‘Do you know, I think that is quite likely. But I am not leaving you for long. I shall be back again to plague you by the time the leaves begin to turn.’ She looked at her watch. ‘And now my adieux to all of you must be brief. Time, tide, and the express train wait for no one.’
She saw Oscar coming towards her, and she crossed to meet him.
‘The crucial moment,’ said Sir Frederick to himself. ‘How bravely she carries herself!’
Oscar took her hand. For a moment or two they looked into each other’s eyes without speaking. Then Oscar said: ‘You are determined to go—and without affording me a word of explanation?’
‘I cannot help myself.’
‘Do you really mean this to be farewell between us?’
‘Yes—farewell.’ There was a sob in her voice which she could not repress.
‘O my darling!’
‘Not that word, Oscar—not that!’
‘And do you really think, Laura, that I am going to allow myself to lose you in this way, without knowing the why or the wherefore? Not so—not so.’