8 WITH KITCHEHEE IN THE SOUDAN

‘^Nonsense, Gregory! I sha’n’t want anything. You

would not let me sell any of my dresses, and I have half a

dozen light ones. I shall not want a penny spent on me.”

^^Very well; then I will begin to be extravagant at once.

In the first place, I will go down to that confectioner’s round

the corner, and we will celebrate my appointment with a cold

chicken and a bottle of port. I shall be back in five

minutes.”

^‘Will it be very hot, Gregory?” she asked, as they ate

their meal. ‘^Not that I am afraid of heat, you know; I

always like summer.”

“No; at any rate not at present. We are going out at the

best time of the year, and it will be a comfort indeed to change these November fogs for the sunshine of Egypt. You

will have four or five months to get strong again before it be-

gins to be hot. Even in summer there are cool breezes morn-

ing and evening, and of course no one thinks of going out in

the middle of the day. I feel as happy as a school-boy at

the thought of getting out of this den and this miserable

climate, and of basking in the sunshine. We have had a bad

beginning, dear, but we have better days before us.”

“ Thank God, Gregory ! I have not cared about myself. But it has been a trial, when your manuscripts have come

back, to see you sitting here slaving away ; and to know that

it is I who have brought you to this.”

“ I brought myself to it, you obstinate girl ! I have pleased

myself, haven’t I? If a man chooses a path for himself he must not grumble because he finds it rather rougher than he

expected. I have never for a single moment regretted what

I have done, at any rate as far as I myself am concerned.”

“ Nor I, for my own sake, dear. The life of a governess

is not so cheerful as to cause one regret at leaving it.”

And so Gregory Hartley and his wife went out to Alex-

andria, and established themselves in three bright rooms in the upper part of a house that commanded a view of the port and the sea beyond it. The outlay required for furni-