'Permit me to escort you.'
She bowed her assent. There was no reason why he should not do so, and an expression of triumph made her eyes sparkle, and then she asked—
'Has Captain Goring utterly failed as yet to discover a trace of where Miss Cheyne has sailed to, or rather of where her father has taken her?'
'Yes—quite.'
'It is very singular—people don't disappear in that way now-a-days. Poor Goring; he is, I know, so passionately attached to her, but her father's opposition is so resolute that I think he should school himself——'
'To relinquish her? oh, no—we cannot control our love, Mrs. Trelawney—can we?'
'I think not.'
'If we could—if we could——'
'What a deal of trouble would be spared us in this world,' said she, laughing; 'but Sir Ranald Cheyne is, no doubt, still unaware that Captain Goring is now a very rich man, and will, I hear, remain in England for a little time yet.'
'A little time only; the transport awaits us at Southampton; we are all in readiness, and the order to march may come at any hour. This is the last time we may see each other,' he said, in a suddenly somewhat broken voice; 'and perhaps it is as well, Laura—I have seen too much of you—too much for my own peace.'