"Strange she said nothing about it! We were talking about you, only yesterday."

"She didn't know, even then, that I was so imminent," Ethel answered. "I took her quite by surprise, at the last."

"A surprise all around, then," he said, with a boyish laugh. "I was astonished to find Miss Mellen here, and you must have been equally astonished to find me. If only Captain Frazer would appear, our old quartette would be complete."

"I am afraid we must get on without him," she said lightly.

"Unfortunately, yes. I wonder where he is."

"In Cape Town," she replied unexpectedly.

"Really? What is he doing there?"

"Don't expect me to tell. It has something to do with a staff; but whether he carries it, or becudgels recruits with it, I have no idea at all."