"
She told herself desperately that she must say something--something
ordinary, something of no account, before a power outside herself forced
her to utter words which would lead to horror incalculable.
Speaking in such a loud discordant voice that Timmy quickly moved back a
step or two, she exclaimed: "I was not going to tell anybody yet--but as
you seem so anxious to know my plans, I will tell you a secret, Timmy.
I _am_ going to India after all! A splendid strong man, an officer and a
gentleman who would have won the V.C. ten times over in any other war,
and who would _kill_ anyone who ever said a word against me, has asked me
to be his wife, and to go out to India very, very soon."
"And have you said you will?" he asked.
"Of course I have."
"And will you be married soon?" went on her inquisitor.
"Yes, very soon," she cried hysterically. "As soon as possible!"
"Then you will have to leave Beechfield."
She told herself with a kind of passionate rage that the child had no
right to ask her such a silly, obvious question, and yet she answered at
once: "Of course I shall leave Beechfield."
"And you will never come back?"
"I shall never, _never_ come back.
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