"This is our first child, we have been married scarcely two years. Excuse me, but I suppose you are a young married couple."
Laura rose hastily, her cheeks glowed a deeper red than the rising sun, as she answered with a low "No."
"Then you are engaged without doubt," said the woman, "that can be seen at once."
"How could you discover that?" asked Laura, without raising her eyes.
"One sees evidence of it," replied the woman, "the way in which you looked at the gentleman was significant enough."
"A good guess," exclaimed the Doctor, gaily; but he also colored slightly.
Laura turned away and struggled for composure. The secret of her journey was apparent to every one. It was known in the city and was spoken of in the villages. Her betrothal had been settled by the talk of strangers. Yet her parents had not laid her hand in that of her lover, nor had any of her friends wished her happiness, but now the stranger on the high road came and told her to her face what she was.
"If the woman had known all,--how that I was eloping secretly with Fritz Hahn, without betrothal or marriage,--how would she have looked upon me?" thought Laura.
She entered the carriage before the coachman had finished feeding the horses, and again tears flowed from her eyes. The Doctor, who did not anticipate this change of mood, was about to enter, when Laura, quite beside herself, exclaimed:
"I beg of you to sit by the coachman, I feel very sad."