The girl turned and gazed at her companion with a look of surprise.
"You seem to want me to go," she said.
Jem did not answer. He looked away from her towards the western sky. The dark clouds had disappeared and the setting sun was shedding its radiance once more over the heath. Meg noticed almost unconsciously how it lighted up Jem's face.
She moved a little nearer to her companion.
"Jem, I don't understand. Why have you followed me if you weren't sent to bring me back?"
"I came to tell you that as far as I can see there ain't no call for you to go back at all if you've not a mind to. They can't complain or compel you."
"Not father or mother?" exclaimed the girl.
"No. They ain't got no right to; they haven't had a right all this time to keep you. You can leave 'em straight away if you've a mind to."
"But," persisted the girl, "there's mother."
"No there ain't. She's no mother of yours. She's my aunt, worse luck, but she ain't your mother, and uncle ain't your father. You don't belong to 'em by right and no one could compel you to go to 'em. They know that right enough."