Scarcely had I reached the shadow of the trees ere I perceived the young man I came to meet. He was standing with his back to me, looking down the green glade which led to the road by which apparently he expected Agneta to come. No sooner did I see him than I experienced a sense of shame at my temerity. I might have abandoned my purpose and turned back, but the cracking of the twigs beneath my feet as I scrambled through the hedge had reached his ears. He swung round in a moment, and at the first glimpse of me a cry of delight escaped him; but the expression of his face changed almost instantly. Had I been less nervous I could have laughed at the unflattering look of annoyance which darkened his face when he perceived that I was not the one he expected.
"You did not expect to see me, Mr. Marshman," I said hastily in my embarrassment.
He lifted his hat with a grace that was Continental. I learned later that he had passed some years in a German school. He was of tall, lithe form, and bore himself with grace. His features were so handsome that I did not wonder at Agneta's infatuation, yet there was something in his face that repelled me.
"I beg your pardon," he said suavely in response to my greeting—"you have the advantage of me."
"I think not," I said. "I am Agneta's cousin—" it was with difficulty that I kept back the word "puritanical" which trembled on my tongue—"and I have come instead of her."
"Oh, really! Miss Darracott then, I presume." He lifted his hat again as he spoke. "May I ask why you have come?"
"I came to give you this," I said, holding out the slip of paper, "which I am sure you did not intend for me. You mistook my identity, I suppose."
He looked bewildered for a moment, then flushed as he took the paper.
"That being the case, you, of course, refrained from reading it, Miss Darracott?" he said in cool, quiet tones that had an edge of irony.
"Excuse me," I said, "you forget that your note bore no address. Your messenger told me that a gentleman had instructed him to give it to me. Not till I had read it could I know that it was meant for my cousin."