"I heard Mrs. Keith say she was going to the Vivians in Durham later. I suppose she will take you?"
Millicent said she believed so, and he continued: "It's possible I may turn up there."
He watched her closely, but could see nothing that suggested satisfaction.
"Do you know the people?" she inquired.
"I used to know Herbert Vivian, though I haven't seen him for some time. No doubt, if he got a hint he'd ask me down."
"It's a high, bleak place," said Millicent. "We were nearly frozen on our last visit, and I'm afraid you wouldn't find the cold good for you. Were you not recommended to stay in Devonshire?"
Walters gave her a half-indignant glance. "When that brute of a hill man knocked me out I'd no suspicion how much his shot would cost me. Anyhow, I'm not going to Devonshire, and I ventured to think you might have been glad to see me at the Vivians'."
"Why should I wish you to do an unwise thing?" Millicent asked.
"That's an evasion," he answered bluntly. "I'll be candid. This place won't be the same after you have gone."
Millicent was silent a moment. She knew he wanted a tacit admission that their acquaintance need not end with her visit to Hazlehurst, but he would be right in attaching some significance to her action if she made it. The man, who had only known her a few weeks, could go no further yet, and he was eminently likeable, but she would not lead him on.