He was about to say what little he could to comfort her, when she snatched her hands from his and exclaimed, as she wiped her eyes with her handkerchief, "Come away, let us go, Dr. Duncan. I can bear no more of this."
They walked along the path in silence for a few minutes, she with a heart aching with its misery, he puzzled, not knowing what to make of her behaviour, and feeling a strange mixture of joy and sorrow.
At last he spoke, and there was a triumphant ring in his voice. "Mary, you shall be mine! We love each other. In that all-absorbing love we will forget all your secret whatever it may be." He went on in fierce accents, carried away by his passion. "Yes, Mary! in spite of crime, or madness, or the power of hell, it shall be—Oh, my dear! my dear!..."
At that moment Mary interrupted him with a slight exclamation, and at the same time put her hand on his arm in order to draw his attention.
He looked up and saw very inopportunely tripping towards them, with her usual jaunty step, the plump figure of Susan Riley.
This young lady's keen glance detected in the looks of the two lovers that some serious conversation had been going on.
"Good morning, doctor," she said as he lifted his hat and bowed. "Good morning, Mary. Good gracious! how glum you look. You seem quite ill; doesn't she, doctor? Why, what's the matter with you?"
"I am perfectly well, thank you, Susan."
"I think Miss King requires a change."
"I have told her so," remarked Dr. Duncan.