“Walk about, then. Only tell me: I’m impatient.” His immediate response was to throw himself into the armchair at her side, where he lounged for a moment without speaking, his legs stretched out, his arms locked behind his thrown-back head. Anna, her eyes on his face, waited quietly for him to speak. “Well--of course it was just what one expected.” “She takes it so badly, you mean?” “All the heavy batteries were brought up: my father, Givre, Monsieur de Chantelle, the throne and the altar. Even my poor mother was dragged out of oblivion and armed with imaginary protests.” Anna sighed out her sympathy. “Well--you were prepared for all that?” “I thought I was, till I began to hear her say it. Then it sounded so incredibly silly that I told her so.” “Oh, Owen--Owen!” “Yes: I know. I was a fool; but I couldn’t help it.” “And you’ve mortally offended her, I suppose? That’s exactly what I wanted to prevent.” She laid a hand on his shoulder. “You tiresome boy, not to wait and let me speak for you!” He moved slightly away, so that her hand slipped from its place. “You don’t understand,” he said, frowning. “I don’t see how I can, till you explain. If you thought the time had come to tell your grandmother, why not have asked me to do it? I had my reasons for waiting; but if you’d told me to speak I should have done so, naturally.” He evaded her appeal by a sudden turn. “What WERE your reasons for waiting?” Anna did not immediately answer. Her step-son’s eyes were on her face, and under his gaze she felt a faint disquietude. “I was feeling my way...I wanted to be absolutely sure...” “Absolutely sure of what?” She delayed again for a just perceptible instant. “Why, simply of OUR side of the case.” “But you told me you were, the other day, when we talked it over before they came back from Ouchy.” “Oh, my dear--if you think that, in such a complicated matter, every day, every hour, doesn’t more or less modify one’s surest sureness!” “That’s just what I’m driving at. I want to know what has modified yours.” She made a slight gesture of impatience. “What does it matter, now the thing’s done? I don’t know that I could give any clear reason...” He got to his feet and stood looking down on her with a tormented brow. “But it’s absolutely necessary that you should.” At his tone her impatience flared up. “It’s not necessary that I should give you any explanation whatever, since you’ve taken the matter out of my hands. All I can say is that I was trying to help you: that no other thought ever entered my mind.” She paused a moment and then added: “If you doubted it, you were right to do what you’ve done.”