Had he been his younger brother Gerald, he would probably have fulfilled the Pendyce tradition, and passed into the Army as a matter of course.

And had Gerald (now Captain Pendyce) been George the elder son, he might possibly have failed.

George lived at his club in town on an allowance of six hundred a year, and sat a great deal in a bay-window reading Ruff's "Guide to the Turf." He raised his eyes from the menu and looked stealthily round.

Helen Bellew was talking to his father, her white shoulder turned a little away.

George was proud of his composure, but there was a strange longing in his face.