that tried not
to look forbidding, and more strange and tell-tale than all the quick
movement by which Rendel drew a large sheet of blotting-paper over what
he was writing. Sir William's whole being was jarred, his rejoicing in
the small occasion of being on another stage towards recovery was gone;
nobody cared, not one. Rachel was not in the house, and who else was
there to care? Nobody: there never would be again. Could it be possible
that for the rest of his life he was doomed to be in a world so arranged
that his comings and goings were not the most important of all? He stood
still a moment, then tried to speak in his usual voice.

"I am not in your way, am I, Rendel?"

Rendel also made a conscious effort as he replied, rising from his chair
as he spoke--

"Oh no, Sir William, please come in. I have some writing to finish, if
you don't mind."

"Pray go on," said Sir William; "I won't disturb you. I'll sit down here
and read the paper till you are ready"; and he sat down with his back to
the writing-table and the window, in the big chair which Rendel drew
forward.

"Thank you," Sir William said. "I took the liberty of bringing in your
afternoon paper which was outside."

"Certainly," Rendel replied, too absorbed for the moment in the thing
his own attention was concentrated upon to realise the bearing of what
Gore was saying. "Of course," and went back to his writing.

Gore leant back, idly turning over the pages of the _Mayfair Gazette_;
then he started as his eye fell on the alarmist announcements. What was
this? What incredible things were these that he saw? The letters were
swimming before him; he could only vaguely distinguish the black
capitals and the headlines; the rest was a blur. All that stood out
clearly was: "Cape to Cairo Railway in Danger," and then beneath it:
"Sinister Rumours about the 'Equator, Ltd.'"

"Rendel!" he said, half starting up. Rendel turned round with a start,
dragging his mind from the thing it was bent upon. "How awful this is!"
said Sir William, holding up the paper with a shaking hand. Rendel began
to understand. But, that he should have to look up for one moment, for
the fraction of a second, from those words that he was transcribing!

"Yes, yes, it is terrible," he said, and bent over his writing again.
Sir William tried to go on reading. What was this about Germany? War
would mean the collapse of everything--private schemes as well as all
others.

"War! Do you think