the roots of his shining, well-brushed hair.

Restored to health after a yachting cruise off the coast of Scotland,
Jack was a splendid specimen of manhood to look upon, though still
inwardly depressed with the sense of the Inevitable awaiting him in the
East. ("Such a lamb!" was Kitty's description, which was her highest
praise.)

"I am so sorry--I--I do beg your pardon, but I would have sworn--in fact
any one would be ready to swear----"

"That I am my sister?" she laughed, showing the engaging string of
pearls and the irrepressible dimple. "Thank you so much. I always
appreciate a compliment when it is sincere, for I am a great admirer of
Mrs. Meredith."

"Then--then you are Miss Wynthrop--_Kitty_?" he said, blushing still
more furiously. "I beg your pardon," he added apologising for his
boldness in using her Christian name. "We used to talk so much about you
at Muktiarbad. But you are even more--at least I was thinking of your
photograph," he concluded lamely.

He had thought it a charming photograph of a girl, and now the original
in natural colouring, youth, and perfect health had thrown his mind into
chaos. Fragments of forgotten verses he had composed to his "Ideal,"
before the baneful influence of Mrs. Fox had drugged his senses and
threatened the ruin of his career, now returned to haunt his memory and
justify their extravagance.

At last she was before him in the flesh, not secretly reposing on a
piece of pasteboard at the bottom of a dispatch-box left behind in
India!

"Yes, I am Kitty," she answered with animation. "But you? I am sure I
know you? My sister has a photograph of a Station group--ah, you are
'Jack'! I can't remember the other name."

"Darling!" he prompted eagerly with a suspicion of fervour. To hear her
pronounce his name was to listen to the most adorable music.

"Of course! Fancy my forgetting! And your chum in the police is Tommy
Deare? How perfectly priceless! I know you both intimately. You live in
a little three-roomed bungalow near the Courts, all among weeds and
snakes, and never go to church unless you are caught and taken!"

"You've got it exactly!" he returned delighted. Was there ever such a
girl before? _Why is a dimple in the left cheek like--nothing on earth?_
he wondered ecstatically. _Because it is so absolutely divine!_ he
concluded, mentally, to his own intense satisfaction at the inspiration.

"Now what a pity I am not my sister!" she said mischievously. "What