“You are always thinking of yourself and your own miserable safety,” replied the man.
He took up a pair of light sculls, and rowed swiftly in the direction of the boat-house.
Leslie, who had heard each word of this conversation, shrank up against the house; she was in complete shadow, and trusted no one would see her. The boat touched the boards of the little quay, and Annie sprang lightly on shore.
“You must help me put the boat back into the house,” she said.
The man did so without uttering a word. The key was then turned in the lock, and Annie slipped it into her pocket. She stood at the edge of the quay, the man standing near her.
“Good-by,” she said, raising her face to his.
“Good-by, old girl. You mean the best, but it is all humbug about your getting that scholarship, and my——” He broke off suddenly.
“Annie,” he continued, “I could not do it; you may as well know now for certain that I have made up my mind to cut the old life. With that sixty pounds, or without, I leave England in a day or two. You will be better off without me than with me, but you know what it means if I go without the money.”
“What?” said Annie in a low, terrified voice.
“That I am followed and arrested. Think of that! Think what the disgrace will mean to you!”