? Even while he
assented to that innocent request he knew it could never be.

'Miss Ross,' he said suddenly, for his position was becoming too
difficult for him, and it was his duty to shield her as much as
possible, 'we are just in the town, and perhaps it would be better for
me to drop behind a little. It will not do for people to notice; and now
the rain is beginning, and if you do not hurry on you will be wet.'

'Very well,' she returned; and then rather timidly she put out her hand
to him. Cyril did not ignore it this time; he held it fast for a moment.

'You have been good, very patient with me,' he said rather huskily.
'Thank you for that, as well as for everything else: and then he stepped
aside and waited for her to leave him.

Audrey's limbs were trembling; she had never felt so agitated in her
life. She hurried on, panting a little with her haste; but the drops
fell faster and faster, and just at the entrance to the town she was
obliged to take refuge in a shed by the roadside. The street was dark,
and she knew no one could see her. She would have time to recover
herself a little before she had to answer all her mother's anxious
questions. There was a carpenter's bench and a pile of planks; she sat
down on them, and looked out at the heavy torrents of rain. By and by
Cyril passed, but he did not notice her; he was walking very fast and
his head was erect, as though he were not conscious of the rain beating
down on him. Audrey shrank back a little as she saw him. 'He is young,
but he is strong,' she said to herself; 'he is almost as strong as
Michael;' and then her tears flowed again, but she wiped them away a
little impatiently. 'I must be strong, too, for his sake as well as my
own; it will never do for people to find out his secret. He must be
spared as much as possible. I must help him all I can.' But as she
argued herself into calmness she told herself again and again how
thankful she was that Michael was away. Michael was so observant, so
clear-sighted, that it was impossible to hoodwink him. He had a terrible
habit of going straight to the point, of putting questions that one
could hardly evade. He would have seen in a moment that she had been
crying, and any refusal on her part to satisfy his inquiries would only
have deepened his suspicions. 'I could not have faced Michael,' she
thought, as the rain suddenly stopped and she stepped out into the wet
gleaming roads.

Audrey played her part in the c