deliberation seemed to touch my maxims with a kind of arid
frivolity, and sometimes I tore them up. One quick, warm-blooded
scolding would have been worth a sheaf of them. My studied little
phrases could only inoculate her with a dislike for me without
protecting her from anything under the sun.

However, I found she didn't dislike me, when John and I went home at
last to bring her out. She received me with just a hint of
kindness, perhaps, but on the whole very well.



Chapter 1.II

John was recalled, of course, before the end of our furlough, which
knocked various things on the head; but that is the sort of thing
one learned to take with philosophy in any lengthened term of Her
Majesty's service. Besides, there is usually sugar for the pill;
and in this case it was a Staff command bigger than anything we
expected for at least five years to come. The excitement of it when
it was explained to her gave Cecily a charming colour. She took a
good deal of interest in the General, her papa; I think she had an
idea that his distinction would alleviate the situation in India,
however it might present itself. She accepted that prospective
situation calmly; it had been placed before her all her life. There
would always be a time when she should go and live with papa and
mamma in India, and so long as she was of an age to receive the idea
with rebel tears she was assured that papa and mamma would give her
a pony. The pony was no longer added to the prospect; it was
absorbed no doubt in the general list of attractions calculated to