ke--"

"Like what?" he said.

She hid her face from him. "Like a horrible mistress," she whispered.

"Stella!" he said.

She throbbed in his hold. "I had to say it. Are you angry with me?"

"No," he said.

"But you don't like me for it all the same." Her voice came muffled from
his shoulder. "You don't realize--very likely you never will--how near
the truth it is."

He was silent, but in the silence his hold tightened upon her till it
was almost a grip.

She turned her face up again at last. "I told you it was madness to
marry me," she said tremulously. "I told you you would repent."

He looked at her with a strange smile. "And I told you it was--Kismet,"
he said. "You did it because it was written that you should. For better
for worse--" his voice vibrated--"you and I are bound by the same Fate.
It was inevitable, and there can be no repentance, just as there can be
no turning back. But you needn't hate India on that account. I have told
you that I will give her up for your sake, and that stands. But I will
not give you up for India--or for any other power on earth. Now are you
satisfied?"

Her face quivered at the question. "It is--more than I deserve," she
said. "You shall give up nothing for me."

He put his hand upon her forehead. "Stella, will you give her a trial?
Give her a year! Possibly by that time I may tell you more than I am
able to tell you now. I don't know if you would welcome it, but there
are always a chosen few to whom success comes. I may be one of the few.
I have a strong belief in my own particular star. Again I may fail. If I
fail, I swear I will give her up. I will start again at some new job.
But will you be patient for a year? Will you, my darling, let me prove
myself? I only ask--one year."

Her eyes were full of tears. "Everard! You make me feel--ashamed," she
said. "I won't--won't--be a drag on you, spoil your career! You must
forgive me for being jealous. It is because I love you so. But I know it
is a selfish form of love, and I won't give way to it. I will never
separate you from the career you have chosen. I only wish I could be a
help to you."

"You can only help me by being patient--just at present," he said.

"And not asking tiresome questions!" She smiled at him though her tears
had overflowed. "But oh, you won't take risks, will you? Not unnecessary
risks? It is so terrible to think of you in danger--to think--to think
of that horrible deformed creature who sent--