but the subjects to which they had devoted their lives, and explained to one another the recent advances that had been made in their own special departments. The naval men discussed the subtleties of tactics and strategy and the latest instruments of destruction and defence, while Dr. Houghton entertained his own immediate neighbours with an account of the recent researches of the Sirian professors.
Lieutenant Alec Brandon sat next to Flora, and for a time both took part in the learned arguments that were going on around them; then they drifted into a species of conversation that was more congenial to the relation which existed between them.
Dinner over, coffee and more wines were served in the drawing-rooms, and Alec Brandon and his sweetheart set out for the theatre, leaving the other guests dispersed all over the grounds enjoying various kinds of intellectual food. They had arranged to walk part of the way, as
