'That's because I come alone,' he thought, and something more than his
vanity was hurt.

The recitation reached its climax. Darby and Joan, quarrelling through
nineteen stanzas as to whether they had been disturbed by a rat or a
mouse, discovered in the twentieth that the animal was a ball of wool.
The company sighed their relief in a murmur of thanks, and Mallinson
crossed the room to the window.

'And Captain Drake?' Clarice asked as she gave him her hand. The
disappointment in her voice irritated him, and he answered with a sharp
petulance.

'He's not a captain really, you know.'

The girl glanced at him in surprise.

'I mean,' he went on, answering the glance, 'Of course he held the rank
over there. But a captain in Matanga!' He shrugged his shoulders. 'There
are more honourable titles.'

'Still I asked you to bring him. You got my note, I suppose?' Her manner
signified a cold request for an explanation.

'I couldn't,' he replied shortly.

'You mean you did not think it worth while to take enough trouble to
find him.'

'No; that's not the reason. In fact I dined with him to-night, but I saw