"
Ernestine breathed again.
"I said in the note I left behind for her that she wasn't to worry about
me. I had gone into the country to get away from my troubles."
"That was ingenious, too," he commented. "I think, if you ask me, that
we have come out of the affair rather well."
"We have all been remarkably subtle," she said, with a sigh. "But I
don't like subtlety, you know. It's very horrid, and it frightens me
rather."
"What are you afraid of?" he said.
"I don't know. I think I am afraid of going too far and not being able
to get back."
"Do you want to get back?" he asked.
"No, no, of course not. At least, not yet," she assured him.
"Then, my dear," he said, "I think, if you will allow me to say so, that
you are disquieting yourself in vain."
He spoke very kindly, with a gentleness that was infinitely reassuring.
With an impulsive movement of complete confidence, she slipped her hand
through his arm.
"Thank you, Knight Errant," she said. "I wanted that."
She did not ask him anything about Dinghra, and he wondered a little at
her forbearance.
VII
HIS INSPIRATION
The days of Rivington's sojourn slipped by with exceeding smoothness.
They did a little fishing and a good deal of quiet lazing, a little
exploring, and even one or two long, all-day rambles.
And then one day, to Ernestine's amazement, Rivington took her
sketching-block from her and began to sketch.
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