“Now, no coming between them!” said Dick warningly, and Georgia laughed. “I trust it won’t be necessary,” she said. A week later she happened to be again sitting alone in the drawing-room, busy with the fine white work on which she expended so many hours and such loving care at this time, when Dick came in. To her astonishment, he was in uniform, and laid his sword upon the table by the door as he entered. “Why, Dick, you are not going to Nalapur with the Commissioner after all?” she cried. “Burgrave can’t go, and I have to hold the durbar instead.” “But how--what----?” “It seems that he had a fearful blow-up with Tighe this morning, after taking it for granted all along that he would be allowed to leave off his splints and go. Tighe absolutely howled at the idea, told him that in moving from this house to his own he had jarred the knee so badly as to throw himself back for a week, and that the splints must stay on for some time yet. Of course he can’t ride in them, and to take him through the mountains in a doolie would be madness.” “I wondered at his being allowed to ride so soon,” said Georgia, “but I thought Dr Tighe must have found him better than we expected. Of course I haven’t seen the knee for some time lately. But did he tell you what the object of the durbar was?” “He did. It is just what we thought it would be, Georgie.” “Nonsense!” cried Georgia sharply. “As if you would go to Nalapur in that case! Are you joking, Dick?” His set face brought conviction slowly to her mind. “You are not joking, and yet you came home, and got ready, just as if you meant to hold the durbar, and never told me!” she cried. “I do mean to hold the durbar,” said Dick. She sat stunned, and he went on: “I thought I wouldn’t tell you till the last moment, because I knew how you would feel about it, and I didn’t want to worry you more than could be helped.” “To worry me!” she repeated. “And yet you come here and try to tease me with this absurd, impossible story? You are not going.” Dick looked her straight in the face. “But I am,” he said. “But you said you would resign first.” “I must resign afterwards, that’s all. There are some things a man can’t do, Georgie, and one is to desert in the face of the enemy.” “But it’s wrong--dishonourable!” “It’s got to be done, and Burgrave has managed to engineer matters so that I have to do it. I talked about resigning, and he said very huffily that he wasn’t the person to receive my resignation, which is quite true. He anticipates danger, I can see, for he tells me he has had information that Bahram Khan has some sort of plot on hand, and do you expect me to hang back after that?” “I never thought you would care what people said. If it’s right to resign, do it, and let them say what they like.” “If I wasn’t a soldier I would, but I have no choice.” “No choice between right and wrong?”