occupation or real companionship in
Rohar. Her husband and she had nothing in common. No child had come
during the five years of their marriage to link them together. And in
this solitary place where there were no gaieties, no distractions such
as a young woman would naturally long for, she was lonely, very lonely
indeed.

It was little wonder that she snatched eagerly at the promise of an
interesting friendship. Wargrave stood out and apart from the other
officers of the regiment; and his companionship during the uncomfortable
incident of the sandstorm bulked unaccountably large in her mind. It
seemed to denote that he was destined to introduce a new element into
her life.

As they talked it was with increasing pleasure that she learnt they had
so many tastes in common. She found that he played the violin well and
was, moreover, the possessor of a voice tuneful and sympathetic, even if
not perfectly trained. This made instant appeal to her and would have
disposed her to regard him with favour even if she had not been already
prepared to like him.

The afternoon passed all too quickly for both of them. Violet Norton
had never enjoyed any hours in Rohar so much as these; and when, as she
sat at the piano while Frank played an _obligato_, a servant came to
enquire if she wished her horse or a carriage got ready for her usual
evening ride or drive, she impatiently ordered him out of the room. When
the time came for Wargrave to return to his bungalow to dress for dinner
she begged him to stay and dine with her.

"I shall be all alone; and it would be a charitable act to take pity on
my solitude," she said. "My husband is dining at your Mess to-night."

"Thank you very much for asking me," replied the subaltern. "I should
have loved to accept your invitation; but it is our Guest Night and the
Colonel likes all of us to be present at Mess on such evenings."

"Oh, I forgot!" she exclaimed. "I ought to have remembered; for Mr.
Raymond told me the same thing only last week when I invited him
informally. Well, you must come some other night soon."

Reluctant to part with her new playmate she accompanied him to the door
and, to the scandal of the stately _chuprassis_, stood at it to watch
him drive away and to wave him a last goodbye as he looked back when the
pony turned out of the gate.

India is a land of lightning friendships between men and women.

CHAPTER III

THE LOVE-SONG OF HAR DYAL

The bugler was