"Perhaps. But I've no use for hill stations."
"Rotten places," said Maud. "I know I shall be bored to death at Surima."
"Not likely," scoffed Robert. "You!"
Mrs. Matthews felt she had perhaps made a false step. "Oh! I've no doubt I shall have a good time after a fashion. I always make the most of circumstances, and luckily I have a head if I haven't much heart! I can take care of myself anywhere. Look here," she went on boldly, "would you think of entrusting Stella to me? I should like a companion, and there's plenty of room in the house I have taken. Directly you can get leave you could join us for a bit, and that would be ripping!"
He hesitated, gnawed his lip, said grumpily: "It's rather a tall order!"
"Why? It would do Stella all the good in the world. I'm certain she'd come back a different creature. You'd never repent it. What could be worse for you than the silly state she has got into?"
"That's true," he admitted; and she played on his vanity and his self-commiseration until he had promised to think over her proposal.
Maud returned from the ride in the sure and certain hope that she had triumphed.