"Do you want all I have taken down typewritten? I can do it after tea, if so?"
"And you will sit up there all by yourself from now until you go to bed?"
"Of course."
"You must feel awfully solitary."
"Not in the least. I have books which are the most agreeable companions. They have no independent moods—you can be sure of them, and pick up those which suit yourself. Good-night."
And she turned at the bend of the great staircase from which the gallery opened, and rapidly walked on to the entrance to her passage.
He looked after her with a rapt face, and then he went discontentedly down into the library, and waited for his aunt's return.
He was extremely disturbed; it was horribly tantalizing to feel that this girl whom he was so passionately drawn to, was there in the house with him, and that he might not talk with her further, or be in her presence.
He walked up and down the room—and those who knew the casual Gerard Strobridge, cultivated, polished and self-contained, would have been greatly surprised could they have seen his agitated pacings.
Lady Garribardine had a quizzical eye when she finally came in—how had the afternoon progressed? Her opinion of the mental balance of her secretary was exceedingly high. She felt convinced that she would know exactly how to tackle her nephew, and if Gerard desired to amuse himself he would certainly do so whether she smiled upon the affair or not!