“No—I should like to go away ... my friends the Farlows would let me go to them...” Her voice grew firmer and she lifted her eyes to add: “I should like to leave today, if you don’t mind.”
Anna listened with a rising wonder.
“You want to leave Givre at once?” She gave the idea a moment’s swift consideration. “You prefer to be with your friends till your marriage? I understand that—but surely you needn’t rush off today? There are so many details to discuss; and before long, you know, I shall be going away too.”
“Yes, I know.” The girl was evidently trying to steady her voice. “But I should like to wait a few days—to have a little more time to myself.”
Anna continued to consider her kindly. It was evident that she did not care to say why she wished to leave Givre so suddenly, but her disturbed face and shaken voice betrayed a more pressing motive than the natural desire to spend the weeks before her marriage under her old friends’ roof. Since she had made no response to the allusion to Madame de Chantelle, Anna could but conjecture that she had had a passing disagreement with Owen; and if this were so, random interference might do more harm than good.
“My dear child, if you really want to go at once I sha’n’t, of course, urge you to stay. I suppose you have spoken to Owen?”
“No. Not yet...”
Anna threw an astonished glance at her. “You mean to say you haven’t told him?”
“I wanted to tell you first. I thought I ought to, on account of Effie.” Her look cleared as she put forth this reason.
“Oh, Effie!—” Anna’s smile brushed away the scruple. “Owen has a right to ask that you should consider him before you think of his sister.... Of course you shall do just as you wish,” she went on, after another thoughtful interval.