Ah! I see that you are a little lame. Please
take my arm; the hotel is but a quarter of a mile away. Or perhaps
you would prefer that I should send the driver for a carriage. You
could wait in yonder cottage, or here, in the shade of the trees."
"I am not very lame, and if I were I would not mind it. My wish is
that the horrid affair may occasion as little remark as possible.
I can reach my room by a side entrance, and so come quietly down
to dinner. I suppose that I must take your arm since I cannot walk
very well without it."
They therefore turned their backs on the breathless driver and his
eager questions, and proceeded slowly towards the hotel. After a
brief examination of the shattered stage, the man ran panting past
them in search of his horses; and they were again left alone.
Chapter X. Phrases too Suggestive.
For a few moments Miss Mayhew and Van Berg walked on in silence,
each very doubtful of the other. At last the artist began:
"I am well aware, Miss Mayhew, that this unexpected episode and
this enforced companionship give me no rights whatever. I do not
propose to annoy you, after seeing you safely to the hotel, by
assuming that we are acquainted, nor do I intend to subject myself
to the mortification of being informed publicly, by your manner,
that we are not on speaking terms.
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