That will be your opportunity. Step
forward and fling yourself at her feet, if that's the way you have
determined to do it. I shall slip quietly away, and be out of sight
almost at once. . . . Hullo!"
The exclamation was one of extreme surprise. The scene, when he turned
the corner, was not exactly as he had described it to Simpkins. Miss
King, indeed, was there, seated in a wicker chair, very much as he had
expected. Beside her was a table littered with tea things. At her
feet, on a rug, sat Major Kent, in an awkward attitude, with a
peculiarly silly look on his face. Sir Gilbert Hawkesby sat upright,
at a little distance, in another chair. He appeared to be delivering
some kind of an address to Miss King and Major Kent.
"This," said Meldon, "is awkward, uncommonly awkward. You see the
result of being late, Simpkins. The judge has evidently given you up,
and come down from the river. What the Major is doing here, I can't
say. He's the sort of man who will blunder, if blundering is possible."
"I think," said Simpkins, "that we'd better turn back. I can call
to-morrow instead."
"Certainly not," said Meldon.
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