oth, luxurious ways of her life;
and, but a step further, as it were, stood out the answer to her
questioning doubts. Whatever trust is yours in the future, whatever
life asks of you in return for all she has given, it must be for
Africa. Her heart warmed and swelled swiftly, and her eyes glowed in
the misty darkness. She felt in her blood that Africa was calling.
Africa, so sunny, so gay, so breezy, so lovable, and withal with so
great a need of strong women as well as strong men, to help her to win
through to the great future that should be hers.

She leaned lower, and it was as though her gaze looked beyond the
darkness to some unseen horizon. She saw the veldt with its far blue
mountains, that called to men again and again with such resolute
calling. Overhead, in her fancy, she saw the luminous Southern Cross.
All around were the wide, boundless horizons, the swift, scented
winds. In her spirit she was back again in the sun-soaked land,
breathing the sun-soaked atmosphere, looking far to the "never, never"
country that called from the clear distance.

And it was her Africa,--hers, hers, hers.

What did she want with an English village? What to her was a yachting
cruise in Norway? These might be won some day as restful leisure hours
in a strenuous life; but without the just winning, what had they to do
with her?

Africa needed strong women as well as strong men; and, strong or weak,
Africa was calling--calling.

She had come to London for the season because it was what all the
other rich men's daughters did; but was she honestly grieved that
their plans had all to be changed? Surely, now she was free, she could
find something to do that would fill her hours afterward with gladder
remembrance than just a season's triumphs.

But what?...

She leaned on in the starlight, chin sunk in hands, thinking,
dreaming.

And so presently, still by those imperceptible degrees, through which
works the hand of Fate, her thoughts came at last to the dinner-table
conversation.

As in a flash, she remembered Rhodesia; and, remembering, it was as
though the romance of the land reached out strong arms to enfold her.

Here in very truth was a young country, offering a wide field to all
who sought work, adventure, achievement. Her thoughts ran on
exultantly. She was rich, she was free, she was young, she was strong;
why dawdle and dream among the fiords of Norway? Why scale Swiss
mountains? Let that come later, when she had e