“It just happened,” Nan went on rapidly, though she could not tell why she felt that she need make an excuse. “Any one else would have done who chanced to be on hand. It was that day we had the picnic at Upper Pond.”
“I know.”
“Oh, do you?”
“Yes, I recognized the spot as well as the figure. Nan, my child, don’t put your trust in princes.”
Nan looked up startled. What did he mean? What had he observed? She knew that her friend, like all physicians, was given to close observation. Did he guess that there was a secret chamber in her heart where she had enshrined Lohengrin? She picked up the book which she had brought with her. “I thought we were going to read,” she said with a nervous laugh. “No, let’s go.”
She started to rise. The doctor sprang up to help her to her feet. He held her hands in his for a moment, looking down at the flushed face and downcast eyes. “I have been reading,” he said gravely.
Nan caught up her hat which had dropped from her hold, settled it on her head, and led the way to the open field. She said not a word but kept ahead of the doctor along the narrow path. At the edge of the piece of woods where the camp was situated he came to her side. “Nan,” he said, “are you angry with me?”
“What for?” asked Nan with a little uplift of her head.
“Because of what I said just now.”
“I don’t remember your saying anything unusual,” she returned and that was all the satisfaction she gave.