north the ground fell as sharply; and a thousand feet
below Darjeeling lay Lebong, set out on a flattened hilltop. On three sides
of this military suburb the hill sloped steeply to the valleys below. But
beyond them, tumbled mass upon mass, rose the great mountains barring the
way to Sikkim and Tibet, towering to the clouds that hid the white summits
of the Eternal Snows.

Bain walked his pony beside Noreen's chair and named the various points of
the scenery around them. Then, when Noreen had inscribed her name in the
Visitors' Book at Government House, they entered the Amusement Club.

Noreen was overcome with shyness at finding herself, after her months
of isolation, among scores of white folk, all strangers to her. Ida
unconcernedly led the way into the large hall which was used as a
roller-skating rink, along one side of which were set out dozens of
little tables around which sat ladies in smart frocks that made the girl
more painfully conscious of what she considered to be the deficiencies
of her own costume. She saw one or two of the women that had travelled
up in the train that day stare at her and then lean forward and make
some remark about her to their companions at the table. She was
profoundly thankful when the ordeal was over and, in Ida's wake, she had
got out of the rink. Conscious only of the critical glances of her own
sex, she was not aware of the admiring looks cast at her by many men in
the groups around the tables.

But later on in the evening she found herself seated at one of those same
tables that an hour before had seemed to her a bench of stern judges. She
formed one of a laughing, chattering group of Ida's acquaintances. More at
ease now, the girl watched the people around her with interest. For a year
she had seen no larger gathering of her own race than the weekly meetings
at the planters' little club in the jungle, with the one exception of a
_durbar_ at Jalpaiguri.

Yet despite Ida's company she was feeling lonely and a little depressed, a
stranger in a crowd, when she saw Captain Charlesworth enter the rink,
accompanied by another man. Recent as had been their meeting, he seemed
quite an old friend among all these unknown people about her, and she
almost hoped that he would come and speak to her. He sauntered through the
hall, bowing casually to many ladies, some of whom, the girl noticed, made
rather obvious efforts to detain him. But he ignored them and looked
around, as if in search