Therefore the very certainty that her news would outweigh his, inclined her to let him speak first.
She was spared the responsibility of decision.
Ronald, turning quickly, faced his wife.

Hesitation seemed futile; promptness, essential.

_In hoc vince!_ "Helen," he said, "I want to go to Central Africa." Helen looked at him in silence, during a moment of immense astonishment.
Then she lifted his hat and gloves, laid them upon a table, seated herself in her easy-chair, and carefully flicked some specks of dust from her riding-habit.
"That is a long way to want to go, darling," she said, quietly.

"But I can see you think something of imperative importance is calling you there.

Sit down and tell me all about it, right from the beginning.