“That is for them to decide. Give them their choice, any way. I guess if they won’t go, they won’t; but let ’em have the chance.” Stimulated by the equitable spirit displayed by Mr Hicks, Stratford broached the subject to the ladies during tiffin, and was not surprised to find that they received it with most ungrateful scorn. Lady Haigh simply expressed her determination to remain with Sir Dugald at all hazards (a resolution which Mr Hicks, in a talk with Stratford afterwards, unfeelingly likened to that of Mrs Micawber), and Georgia refused with much emphasis to desert her patient. To the no small amusement of Mr Hicks, he discovered, from a piece of by-play which attracted his notice, that Dick, once fully assured that she would not go, was disposed to suggest, with an air of superior wisdom, that it might be wiser if she did. “You know, Georgie,” pathetically, “that I should feel ever so much happier if I knew you were in safety.” “My dear Dick,” solemnly, “nothing would induce me to go, under any circumstances.” “Not if I told you that it was my wish?” tenderly. “If you are wise, Dick, you won’t attempt to bring into play in this case any authority you may imagine that you possess,” warningly; “nor in any other case in creation, either,” interjected Mr Hicks, _sotto voce_. Thus it happened that Mr Hicks started on his journey alone, and that the ladies formed part of the procession which filed out of the Khemistan gate of Kubbet-ul-Haj about a week later. A comfortable litter, carried by two mules, had been procured for Sir Dugald, but only the household servants were aware of the nature of his illness, or knew how completely it incapacitated him for ordinary life, and Ismail Bakhsh and his subordinates formed a bodyguard round the litter. It was their business to keep any idea of the truth from reaching the camel-men and mule-drivers, who were regarded with a certain amount of suspicion on account of their long separation from the rest of the party. One or two of the servants who had originally accompanied the Mission from Khemistan had died during the interval; several, according to the testimony of their jailers, had succeeded in making their escape, and the places of these had been filled up by Ethiopians, so that it was just as well to allow them to imagine that although the terrible Envoy was so ill as to be unable to mount his horse, and must be carried in a litter like a woman, yet he still directed the course of affairs, and gave orders which Stratford merely carried into effect. Jahan Beg accompanied the travellers for the first few miles of their journey, and parted from them on the crest of a rise from which the first view of Kubbet-ul-Haj could be obtained by those approaching the city.