“But, Cheetah! How can you leave your spotless leopard? You would howl in the lonely jungle!” “Possibly I shall. But I am going.” “Then I shall come.” “No.” He considered her reasons. “You see you are not interested.” “But I am.” “Not as I am. You would turn it all into a jolly holiday. You don't want to see things as I want to do. You want romance. All the world is a show for you. As a show I can't endure it. I want to lay hands on it.” “But, Cheetah!” she said, “this is separation.” “You will have your life here. And I shall come back.” “But, Cheetah! How can we be separated?” “We are separated,” he said. Her eyes became round with astonishment. Then her face puckered. “Cheetah!” she cried in a voice of soft distress, “I love you. What do you mean?” And she staggered forward, tear-blinded, and felt for his neck and shoulders, so that she might weep in his arms.... 5 “Don't say we are separated,” she whispered, putting her still wet face close to his. “No. We're mates,” he answered softly, with his arm about her. “How could we ever keep away from each uvver?” she whispered. He was silent. “How COULD we?” He answered aloud. “Amanda,” he said, “I mean to go round the world.” She disentangled herself from his arm and sat up beside him. “What is to become of me,” she asked suddenly in a voice of despair, “while you go round the world? If you desert me in London,” she said, “if you shame me by deserting me in London-- If you leave me, I will never forgive you, Cheetah! Never.” Then in an almost breathless voice, and as if she spoke to herself, “Never in all my days.” 6 It was after that that Amanda began to talk about children. There was nothing involuntary about Amanda. “Soon,” she said, “we must begin to think of children. Not just now, but a little later. It's good to travel and have our fun, but life is unreal until there are children in the background. No woman is really content until she is a mother....” And for nearly a fortnight nothing more was said about that solitary journey round the world.