“And you persist in your purpose?” she said.
“My India, I cannot do otherwise.”
“Notwithstanding all the suffering you may cause your mother, your relatives, and me?”
“My own India, I would I could bear all your grief in my own person.”
“But you adhere to your resolution?”
“I have no alternative.”
“And this is your final decision?”
He bowed.
“Even if you should lose me for ever?”
He started, as if suddenly struck by a bullet. He changed colour, but did not speak. She regarded him fixedly. At last she said, slowly and calmly—