AMID THE RUINS "Do let us get away somewhere and enjoy ourselves!" Audrey spoke in a quick undertone to the man nearest to her.

It was three weeks since her arrival at the Frontier station, and she had settled down to the life with the ease of a born Anglo-Indian.

Her first vivid enjoyment of its gaieties was a thing of the past, but no one suspected the fact, her husband least of all.

She had not, as a matter of fact, been much with him during those three weeks, for she had struck up a warm friendship with Mrs.Raleigh, and in common with all the younger spirits of the regiment she availed herself fully of the privileges of the latter's hospitality.
On the present occasion, however--that of a picnic by moonlight at the crumbling shrine of some long-forgotten holy man--Mrs.Raleigh was absent, and Audrey was bored.

She had arrived in her husband's ralli-car, which he had driven himself, but she had speedily drifted away from his side.
There was an element of perversity in her which made her resent the feeling that he only accompanied her into society to watch over her, and, if necessary, to keep her in order.