can ask you to take me," she said;--"though perhaps it will be
better that I should not."

"My darling!--my own darling!" Then she came back to him and laid her
head upon his shoulders, and lifted his hand till it came again round
her waist. And he kissed her forehead, and smoothed her hair. "Swear
to me," she said, "that whatever happens you will not put me away
from you."

"Put you away, dearest! A man doesn't put away the only morsel he has
to keep him from starving. But yet as I came up here this morning I
resolved that I would put you away."

"Walter!"

"And even now I know that they will tell me that I should do so. How
can I take you out there to such a life as that without having the
means of keeping a house over your head?"

"Officers do marry without fortunes."

"Yes;--and what sort of a time do their wives have? Oh, Mary, my own,
my own, my own!--it is very bad! You cannot understand it all at
once, but it is very bad."

"If it be better for you, Walter,--" she said, again drawing herself
away.

"It is not that, and do not say that it is. Let us at any rate trust
each other."

She gave herself a little shake before she answered him. "I will
trust you in everything;--as God is my judge, in everything. What you
tell me to do, I will do. But, Walter, I will say one thing first.
I can look forward to nothing but absolute misery in any life that
will separate me from you. I know the difference between comfort and
discomfort in money matters, but all that is as a feather in the
balance. You are my god upon earth, and to you I must cling. Whether
you be away from me or with me, I must cling to you the same. If I
am to be separated from you for a time, I can do it with hope. If
I am to be separated from you for ever, I shall still do so,--with
despair. And now I will trust you, and I will do whatever you tell
me. If you forbid me to call you mine any longer,--I will obey, and
will never reproach you."

"I will always be yours," he said, taking her again to his heart.

"Then, dearest, you shall not find me wanting for anything you may
ask of me. Of course you can't decide at present."

"I have decided that I must go to India. I have asked for the
exchange."

"Yes;--I understand; but about our marriage. It may be that you
should go out first. I would not be unmaidenly, Walter; but remember
this--the sooner the better, if I can be a comfort to you;--but I can
bear any delay rather than be a clog upon