“Not very far—hardly a quarter of a mile.”
He reflected for a few moments, and then said—
“I should like to prevail upon you to take some refreshment if it be only a glass of wine and a biscuit.”
“Certainly; I accept your kind offer.”
They went into the nearest confectioner’s, and had some refreshment.
The young man gazed abstractedly around the place, and then sighed.
“I think you must have heard some bad news,” said she, munching a sponge cake.
“What makes you think that?”
“You are sad and preoccupied.”
“No, no, my dear lady. To say the truth, I am no sadder than I have been for a long time past.”