“Why not?”
He stood, his hands deep in his dinner-jacket pockets, balancing himself alternately on toes and heels, with the air of a conqueror.
“I know more about inner China, I suppose, than any man living. I go out with a free hand to pull two or three million people together and establish a wise government and exterminate the German. Hundreds of men can do my job in England. But those who can do it in China may be counted on the fingers of a mutilated hand.”
“It’s all so sudden.”
“I’m a sudden sort of fellow, as you ought to know,” he laughed.
“But you always said you hated the place—would rather die than go back.”
“In these days you’ve got to do things you hate—for the good of your country.”
She sat down, feeling stupefied by his news. She asked:
“How long will you be away?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Possibly years. Who knows?”