"How can I, Jasper?" she answered.
"And if the worst comes to the worst," I said, "you will come to me, and we will fly together."
She did not speak, but she lifted her eyes to mine, and I saw them become dim with tears.
Then she told me that her father had spent days with men of business, but he had never told her one word as to what he had done. Indeed, the Tresidders had seemed to be disappointed at his having so many private interviews with lawyers, although they made much of him, especially Richard Tresidder's mother, who seemed to mould him at her will.
"If he is in her power, all hope is gone," I said sadly; and yet hope was not gone, for had she not told me that she would never go to the altar with Nick Tresidder?
Then I asked her how she had come to me that day instead of her father, for up to now my joy had been so great at being with her, that I had forgotten that it was not her that I had expected to see.
"That, too, is strange," she answered. "He gave this letter to a servant in my hearing, and bade him take it to you; so I asked the man to give it to me, and he made no objection."
I puzzled greatly at this, and I could think of no answer to the puzzle, save that Naomi must have won the servant's heart, as she won all hearts. Or, perhaps, he knew what it was to love, and had guessed her secret.
I opened the letter, and this was what I read:
"Will Jasper Pennington meet John Penryn, Lawyer Trefy, and the family of Tresidders at Pennington on Thursday at six o'clock in the evening?"