“Yes, I know,” I replied, “Dolly Dane has just told me. The whole station is reeling from the shock. For my own part I feel as if I were dreaming.”
“Wake up then,” he said sharply, “you must get out of this at once. I’d a letter from Vesey two days ago and I have been travelling hard ever since. It appears that when he was calling here he recognised Mrs. Hayes-Billington as Mrs. de Lacy, a notorious divorcée. Four years ago her case was the scandal of the whole Punjab, and here she is, in another region, and under another name, doing the respectable matron and chaperoning my sister. It’s a pretty awful debut for you, Evie!”
“Somehow I cannot believe it,” I broke in. “I’ve had such a happy time, and Mrs. Hayes-Billington has always been so kind to me, so careful of appearances, and——”
“Just a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” interrupted my brother, “a regular bad lot! De Lacy was a political agent, and she, as Mrs. de Lacy, was celebrated for her extraordinary good looks and her extravagant love affairs. You must get your things packed and be ready to start with me to-morrow morning at nine o’clock. I have ordered the same tonga. Just put a few things together—your heavy baggage and the ayah can follow.”
“But to where? Where are you taking me?”
“Why, to Secunderabad, of course. As soon as I got Vesey’s letter and had pulled myself together, I dashed over to the colonel’s wife and showed it to her. She said at once that you must come to her. Yes, she really is a thundering good sort. Later on a captain’s quarters, near to the C.O.’s, will be vacant, and there you and I can set up house. It will be made a special case, and she has undertaken to talk over the old man.”
“Oh, how delightful, Ronnie!” I exclaimed. “What a piece of good fortune!”
“Yes, rather,” he assented emphatically. “It looks as if your presentiment were likely to come off.”
“What am I to say to Mrs. Hayes-Billington?” I asked after a pause.
“Is she up, and visible?”