"Don't be such a confounded fool! Take a fortnight's leave--I can't spare you longer--and go back to the Hills with her! Make her settle down with my wife at Shamkura! Tell her you'll beat her if she doesn't!" Merryon's grim face softened a little.

"Thank you very much, sir! But you can't spare me even for so long.

Moreover, that form of punishment wouldn't scare her.

So, you see, it would come to the same thing in the end.

She is determined to face what I face for the present." "And you're determined to let her!" growled the colonel.
Merryon shrugged his shoulders.
"You'll probably lose her," the colonel persisted, gnawing fiercely at his moustache.