"I'll try, dear," she said. "But I think the less I see of him the
better it will be. Are you quite sure of winning the Cup?"
"Oh, quite," said Ronnie, with confidence. "Quite. Do you remember the
races we used to have when we were kids? We rode barebacked in those
days. You could stick on anything. Remember?"
Yes, Hope remembered; and a sudden, almost fierce regret surged up
within her.
"Oh, Ronnie," she said, "I wish we were kids still!"
He laughed at her softly, and rose.
"I know better," he said; "and so does Baring. Good-night, old girl!
Sleep well!"
And with that he left her. But Hope scarcely slept till break of day.
VIII
BEFORE THE RACE
Hope had arranged to go to the races with Mrs. Latimer after previously
lunching with her.
When the day arrived she spent the morning working on the veranda in the
sunshine. It was a perfect day of Indian winter, and under its influence
she gradually forgot her anxieties, and fell to dreaming while she
worked.
Down below the compound she heard the stream running swiftly between its
banks, with a bubbling murmur like half-suppressed laughter. It was
fuller than she had ever known it.
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