‘I wanted to see you to-day,’ she said, subduing her voice to the tone of ordinary conversation. ‘I should have come this evening.’
‘You wouldn’t have found me at home. From five to seven I shall be frantically busy, and then I have to rush off to dine with some people.’
‘I couldn’t see you before five?’
‘Is it something important?’
‘Yes, it is.’
‘I tell you what. If you could meet me at Gloucester Gate at four, then I shall be glad of half an hour in the park. But I mustn’t talk now; I’m driven to my wits’ end. Gloucester Gate, at four sharp. I don’t think it’ll rain.’
He dragged out a tome of the ‘Britannica.’ Marian nodded, and returned to her seat.
At the appointed hour she was waiting near the entrance of Regent’s Park which Jasper had mentioned. Not long ago there had fallen a light shower, but the sky was clear again. At five minutes past four she still waited, and had begun to fear that the passing rain might have led Jasper to think she would not come. Another five minutes, and from a hansom that rattled hither at full speed, the familiar figure alighted.
‘Do forgive me!’ he exclaimed. ‘I couldn’t possibly get here before. Let us go to the right.’
They betook themselves to that tree-shadowed strip of the park which skirts the canal.