distrust of Captain Dalton would not be stifled, and he
disliked the thought of his innocent young wife being exposed to the
subtle flattery of such unusual attentions as he had paid her in
camp,--strictly professional, no doubt, but disagreeably intimate from a
husband's point of view. Confound him!

A young man of arresting appearance and strange personality, whose
private life was unknown and whose conduct towards his neighbours was
aloof and repellent, was best kept at a distance and treated with the
formality which accorded with his profession, otherwise he would become
a disturbing element. Already Joyce seemed to consider herself under
obligations to him, and in her enthusiastic gratitude was prone to
overstep the limits of dignified propriety which he wished her to
observe. Would to heaven that the Government had sent them a married man
as Civil Surgeon of Muktiarbad! Bachelors of mysterious habits and
manners were totally out of place in a station so well supplied with
womenkind.

Meredith was thankful that there were so many women in the Station and
all likely to be lavish with their attentions to his wife. She would
seldom be left to her own devices or the society of the doctor, in whose
care she was unreservedly placed. And Joyce was popular with the ladies
despite the fact that she was too young to play her dignified role of
leading lady with success. She played it with a charm all her own, and
drew towards her the members of her own sex as well as those of the
masculine. She was unique, he assured himself. He could trust her
blindfold, even among wolves in sheep's clothing; for essentially she
was a mother, and had every incentive to keep pure. Love of children and
a respect for religion were sure safeguards against the wiles of the
tempter; he could therefore make his mind easy, feeling that his wife
possessed both.

But jealousy is a weed of hardy growth, and once having taken root is
difficult to destroy. There were memories to haunt him and give him many
a sleepless night: Joyce seizing and kissing Dalton's hand in her frenzy
of relief when he told her the good news concerning the child; her
milk-white shoulder and bosom exposed for the stethoscope.... She might
look upon Dalton as an "angel" or an "automaton," but no man, unless
superhuman, is a stoic where a lovely woman is concerned.

On the whole, it was a miserable week for Meredith in his solitude,
despite the distractions of his office and c