"These things are fancies," he said--"dreams. You will forget them, my dear Lois. You will forget them very soon."
They entered the house, and in the hall he drew her into his arms. She wrenched herself free, and crouched back in the corner, with her hands stretched out in front of her face.
"Don't!" she cried. "Don't! If you kiss me, I shall go mad. Can't you see that I don't want to come with you, that I don't want to be with you? You shall let me go! You must let me go!"
He stood frowning a few feet away. To tell the truth, he was honestly puzzled at her attitude. At last, with a little shrug of the shoulders, he threw open the door of the sitting-room.
"Rachael," he said, "Lois has come to see you for a few minutes."
Lois went timidly into the room. Rachael, with a shawl around her shoulders, was sitting in front of a huge fire. She turned her head and held out her long withered hand, as usual covered with rings.
"Sit opposite me, child. Let me look at you."
Lois sat down, gazing with fascinated eyes at the woman whose presence she found almost as terrifying as the presence of Saton himself.
"My son--I call Bertrand my son," she said, "because I have adopted him, and because everything I have, even my name if he will have it--will be his--my son, then, tells me that he has not seen you for several days."
"It is very difficult," Lois said, trembling.
"My guardian, Mr. Rochester, does not allow Bertrand to come to the house," Lois said, hesitatingly, "and Lady Mary tries not to let me come out alone."
Rachael nodded her head slowly, her eyes glittered in the firelight. Wrapped in her black shawl, she looked like some quaint effigy--something scarcely human.
"Your guardian and his wife," she said, "are foolish, ignorant people. They do not understand such men as Bertrand. You will understand him, child. You will know him better when he is your husband, know him better, and be proud of him. Is it not so?"
"I am glad that you came this afternoon," Rachael continued. "Bertrand and I have been talking. We think it well that you should be married very soon."
"I am not of age," Lois said, breathlessly.
"It does not matter," Rachael declared. "Your guardian can keep back your money, but that is of no consequence. It will come to you in time, and Bertrand has plenty himself. I am afraid that they might try and tempt you to be faithless to my son. You are very young and impressionable, and though I do not doubt but that you are fond of him, it is not easy to be faithful when you are alone, and with such people as Mr. Rochester and Lady Mary. I am going to London in a few days. I think it would be well if you went with me. Bertrand could get a special license, and you could be married at once."