"I will. Robert is going; I saw him turn. I believe he noticed us. They are shaking hands."
"Shaking hands, with emphasis," added Shirley, "as if they were ratifying some solemn league and covenant."
They saw Robert quit the group, pass through a gate, and disappear.
"And he has not bid us good-bye," murmured Caroline.
Scarcely had the words escaped her lips when she tried by a smile to deny the confession of disappointment they seemed to imply. An unbidden suffusion for one moment both softened and brightened her eyes.
"Oh, that is soon remedied!" exclaimed Shirley: "we'll make him bid us good-bye."
"Make him! That is not the same thing," was the answer.
"It shall be the same thing."
"But he is gone; you can't overtake him."
"I know a shorter way than that he has taken. We will intercept him."