"O, I see you are a little ashamed of yourself to-day," laughed the major. "What will you think of her, doctor, when I tell you that she has positively refused to go with me to India, or to London either?"
The doctor glanced fondly at the little bowed figure walking by his side, but he made no reply.
"Yes, she positively refuses to stir from this place, except upon one condition—which is, that you go with us, doctor," went on the gentleman, in the same merry tone.
"But I could not go to India," said the doctor, gravely.
"I don't think I shall go again myself," said the major, speaking more seriously. "I think seriously of leaving the army altogether, and settling down in dear old England."
The doctor looked up quickly at these words. "And where would you settle?" he asked.
"Near London, I think. That would be most advantageous to me for many reasons, and my wife also wishes it as well."
"And Milly?" said the doctor questioningly.
"She will go with—"
"If Dr. Mansfield goes, I said, papa," interrupted Milly at this point, clasping the doctor's hand more closely as she spoke.