"Mrs. Grey, I have been looking for you all over the boat. I feared that I had missed you," he said, gayly, holding out his hand.
"I have been waiting for you here," she answered, with a smile.
"I am glad to find you at last. But will you not come into the cabin? The deck is not a pleasant place while the boat is at the wharf," he said, as he offered her his arm.
She thanked him with a smile, took his arm and let him lead her into the saloon.
It was at that moment empty of other visitors. And those two were tête-à-tête.
He gave her a pleasant seat, placed himself beside her, and then and there he told her of his betrothal to Emma Cavendish.
Of course she already knew all about it. But he was not aware of her knowledge. And his motive in announcing the intelligence to her was evident even to Mary Grey's vanity-blinded mind. It was to set their own relations at once upon a true basis, and prevent all misunderstanding and all false hopes growing out of their long-lost love.
Although she had known all this so well before he spoke of it, yet it required all her powers of self-control and duplicity to listen quietly while he spoke of her rival and to affect a sympathy with his happiness.
Yet she did this so well that he was thoroughly deceived.
"It was all a foolish mistake our fancying we loved each other so much, was it not, Alden, dear?" she inquired, with an arch smile.