“But my uncle is most devoted to you?”
“A young woman married to an old man! Take my advice, Mr. Temple, don’t marry an old woman.”
She gave a harsh little laugh as she said this, and it jarred on John’s ears. He grew restless to go away. It must be nearing three o’clock, he knew, and he wanted to be in the woods at Fern Dene, with someone who was fresh and fair, not like this dark, handsome, spirit-torn woman. And with quick intuition Mrs. Temple perceived this.
“You are tired of me,” she said, “and I am getting tired of you. Good-by for the present; we will meet again at dinner;” and with this she nodded and turned away, and John was free to follow his own inclinations.
CHAPTER VI.
CRUEL WORDS.
What these inclinations were we may easily guess. To walk as quickly to Fern Dene as possible, yet when he arrived there he found that May Churchill was just preparing to go home.
“I could not come before,” he explained, hastily; “my uncle’s wife took into her head to go into the garden, and asked me to go with her, and what could I do?”
“Poor Mrs. Temple!” said May, pityingly.
“Yes, indeed, she is greatly to be pitied.”