Urmston stood a moment or two as though listening. There was no sound from the buildings outside, and the house was very still. He moved forward closer to her, and leant upon the table, his hand clenched on the letter.
"I have been endeavouring to get rid of that insufferable Custer for the last hour," he said. "There is something I have to tell you."
"Well?" The incisive monosyllable expressed inquiry without encouragement.
"The men I came out with are going on north to Edmonton, and expect me to go with them. In fact, they have been good enough to intimate that they are astonished at my long absence, and it is evident that, if I am to go on with the thing, I must leave Prospect to-day or to-morrow."
"Well," said Carrie, with a disconcerting lack of disquietude, "you couldn't expect them to wait indefinitely."
The man gazed at her in evident astonishment. "Don't you understand? I couldn't get back here from Edmonton."
"That is tolerably evident."
Urmston looked his disappointment, but he roused himself with an effort. "Carrie," he said, "I can't go. You don't wish me to?"
Carrie looked at him steadily, though there was now a faint flush in her cheeks.
"I think it would be better if you told me exactly what you mean by that," she said.