"Do not say such horrid things! Give me your hand—the steps are slippery. What has put drowning into your head? And—why, how pale you are; what has frightened you?"
She took his hand and came back again to where he stood.
"Do you believe in presentiments?" she said, slowly, with her eyes fixed still, as though by some fascination, upon the dark waters beneath them.
"Not in the very least," he answered, cheerily; "do not think of such things. John would be the first to scold you—and to scold me for bringing you here."
He stood, holding her hand, looking at her kindly and compassionately; suddenly she looked at him, and as their eyes met once more, she trembled from head to foot.
"Vera, you are frightened; tell me what it is!"
"I don't know! I don't know!" she cried, with a sudden wail, like a person in pain; "only—oh! I wish I had not seen it for the first time with you!"
Before he could answer her, some one, beckoning to them from the further side of the pool, caused them both to turn suddenly round.
It was not only Herbert Pryme who had seen them wander away down the garden from the house. Mrs. Romer, too, had been at another window and had noticed them. To run lightly upstairs, put on her hat and jacket, and to follow them, had been the work of but a very few minutes. Helen was not minded to allow Maurice to wander about all the morning with Vera.
"Are you going for a walk?" she called out to them across the water. "Wait for me; I am coming with you."