"Why, Margaret is with you, is she not?" she exclaimed.
"No, mother; I expected to find her here."
"Did you leave her, then?"
"No, not exactly; that is to say, I——"
Clement did not finish the sentence. He walked slowly up and down the room thinking, whilst his mother watched him very anxiously.
"My dear Clement," Mrs. Austin exclaimed at last, "you really quite alarm me. You set out this afternoon upon some mysterious expedition with Margaret; and though I ask you both where you are going, you both refuse to satisfy my very natural curiosity, and look as solemn as if you were about to attend a funeral. Then, after ordering dinner for seven o'clock, you keep it waiting nearly two hours; and you come in without Margaret, and seem alarmed at not seeing her here. What does it all mean, Clement?"
"I cannot tell you, mother."
"What! is this business of to-day, then, a part of your secret?"
"It is," answered the cashier. "I can only say again what I said before, mother—trust me!"
The widow sighed, and shrugged her shoulders with a deprecating gesture.