She moved in his arms; she raised her head at last.
"Say good-bye to me, Charlie!" she whispered, "and--go!"
He caught her to him. He looked closely into her quivering face. "You love me still?" he whispered, with passionate insistence. "Tell me you love me still!"
She seemed to hesitate as if reluctant or irresolute. She seemed about to draw back. And then something magnetic in his face or his touch must haw moved her; or was it the weird enchantment of the night? She gave him her lips without a word, and so he had his answer....
There came the click of the orchard-gate, the sound of a quiet voice.
"Come round to the summer-house, Doc! There's a fine view from there."
Maud stiffened in Saltash's arms as if turned to stone.
He set her free with the utmost coolness and rose. The next instant she was sitting alone in the chequered moonlight. He had vanished without sound round the side of the arbour furthest from the orchard-gate.
She sat with a thumping heart, waiting. There had been something almost eerie in his disappearance. She knew he must be standing pressed against the wall by which she sat, but yet his going had been so silent that--even though her lips still burned with the memory of his kiss--she felt curiously as though the whole episode were as incredible as a dream.
She made no attempt to move. Her limbs felt like lead. Only her heart raced so madly that she gasped for breath.