Keeley said no word, but he made sure I saw and understood their importance.
I was sick at heart at the way things were going, but with an undercurrent of gladness that Alma had not repulsed my love. True, she had not definitely accepted it, either, but I was willing to bide my time.
Old Merivale deftly assisted us into our craft and gave us a shove off. I rowed, at Keeley’s request.
“Isn’t it your turn, lazybones?” I asked him.
“No, you row,” he returned, in a preoccupied tone, and willingly enough I plied the oars.
After we had rounded a bend of the shore, and were out of sight of the Remsen house, he said, very seriously:
“So you proposed to compound a felony, Gray?”
All at once, I remembered the book Alma had given me to destroy. I had forgotten it for the few moments we were taking leave, but I didn’t blame myself for that, as I considered it hidden in my overcoat pocket, and my overcoat, folded inside out completely protected it. Had Keeley found it?
“What do you mean?”
“That’s the proper response. Well, I mean, when a lady gives you a book to destroy, why don’t you destroy it?”