He turned to Carmina for relief.
"Still thinking, my love ?" "Thinking of you," she answered.

"I want you to promise me something--and I am afraid to ask it." "Afraid?
You don't love me, after all!" "Then I will say it at once! How long do you expect to be away ?" "For two or three months, perhaps." "Promise to wait till you return, before you tell your mother--" "That we are engaged ?" "Yes." "You have my promise, Carmina; but you make me uneasy." "Why ?" "In my absence, you will be under my mother's care.

And you don't like my mother." Few words and plain words--and they sorely troubled her.
If she owned that he was right, what would the consequence be?
He might refuse to leave her.

Even assuming that he controlled himself, he would take his departure harassed by anxieties, which might exercise the worst possible influence over the good effect of the journey.

To prevaricate with herself or with him was out of the question.