Somewhat to his astonishment the girl appeared embarrassed as she glanced away from him. It was a moment or two before she looked around again.
“Ah!” she exclaimed, “I don’t want to upset it. He has not been so well and contented for several years. 233 It has lifted him out of his moodiness.” Then she leaned a little toward him. “I dare not refuse this favour from you.”
Nasmyth was puzzled by a vague something in her manner.
“I certainly can’t see why you should want to; but we’ll talk of something else,” he replied. “As you have noticed, I have set to work, though I expect it will be winter before we make any very great impression.”
Laura glanced up the gloomy cañon, which was filled with the river’s clammy, drifting mist. “Winter,” she said, “will be terrible here. Then you are not going back to the coast or Victoria for some time?”
“Certainly not, if I can help it.”
Nasmyth spoke without reflection, but he felt what he said, and it was a moment before he realized that he might have expressed himself less decisively. He saw the smile on Laura’s lips.
“So you have heard?” he asked. “There was, of course, no reason why Gordon shouldn’t have told you. It was a thing I had meant to do myself, only, as it happened, I haven’t seen you. After that last speech of mine, I must explain that I feel there is a certain obligation on me to stay away. Miss Hamilton, as a matter of fact, is not engaged to me. Nothing can be settled until I carry out this project successfully.”
Laura Waynefleet’s face was very quiet, and he sat silent a moment or two, wondering somewhat uneasily what she was thinking. He was also slightly surprised at himself, for he realized that, after all, he had found it considerably easier to stay away than he had expected. Indeed, during the last few weeks, when every moment of his time had been occupied, he had thought of nothing except the work before him. It occurred to him for the first time that it was curious that he had been able to do so.