“I will tell her plainly that if she follows you, I’ll shut her up in the Home of the Inebriates; and this time I’ll keep my word. What excuse shall you give people?”
“You can tell them of my engagement, and say that as we have agreed it shall last a year, I have my own reasons for spending the interval by myself. Their comments mean nothing to me.”
“Shall you see no one?”
“Molly will come occasionally, and you,—no one else. I shall fish and hunt and sail and ride and read and study music. Perhaps you will send me a little piano?”
“Of course I will.”
“I shall live out of doors mostly. I love that sort of life better than any; I like trees better than most people.”
“Very well. If you change your mind, you have only to return. I will send to New York for all the new books and music. Cochrane will go ahead and put things in order. I will also send Atkins to look after the horses; and he and his wife will sleep in the house and look after you generally. I hope to God the experiment will prove a success. I think you are wise not to marry until the fight is over.”