'I should like it so much; but what excuse can I give for being out till half-past ten at night?'
'You needn't stay till then; you can leave before the piece is half over.
Say you went out for a walk.'
The most ingenious and complete fiction that Mr. Lennox's inventive brain might have worked out would not have appeased Kate's fears so completely as the simple suggestion of a walk, and her face lit up with a glow of intelligence as she remembered how successfully she had herself made use of the same excuse.
'Then you'll come?' he said, taking her look for an answer.
'I'll try,' she replied, still hesitating.
'Then that's all right,' he murmured, pressing two or three pieces of paper into her hands. 'I've been thinking of you a great deal.'
Kate smiled slowly, and a slight flush for a moment illuminated the pale olive complexion.
'I dreamt that we were going up to London together, and that your head was lying on my shoulder, and it was so nice and pleasant, and when I woke up I was disappointed.'
Kate shivered a little, and drew back as if afraid; and in the pause which ensued Mr. Lennox remembered an appointment.
'I must be off now,' he said, 'there's no help for it; but you won't disappoint me, will you? The doors open at half-past six. If you're there early I may be able to see you before the piece begins.'