"It's strange," she asserted, "but I've had something of the same feeling. You seem to have become a part of things, a connecting link between us all--Mrs. Gladwyne, Clarence, Nasmyth, and even young Crestwick. One could almost fancy that some mysterious agency were working upon us through you."
He did not wish her to pursue this train of thought too far.
"I've promised to take Jim Crestwick back with me," he said. "I'm going as soon as I'm fit to get about."
"Yes. In many ways, I'm sorry; but I've had some letters that show it's needful. Business calls."
She made no reply for some moments. There was no doubt that she would miss him badly, and she recalled the strange and tense anxiety of which she had been conscious when he had fallen at the hurdles.
"We have come to look upon you as one of us," she told him simply. "Somehow we never contemplated your going away, and now it seems an almost unnatural thing."
"It would be, if I broke off the connection with my English friends, but I think that can't be done. We're to see more of each other; I'm to be your guide when you come out next year."
She left him shortly after this and walked home in a thoughtful mood, regretting his approaching departure and pondering over what he had said. With reflection it became clearer that she had entertained the same idea as his. He and she and the others he mentioned were not acting and reacting upon one another casually; it was all a part of a purpose, leading up to something that still lay unrevealed on the knees of destiny. Perhaps he had been right in speaking of a drama; it suggested a sequence of prearranged events, springing from George's death. Reaching home, she endeavored to banish these thoughts, which were vaguely troublesome, but Miss Hume found her preoccupied and absent-minded during the evening.
The following day she went over to see Mrs. Gladwyne and was asked to wait until her return. Shortly afterward, Clarence entered the room where she was sitting, and she alluded to her visit to Lisle.
"He is going back as soon as he can stand the journey," she said.
Gladwyne made an abrupt movement and she noticed with surprise and some indignation the relief in his expression. Though the men had not been on very cordial terms, it puzzled her.