CHAPTER XLII
COALS OF FIRE
Ralph returned home by way of Calais and Dover, and on the following day he came face to face with Dorothy outside the lodge gates. He raised his hat and would have passed on, but she would not let him.
"Surely we may be friends?" she said, extending her hand to him, and her eyes were pleading and pathetic.
He stopped at once and smiled gravely.
"I thought it was your wish that we should meet as strangers," he said.
"Did I say that?" she questioned, and she turned away her eyes from him.
"Something to that effect," he answered, still smiling, though he felt as if every reason for smiles had passed from him.
"I have been expecting to see you for days past," she said, suddenly raising her eyes to his.