“There is no reason,” she said, “why you should not call this house home.”

“N-no reason.  Thank you.  I will—­for a few days.”

“No reason, dear,” she insisted.  “We are your own people; we are all you have, Phil!—­the children adore you already; Austin—­you know what he thinks of you; and—­and I—­”

“You are very kind, Ninette.”  He sat partly turned from her, staring at the sunny window.  Presently he slid his hand back along the bed-covers until it touched and tightened over hers.  And in silence she raised it to her lips.

They remained so for a while, he still partly turned from her, his perplexed and narrowing gaze fixed on the window, she pressing his clenched hand to her lips, thoughtful and silent.

“Before Austin comes,” he said at length, “let’s get the thing over—­and buried—­as long as it will stay buried.”

“Yes, dear.”

“Well, then—­then—­” but his throat closed tight with the effort.

“Alixe is here,” she said gently; “did you know it?”

He nodded.

“You know, of course, that she’s married Jack Ruthven?”

He nodded again.

“Are you on leave, Phil, or have you really resigned?”

“Resigned.”

“I knew it,” she sighed.

He said:  “As I did not defend the suit I couldn’t remain in the service.  There’s too much said about us, anyway—­about us who are appointed from civil life.  And then—­to have that happen!”

“Phil?”

“What?”

“Will you answer me one thing?”

“Yes, I guess so.”

“Do you still care for—­her?”

“I am sorry for her.”

After a painful silence his sister said:  “Could you tell me how it began, Phil?”

“How it began?  I don’t know that, either.  When Bannard’s command took the field I went with the scouts.  Alixe remained in Manila.  Ruthven was there for Fane, Harmon & Co.  That’s how it began, I suppose; and it’s a rotten climate for morals; and that’s how it began.”

“Only that?”

“We had had differences.  It’s been one misunderstanding after another.  If you mean was I mixed up with another woman—­no!  She knew that.”

“She was very young, Phil.”

He nodded:  “I don’t blame her.”

“Couldn’t anything have been done?”

“If it could, neither she nor I did it—­or knew how to do it, I suppose.  It went wrong from the beginning; it was founded on froth—­she had been engaged to Harmon, and she threw him over for ‘Boots’ Lansing.  Then I came along—­Boots behaved like a thoroughbred—­that is all there is to it—­inexperience, romance, trouble—­a quick beginning, a quick parting, and two more fools to give the lie to civilization, and justify the West Pointers in their opinions of civil appointees.”

“Try not to be so bitter, Phil; did you know she was going before she left Manila?”