“Why have you come out?” she asked in German, a language he understood well.
“To walk with you. Why do you speak to me in German?”
“Because it is my pleasure to do so, and I never asked you to walk with me. You are wanted in the drawing-room, you had better go back.”
“No, I won’t go, Hilda; that is, not until you have promised me something.”
“Do not call me Hilda, if you please. I am the Fräulein von Holtzhausen. What is it you want me to promise?”
“I want you to meet me this evening at nine o’clock in the summer- house.”
“I think, Mr. Caresfoot, that you are forgetting a little what is due to me, to yourself, and—to Miss Lee?”
“What do you mean by due to Miss Lee?”
“Simply that she is in love with you, and that you have encouraged her in her affection; you need not contradict me, she tells me all about it.”
“Nonsense, Hilda; if you will meet me to-night, I will explain everything; there is no need for you to be jealous.”