"But who says you are sponging?" demanded Mallender.
"Oh, everyone—Mrs. Fiske,—Mrs. Wylie,—Mrs. Wylie makes remarks, that burn and sting. She laughs, and is so scornful, and superior, and talks of sponges from the servants' hall, and asks for the address of my tailor and dressmaker? She drives me nearly frantic,—though I say nothing. I have tried desperately hard to leave Hooper's Gardens; I've written to people, and implored them to take me as unpaid maid, or nurse—no one wants me, and I have no money. I gave my last two rupees to an old woman to buy me that stuff you have in your hand—I said it was for a dog—but of course she guesses—natives are always so sharp. Then I made up my mind to take it out here—as it will make less fuss afterwards—than if I—did it indoors; and long ago a girl did drown herself in this tank. So, you see," suddenly springing to her feet, "there is nothing else for it. We must all go some time! and—I really am not wanted in the world. I feel ever so brave now. Please let me have my little phial again, it will be the truest kindness, and do you go away,—and—and come back in half an hour."
"You know, I shall do nothing of the sort," he rejoined angrily. "Do you think I am mad, too? Listen to me, Miss Sim: how much will it cost you to take you home?"
"Oh, ever so much; even a second-class, would be thirty pounds."
"Well now, look here, I can let you have a hundred. Honestly, I'm pretty well off, and you can pay me back any time—say in twenty years. How will that be?"
Miss Sim's lips were trembling, her eyes never left his face, as he was speaking. At last, she said:
"Oh, Captain Mallender,—how could I accept it?"
"At once, since you ask me, and the sooner you make a start the better. Let me see; the mail comes in on Tuesday—you can pretend your people have written, and asked you to return 'Ek Dum,' as they say out here."
"Well, at any rate I have not much to pack," she exclaimed hysterically, "and thirty pounds will be ample—why, it is the price of my life!"
"Don't talk melodramatic rot!" he rejoined impatiently. "You want a pull up, and I'm here, to lend a hand. You must have a hundred; you say you owe money, your passage will be at least fifty, you will require warm clothes, and cash in hand. You cannot manage on less."