No money, you see. So I
thought I would come out here and teach. Dare I? Would they let
me? I knew I was fighting life and chances and risks if I did it;
but it was death if I stayed there. And then- Do you really care
to hear?"
"Of course. Tell me how you broke your chain."
"I spare you the family quarrels. I can never go back. But I was
spurred - spurred to take some wild leap; and I took it. Six
years ago I came out. First I went to a doctor and his wife at
Cawnpore. They had a wonderful knowledge of the Indian peoples,
and there I learned Hindustani and much else. Then he died. But
an aunt had left me two hundred pounds, and I could wait a little
and choose; and so I came here."
It interested me. The courage that pale elastic type of woman
has!
"Have you ever regretted it? Would they take you back if you
failed?"
"Never, to both questions," she said, smiling. "Life is glorious.
I've drunk of a cup I never thought to taste; and if I died
tomorrow I should know I had done right. I rejoice in every
moment I live - even when Winifred and I are wrestling with
arithmetic.
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