rd the station? In this horrible
place we women don't seem to count a bit. You all rush off after a lot
of stupid Afridis."

"Not quite all. An infantry regiment will come up from Pindi: and we
leave Paul's squadron behind. Just like his luck to be out of it, poor
old man. But six weeks will be gone in no time. This sort of thing is
part and parcel of our life up here. You're not going to fret about
it, Ladybird--are you?"

He turned her face gently towards him. To his astonishment eager
entreaty shone through her tears, and she caught his hand between her
own.

"No, Theo, I needn't fret, because--if somebody has to stay--it can
just as easily be you. You're married and Major Wyndham isn't."

Desmond stepped back a pace, incredulous anger in his eyes. "Evelyn!
Are you crazy? It's not the habit of British officers to sneak behind
their wives when they're wanted at the front. It comes hard on you:
but it's the price a woman pays for marrying a soldier and there's no
shirking it----"

For answer she clung to his hand, pressing it close against her heart.
Instinctively she understood the power of her weakness, and exercised
it to the full. Perhaps, also, an undefined fear of Kresney gave her
courage to persist; and the least mention of the man's name at that
instant might have averted many things.

"Only this time, please," she murmured, bringing the beseeching
softness of her eyes and lips very close to his set face. "You'll be
sorry afterwards if you leave me alone--just now."

"Why just now? Besides, you won't be alone. You will have Honor."

"Yes. But I want you. It has all been so lovely since Christmas.
Theo--darling,--I _can't_ let you go, and--and perhaps be killed by
those horrid Afridis. Every one knows how brave you are. They would
never think you shirked the fighting. And Major Wyndham would do
anything you asked him. Will you--_will_ you?"

Desmond's mouth hardened to a dogged line, and he drew a little away
from her; because her entreaty and the disturbing nearness of her face
made resistance harder than he dared allow her to guess.

"My dear little woman, you haven't the smallest notion what you are
asking of me. I never bargained for throwing up active service on your
account; and I'll not give the fellows a chance to insult you by
flinging marriage in my teeth."

"That means--you insist on going?"

"My dear--I can do nothing else."

She threw his hand from her with a choking sob.

"Very w