The restraint Nasmyth had imposed upon himself suddenly deserted him. He moved a little nearer to her, and seized one of her hands. She sat still, and made no effort to draw it away from him.
“I had never meant to say what I am going to say just now,” he declared. “I had meant to wait until there was something successfully accomplished to my credit. I am, you see, a thriftless, wandering adventurer––one who has taken things as they came, and never has been serious. When I have shown that I can also be something else, I shall ask you formally if you will marry me. Until then the thing is, of course, out of the question.”
He broke off for a moment, and held her silent by a gesture until he went on again. “I have been swept away, and even if you were willing to make it, I would take no promise from you. Until I have won the right to come back you must be absolutely free. Now you know this, it would be very much wiser if I went away as soon as possible.”
“Ah,” the girl answered with a thrill in her voice, “whenever you come back you will find me ready to listen to you.”
Nasmyth let her hand go. “Now,” he asserted, “I think I cannot fail. Still, it must be remembered that you are absolutely free.”
He would have said something more, but there was just then a laugh and a patter of feet on the path above, and, looking up, he saw two of Mrs. Acton’s guests descending the bluff.