"What do you mean, Nick?"
"Nothing—nothing!" said Nick. "I was just demonstrating my foolishness, that's all."
Whereat she laughed again in a somewhat doubtful key, and asked no more.
CHAPTER V
THE EVERLASTING CHAIN
It was a very thoughtful face that met Nick at the breakfast table on the following morning. But Nick's greeting was as airy as usual. He made no comments and asked no questions.
The day was Sunday, a perfect day of Indian winter, cloudless and serene. The tamarisks in the compound waved their pink spikes to the sun, and in the palm-trees behind them bright-eyed squirrels dodged and flirted. A line of cypresses bounded the garden, and the sky against which they stood was an ardent blue.
"What is the programme for to-day?" said Nick, when the meal was nearly over.
Olga leaned her chin on her hand, and looked across at him. "Shall you go to church, Nick?"
The cantonments boasted a small church and a visiting chaplain who held one service in it every Sunday.