Publisher's Synopsis
Adam Melfort began his new life in a kind of daze. The stone walls which made his prisondid not circumscribe him, for he was living in a far narrower enclosure of the mind. Thedismal fare, the monotonous routine were scarcely noticed: he was allowed books, but henever opened them; visitors were permitted on certain days, but he did not welcome them, and the few who came-a cousin, a brother officer or two, Christopher Stannix-found aman who seemed to have lost interest in the outer world and had no need of consolation.His wife was not among these visitors.The truth was, that ever since the tragedy Adam's mind had been busied with a problem ofconduct. He believed that he had acted rightly, but doubt intervened with maddeningiteration, and a thousand times he had to set the facts in order and review his decision.It was a long story which he had to recount to himself and it involved a stern inquisitioninto his past. Much he could pass lightly over-fortunately, for the recollection was likeopening graves.... His boyhood, for example, the intricate, exciting world of school, theshining months of holiday on Eilean Bàn-the pictures which crowded on him were almosttoo hard a trial for his fortitude.... Sandhurst was easier, for there he had entered manhoodand begun the life which had now shipwrecked. There the vague dreams of boyhood hadhardened into a very clear purpose which absorbed all his interests, and for which hebelieved that he had a special talent. Military problems fascinated him, and he had the kindof brain, half-mathematical, half-imaginative, which they demand. There is no higherpleasure in life than to discover in youth a clear aptitude and to look forward to a lifetimeto be spent in its development. He had been very serious about the business, and hadprided himself on keeping mind and body in perfect discipline, for at the back of his headhe had a vision of a time coming when every atom of his power would be requisitioned. Hefelt himself dedicated to a cause far higher than personal success. But this success hadcome to him-at Sandhurst, in his regiment, at the Staff College. Adam had little vanity, buthe could not be insensitive to the opinion of his colleagues, and that opinion had, beyonddoubt, marked him out for high achievement.
