hem, and for a very
good price into the bargain. Of course this won't last for ever,
because by degrees other people will get their own stock, but luckily
the plant is a slow grower, and meantime they are obliged to come to me,
and I have the monopoly of the market. So my travels have turned out
more of a success in a monetary sense than I expected, and I am
beginning to realise that a man who understands botany, and who has also
a love for roaming about forbidden lands, may discover unknown
treasures, and do well for himself by bringing them home. It is a happy
discovery for me, for I have no chance in the beaten lines, and it will
be a solution of many difficulties if I can make a little money in this
way."

"You will go away, you mean? You will leave England and go abroad?"
queried Peggy, with a feeling that the foundations of the earth were
giving way beneath her, and that life itself was a delusion, since, at a
moment's notice, the pillar of strength on which she had depended above
all others could calmly announce its own purpose of withdrawal. "Do you
mean that you will settle there altogether, and never come home any
more?" She was under the impression that she had put the question in a
calm and impersonal manner, but in reality there was a wistful tremor in
the voice which Rob was quick to catch.

"I shall be able to answer that question better later on, Mariquita," he
said quietly. "It depends on--circumstances! But, so far as I can see,
these journeys must form an important part of my life; I must come and
go, and as there will necessarily be a certain amount of danger
involved, you needn't speak of it in public at present. It will be time
enough to tell the others, when I am about to start, for they will then
have so much less time to worry. I tell you now because--because I
always _did_ tell you all my plans, I suppose. It's an old habit."

"And you know that I am too sensible to worry. I promise to be duly
anxious when the time comes, but I really can't agitate myself about
lions' jaws in an English lane, or feel apprehensive of any more savage
assault, than we shall receive at the vicarage if you persist in
dawdling along at this rate! It's very kind of you to make an exception
in my favour, but it's an honour I could have done very well without.
It's a poor thing, I must say, to come home from India, and have old
friends begging you to settle down among them, and then immediately
turning r