"That is not true. My one objection to you is that you are twice the man that I am."
Mona laughed. "Eh bien! L'un n'empêche pas l'autre. No, no; you are much too good a man to be thrown away on a woman who only likes and trusts you."
"When do you leave this place?" he asked doggedly.
"In March."
"And do you stop in Edinburgh on the way?"
"Yes; I have promised to spend a week with the Colquhouns."
"Good. I will ask you then again."
"Dear Sahib," said Mona earnestly, "I have not spoilt your life yet. Don't let me begin to spoil it now. You cannot afford to waste even three months over a chivalrous fancy. Put me out of your mind altogether, till you have married a bright young thing full of enthusiasms, not a worn-out old cynic like me. Then by-and-by, if she will let me be her sister, you and I can be brother and sister again."
"May I write to you during the next two months?"
"I think it would be a great mistake."