"Stop, Lotty;" cried Fred; "as it is not our property, we've no right to destroy it." And then he put the letter in his breast pocket; and, as he did so, I had a twinge of the heart, a cold chill, for all the world as though he had put a viper there.
"Fred, dear Fred," said I, and what ailed me I couldn't tell; but all I recollect was that saying or stammering, "let us go home," I fell upon his neck; and after awhile coming to myself, I found Josephine—now pale and now flustered—at my side. But still the wish was in my thoughts. "Do, do let us go home."
"Well, Lotty, love; we will go home. In a little while; a very little while; a day or two"—
"Now, Fred; to-day."
"Why, to-day, Lotty, is impossible. The fact is, I expect—but never mind;" and I felt sure there was something Fred was hiding from me, something I ought to know. But before I could reply, he took his hat and left the room. I don't know what could have possessed me; but, for the minute, I felt alone—all alone in the world; and the next, such a newer, deeper love—I had thought it impossible to be so—for Frederick; and then—but Josephine was present, looking so curiously at me, that I was directly called to myself.
"You'd never think of going home, Ma'am, without a peep at France?" said Josephine.
"What I think can in no way concern you," I replied very freezingly; for, somehow, I could not quite understand Josephine's looks.
"Certainly not, Ma'am; only to be so near France, and not to cross, what would people say? And lace I'm told so cheap there! Not that I wish to go myself. Certainly not. Oh dear no. Old England for me. I'm sure I can stay here till you come back with the greatest pleasure in—no, not exactly that: still, Ma'am, I can stay."
And the more she talked, and the more I looked at her, the more she seemed in a sort of pucker and flurry that—I'm not suspicious: still, it did appear mysterious.
"I shall not go to France. We shall return straight home, and you may, or may not—just as you please, Josephine, so make it entirely agreeable to yourself—go back with us, or stay here alone." And with this, I left the room to join Fred; and he—I discovered to my great annoyance—had gone out. Gone out! It was very odd.