It was not in her at that moment to have answered
him otherwise. And Baring knew it, understanding so perfectly that no
other word was necessary on either side. He only bent his head, and held
her two hands very closely to his lips before he gently let them go. It
was his sole reply to her glad response. Yet she felt as if there was
something solemn in his action; almost as if thereby he registered a
vow.
VI
HER ENEMY
Notwithstanding her determination to return to Ghantala after the
breaking of the monsoon. Hope stayed on at the Hill Station with Mrs.
Latimer till the rains were nearly over. She had wished to return, but
her hostess, her _fiance_, and her brother were all united in the
resolve to keep her where she was. So insistent were they that they
prevailed at length. It had been a particularly bad season at Ghantala,
and sickness was rife there.
Baring even went so far as positively to forbid her to return till this
should have abated.
"You will have to obey me when we are married, you know," he grimly told
her. "So you may as well begin at once."
And Hope obeyed him. There was something about this man that compelled
her obedience.
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