I think it was that which made me realise the gulf that yawned between us, more than anything that had gone before. How could she imagine that Nordenholt’s vast machine could be deflected on account of some childish promise? And yet her voice had taken on a new tone of confidence; everything, she thought, was going to be set right. It seems she must have believed, even then, that the treatment of the South was only one of a number of alternative schemes; and that she could force the adoption of some other, not so good, perhaps, but still possible, as a solution. Her very belief in Nordenholt’s powers led her to assume that he must have several plans ready pigeon-holed, and that the rejection of one merely entailed the substitution of some other which was already cut and dried.
“When that promise was made, Elsa, there was one condition: your wish was not to be an impossible one. This is impossible.”
“Oh!” There was such an agony in her voice that I felt it rasp my already over-tried nerves.
“That is final, Elsa. There is nothing more to be said.”
For almost a minute she made no reply. In the silence I could feel her struggling for control of her voice. When at last she spoke, she seemed to have fought down her emotion, for her tone was almost indifferent:
“Very well, Uncle Stanley. You refuse to help these people; but I am not so easy in my mind. I will go into the South myself and do my best to help them; and if I cannot help, I can at least take the same risks as they do. I can’t stay here, well fed and well cared for when they are suffering.”
“You will not do that, Elsa. No, I don’t mean to prevent you going if you wish, though you have no idea what you would be going to. But I haven’t brought you up to be a shirker; and you’re needed here. You have the whole of your work at your finger-ends and if you go it will dislocate that department temporarily; and we can’t afford to have even a temporary upset at this stage. You promised you would stay, no matter what happened; and I ask you to keep your promise now. I also tell you that I need you, and your work here is helping to save lives in the Area, more lives than you could ever save outside. Now do you wish to go?”
She thought for a time, evidently weighing one thing and another. While she was still silent, I broke in, wisely or unwisely I did not know.
“If Elsa goes into the South, Nordenholt, I go with her to look after her. You must find someone else to take my place. I can’t let her go alone.”
Nordenholt’s voice was as calm as ever.