But at length the last guest had departed, the last carriage had been called and had rolled away. Agnes turned from the door-way and walked slowly to the fireplace.
"How empty the rooms look!" she said.
"You should have a glass of wine," Mrs. Merriam suggested. "You are certainly more tired than you should be. You are not as strong as I was at your age."
Arbuthnot went for the glass of wine into the adjoining room. He was glad to absent himself for a moment.
"In ten minutes I shall be out of the house," he said; "perhaps in five."
When he returned to the parlor Mrs. Merriam had disappeared. Agnes stood upon the hearth, looking down. She lifted her eyes with a gentle smile.
"Aunt Mildred is going to ask you to execute a little commission for her," she said. "She will be down soon, I think."
For the moment he was sufficiently abandoned and ungrateful to have lost all interest in Mrs. Merriam. It seemed incredible that he had only ten minutes before him and yet could retain composure enough to reply with perfect steadiness.
"Perhaps," he thought, desperately, "I am not going to do it so villanously, after all."
He kept his eyes fixed very steadily upon her. The soft calm of her manner seemed to give him a sort of strength. Nothing could have been sweeter or more unmoved than her voice.