"
"The landlady has made some absurd difficulty about letting me have
these rooms because I came here alone."
"She won't make any difficulty now," said Arnold. "I have settled that."
"_You!_"
Arnold smiled. After what had passed, it was an indescribable relief to
him to see the humorous side of his own position at the inn.
"Certainly," he answered. "When I asked for the lady who had arrived
here alone this afternoon--"
"Yes."
"I was told, in your interests, to ask for her as my wife."
Anne looked at him--in alarm as well as in surprise.
"You asked for me as your wife?" she repeated.
"Yes. I haven't done wrong--have I? As I understood it, there was
no alternative. Geoffrey told me you had settled with him to present
yourself here as a married lady, whose husband was coming to join her."
"I thought of _him_ when I said that. I never thought of _you_."
"Natural enough. Still, it comes to the same thing (doesn't it?) with
the people of this house."
"I don't understand you."
"I will try and explain myself a little better. Geoffrey said your
position here depended on my asking for you at the door (as _he_ would
have asked for you if he had come) in the character of your husband.
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