She lifted her head and faced him.
"You think a great deal too much about—those sort of stray people, Theo, and it's rather hard on me. Why am I to be made uncomfortable on account of Mrs Denvil, when I've never even met her in my life?"
"If you can't see that for yourself, Ladybird, I'm afraid I can't tell you. I've no taste for preaching sermons."
"It would be rather a mercy if you had no taste for acting them either," she retorted, with a little laugh that failed to take the edge off her words. "I don't much like them in any form. How are you going to cut down expenses?"
"Chiefly in ways that need not concern you. But to start with, I'm afraid I must take you and Honor down with me on the third of next month. I can do nothing while I am crippled by a double establishment. You'll barely miss four weeks up here, and the heat is over earlier in Kohat than in the Punjab. Paul gets his leave when mine is up, and he will spend it here with the Boy, so as to take the last month of rent off my hands."
"So you've settled it all without saying a word to me?"
"Yes. I had to fix things up before I left. It's a pity the difficulty includes Honor, but I don't think she'll mind when I tell her why."
"Oh dear, no; Honor won't mind. I believe she's happier in Kohat,—but——"
"But you are not?" he broke out abruptly, leaning forward and searching her face with anxious eyes.