Charles sat quite still where Ruth had left him, looking straight in front of him.

He had not thought for a moment of following her, of speaking to her again.

Her decision was final, and he knew it.

And now he also knew how much he had built upon the wild new hope of the last two days.
Presently a slight discreet cough broke upon his ear, apparently close at hand.
He started up, and, wheeling round in the direction of the sound, called out, in sudden anger, "Who is there ?" If there is a time when we feel that a fellow-creature is entirely out of harmony with ourselves, it is when we discover that he has overheard or overseen us at a moment when we imagined we were alone, or--almost alone.
Charles was furious.
"Come out!" he said, in a tone that would have made any ordinary creature stay as far _in_ as it could.

And hearing a slight crackling in the nearest horse-box, of which the door stood open, he shook the door violently.
"Come out," he repeated, "this instant!" "Stop that noise, then," said a voice sharply from the inside, "and keep quiet.