it might engender held her trembling on the brink; and
Miss Kresney awaited her decision with downcast eyes, her fingers
mechanically plaiting and unplaiting the silken fringe of the
table-cloth.

Sounds crept in from without and peopled the waiting stillness. Evelyn
Desmond had no faintest forewarning of the grave issues that hung upon
her answer, yet she was unaccountably afraid. Her driven heart cried
out for the support of her husband's presence; and her voice, when
words came at last, was pitifully unsteady.

"It is so difficult not to say Yes."

"Why will you not say it, then? And it would all be comfortably
settled."

"Would it? I don't seem able to believe that. Only if I _do_ say Yes,
you must promise not to tell--your brother."

"I am afraid that would not be possible. How could I arrange such a
thing without letting my brother know about it?"

"Then I can't take the money."

Evelyn's voice was desperate but determined. Some spark of intuition
enabled her to see that any intrusion of Kresney set the matter beyond
the pale of possible things; and nothing remained for Linda but
compromise or retreat.

She unhesitatingly chose the former. A few reassuring words would cost
little to utter; and if circumstances should demand a convenient
forgetfulness, none but herself need ever be aware of the fact. She
leaned across the table, and her tone was a triumph of open-hearted
sympathy.

"Mrs Desmond, you know quite well that I cannot leave you unhappy like
this. If you are so determined that my brother must not know, I think
I could manage without his help. Come to the Hotel to-morrow at
half-past ten, and we will send off three hundred rupees to those who
are troubling you most for payment."

Miss Kresney was as good as her word. She drew three hundred rupees in
notes from her own small bank account, and herself went with Evelyn to
the post-office whence they were safely despatched to Simla.

Some three evenings later, Owen Kresney bade his sister good-night
with a quite phenomenal display of affection.

"You're a regular little trump, Linda!" he declared. "I never gave you
credit for so much good sense. By Jove! I'd give a month's pay for a
sight of Desmond's face if he ever finds _this_ out! I expect he
stints that poor little woman and splashes all the money on polo
ponies. Glad you were able to help her; and whatever you do, don't let
her pay you back too soon. If you're short of cash, you've only t