For answer there was a sound of hurrying footsteps across the floor of the room. The next moment the curtain was pulled aside. Kate stood at the other side of the window in the dim lamplight. Her handsome eyes were startled and full of inquiry, and her rounded bosom rose and fell quickly. When she saw the pale face peering in at her a gentle smile crept into her eyes.
“You scared the life out of me,” she said calmly. Then, with a quick look into his bloodshot eyes, she went on: “Why did you wait for me—here?”
Charlie lowered his eyes. “I—guessed you’d be along some time this evening. I wanted to speak to you—alone.”
Kate studied him for a moment. His averted, almost shifty, eyes seemed to hold her attention. She was thinking rapidly.
Presently his eyes came back to her face; a deep passion was shining in them.
“Can I come around to the door?”
There was just the smallest hesitation before Kate replied.
“Yes, if you must see me here.”
Charlie waited for no more. The door was on the other side of the building, overlooking the village below. He hurried thither, and when he thrust it open the place was in darkness.
Kate’s voice greeted him promptly. “The draught has blown the lamp out. Have you a match?”