“Nathanael, every minute is precious to anxiety such as you must feel. Have you thought what had better be done, since you are the right person to do it?”
“As yet I have thought of nothing. And, alas! what can be done?”
“Sit down, and let us consider,” said she, laying her hand on his, with a force soft yet steady as that of her words.
Agatha was gliding out of the room, but her lover's quick movement and Miss Valery's look stopped her.
“Do not go, Miss Bowen; you are not so unknown to me as I am to you. I had much rather you stayed.”
So she took up her position a little distance off, and listened while the two friends consulted; pondering the while on what a rare kind of man Mr. Brian Harper must be to win such regard.
“You say the news came accidentally?” Mr. Harper observed. “It may not be true, then.”
“It is. I had it confirmed to-day.”
“How?”
“I went to the Colonial Office myself.” (“Kind Anne Valery!” murmured the young man.) “It was best to do so before I told you anything. You, knowing the whole facts, would then decide more readily.”