"What is your difficulty, dearest? Do you fear to face the future with me?"
"I have not thought of the future."
"Is it the idea of leaving your child that distresses you?"
"I have not thought of him."
"Then it is my truth—my devotion which you doubt?"
"Give me a little more time for thought," she said, still playing the same sotto voce accompaniment to their speech.
"I dare not; everything must be planned to-night. I must leave this house early to-morrow morning. There are imperative reasons which oblige me to do so. You must meet me at Bodmin Road Station at eleven—you must, Christabel, if our lives are to be free and happy and spent together. Vacillation on your part will ruin all my plans. Trust yourself to me, dearest—trust my power to secure a bright and happy future. If you do not want to be parted from your boy, take him with you. He shall be my son. I will hold him for you against all the world."
"You must leave this house early to-morrow morning," she said, looking up at him for the first time. "Why?"
"For a reason which I cannot tell you. It is a business in which some one else is involved, and I am not free to disclose it yet. You shall know all later."
"You will tell me, when we meet at Bodmin Road."