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Then you must come at once. You neednt be afraidif I dont come. Nor you eitherif you do. I swear I only want to hear about you, to know what youve been doing. Its a hundred years since weve metit may be another hundred before we meet again. She still wavered, her anxious eyes on his face. Why didnt you come down to the beach to fetch me, the day I was at Grannys? she asked. Because you didnt look roundbecause you didnt know I was there. I swore I wouldnt unless you looked round. He laughed as the childishness of the confession struck him. But I didnt look round on purpose. On purpose? I knew you were there; when you drove in I recognised the ponies. So I went down to the beach. To get away from me as far as you could? She repeated in a low voice: To get away from you as far as I could. He laughed out again, this time in boyish satisfaction. Well, you see its no use. I may as well tell you, he added, that the business I came here for was just to find you. But, look here, we must start or we shall miss our boat. Our boat? She frowned perplexedly, and then smiled. Oh, but I must go back to the hotel first: I must leave a note As many notes as you please. You can write here. He drew out a note-case and one of the new stylographic pens. Ive even got an envelopeyou see how everythings predestined! Theresteady the thing on your knee, and Ill get the pen going in a second. They have to be humoured; wait He banged the hand that held the pen against the back of the bench. Its like jerking down the mercury in a thermometer: just a trick. Now try She laughed, and bending over the sheet of paper which he had laid on his note-case, began to write. Archer walked away a few steps, staring with radiant unseeing eyes at the passersby, who, in their turn, paused to stare at the unwonted sight of a fashionably-dressed lady writing a note on her knee on a bench in the Common. Madame Olenska slipped the sheet into the envelope, wrote a name on it, and put it into her pocket. Then she too stood up. They walked back toward Beacon Street, and near the club Archer caught sight of the plush-lined herdic which had carried his note to the Parker House, and whose driver was reposing from this effort by bathing his brow at the corner hydrant. I told you everything was predestined! Heres a cab for us. You see! They laughed, astonished at the miracle of picking up a public conveyance at that hour, and in that unlikely spot, in a city where cab- stands were still a foreign novelty. Archer, looking at his watch, saw that there was time to drive to the Parker House before going to the steamboat landing. They rattled through the hot streets and drew up at the door of the hotel. |
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