"I think you come only to the gate."
"Unfortunately, beggars must not be choosers—and I've just time for a word. It's my busy day, as they say in the city."
She was piqued, and showed it.
"Do you not think I would willingly spend all day with you, if——"
"I think," she replied, "that you're engaged to a certain young lady—and you've told me that you're busy."
"It's about her I wished to speak," he said, abruptly changing the subject. "These letters have misled you."
"You mean——"
"I mean that they refer to the plot in which your husband and this young lady are engaged."
She looked at him searchingly.
"You are speaking the truth to me. You know this to be so?"