"Suppose I'm all smashed up ... I couldn't ask you then ... suppose I come back minus an arm or a leg, or blind or something?"
"If the least little bit of you comes back, I'll marry that; not you or anyone else could stop me then."
"You'd make it easier all round if you'd marry me now...."
"That's it ... I don't want it to be easier. If I was your wife, how could I go on being nurse to those children?"
"I wouldn't stop you—you could go back to Miss Ross and do just exactly what you're doing. I agree with you—the children are cheery——"
Meg shook her head. "No; if I was your wife, it wouldn't do. As it is ... the nursemaid has got her soldier, and that's as it should be."
"Will you marry me the first leave I get, if I live to get any?"
"I'll think about that."
He gave her the ring she had refused before. Such an absurd little ring, with its one big sapphire set with diamonds, and "no backing to it," Miles said.
And he gave her a very heavy brass-studded collar for William, and on the plate was engraved her name and address.