Much we heeded him! Counting the carriages (three of them) waiting at the sub-dean’s door, we raced onwards at will, some hither, some thither. King went back to Mrs. Lake. The evening coolness felt delicious after the hot and garish day; the moonlight brought out the lights and shades of the queer old houses and the older cathedral. Collecting ourselves together presently, at Fred Sanker’s whoop, Mr. Angerstyne and Anne were missing.
“They’ve gone to look at the Severn, I think,” said Dan Sanker. “I heard him tell her it was worth looking at in the moonlight.”
Yes, they were there. He had Anne’s arm tucked up under his, and his head bent over her that she might catch his whispers. They turned round at hearing our footsteps.
“Indeed we must go home, Mr. Angerstyne,” said Julia Podd, who had run down after me, and spoke crossly. “The college clock is chiming a quarter to eleven. There’s Mrs. Lake waiting for us under the Tower!”
“Is it so late?” he answered her, in a pleasant voice. “Time flies quickly in the moonlight: I’ve often remarked it.”
Walking forward, he kept by the side of Julia; Anne and I followed together. Some of the boys were shouting themselves hoarse from the top of the ascent, wanting to know if we were lost.
“Is it all settled, Anne?” I asked her, jestingly, dropping my voice.
“Is what settled?” she returned. But she understood; for her face looked like a rose in the moonlight.
“You know. I can see, if the others can’t. And if it makes you happy, Anne, I am very glad of it.”
“Oh, Johnny, I hope—I hope no one else does see. But indeed you are making more of it than it deserves.”