They are limitless. After
that, everything will come naturally,--assurance, the wit to grasp
opportunities, and a bold initiative, without which a man is no good."

"No good?--for what?" he pressed ingenuously.

"To pass the time with, of course, O most adorable infant!" she laughed
silently, returning his look with an expression of half-veiled
admiration.

In stations where officials came and went with meteoric suddenness owing
to the reshuffling of the governmental pack of human cards, friendships
were as sudden as they were transient. Jack Darling having arrived at
Muktiarbad while Mrs. Fox was at a hill station, their acquaintance was
only in its initial stage.

"Look at Mrs. Fox," whispered Mrs. Ironsides to Mrs. Bright. "She is
doing her best to spoil that nice boy with her flattery! You can tell
that she is pouring conceit into him by the bucketful. Shameless
creature! I wonder her husband doesn't send her home."

"She prefers India," Mrs. Bright showed a restless eye.

"Mr. Smart will be only too glad if Mr. Darling relieves him of his
attendance on Mrs. Fox. Did you notice how he yawned at table while she
was talking to him?"

"He lives in her pocket, all the same, and is always at her beck and
call."

"Was my dear. I have noticed a great change latterly, and I hear he is
going to be transferred. Mr. Fox knows his people at home and is
arranging it."

"And he knows his wife better," said Mrs. Bright with satire. It seemed
at Muktiarbad everybody knew everybody else's affairs.

She allowed a brief interval to pass and then, using her privilege as
hostess, captured Jack on the pretext of sending him to the piano, with
Honor to select his song from a pile of music in a canterbury. By the
time the ballad was finished and a chorus was in full swing, Mrs. Fox
had been carried away by Mr. Bright to make a fourth at auction in
another room.

Jack watched her go somewhat regretfully, wondering the while,
shamefacedly, if he would be able to have another talk with her that
night, and consigning all scandalmongers to perdition, who had dared to
make free with her name. He refused to believe ill of so charming a
lady, and was not surprised that Bobby Smart had found her company
attractive--why not? When a brute of a husband spent all his time down
the line instead of trying to make life pleasant for his wife, it was no
wonder she was obliged to find entertainment for herself in the society
of other men! Hers