“I should think that would be a very good idea,” said the other woman. Maria, listening listlessly, whirled about herself in the current of her own affairs, thought what a cat that woman was, and how she did not in the least care if she was a cat.
Wollaston Lee was not gone very long. He bowed and said good-evening to Maria, then seated himself at a little distance. The two women looked at him with sharp curiosity. “It would be the best thing for poor Aggie if she could get her mind set on another young man,” said the woman whose niece had been jilted.
“That is so,” assented the other woman.
“There's as good fish in the sea as has ever been caught, as I told her,” said the first woman, with speculative eyes upon Wollaston Lee.
It was not long before the train for Amity arrived. Wollaston, with an almost imperceptible gesture, looked at Maria, who immediately arose. Wollaston sat behind her on the train. Just before they reached Amity he came forward and spoke to her in a low voice. “I have to go on to Westbridge,” he said. “Will there be a carriage at the station?”
“There always is,” Maria replied.
“Don't think of walking up at this hour. It is too late. What—” Wollaston hesitated a second, then he continued, in a whisper, “What are you going to tell your aunt?” he said.
“Nothing,” replied Maria.
“Can you?”
“I must. I don't see any other way, unless I tell lies.”