"No, I didn't!" he cried, in some consternation.
She drew out her pretty watch.
"There's time yet," he said, glancing at its face; "so I'm off."
Hurrying out of the front door, he encountered Ormsby in the porch.
"Hollo! is that you, Wallace?" he cried. "A little more and there'd have been a collision. Haven't seen you here for an age! been wondering what had become of you. Well, walk right in. You'll find Milly in the parlor. But you must excuse me for awhile as I've a letter to mail."
He held the door open as he spoke, and having seen the caller inside, hastily shut it without waiting for a reply to his remarks, and rushed away.
The parlor door stood ajar. Wallace tapped lightly; but Mildred, intent upon her music, did not hear, and he stole quietly in. He stood for a moment almost entranced by the low sweet tones of voice and instrument.
Mildred was thinking of Charlie, and her voice was full of pathos as she sang—
"'When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted,
To sever for years.'"