"But I don't understand why you are here," she managed to gasp.
To him it was evidently as simple as to Marie.
"To see you," he answered promptly.
"If that is all, then you should not have come," she declared.
They were still on the stairs. She led the way down and into the lower reception-room. She did not care to go again into the sun parlor. She thought it would be easier to talk to him in surroundings not associated with anything in the past. They had the room to themselves. She sat down and motioned him to another chair at some little distance. He paid no attention to her implied request. With his feet planted firmly, his arms folded, he stood before her while she tried to find some way of avoiding his gaze.
"Peter Noyes has gone," he began.
"Yes," she nodded. "You heard about his eyes?"
"He wrote me."
She looked up swiftly.
"Peter wrote you?" she trembled.