"This is a nice compliment," she said; "but I have no time for such things just now. Any moment Mrs. Clerk might scurry round the corner, and then my reputation would be gone for ever. She would probably tell every one that I had come out to meet you on purpose."
"Which is true, by the way, isn't it?" he inquired, smiling.
"Yes, quite true; only my reason is respectable—not the sort of reason that Mrs. Clerk would put down to my credit."
He came closer and, leaning his elbows on the cross-bars of the stile, looked up into her face.
"I hope it is a nice reason," he said.
"No," she answered, "it is a serious reason, and not in the least nice. I expect you have already heard something about it, haven't you?"
He hesitated.
"Of course—I have heard rumours," he said. "As a rule I ignore such things, but I could not altogether ignore this; it concerned you and yours too closely."
"Besides, it is true," she added.
"True, Nora?"