Then he rose and went away, and Mary sat down in his place, and Annie gradually came back to the material plane of everyday life and duty. Indeed Mary brought this element in a very decided form with her; for she had a letter in her hand from an old lover, and she was much excited by its advent, and eager to discuss the particulars with Annie.
“It is from Captain Seabright, who is now in Pondicherry,” she explained. “He loves me, Annie. He loved me long ago, and went to India to make money; now he says he has enough and to spare; and he asks me if I have forgotten.”
“There is Mr. Van Ariens to consider. You have promised to marry him, Mary. It is not hard to find the right way on this road, I think.”
“Of course. I would scorn to do a dishonourable or unhandsome thing. But is it not very strange Willie Seabright should write to me at this time? How contradictory life is! I had also a letter from Mr. Van Ariens by the same mail, and I shall answer them both this evening.” Then she laughed a little, and added, “I must take care and not make the mistake an American girl made, under much the same circumstances.”
“What was it?” inquired Annie languidly.
“She misdirected her letters and thus sent ‘No’ to the man whom of all others, she wished to marry.”
As Mary spoke a soft brightness seemed to pervade Annie’s brain cells, and she could hardly restrain the exclamation of sudden enlightenment that rose to her lips. She raised herself slightly, and in so doing, her eyes fell upon the tall figure of Hyde standing clearly out in the intense, white sunshine of the Broads; and perhaps her soul may have whispered to his soul, for he turned his face to the house, and lifted the little red fishing cap from his head. The action stimulated to the utmost Annie’s intuitive powers.
“Mary,” she said, “what a strange incident! Did you know the girl?”
“I saw her once in Philadelphia. Mr. Van Ariens told me about her. She is the friend of his sister the Marquise de Tounnerre.”
“How did Mr. Van Ariens know of such an event?”