"Why not?" he said.
Something like panic showed in the girl's eyes. She laid her hands on his shoulders.
"Monty, I don't want you to go."
"You would rather I stayed?" he said. He was looking closely into her eyes.
She endured the look for a little, then suddenly the tears welled up again.
"I can't bear you to go," she whispered. "I mean—I mean—I couldn't bear it if—if——"
He took her hands gently, and held them.
"I shall come back to you, Betty," he said.
"Oh, you will!" she said very earnestly. "You will!"
"I shall," said Montague Herne; and he said it as a man whose resolution no power on earth might turn.