The Lamp in the Desert

in the burnished coils of her hair. Her face was bent over the long white gloves that she was pulling over her wrists, a pale face that y

of youth to an almost dazzling degree! Perhaps it was not altogether surprising that the ladies of the regiment had not been too enthusiastic in their welcome of this sister of Tommy's who had come so suddenly into their midst, defying convention. Her adven

ty and fifty pounds a year, decided to quit the home of some distant relatives who did not want her and join Tommy who was the only near relation she had, had satisfied no one. She was an interloper, and as such they united to treat her. As Lady Harriet said, no nice girl would have dreamed of taking such an extraordinary step, and she had not the small

d they could not for his sake entirely exclude her from the regimental society, but to no intimate gathering

nd in a very short time they were paying her homage as one man. The subalterns who had shared their quarters with Tommy turned out to make room for her, treating her like a queen suddenly come into

it, but there was pride in Stella-a pride that surged and rebel

p was the wound that their barely-veiled hostility had inflicted. In bitterness of soul she hid it from all the world, a

ery strangely that belief hurt her even more deeply, in a subtle, incomprehensible fashion, than any slights inflicted by her own sex. Possibly Tommy's warm enthusiasm for the man had made her more sensitive regarding

r out. Perhaps he had better things to do. Aloof, impenetrable, cold, he passed her by, and she would have been even

she kept a brave heart and never faltered, she had tired inevitably of the perpetual effort it entailed. Three weeks after her arrival, when the annual ex

, caring little whether she returned his devotion so long as he ultimately took possession. And when finally, half-disdainfully, she yielded to his insistence, his one all-mastering thought became to clinch the ba

their shoulders over him, and the commanding officer, Colonel Mansfield, had been heard to call him "the craziest madman it had ever been his fate to meet." No one, except Tommy, actively disliked him, and he had no grounds for so doing, as Monck had pointed

friendship between them. Each had been accustomed to go his own way wholly independent of the other. They were no more than casual acquaintances, and they were content to remain such. But undoubtedly Dacre entertained a ce

-hearted admiration, and at his earnest wish it had been arranged between them that Monck should take up his abode with him when the forthcoming marriage had

since Stella's arrival, and Tommy meant to keep it so.

panionship was the sole redeeming feature of the whole affair, and he turne

cked all speech for the moment. He was looking straight up at the lighted window and the face of a beautiful woman who gazed forth into the nigh

so much as a moment. And Monck mo

s ready and wa

l who sat by the open window rose with a stat

time over toasts at mess to-night. Yours was one of 'em, and I had to reply. I hadn't a notion wh

o every stutter," said Monck, bowing sl

scarf of Indian gauze floating about her. Her neck and shoul

So you have started upon your official duties already!" she said. "It is the

ld back all intrusive curiosity. And the man's answering s

duous in that respect," he said. "I

she said. "Won't you

her invitation was wholly lacking in warmth. It wa

right. It's getting infernally hot. Ste

ery lucky,"

d room, and Tommy went

sit down?"

while she returned with apparent absorption to the fastening of her gloves. She spoke again af

e idea," s

said. "No doubt he will be a good deal happier with

why he should

y sojourn here has not been-a great success. I think poor T

of that in my compa

k he will not be sorry to be relieved of family

rry to lose yo

She looked up at him suddenly. "You will all be rather th

s looked straight back into hers while it lasted,

should say that, Miss Denvers

She was breathing somewhat hard, yet her

e respectable portion of the community," she made careless reply.

and something in him that was fierce and unrestrained sprang up to mee

said. "But that fact scarcely makes me in any sense

ppealed to me to be one of a crowd. I like independence-whatever the crowd may say. But I am quite

tudied the subj

be expressed. The whole soul of him shrank with an almost angry repugnance from di

her chair, stretching up her arms as if weary of the matter. "In f

nck's eyes watched it with a grim concentration. Stella's were half-closed. She seemed to

e and fallen dazed upon the table. Almost in the same second Monck stoope

ath. Her eyes were wide

d you d

ring gleam in his eyes. "It was o

you he

ng-drawn-out agonie

act of mercy, was it? You didn't look particularly merciful. In fac

d forward. He saw that her bosom was heaving. "That is your prerogative, isn't it?" she said.

e look of a man who has been stabbed in the back. T

smiling, and there was a red flush in he

ce-all night long. Every officer in the

ecked one impulse, but even to his enduranc

ou give

rely in the eyes. "

ten dance," he said. "I wasn't going to dance to-ni

ystal clearness. There was somethi

Because you have wronged me,

spoke the words slowly, st

strongly urged him. "I am not one of your persecutors," he said. "I

the mastery. They stood facing each other in what might have b

lapse of seconds. She

et me think so? Why did

yes were shining with the light half-eager, hal

if the soul of him gave utterance to the words.

her fan, but still her shining eyes did not flinch

his reply. "I was waiting

hands; she cast it from her with a

oul. "I was a fool, of course, and I am quite aware that my foolishness is no

stood there bending slightly forward, as one who strains

other room near by there came the sound of Tommy

ain went out of her attitude and she drooped against the woo

at they were intended to do so. He suffered them

, and at last Monck turned from her. He picked up the broken fan, and with

mmovable as gra

and in a moment the door was flung open.

ass of a khit had cleared off and left us nothing to drink. Stella, we shal

ned from the window and moved forward.

coming with us,

ly. "Really? I say, Monck, I'

ers for me, Tommy!" he said. "And you had better not be too genero

t. Have some lime-juice! You will have to d

he put it to his own lips and drank as a man drinks to a memory. "No," he said then. "I

?" questi

s, half-defiant. "It isn't given to every woman to dance at her own funeral,"

, flushing. "I hate to he

h at the vagaries of a child. "Poor Tommy

in arms than a cynic