"I have come for you," he said.
"Oh, for me!" she murmured. Surely he couldn't mean that! He was simply putting her off with that.
"I mean it, I mean it," he assured her. "This doesn't make it any less real, my getting at you through a garden. Better," he added, "and sweet of you to make the duller way impossible."
She took a step back. It had not been play to her; but he would have it nothing else. He, too, stepped back and away from her.
"Come," he said, and behind him she saw the lower garden gate that opened on the grassy pitch of the hill, swinging idle and open. The sight of him about to vanish lured her on, and as he continued to walk backward she advanced, following.
"Oh, where?" she pleaded.
"With me!" Such a guaranty of good faith he made it!
She tried to summon her reluctance.
"We'll talk about it as we go along." His hand was on the gate. "We can't stop here, you know. She'll be watching us from the window."