"I wonder?" she echoed meditatively. "How I should like to see your gorgeous East! but of course I never shall. Please give my love to India!"
"Yes; the instant I sight Colaba light, if you will give me something in return."
"What is it?"
"Your photograph," was the bold reply.
"Oh, but really, I never give that to any one," she answered rather stiffly.
"In Europe, no. But I am going ten thousand miles away. Do grant me this favour—it will be a talisman to summon happy memories in a foreign land."
"But I know you will stick me in a row with forty other girls," she objected, with a smile.
"I will not," he rejoined, with prompt vehemence, "never—I swear it." A pause, and he reiterated his request. "Will you?" he pleaded, sinking his voice to a half-whisper.
"I will see," she replied, "and now I really must return to auntie and carry her off to bed. I am trying to coax her to keep early hours, and she is as fractious as a little girl of six."
Malcolm Haig having mentally consigned Madame to the bed of the Red Sea, reluctantly turned towards the Casino, and as they passed near some great trees he halted abruptly and said: