“And bring back Durnovo with you.”

Jack Meredith looked up with a vague smile.

“That man,” he said lightly, “is going to the Plateau if I have to drag him there by the scruff of the neck.”

And he believed that he was thinking of the expedition only.

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CHAPTER XVI. WAR

Who, when they slash and cut to pieces,
Do so with civilest addresses.

There is no power so subtle and so strong as that of association. We have learnt to associate mustard with beef, and therefore mustard shall be eaten with beef until the day when the lion shall lie down with the lamb.

Miss Millicent Chyne became aware, as the year advanced towards the sere and yellow leaf, that in opposing her wayward will in single combat against a simple little association in the public mind she was undertaking a somewhat herculean task.

Society—itself an association—is the slave of a word, and society had acquired the habit of coupling the names of Sir John Meredith and Lady Cantourne. They belonged to the same generation; they had similar tastes; they were both of some considerable power in the world of leisured pleasure; and, lastly, they amused each other. The result is not far to seek. Wherever the one was invited, the other was considered to be in demand; and Millicent found herself face to face with a huge difficulty.