She had not given me the slip for any
small adventure, and, since the day of the very great one
that I had shared with her by the pond, I had been aware,
in our walks, of the quarter to which she most inclined.
This was why I had now given to Mrs. Grose's steps so marked
a direction--a direction that made her, when she perceived it,
oppose a resistance that showed me she was freshly mystified.
"You're going to the water, Miss?--you think she's IN--?"
"She may be, though the depth is, I believe, nowhere very great.
But what I judge most likely is that she's on the spot from which,
the other day, we saw together what I told you."
"When she pretended not to see--?"
"With that astounding self-possession? I've always been sure she wanted
to go back alone. And now her brother has managed it for her."
Mrs. Grose still stood where she had stopped. "You suppose they
really TALK of them?"
"I could meet this with a confidence! "They say things that,
if we heard them, would simply appall us."
"And if she IS there--"
"Yes?"
"Then Miss Jessel is?"
"Beyond a doubt. You shall see."
"Oh, thank you!" my friend cried, planted so firm that,
taking it in, I went straight on without her. By the time
I reached the pool, however, she was close behind me, and I
knew that, whatever, to her apprehension, might befall me,
the exposure of my society struck her as her least danger.
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