THE WAGES OF VIRTUE

CONTENTS

Prologue

1. Soap and Sir Montague Merline

2. A Barrack-Room of the Legion

3. Carmelita et Cie

4. The Canteen of the Legion

5. The Trivial Round

6. Le Cafard and Other Things

7. The Sheep in Wolf's Clothing

8. The Temptation of Sir Montague Merline

9. The Café and the Canteen

10. The Wages of Sin

11. Greater Love...

Epilogue

PROLOGUE

Lord Huntingten emerged from his little green tent, and strolled over to where Captain Strong, of the Queen's African Rifles, sat in the "drawing-room." The drawing-room was the space under a cedar fir and was furnished with four Roorkee chairs of green canvas and white wood, and a waterproof ground-sheet.

"I do wish the Merlines would roll up," he said. "I want my dinner."

"Not dinner time yet," remarked Captain Strong. "Hungry?"

"No," answered Lord Huntingten almost snappishly. Captain Strong smiled. How old Reggie Huntingten always gave himself away! It was the safe return of Lady Merline that he wanted.

Captain Strong, although a soldier, the conditions of whose life were almost those of perpetual Active Service, was a student--and particularly a student of human nature. Throughout a life of great activity he found, and made, much opportunity for sitting in the stalls of the Theatre of Life and enjoying the Human Comedy. This East African