"I'm going away."
"What?"
"I'm going away to-morrow at daybreak. I'm going to school. I shan't come back for a whole year. I'm—I'm going to leave papa and Aunt Chris and Jim and you."
She began to sob.
"Don't," said Nicholas sharply.
"And—and you don't care a bit. You're just a stone. Oh, I don't want to go to school!"
"I'm not a stone. I do care."
"No, you don't. And I may die and never come back any more, and you'll forget all about me."
"I shan't. Don't, I say. Do you hear me, Genia, don't."
She looked for a handkerchief, and, failing to find one, wiped her eyes on the horse's mane.