"But if I am to blame, sir, so must Charteris be," protested Gerrard, feeling, as the Resident's associates not infrequently did, that Colonel Antony's standard was too high for this wicked world. "That is quite possible. He believes that you have injured him?" "I suppose so, sir." "And he is conscious that he has injured you?" "I can't say, sir. How should I know?" "Then your duty is clear. Whether his conscience is awakened or not is uncertain, but you feel that you have, though unwittingly, done him an injury. Go and repair it, leaving him to find out his part in the matter for himself." It was this conversation that Gerrard was uncomfortably turning over in his mind on the verandah. The natural man in him rebelled, very naturally, against humbling himself to Charteris, who was at least as much to blame as he was, and had made his resentment offensively evident. But it was Charteris who would suffer if a reconciliation was not effected in some way. The argument was conclusive, as Colonel Antony had foreseen it would be. Gerrard looked round the corner of his chair, and rather sheepishly said, "Bob!" There was no answer from Charteris, but his legs, the only part of him that was visible, seemed to take on an air of indignant protest. Gerrard tried again. "Bob, look here! I want to tell you something." This time Charteris sat up, exhibiting an angry countenance and a rough head. "Don't want to hear it," he growled. "Hang it! can't a man be left in peace in his own quarters?" "No, but--I say, Bob," repeated Gerrard, feverishly anxious to anticipate the impending move, "the Colonel has been speaking to me--pitched it uncommon strong, he did. Do wait and hear what I have to say! Why should we go on making asses of ourselves over a girl who hasn't a civil word for either of us?" "What?" cried Charteris, pausing on the edge of the verandah. "She's given you a _pucka jawab_[1] too?" "Last night," said Gerrard laconically. Charteris came a step nearer. "Will you kindly tell me," he said, addressing creation generally, "exactly what that girl wants? Hal, I could have sworn it was you when she refused me." "And until she refused me, I could have sworn it was you. Pretty clear she don't want either of us, ain't it? In fact, I may as well tell you, as she doesn't seem to have done it, that she said she had no intention of marrying at all." "Fudge!" cried Charteris, quite in the vein of the immortal Mr Burchell. "Then she's here on false pretences. What does a spin. come out for but to get a husband? No, you mark my words, my boy; she's waiting for a bachelor Governor-General!"