My heart sank. I hated all this incomprehensible secrecy; a moment before she had seemed so different.
"Come out into the other room," she said. "They cannot hear us from there." We passed into the drawing-room. An uncomfortable thought struck me.
"You were here all the time!" I exclaimed.
"Certainly! I wanted to hear you and Lady Dennisford converse!"
"Eavesdropping, in fact," I remarked savagely.
"Precisely!" she agreed.
We were silent for a moment. Her eyes were full of mild amusement.
"I thought," she said demurely, "that you would be glad to see me."
"Glad! of course I am glad," I answered. "I'm such a poor fool that I can't help it. Why did you leave me in London without a word?"
"Why on earth not!" she exclaimed, smiling. "Besides, I knew that I should see you here very soon. I had to act quickly too! They did not want"—she glanced towards the terrace—"him to leave London."