"I don't think I said that."
"Perhaps not. But it didn't occur to me that you would back out." His voice showed the irritation of a man balked in the thing he wants.
"I haven't backed out. I don't know what I want to do. I have to think it over."
He ran his fingers through his hair. "What made you change your mind?"
"I like to be comfortable. And it isn't comfortable over there."
"For Heaven's sake, Hilda—don't make yourself out as selfish as that."
"I am not any more selfish than other people, but I am honest. I don't go around deceiving myself with the idea that if I go I shall be doing something wonderful. But you—that's why you are going—to be wonderful in your own eyes, and Jean's eyes and in the eyes of the world."
"I don't think it is that," he said soberly. "I hope not. I have tried to see straight. I sometimes think it is you who are seeing crooked, Hilda."
They faced each other squarely. Her chin was slightly lifted. He caught the gleam of jewels at her throat.
"Hilda," he said, sharply, "where did you get those diamonds?"