"Not Sir Allan Beaumerville?"
She nodded.
"Yes. I'm so sorry. He invited himself; and there is something I must tell you about him."
His first instinct was to refuse to go on, but it was gone in a moment, after one glance into Helen's troubled face.
"Don't look so ashamed," he said, smiling faintly. "I'm not afraid of him. What is it you were going to tell me about him?"
"He went out the other day alone, to do some botanizing," she said. "Do you know where I saw him?"
He shook his head.
"No. Where?"
"In your cottage. I saw him sitting at your table, and I saw him come out. He looked terribly troubled, just as though he had found out something."
He seemed in no wise so much disturbed as she had feared.