He knew she must
have seen him and Miss Burton also, but she passed him with veiled
and downcast face, and went swiftly up the stairway to her room. It
seemed to him a cut direct. "she and Stanton have been comparing
notes," he said to himself, and he crimsoned at the thought of what
he must now appear to her. Miss Burton had been standing with her
back towards the stairway and had not seen Ida at first, but Van
Berg's hot flush caused her to glance around and see the cause, and
then she understood his manner better. But it was her creed that
people manage such things best without interference, even from
the kindliest motives, and she therefore made no allusion to Miss
Mayhew that evening.
"Miss Jennie," said Van Berg, yielding to what he now felt had
become a necessity, "I may seem more of a heathen to you to-morrow
than ever. There is a distant mountain and lake that I wish to
visit before I return to town, and I shall start early to-morrow.
So if I do not come back very early you need not think that the
earth has swallowed me up or that I have fallen a prey to wild
beasts. Good night," and he pressed her hand warmly.
She looked at him wistfully and seemed about to speak, for she was
vaguely conscious of his deep trouble.
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