"Lord St. Leger would like to thank you," I said. "Will you not come in
and see him?"
"Why, no," he answered, "although I am loth to say no to so gracious an
invitation. Believe me, I am not insensible of the graciousness that
prompts it. Ah, here we are in sight of the Abbey. I shall stand and
watch till I see you safe within its doors."
While we were yet in the obscurity of the wood he lifted my hand to his
lips.
"I am eternally grateful to the good fortune that gave me the chance of
serving you," he said.
"I wish you would come and be thanked," I answered in a low voice. I had
the oddest reluctance to leave him, with no prospect of ever seeing him
again.
"Who knows but we may meet again?" he answered, yet did not offer to
tell his name, and I felt shy of asking it.
I turned back on the doorstep when I had come to it, and saw across the
lawn and shrubbery his shadowy shape standing at the edge of the wood. I
waved my hand to him and he lifted his hat. The sun looked out for the
last time from under a purple cloud and I saw him plainly. While I
gazed towards him the darkness came again and I lost him; and there was
Neil Doherty, our butler, opening the door to me and upbraiding me as he
had done when I was a small child.
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