accompanied him, and soon after Mrs. Baird was also called
away. Quite unexpectedly Heideck and Edith Irwin found themselves alone.

For a few moments neither spoke, as though neither wished to give
expression to the feelings that filled their hearts. The young wife
first broke silence.

"You were intending to go with us into the field, Mr. Heideck, and I
know that your decision was prompted by a desire to assist us women with
your protection. But now all the arrangements are altered, and I beg of
you to abandon your intention."

He looked at her surprisedly. "What, Mrs. Irwin? do you intend to
deprive me of the pleasure I had looked forward to of accompanying you,
and being your protector? And why?"

"You also have just heard that all the arrangements are altered. Had we
gone to Quetta, then, as soon as our army had crossed the frontier, you
would have been easily able to find another place; but if the battle
takes place on Indian soil you will find yourself in constant danger."

"In my quality as foreigner? Certainly. I should, under the
circumstances, be exposed to much unpleasantness, but before I change my
plans, I should like to hear from you if you, too, intend to remain with
the troops under these altered conditions?"

"Since Mrs. Baird has given me permission to accompany her, yes."

"And you believe that I shall show less courage than you, who will also
certainly be exposed to serious risks?"

"How could I doubt your courage, Mr. Heideck? But that is, after all,
something quite different. The place of us soldiers' wives is at the
side of our husbands, whom we have followed to India. And, moreover, we
are, perhaps, nowhere safer than with the army. But you have no concern
with this war and with our army. If you, now, were to leave here to take
up your quarters in one of the hill stations far from the seat of war,
and where you were not exposed to the risks of battle and the plague,
you would be certainly allowed, as a German merchant, to remain there
unmolested."

"And why do you not yourself go to such a hill station, Mrs. Irwin? I
should suggest Simla, if it were not so near to the seat of war. But
do, pray, go to Poona, or into one of the other mountain stations in the
south."

The young lady shook her head.

"I expect that that would be going straight to destruction."

"And what, may I ask, makes you think this?"

"I have already told you that in case of war English women are, here
in India,