England -- Fiction; Honeymoons -- Fiction; Love stories; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Voyages and travels -- Fiction
He raised his hat and smiled at her; held out a hand, even. She was
child enough to put her two hands behind her, and woman enough to hope
that he hated to see her do it. She was surprised to find herself alert
and alive to the interest of the encounter; not afraid at all, only
interested. Gone was the panic terror which had overwhelmed her in the
Kenilworth dungeon. Anger and resentment remained, but stronger than
either was curiosity, so she stood with her hands behind her, looking at
him.
"Oh, very well," he said; "just as you like. I want a few words with
you."
"I don't want to talk to you," she said, and locked the square gate
again.
"Couldn't we walk around the garden once or twice?" he asked. "I know
you don't want to talk to me, but I want to talk to you. I'm sorry if I
upset you that day in the ruins, but it's nothing to the way your dog
upset me. I had to have it cauterized, besides doing completely for the
only decent suit I had with me. Besides, you hit me, you know, with your
parasol. Come, don't bare malice. I don't. Call it quits and open the
square door."
Now you may think it was quite easy for her to turn her back on Mr.
Schultz and go back to her aunt's house, leaving him planted there, but
it was not really easy, because she wanted something of the man, and if
she turned her back with sufficient firmness it might be that she would
never see him again. What she wanted was the remission of the promise
she had made him, unasked and of her own initiative--the promise that
she would not tell Edward of that day in the dungeon.
"I can't open the square gate for you," she said. "If you've really
anything to say, you can say it here. I can spare you three minutes,"
she added, conclusively.
"Then let's walk around outside the railings. It's better than standing
here; it won't look so odd if any one comes along who knows you," he
said, and it seemed strange to her that he should have so much
consideration for her. She was pleased. Her soul was of the order that
delights to find others better than her mind had led her to expect.
There are people, as you know, to whom it is always somewhat of a
disappointment to find that any one is not so black as their fancy
painted him. She turned and they walked slowly along the pavement that
encircles the railings of the square garden.
"Well?" she said, "you said you had something to say to me."
"Yes, lots," he told her. "I was just trying to think which to say
first. You know you've upset me a good deal. Oh, I forgive you, but it
ought to be mutual. Yes, I'll put that first--I want us to forgive each
other--forgive and forget and not bear grudge."
"Very well," she said, coldly. "I forgive you, but--"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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