"That is not the question you asked me."
"Yes it is," a trifle shortly. Diana was beginning to feel rather like a swimmer out of his depth.
"I beg your pardon, it is not; but we will let it pass for the moment. Granting that what you have told me is true, what do you expect me to do?"
"Tell Meryl the truth."
"And what is the truth?" He was gazing hard at her again, and Diana began to wish she could run away and hide. She knew that her changing colour and averted eyes were telling him something he badly wanted to know.
"O, you're very dense!" she cried, seeking to cover her discomfort. "Tell her you have discovered it is all a mistake; that you do not think she loves you better than all the world; and that you feel yourself wedded to your work, and ... and ... that kind of thing. Of course it won't be nice, but surely you can see it is a far braver thing to do, than just to go on because you are afraid of what the world will say?"
"And suppose Meryl wishes to hold to her promise and give herself to her country?"
"She can still do that, only in some other way."
"And what do you think South Africa will say?"
"O, that's quite beyond me!..." with a little comical grimace, "but, of course, at any cost, you must avert another war!..." They both smiled, and she added more seriously, "You can announce that you discovered in time you were not very well suited to each other, and mutually agreed to break off the engagement."