“No, he is not coming, my child, and he does not know you are here,” said Garstang, watching her searchingly.
“Ah!” ejaculated the girl, with a sigh of relief. “I could not—I dare not meet him.”
“That is what I felt. You can not meet him for some time to come, but there are unpleasant complications, my dear, which trouble me a great deal.”
“Yes?” said Kate, excitedly.
“Such as will, I fear, make it necessary for you to remain still secluded.”
“But, Mr Garstang, suppose that he should come to see you one day when you were out, and he were shown in to me.”
“Ah, yes,” he said, dryly, watching her troubled face narrowly, “what I once said: that would be awkward.”
“Oh, it would be horrible,” cried Kate, springing to her feet. “I could not go back with him. And he has a right to claim me, and he would insist.”
She began to pace the room excitedly, with her hands clasped before her.
“Yes, my child, it would be horrible,” said Garstang, gently, “and that is why, in spite of its giving you pain, I have been so particular lest by any letter of yours he should learn where you were.”