"Far from that, Diana; his sole idea in proposing to me is to procure a fitting fellow-labourer in his Indian toils."

     "What! He wishes you to go to India?"

     "Yes."

     "Madness!" she exclaimed. "You would not live three months there, I am certain. You never shall go: you have not consented, have you, Jane?"

     "I have refused to marry him--"

     "And have consequently displeased him?" she suggested.

     "Deeply: he will never forgive me, I fear: yet I offered to accompany him as his sister."

     "It was frantic folly to do so, Jane. Think of the task you undertook--one of incessant fatigue, where fatigue kills even the strong, and you are weak. St. John--you know him--would urge you to impossibilities: with him there would be no permission to rest during the hot hours; and unfortunately, I have noticed, whatever he exacts, you force yourself to perform. I am astonished you found courage to refuse his hand. You do not love him then, Jane?"

     "Not as a husband."

     "Yet he is a handsome fellow."