“Yes,” answered Wanda. “There were some people there he did not want to meet, so we came away again at once.”
“But I thought they could not possibly be there.”
“They got there,” answered Wanda, “by some ill chance, from Petersburg, just in time.”
And as she spoke she shook hands with Cartoner.
“It is not such an ill chance, after all,” said Deulin, “since it gives us the opportunity of seeing you. Where is your father?”
“He is in his study.”
“I rather want to see him,” said Deulin, looking at Martin.
“Come along, then,” was the answer. “He will be glad to see you. It will cheer him up.”
And Wanda and Cartoner were left alone. It had all come about quickly and simply—so much quicker and simpler than human plans are the plans of Heaven.
Wanda, still standing in the doorway of the conservatory, of which the warm, scented air swept out past her into the great room, watched her brother and Deulin go and close the door behind them. She turned to Cartoner with a smile as if about to speak; but she saw his face, and she said nothing, and her own slowly grew grave.