"The day," said Langham, "is young. I feel ripe for an adventure. And you?"
"What sort of an adventure?"
"I thought that if one—or rather if two climbed to the top of a very little hill and sat down in the sunshine and admired the view——"
Far out on the lake they could see Lee, lolling in the stern of a guide boat. Young Renier was at the oars. But the boat was not being propelled. It was merely drifting.
"I wonder," said Langham, and he watched her face stealthily, "if by any chance those two are really engaged?"
Was there the least hardening of that lovely, gentle face, the least fleeting expression of that sort of panic which one experiences when arriving at the station in time to see the train pull out but not too late to get aboard by the exercise of swift and energetic manœuvres?
"Don't say such things!" she said presently. "It's like jumping out from behind a tree and shouting, 'Boo!'"
Mr. Langham smiled complacently and changed the subject. But he said to himself: "That Maud is a clever girl!"