"But what can you get for a sovereign?" he asked irrelevantly. He felt his mind wandering away from him.
"Oh, ever such a pretty dress!"
The picture of Mary Ann in a pretty dress painted itself upon the darkness. How lovely the child would look in some creamy white evening dress with a rose in her hair. He wondered that in all his thoughts of their future he had never dressed her up thus in fancy, to feast his eyes on the vision.
"And so the vicar will find you in a pretty dress," he said at last.
"No, sir."
"But you promised Mrs. Leadbatter to——"
"I promised to buy a dress with her sovereign. But I shan't be here when the vicar comes. He can't come till the afternoon."
"Why, where will you be?" he said, his heart beginning to beat fast.
"With you," she replied, with a faint accent of surprise.
He steadied himself against the mantel-piece.