'What new dodge is this?'
'I am thinking of going to India again,' said Colville, bluntly, to change the subject.
'Again—with all your wealth—what folly!'
'I seem to have neither kith nor kin to care for, or aught to keep me here now.'
'Ah—that red-coat business!'
'What do you mean?'
'As some one says, "We all know that half a man's life is often spent in wanting to put on the red-coat, and the other half in wanting to put it off."'
'No part of your life is likely to be spent in either, Sir Redmond,' said Colville, as he turned on his heel and left him.
'To India again,' whispered Mary in her heart; 'he thinks of going to India! Well—what is he to me—what am I to him?'
Mary observed that he danced little, if at all, and that he certainly looked grave—even sad and preoccupied, as he had never done at Birkwoodbrae.