And yet Sir Walter had called the scheme madness, and said that he himself would never have accepted.
How does one make a great decision?
I swear that when I turned round to speak I meant to refuse.

But my answer was Yes, and I had crossed the Rubicon.

My voice sounded cracked and far away.
Sir Walter shook hands with me and his eyes blinked a little.
'I may be sending you to your death, Hannay--Good God, what a damned task-mistress duty is!--If so, I shall be haunted with regrets, but you will never repent.

Have no fear of that.

You have chosen the roughest road, but it goes straight to the hill-tops.' He handed me the half-sheet of note-paper.