that could be desired. The club was
almost entirely deserted by its regular visitors, since, in addition to
the officers, all officials who could be dispensed with had joined the
army. But neither the Kennedys nor Edith and Heideck had any taste for
interesting society. Their only wish was to leave the country as soon
as possible, and to see the end of the present painful condition of
affairs. As the result of inquiries at the shipping agency, they had
decided to travel to Bombay by one of the steamers of the British India
Company, and to proceed thence to Europe by the Caledonia, the best
vessel belonging to the P. and O. line.

In the afternoon, before going on board, Heideck hired a comfortable
little one-horsed carriage and drove to Napier mole, where an elegant
sailing-boat, manned by four lascars, was placed at their disposal at
the Sind Club boathouse. They sailed through the harbour protected by
three powerful forts, past Manora Point, the furthest extremity of the
fortified mole, into the Arabian Sea.

"Really, it is hard to leave this wonderful land," said Heideck
seriously. "It is hard to take leave for ever of this brilliant sun,
this glittering sea, and these mighty works of men's hands, which have
introduced luxury and the comforts of a refined civilisation into a
natural paradise. I have never understood Mr. Kennedy's sorrow better
than at this moment. And I can sympathise with the feeling of bitterness
which makes him shut himself up in his room, to avoid the further sight
of all this enchanting and splendid magnificence."

Edith, clinging to his arm and looking up fondly into his face only
answered, "I only see the world as it is reflected in your eyes. And
there its beauty is always the same to me."

XXII

THE ETHICS OF ESPIONAGE

The steamer from Karachi to Bombay had about twenty officers and a
larger number of noncommissioned officers and men on board who had been
wounded in the first engagements on the frontier. The sight of them was
not calculated to relieve the gloomy feelings of the English travellers,
although during the three days of the voyage the weather was magnificent
as they proceeded through the bright, blue sea along the west coast of
India, so lavishly supplied with the beauties of Nature.

The harbour of Bombay, one of the most beautiful in the world, presented
a singularly altered appearance to those who had seen it on previous
visits. There was a complete absence of