Rupert had not said exactly when she was to expect him, and she sat
for a long time by the fire, starting at every sound and imagining
at every moment that she heard the front-door bell ring.
"I shall not let him feel himself bound," she said to herself with
great decision. "I shall tell him I hope we shall always be friends
but that's all; and if he wants anything more, I shall say No. But
most likely he won't say a word about all that nonsense, it would
be silly to take seriously what he said--there."
To Ella, now, Bittermeads was always "there," and though she told
herself several times that probably Rupert had not the least idea
of repeating what he had said to her--there--and that most likely
he was coming today merely to make a friendly call, and that it
would never do for either of them to think again of what they had
said when they were both so excited and overwrought, yet in her
heart she knew a great deal better than all that.
But she said to herself very often:
"Anyhow, I shall certainly refuse him."
And on this point her mind was irrevocably made up since, after all,
whether Rupert would accept refusal or not would still remain
entirely for him to decide.
At half-past three she heard the garden-gate creak, and when she
ran to the window to peep, she saw with a kind of chill surprise
that there was a stranger coming through.
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