abruptly wheeled and came back to her.  “I didn’t come here to distress you,” he said, looking down at her again.  “I know your cup is full already.  And it’s a thankless task to persuade any woman that her husband is unworthy of her, besides being an impertinence.  But what I must say to you is this.  There is nothing left to wait for, and it would be sheer madness to stay on any longer.  The Rajah has been deeply incriminated and is in hiding.  The Government will of course take over the direction of affairs, but there is certain—­absolutely certain—­to be a disturbance when Ermsted’s murderer is executed.  I hope an adequate force will soon be at our disposal to cope with it, but it has not yet been provided.  Therefore I cannot possibly permit you to stay here any longer.  As Monck’s wife, it is more than likely that you might be made an object of vengeance.  I can’t risk it.  You and the child must go.  I will send an escort in the morning.”

He stopped at last, partly for lack of breath, partly because from her unmoved expression he fancied that she was not taking in his warning words.  She sat looking straight before her as one rapt in reverie.  It was almost as though she had forgotten him, suffered some more absorbing matter to crowd him out of her thoughts.

“You do follow me?” he questioned at length as she did not speak.

She lifted her eyes to him again though he felt it was with a great effort.  “Oh, yes,” she said.  “I quite understand you, Colonel Mansfield.  And—­I am quite grateful to you.  But I am not staying here for my husband’s sake at all.  I—­do not suppose we shall ever see each other any more.  All that is over.”

He started.  “What!  You have given him up?” he said, uttering the words almost involuntarily, so quiet was she in her despair.

She bent her head.  “Yes, I have given him up.  I do not know where he is—­or anything about him.  I am staying here now—­I must stay here now—­for my baby’s sake.  He is too ill to bear a journey.”

She lifted her face again with the words, and in its pale resolution he saw that he would spend himself upon further argument in vain.  Moreover, he was for the moment too staggered by the low-spoken information to concentrate his attention upon persuasion.  Her utter quietness silenced him.

He stood for a moment or two looking down at her, then abruptly bent and took her hand.  “You’re a very brave woman,” he said, a quick touch of feeling in his voice.  “You’ve had a fiendish time of it out here from start to finish.  It’ll be a good thing for you when you can get out of it and go Home.  You’re young; you’ll start again.”

It was clumsy consolation, but his hand-grip was fatherly.  She smiled again at him, and got up.

“Thank you very much, Colonel.  You have always been kind.  Please don’t bother about me any more.  I am really not a bit afraid.  I have too much to think about.  And really I don’t think I am important enough to be in any real danger.  You will excuse me now, won’t you?  I have just got a new ayah, and they always need superintending.  Perhaps you will join my brother-in-law.  I know he will be delighted.”