"Robert, I want to talk to you about Johanna."
"I guess what it is," said he, smiling; "you would like her to go out to India with us. Certainly, if she chooses. I hope you did not suppose I should object."
"No; but it is not that. She would not live six months in a hot climate; the doctor tells me so."
"You consulted him?"
"Yes, confidentially, without her knowing it. But I thought it right.
I wanted to make quite sure before—before— Oh, Robert—."
The grief of her tone caused him to suspect what was coming, He started.
"You don't mean that? Oh no, you can not! My little woman, my own little woman—she could not be so unkind."
Hilary turned sick at heart. The dim landscape, the bright sky, seemed to mingle and dance before her, and Venus to stare at her with a piercing, threatening, baleful lustre.
"Robert, let me sit down on the bench, and sit you beside me. It is too dark for people to notice us, and we shall not be very cold."
"No, my darling;" and he slipped his plaid round her shoulders, and his arm with it.