"I want to kiss you.... The gardener can see us now; a moment ago he was behind the Jerusalem artichokes."
"I hadn't noticed the gardener; I hadn't thought about him."
She had persuaded herself before she went into the arbour, and coming out of the arbour she said:—
"I don't think father will raise any objection."
"But you will speak to him. Hello! we're forgetting the fish, and it was the fish that brought all this about. Was it to bring this about that they lived or are to be eaten to-night at dinner?"
"Ned, you take a strange pleasure in making life seem wicked."
"I'm sorry I've been so unsuccessful, but will you ask you father to invite me, Ellen? and I'll try and make life seem nice—and the trout will try too."
Ellen did not know whether she liked or disliked Ned's levity, but when she looked at him an overpowering emotion clouded her comprehension and she walked in silence, thinking of when he would kiss her again. At the end of the walk she stopped to bind up a carnation that had fallen from its stake.
"Father will be wondering what has become of us."
"I think," said Ned, and his own cowardice amused him, "I think you had better tell your father yourself. You will tell him much better than I."