"Go on!" she cried with impatience.
"How would you like to go to India with me?"
"With you?"
"Yes"—he dropped his basket, snatched hers from her grasp and flung it to the ground. Now he was holding both her hands. "Yes, with me, Stella—as my wife!"
Had the old red-brick walls of the garden fallen flat around her she could hardly have felt more astounded. Involuntarily she wrenched her hands free, clasped them behind her, backed away from him.
He advanced upon her. "Now, now, little girl, what is the matter? Isn't it all quite simple? You told me yourself there was no one here you could marry, didn't you? And now here is someone who wants you, who will take you to India and give you everything in the world you could wish for——"
"I'm—I'm so surprised!"
It was just what silly Ellen Carrington had said; damn it all, couldn't the child understand that she was being given the chance of her lifetime!
"Come, come—isn't it a pleasant surprise?"
She grew white, then red. "I never thought of such a thing!" she exclaimed, in agitated apology.