"Yes, but that is four—or is it three—years away."
"No, I am to be married soon—in two months."
Nasmith looked at her in dazed unbelief.
"Your father said you were not to be married till you were twenty."
"I changed that—I asked to be married earlier."
Nancy went on quite naturally from one confession to the next, talking frankly on the banned subject as though thirteen years of Chinese life had not forbidden fear. She liked the thrill of breaking such unwelcome news to the friend she trusted so oddly.
"You changed it! Do you like the thought of this marriage?"
"I don't know—I was tired of the house, tired of the women, tired of sewing."
"And do you think that there won't be a house and women and sewing after you are married?"
"They will be different."