"'When shall you start?' she said, resuming her work and fixing her eyes on her pattern.
"'To-morrow, at the latest,' he replied, transferring the letter to his pocket.
"'Have you told my aunt?' she said, searching her work-basket for her scissors.
"'Not yet: I must do it now,' he said, putting back the little ornament his elbow had displaced.
"'Shall you go direct to London?' she said, trying to disentangle a skein of colored yarn.
"'No: I stop one night at the Grange,' he said quietly, but with an air of decision.
"'Then I will ask you to be the bearer of my letter,' she added, laying down her work as she spoke.
"'Is that all you will permit me to do for you?' he asked anxiously.
"'Oh, I never burden my friends,' she said, raising her head and tossing back her curls.
"'Then you have no belief in true friendship,' he answered in a tone of bitterness."