The contact seemed to move him strangely. His pale face flushed, and, clasping the dainty hand, he kissed it a score of times on wrist and ringers and rosy palm.
"I forgive you because you did me the favor to help me out of a very perilous position just now. But remember that is why you are pardoned. I shall ask you to ride to town alone. My groom will lead my horse; and I will drive in with my friends to-morrow. I mean to ask a night's shelter at the vale; I am hardly equal to the ride."
"Let me go to town and fetch out a carriage for you."
"Thank you, no. I cannot go back, to-night, to all the noise and glare of Newport. It is so peaceful here."
"You have not inquired whether my quest of the seaweed was successful. Here is the little crimson ocean flower."
"Thank you so much; I had forgotten all about it. That is a beautiful specimen. Do you feel quite yourself again?"
