"Was that your water-lilies?" said she; but this was not the astonishing speech. He had lured her afloat on impudently false pretences; she had a right to twit him with that.
"There are no water-lilies," he confessed; "at least, never mind them if there are. Oh, I was obliged to make some excuse! There was nowhere else where we could talk so well. I tell you again I have the cheek to love you! I can't help it; I've loved you ever since that day in London, and you've got to know it for good or bad. If it makes you very angry, I'll row you back this minute." He was resting on his oars under cover of the little island; the Towers were out of sight.
"Why in the world didn't you speak yesterday?" was Olivia's extraordinary reply.
"Yesterday?" faltered Jack.
"It was such a chance!"
"Not for me! My tongue was tied. Olivia, I was under a frightful cloud yesterday! You don't understand——"
"What if I do? What if I did at the time?"
"I don't see how you could," said Jack.
"Instinctively," replied Olivia, to screen her mother. "I knew something was wrong, and I have since been told what. If only you had spoken then!"
She dropped her eyes swiftly; the tear ran down her cheek.