“I'll—if you—I'll come out here this evening. I think I can.”
“Oh—Betty!...”
“It may be a little late. Perhaps about half past eight. They'll all be busy then.... Just for a little while.”
He considered this. “It's wrong,” he said. “But what's the good of my deciding not to come. Of course I will.”
“You came clear to T'ainan.”
“I know....”
“And how about me!” she broke out. “I'm shut in a prison here. You're the only friend that's come—the only person I can talk with. Father is wonderful, but he's busy and worried, and I'm his daughter, and we can't talk much. And you and I—if you're going in the morning—we can't leave things—our very lives”—her voice wavered—“like this.”
“I'll come,” he said.
“And keep the soldiers with you.”
“I'll come.”