ally under the same roof. If he had been living with them his
presence would have been a matter of course, and less constant
companionship and diversion would probably have been considered
necessary for him than they were when he dropped in at odd times. The
advancing season and the grey dark mornings made the early rides
impossible. Rachel in her secret soul did not regret them. Sir William
had taken the habit of looking in at Cosmo Place on his way to Pall Mall
and further eastward, and it always gave Rachel a pang of remorse if she
found that by an unlucky chance she had been out of the way when he
came. He would also sometimes come in on his way back, as has been
said, in the obvious expectation of having a game of chess, of which
Rendel, if he were at home, had not the heart to disappoint him. In
these days there was not much occupation for him in the City. The
excitement of starting and floating the "Equator" Company and the
allotting of the shares to the eager band of subscribers had been
accomplished some time since. The "Equator's" hour, however, had not
come yet. The outlook in the City was not encouraging for those who knew
how to read the weather chart of the coming days. The heart of the
country was still beating fast and tumultuously after the emotions of
the past two years; it needed a period of assured quiet to regain its
normal condition. In the meantime the storm seemed to be subsiding. The
great railway laying its iron grip on the heart of Africa was advancing
steadily from the north as well as from the south: it was nearing the
Equator. The country, its imagination profoundly stirred by the
enterprise, watched it in suspense. But until the meeting of the two
giant highways was effected, everything depended upon an equable balance
of forces, of which a touch might destroy the equilibrium. German
possessions and German forces lay perilously near the meeting of the two
lines. At any moment a spark from some other part of the world might be
wafted to Africa and set the fierce flame of war ablaze in the centre of
the continent.

The General Election was coming within measurable distance; the Liberal
Peace Crusade was strenuously canvassing the country in favour of
coming to a definite understanding with certain foreign powers.

At the house in Cosmo Place it was no longer always possible, as on that
first evening, to avoid the subject of politics.

"I must say," said Rendel one night with enthusiasm--St