“Watching us,” she repeated, and then, to his surprise, he saw her face grow deadly pale, and a light not pleasant to see flashed from her dark eyes.
“Watching us?” she repeated. “Oh, my God! has my foe followed me even here? Has my enemy found me out? I thought no one knew.”
She had clasped her hands and stood in the midst of the garden path, like one who is despairing and distraught.
Her wild appearance startled him.
“You must go,” she cried, “and you must never come here again! I did wrong to let you come; but you were kind, you spoke kindly to me, you looked kindly at me, and I forgot that I am doomed to be hunted even to my death. You must go, and leave me, Mr. Eyrle, never to return.”
“Nay,” he said, “calm yourself. I shall not leave you. I do not understand, but most certainly I shall not go away. I will tell you, Mrs. Payton, what I will do: follow that man, whoever he was, and thrash him within an inch of his life. I am quite willing to do that, but nothing else.”
She wrung her hands, with a cry of pain he never forgot.
“You do not understand,” she repeated, “and I forgot. I have only remembered that you were kind to me, and it was a pleasure to see you. My doom is on me, Mr. Eyrle, and you cannot save me but by going away and never coming near me again.”
“I should think myself unworthy of the name of man to leave any woman in such distress,” he said. “I refuse to leave you—I refuse to go away, unless, indeed, it be your own personal wish.”
“No, it is not that,” she replied. “I should have been more prudent, but I did not think; I believed myself so safe here.”