18 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 



self, she evinced a true British matron-like contempt 



for every other woman not so supremely fortunate. 



She talked a great deal about "the haven of a 

 good man's love." One might sail the seas a long time, 

 I think, before one made such a port. Meanwhile the 

 good lady's own haven, the elderly shikari, was flirting 

 with the big drum of the celebrated ladies' orchestra 

 at the Aden tea-house. 



" All human beans," for this is what our friend got 

 the word to, as she was right in the forefront of the 

 ^-dropping craze, " should marry. It is too lonely to 

 live by oneself." 



Until one has been married long enough to appre- 

 ciate the delight and blessedness of solitude this may 

 be true, but wise people don't dogmatise on so big a 

 subject. Even Socrates told us that whether a man 

 marries or whether he doesn't he regrets it. And so it 

 would almost follow that if one never jumped the 

 precipice matrimonial one would always have the 

 lurking haunting fear of having been done out of 

 something good. It may be as well, therefore, to 

 take the header in quite youthful days and — get it 

 over. But as the wise Cecily pertinently remarks, 

 you must first catch your hare ! 



The other shooting party was that of two officers 

 from India, one of them a distant cousin of mine, who 

 was as much surprised to see me as I was to see him. 

 They were setting off to Berbera as soon as humanly 

 possible, like ourselves. 



The younger man, my kinsman, took a great fancy 

 to Cecily. At least I suppose he did, in spite of her 



