“Surely, if you wish to do so,” she answered; but he saw that she looked a little startled.
“Do not be afraid,” he said, quietly. “I have no intention of saying anything that you need hesitate to hear. But may I ask you to sit down for a moment?”
They were now in the atrium, or inner porch of the church. Aimée hesitated for an instant, then, turning to her maid, said in French:
“Go to the Merceria and make the purchases of which you spoke. I will wait for you here.”
“Oui, mademoiselle,” replied the girl, without the change of a feature, and forthwith departed.
Kyrle could hardly believe his good fortune, but as Aimée sat down on one of the stone benches fixed against the wall, he said, gratefully:
“You are very kind—as kind as I remember you of old. And I have no more forgotten how kind you were then, than I have ceased to thank Heaven for the message you so bravely brought me.”
She looked up at him and he saw in her face that she was astonished.
“But—” she began, and then paused.
“But you thought that I meant something else a minute ago,” he said. “You thought I meant that I found it best to go because I felt the old attraction reviving. Is it not so?”