Hunting determined to remain the following day and see Gregory off and out of the way forever, he hoped.
The next morning Gregory did not come down to breakfast. But at about ten o'clock he started for a short farewell stroll about the old place. Annie joined him in the garden.
"I do not think you were generous last evening," she said. "Mr. Hunting met you half-way."
"Did I not do just what I promised?"
"But I was in hopes you would do more, especially when the way was opened."
"Do you think, Miss Walton, that Mr. Hunting's manner and feelings toward me were sincerely cordial and friendly? Was it the prompting of his heart, or your influence, that led him to put out his hand?"
Annie blushed, in conscious confusion. "I fear I shall never reconcile you," she said, sadly.
"I fear not," he replied. "There must be a great change in us both before you can. Though the reason I give you was a sufficient one for not taking his hand in friendly feeling, it was not the one that influenced me. I would not have taken it under any circumstances."
"Mr. Gregory, you grieve me most deeply," she said, in a tone of real distress. "Won't you, when you come to part, take his hand for my sake, and let a little of the ice thaw?"
"No," he said, almost sternly; "not even for your sake, for whom I would die, will I be dishonest with myself or him; and you are not one to ask me to act a lie."