"It is that which I want to avoid,--chiefly for your sake." Then she promised him that she would wait patiently for his time--"even though it should be for seven years," she said, looking up into his face and trying to find there some sign of approbation.

"That's nonsense," he said.

"People are not patriarchs nowadays.

I suppose we shall have to wait two years.
And that's a deuce of a bore,--a terrible bore." And there was that in the tone of his voice which grated on her feelings, and made her wretched for the moment.
As he parted with her for the night on her own side of the little bridge which led from one garden to the other, he put his arm round her to embrace her and kiss her, as he had often done at that spot.
It had become a habit with them to say their evening farewells there, and the secluded little nook amongst the shrubs was inexpressibly dear to Lily.

But on the present occasion she made an effort to avoid his caress.