A quick step was heard on the gravel behind them.
"Oh, here you are!" said Horace. "The fire doesn't seem to be anything, Sissy, after all. The light got fainter and fainter, and it's all gone now."
"Where did you think it was?" Percival inquired.
"Well, I thought from the direction that it must be at old Garnett's Upland Farm, but it can't have been much. So you have got back?"
"Yes. Hadn't we better go in? You must mind what you are about, Horace, though it is warm. That cough of yours—"
"Stuff and nonsense about my cough!" But he turned to go in nevertheless.
"By the way," said Percival, as he walked between them, "you've been out all the evening: does any one know I've been away?"
"No," said Sissy. "Why, don't you want—"
"I would rather they didn't," he replied. (The stars in their courses seemed to fight for Addie and her secret, had it not been for that untoward meeting with Silas Fielding.)
Horace wore a knowing expression. He was rather pleased that his lecturer should be compelled to seek a pledge of secrecy from him. It made him feel more on a level with the well-conducted and independent Percival. "All right!" he said.