and order the clothes they would need in China.