"I shall be in an agony of suspense till you come back safely," she returned; "but I can't ask you to stay, I know how you would hate it—the other men thinking you perhaps wanted to get out of it and all that, or else that you had no will of your own and I had made you stay. As host and leader you can't well stay behind—you would feel it so."
The male nature in Regina made it easy for her to understand how hateful, nearly impossible, it would have been for Everest to stay in camp with the women while the rest of the party went out to the excitement of the hunt. The intense disappointment she suffered herself in foregoing this, the first really important, expedition with him, for which she had trained herself so patiently, made it easy to realise what his would be in missing the first opportunity for which they had all waited so long.
She turned and kissed his hand on her shoulder.
"Go, my dearest, as you wish; only come back to me safely."
When Everest left her and went back to the impatient men in the tent, his whole heart and soul seemed on fire with passion for her. He just looked into the dining tent as he passed, where Sybil was sitting quivering and pallid in her chair.
"You have got your way," he said curtly. "Regina has given up her own wishes to stay and look after you, but if this sort of thing is going to continue, the sooner you go home, I should think, the better. It is simple nonsense to join a hunt and then try and spoil the sport."
He felt so angry with her, she had spoiled the whole thing and prevented his having Regina with him, which he had really looked forward to. Above all, he was repelled by her weakness and cowardice. His passion leapt up for a woman who was courageous and fearless. There was something in himself that responded instantly to any heroic act or quality, and for the weak and timid he had nothing but a sense of aversion. Sybil was too cowed and too wretched altogether to reply. She could not find her voice and Everest went on his way to the gun tent.
"Hurray!" they shouted, as they saw him. "We thought you were never coming back. Well, what's the news?"
"Regina will stay," Everest answered quietly.
"She is a brick. You ought to have stayed, Merton, and let her come with us."