"I have answered that."
"But you must reconsider."
"Must!" she flashed out,—"must! You have no right to say must to me, thank Heaven! and you never will have!"
"You will say it to yourself in this case," he said, pale and self-contained.
"If I do, I shall not need your interference."
She turned her back upon him, and walked between the leafless shrubs towards the house, setting her heels determinedly upon the walk. It was not until she had entered the door that she remembered his errand to her grandmother; and by that time he had taken the path across the orchard to his home.
"I have done it now," he muttered to himself. "The society of women will make a fool of the most sensible of men. But what an ass I was to set to work so clumsily! I wish Emily Purdy were in Tophet!"