“I will speak to Annette about it,” he said quietly. “Is that all?”
She answered with a short nod.
Annette was anxiously waiting for him. “What is it?” she asked, when she saw his face.
He snatched his hat from the table. “Come out into the air,” he said; “I am stifling here.”
She followed him into the gardens, where an arbor screened them from view. “Did you know what your mother was going to say to me?” he asked.
“No!” It was all she had strength to utter.
“Nothing of it?”
“Nothing, Lawrence. I saw that she did not mean to tell me, so I would not ask. Don’t keep me in suspense.”
He hesitated a moment. Since she did not know, there was no need to tell her all. He told her only her mother’s plans regarding their marriage.
“You see it’s a sort of ticket-of-leave,” he said, smiling faintly. “We are to be under surveillance. Hadn’t you better give me up, Annette? She will like any one else better.”