"Robbie! Must you appear out of nothing, like a phantom?" I demanded.
"I beg your pardon. I did not intend to frighten you," he said, his voice soft.
I looked into his face. He was smiling, but the wicked sparkle was not present in his eyes. I wanted to touch him. I looked down at the rose in my hand.
"Robbie. Are you truly quite recovered?" I asked him.
He took my hand, and tucked it into the bend of his elbow, and walked with me along the path. "I am, indeed," he said.
"I am so relieved to hear it." I chose my words carefully, for I had not anticipated meeting him, and my mind was unsettled by his sudden appearance. "I confess I worried when you did not appear in the spring, as you promised in your letter."
"My most sincere apologies. I became enmeshed in the activities at Barraigh; lambing time came just as I was well again, and I did not feel happy about leaving it." He had dropped the brogue and now spoke with the ordinary lowcountry accent.
I said nothing, but walked beside him down toward the bottom of the garden, to the fence which ran along the lane. He did not speak either, and I wondered what to expect next. We reached the fence, and still he had not spoken.
My throat swelled and, to my dismay, tears flooded my eyes. I took my handkerchief and dabbed at them, then blurted out my own thoughts.
"If you would divorce me, please do so quickly," I said. "I must return to Gillean if it is to be the case, and I want to be ready to go directly after the ball."
He turned to me, his face incredulous.
"Divorce you? Have you lost your wits, lass?" His eyes stared into mine, the exact color of the grass in the pasture behind him.
I stared back at him, and my tears flowed. "What else could you have meant by sending me away from Barraigh?" I said. "You did intend to put me away, did you not?"
He still gazed at me. "I am sorry that you thought so; it was certainly not my intention," he said. "I believed that you wanted to be at Brianag, and not at Barraigh; and I was well enough to know that I would soon be mended."
I turned away from him. "How am I to know your thoughts, unless you tell me," I said. "Mrs. Randall and Cathy are expecting the flowers. I must bring them in," I said, and I started back up the path, leaving him standing by the fence, and wiping my tears as I went.