Then a sudden insanity gripped me by the throat, and I committed that most unpardonable of all blunders—I told the truth.
"There was no urgent business!" I blurted out. "The telegram was a lie!"
She wrinkled up her forehead again, in that altogether adorable way of her own.
"Indeed?" she said. "And why should you send me a lie?"
I dropped the cigar which I was holding, and ground it into the mud with my boot.
"I heard you were married," I said hoarsely.
There was a moment's silence, and then, as I live, she began to laugh.
"Oh!" she said, "that accounts for the telegram! But it seems a poor reason for wasting a cigar."
I stared at her dully. "I suppose I must appear a particularly ludicrous sort of idiot," I said. "My only excuse is that I can't help it. Good-bye!"
She put out one hand, as though to stop me.