“Why? I really don’t understand you!” he exclaimed, much mystified.
“I am sorry, I repeat, Mr Remington—very sorry indeed—but I can’t meet you again,” she said, in a hard, determined tone. “I do not dare to.”
“Engaged, I suppose—and fear tittle-tattle—eh?” he sniffed.
“No, I’m not engaged,” was her rather haughty response, her cheeks colouring slightly.
“Then why cannot we meet? What prevents it?”
She looked at him with a strange, almost weird expression in her big luminous eyes.
“A barrier lies between us, Mr Remington,” she said, in a low, very earnest voice. “We must never meet again after to-day—never?”
“But, Miss Tempest—you—”
“I have told you the truth,” she said, firmly, rising with little Snookie tucked beneath her arm. “Please do not ask me the reason. Come, let us rejoin Maud and your friend.”
She started off, and he, being helpless in the face of her determination, was compelled to follow her.