Every moment of delay began to be as two.

But the minister was too earnest in his converse to see his companion's haste, and it was not till perception was forced upon him by the actual retreat of Somerset that he remembered time to be a limited commodity.

He then expressed his wish to see Somerset at his house to tea any afternoon he could spare, and receiving the other's promise to call as soon as he could, allowed the younger man to set out for the summer-house, which he did at a smart pace.

When he reached it he looked around, and found she was gone.
Somerset was immediately struck by his own lack of social dexterity.

Why did he act so readily on the whimsical suggestion of another person, and follow the minister, when he might have said that he would call on Mr.Woodwell to-morrow, and, making himself known to Miss Power as the visiting architect of whom she had heard from Miss De Stancy, have had the pleasure of attending her to the castle?
'That's what any other man would have had wit enough to do!' he said.
There then arose the question whether her despatching him after the minister was such an admirable act of good-nature to a good man as it had at first seemed to be.