some training. I have been alone so much that I haven't
got over the trick of speaking my thoughts aloud."

"No harm has been done. The fault lay with me."

"I used to learn whole pages from stories and recite them to the trees
or to the parrot. It kept me from going mad, I believe. In camp I
handled coolies; none of whom could speak a word of English. I didn't
have James with me at that time. During the day I was busy enough
seeing that they did their work well. When things ran smoothly I'd
take out a book and study. At night I'd stand before my tent and
declaim. I could not read at night. If I lighted a lantern the tent
would become alive with abominable insects. So I'd declaim, merely to
hear the sound of my voice. Afterward I learned that the coolies
looked upon me as a holy man. They believed I was nightly offering
prayers to one of my gods. Perhaps I was; the god of reason. In the
mornings I used to have to shake my boots. Frogs and snakes would get
in during the night, the latter in search of the former. Lively times!
All that seems like a bad dream now."

"And how is Rajah?"

"Ugly as ever."

"Are you going to take him with you?"

"Wherever I go. Looks silly, doesn't it, for a man of my size to tote
around a parrot-cage? But I don't care what people think. Life is too
short. It's what you think of yourself that really counts."

"That is one of the rules I have laid down for myself. If only we all
might go through life with that idea! There wouldn't be any gossip or
scandal, then."

"Some day I am going to tell you why I have lived over here all these
years."

"I shouldn't, not if it hurts you."

"On the contrary, there's a kind of happiness in unburdening one's
conscience. I called that day in Rangoon for the express purpose of
telling you everything, but I couldn't in the presence of a third
person."

"I do not demand it."

"But it's a duty I owe to myself," he insisted gravely. "Besides, it
is not impossible that you may hear the tale from other lips; and I
rather prefer to tell it myself."

"But always remember that I haven't asked you."

"Are you afraid to hear it?"

"No. What I am trying to convince you with is the fact that I trust
you, and that I give you my friendship without reservations."

He laid his hand on hers, strongly. "God bless you for that!"

She liked him because there was lacking in his words and tones that
element of flattery so distasteful