hotel, he saw that she was disturbed. He asked her
what was the matter.

'Lucy has broken off her engagement with Robert Boulger,' she said.

'That young woman seems to make a speciality of breaking her
engagements,' he answered drily.

'I'm afraid she's still in love with Alec MacKenzie.'

'Then why on earth did she accept Bobbie?'

'My dear boy, she only took him in a fit of temper. When that had
cooled down she very wisely thought better of it.'

'I can never sufficiently admire the reasonableness of your sex,' said
Dick, ironically.

Julia shrugged her pretty shoulders.

'Half the women I know merely married their husbands to spite somebody
else. I assure you it's one of the commonest causes of matrimony.'

'Then heaven save me from matrimony,' cried Dick.

'It hasn't,' she laughed.

But immediately she grew serious once more.

'Mr. MacKenzie was in Brussels while they were in Spa.'

'I had a letter from him this morning.'

'Lady Kelsey says that according to the papers he's going to Africa
again. I think it's that which has upset Lucy. They made a great fuss
about him in Brussels.'

'Yes, he tells me that everything is fixed up, and he proposes to start
quite shortly. He's going to do some work in the Congo Free State. They
want to find a new waterway, and the King of the Belgians has given him
a free hand.'

'I suppose the King of the Belgians looks upon one atrocity more or less
with equanimity,' said Julia.

They were silent for a minute or two, while each was occupied with his
own thoughts.

'You saw him after Lucy broke off the engagement,' said Julia,
presently. 'Was he very wretched?'

'He never said a word. I wanted to comfort him, but he never gave me a
chance. He never even mentioned Lucy's name.'

'Did he seem unhappy?'

'No. He was just the same as ever, impassive and collected.'

'Really, he's inhuman,' exclaimed Julia impatiently.

'He's an anomaly in this juvenile century,' Dick agreed. 'He's an
ancient Roman who buys his clothes in Savile Row.'

'Then he's very much in the way in England, and it's much better that he
should go back to Africa.'

'I suppose it is. Here he reminds one of an eagle caged with a colony of
canaries.'

Julia looked at her husband reflectively.

'I think you're the only friend who has stuck to him,' she said.

'I wouldn't put it in that way. After all, I'm the only friend he ever
had. It was not unnatural that a number of acquaintances s