Patty was inclined to refuse to see him, and then thought better of that, for, she argued to herself, perhaps she could learn something from him.
She went down to greet him, with a pleasant smile and a courteous manner.
To her surprise, she found him in a perturbed and nervous state, fidgeting about the room as he awaited her appearance.
“Sit down, won’t you?” she invited, but he shook his head.
“I’m here only for a minute, I had to come. Patty,” he grasped her two hands in his own, and glanced wildly about, “I’m frantic because of love for you——”
“Lieutenant Herron!” Patty cried, startled by his strange demeanour and trying to release her hands from his burning grasp.
“Don’t! don’t repulse me! Patty, you little darling, I’m crazy I know,—but I can’t help it! I’ve loved you from the first minute I laid eyes on you! That my case is hopeless, I can’t—I won’t believe! Oh, have pity on me,——”
The man quite broke down, and raising Patty’s hands to his lips he covered them with burning kisses.
Patty was not frightened. Often in her life she had experienced the sensation of a sudden and unexpected outbreak such as this, and she was entirely mistress of the situation.
But she was conscious of a strong desire to ask this suspected man a few leading questions as to certain matters, yet it seemed a mean thing, to take advantage of his protestations of affection for her.