The blood rushed into my face. The sense of shame and humiliation which I experienced well-nigh brought the tears to my eyes. I saw how foolish it was of me to imagine that I could influence such a man as this.
He glanced away for a moment, then drew nearer to me with something so familiar and repulsive in his air that instinctively I shrank as far from him as the narrow path would permit. Without heeding the way I took, I had passed into the track that led to the stile giving access to the road. As I hastily moved away from Ralph Marshman, I was aware that Alan Faulkner stood on the other side of the stile, and was looking towards us with an indescribable expression on his face. I only saw him, and he was gone. Like a blow there fell on me the conviction that he had utterly misunderstood the state of affairs.
What could he think, indeed, on seeing me wandering along a secluded woodland path with this man beside me? How could I have been so mad as to place myself in such a position! For a moment I did not hear the words which Ralph Marshman was saying. Then he laughed in a way which made me turn my eyes on him. He was regarding me with a bold, amused glance that was in itself an insult. It seemed to me that he could read my thoughts, and knew the pain I was enduring.
"That is the learned and exemplary Professor Faulkner," he said in a mocking tone. "Do you think he was shocked to see us wandering in this wood alone? But if he is human at all he would understand—at least the apparent meaning of it, eh, Miss Darracott? He might not guess how recent is our acquaintance."
"Don't speak so, if you please!" I responded angrily. "You know I only came here to protest against the way in which you are acting! I warn you that I shall tell my aunt all that I know!"
"You don't mean that," he said with an impudent laugh. "You say it because you are angry. Well, I forgive your wrath since it is so becoming. But let me warn you that if you tell tales I can tell them too. I could tell a pretty story of how you opened another person's letter, and how you came uninvited to meet me in the wood. I advise you to keep your own counsel, Miss Darracott. Will you convey my regrets to Agneta, and tell her that, but for the pleasure of making your acquaintance, I should have been inconsolable when I heard of her indisposition? I fear we shall not meet again for a while, Miss Darracott, as I am about to leave this neighbourhood."
I made no reply as I hurried along the path and climbed the stile. I could feel that he watched me for a few moments, but when I looked back from the road I saw that he had turned in the opposite direction, and was pursuing the path that led towards Chelmsford. I hurried homewards, my cheeks burning, my pulses throbbing. I could hardly have felt much worse had I been guilty of the indiscretion which I believed Alan Faulkner had imputed to me.
"Gay Bowers" was close at hand when round a bend of the road I came suddenly upon Agneta. The colour flew into her face as she saw me. It was clear that her professed desire to sleep was merely a ruse to get rid of me, and she was now hurrying to keep her appointment with Ralph Marshman.
"It is too late, Agneta!" I said. "He is gone."
"What do you mean?" she asked nervously, and the flush faded from her face as quickly as it had risen, till she looked ready to drop. "Where have you been?"