The Judgment House

t you say-J

cigar, and stared at a man who was reading from a tape-machin

hundred men. He started from Pitsani two days ago

t into the fireplace, and stood transfixed for a mo

atch him at Doornkop or somewhere, and-" He paused, overcome.

on," he muttered. "He's

l get in yet. He surely planned the thing wit

coincide now. It might have been-it was to have been-a revolution at Johannesburg, with Dr. Jim to step in at the right minu

marked Ian Stafford, cynically

be taught in their mother-tongue, and the men who pay all the taxes and can't become citizens. It's the justice you can only buy; it's the foot of Kruger on the necks of the subjects of his suzerain; it's eating dirt as Englishmen have never had to eat it anywhere in the range of the Seven Seas. And when they catch Dr. Jim, it'll be ten times worse. Yes

. Your last state will be worse th

tween-meal swizzle revolted his aesthetic sense. Byng put down the glass very slowly, gazing straight before him for a moment without speaking. Then he looked round. There was no one very ne

tte to be got out of the mess, if the chef doesn't turn up his nose too high. After all, what has brought things to this pass? Why, mean, low tyranny and injustice.

rican words will be foun

onventional chef," he replied. "She likes the eg

cular where the egg

're thinking of the millions of British money locked up in the Rand, with Kruger standing over it with a sjambak, which he'll use. Last night at the opera we had a fine example of presence

into his eyes. He gave a low, generous laugh, as he said with a twinkle: "And whether he does it at som

all others-came to the surface. For a moment it almost made Byng forget the crisis which had come to a land where he had done all that was wort

had opened no other. He had left his chambers to avoid the telegrams and notes of congratulation which were arriving in great numbers. He had gone for his morning ride in Battersea Park instead of the Row

e done," Stafford answered, laughing. "It was a flash of real genius

ak which could more easily be wrapped round the burning woman than an overcoa

oud of smoke and laughed a

, I'd have funked the whole thing, I suppose-jumping from that box onto the stage, and grabbing a lady in my arms, all in the open, as it were. But that wouldn't have been the natural man. The natural man that's in most of us, even when we're not very clever, do

en her to-

Jasmine for more than five minutes at a time, though hundreds of eager and avaricious eyes had singled him out for attention; and, as it seemed absurd that any one should build a palace in Park Lane to live in by himself, the glances sent in his direction from many quarters had not been without hopefulness. And there need not have been, and there was not, any loss

iving. So, to Stafford's mind, Byng was the more likely to be swept away on a sudden flood that would bear him out to the se

she has, with those full lips and the heavy eyebrows. Well, it was a bull in a china-shop, as you might judge-and thank you kindly, Mr. Byng, with such a jolly laugh, and ever and ever and ever so grateful and so wonderfully-thoughtful, I think, was the word, as though one had planned it all. And wouldn't I stay to breakfast? And not a bit stagey or actressy, and rather what you call an uncut diamon

licately and by inference only, to the lack of high refinement, to the want of fine fleur, in Al'mah's personality. It did not occur to him that Byng was the kind of man who would be comparing Jasmine's quite wonderful delicacy, perfumed grac

d had capacities for culture and attainment, as she had gifts of discernment and skill in thought, in marked contrast to the best of the ladies of their world. To him she had n

and then it had been too late to control her. The wonder was that she had turned out so well, that she had been so studious, so determined, so capable. Was it because she had unusual brain and insight into human nature, and had been wise and practical enough to see that there was a point where restraint must be applied, and so had kept h

s concerned. He had not heard her father's remark of the

they stood before the club-room fire. He could not help but see-he knew the envelope, and no other ha

t. It's a woman's hand. I wo

said to himself: "If Jasmine wanted to know w

ver whose face pas

s from Miss Grenfel-wants me to go and

sburg. Perhaps there are some waiting for me at my rooms. I'll go and see. I don't know why I didn't get news

e wouldn't like cablegrams and other things coming between you and her command-e

as, almost unknown to himself, a strange l

ble to tell her more, perhap

ing to see

at bay in a conga or balled up at a kopje." Thrusting the deli

ier to go where duty calls instead, since Byng takes my place. Why, she told me to come

eign Office, that's sure. France, Austria, Russia can spit out their venom now and look to their mobilizatio

; for he knew that this was the beginning of a