He went behind her chair and whispered something, and she nodded
to me to go without her.

When her carriage came up, I think he gave the coachman an order
to drive home in a round-about way, for we were a long time reaching
it. I kept my face to the window, and he made no effort to divert
my attention. When we came to a street whose thick rows of trees
shut out the moonlight my eager soul longed to leap out into the
dark and demand of him his heart, soul, life, for *me*.

I struck him lightly on the shoulder; he seized my hand.

"Oh, I know you, Margaret; you are mine!"

"We are at the hotel."

He sent the carriage back, and said that he would leave me at my
aunt's door. He wished that he could see her then. Was it magic
that made her open the door before I reached it?

"Have you come on legal business?" she asked him.

"You have divined what I come for."

"Step in, step in; it's very late. I should have been in bed but
for neuralgia. Did Mr. Uxbridge come home with you, Margaret?"

"Yes, in Mrs. Bliss's carriage; I wished to come before she was
ready to leave."