'I know what he'll think when he knows that in order to save him you were ready to——'
'Besides, don't you see?' she interrupted, 'I refused him when he was nameless, and—and all that sort of thing, while now as Lord Carbis's son——'
But she did not finish the sentence. At that moment Jack Carbis leapt over a stile into the lane where we were walking.
With that quick intuition which I had so often noticed, he seemed to divine in a moment what we were talking about. He looked at us both for a few seconds without speaking, while both of us were so startled by his sudden appearance, that I think we were both incapable of uttering a word.
'How did you get here?' I gasped presently.
'I motored over,' he said. 'After you had left this morning—I—I—thought I would. It was only a hundred and fifty miles. They told me at the house which way you had gone, and——'
'You followed us,' I interjected. 'Jack, I think you have something to say to Lorna, and I fancy Sir Thomas and Lady Bolivick may be lonely. I shall see you presently, shan't I?'
Lorna looked at me with frightened eyes, as if in protest, then she turned towards my friend.
'Will you come with me?' said Jack, and his voice was tremulous, 'I say, you will come, won't you?'
She hesitated a second, and then the two walked away together in the quiet Devonshire lane, while the shadows of evening gathered.