The Major was not to remain many days in Darjeeling, but Noreen hoped that
he would give her much of his spare time while there. She was disappointed,
however, to find that although he was frequently in her and Ida's company
at the Amusement Club or elsewhere, he made no effort to compete with
Charlesworth or Melville or any other man who sought to monopolise her, but
drew back and allowed him to have a clear field while he himself seemed
content to talk to Mrs. Smith. At first she was hurt. He was her friend,
not Ida's. But he never sought to be alone with her, never asked her to
ride with him, or do anything that would take her away from the others.
Then she grew piqued. If he did not value her society he should see that
others did, and she suddenly grew more gracious to Charlesworth, who seemed
to sense in Dermot a more dangerous rival than was Melville or any of the
others and began to be more openly devoted and to put more meaning into his
intentions.
One hateful night when she had been with Charlesworth to a private dance to
which Ida had refused to go, dining instead with Dermot, who had no
invitation to the affair, the blow fell. After her return to the hotel her
treacherous friend had crept into her room, weeping and imploring her
sympathy. Too late, she sobbed on Noreen's shoulder, she had found her
soul-mate, the man destined for her through the past aeons, the one man who
could make her happy and whose existence she alone could complete.
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