"The Frontier...! Theo! Do you realise what you are saying?"
"Perfectly."
"Oh, but it's folly—worse than folly! To give up what you have worked for all these years—the men who worship you—your friends, the regiment——"
"They would survive the loss. I don't flatter myself I'm indispensable. Besides, this isn't a question of me or my friends. I am thinking of Ladybird."
The coolness of his tone, and the set determination of his mouth, chilled her fervour like a draught of cold air.
"Oh, if only Major Wyndham were here!" she murmured desperately.
"Thank God he is not! And if he were, it would make no difference. I shouldn't dream of discussing such a matter with him or—any of them. When my mind is made up, I shall tell him; that is all."
He rose as though the matter were ended; but Honor had no mind to let him shut the door upon it—yet.
"It is strange that you can speak so," she said, "when you must know, better than any one, what your leaving the regiment would mean—to Major Wyndham."