"Take a seat," she said, releasing herself composedly. "There are still a few things that I must talk over with you."
The blood rushed back upon my heart, leaving my face pale. I was very glad to get the support of the arm-chair to which she motioned me.
"I have recently been ill, as I told you," I said in pleading tones, "and doubts, whatever their nature, are trying to me. Tell me only this—you are going?"
She breathed deeply for several seconds and then, with her head slightly on one side, looked at me.
"Do you really want me to?" she asked, gently.
CHAPTER VII.
GETTING READY FOR MY JOURNEY.
She could not know the pain she gave me by her evasions, that was the excuse I found for her. The dread that after all she intended to disappoint me pressed like a heavy weight upon my brain. She must have seen something in my face that alarmed her, for she asked if I would like a glass of water—or wine. When I replied in the negative she came at once to the preliminaries that were in her mind.
"I am going, of course," she said. "That is, if you think it worth while to grant all the demands I find necessary. I shall be glad when this disagreeable part of our bargain is ended, and I believe you will be equally, if not more so."