CHAPTER VII.
A SOUL AT WAR WITH FACT The deepest and most abiding demand of all sentient creatures, strong and weak alike, is for safety, or, that being unattainable, for a sense of safety, an illusion even of safety.
This, so universal demand, dictated, in Damaris' case, her prayer for Dr.
McCabe's attendance.

He belonged to the safeties of her childhood, to the securely guarded, and semi-regal state--as, looking back, she recalled it--of the years when her father held the appointment of Chief Commissioner at Bhutpur.

Dr.McCabe was conversant with all that; the sole person available, at this juncture, who had lot or part in it.

And, as she had foreseen--when drifting down the tide-river in the rain and darkness--once the supporting tension of Faircloth's presence removed, chaos would close in on her.

It only waited due opportunity.