"Yes. I couldn't stand it any longer—"
She caught herself up in full voice, as though tempted but afraid to say more. He waited briefly before offering encouragement.
"I hope I haven't seemed impertinent…."
"No, no!"
Than this impatient negative his pause of invitation evoked no other recognition. She had subsided into her reserve, but—he fancied—not altogether willingly.
Was it, then, possible that he had misjudged her?
"You've friends in London, no doubt?" he ventured.
"No—none."
"But—"
"I shall manage very well. I shan't be there more than a day or two—till the next steamer sails."