He stood before her with a stern, white face.
"Leone," he cried, "are you really going to be cruel enough to send me away out of your life again, I who have been mad with joy at finding you?"
"If I were cruel," she said, slowly, "now I would take my vengeance. I should say as you once left me so now I leave you, but I am not cruel, and that is my reason. My reason is a good and pure one; we could never remain friends, we love each other too much for that; we must live as strangers now; and remember, it is your fault, not mine."
"I cannot submit to it," he cried.
But she looked at him with a face stern, resolute, fixed as his own.
"Remember, Lord Chandos," she said, "that I am my own mistress. I can choose my friends and associates. I refuse to admit you among the number."
"You cannot prevent me from coming to see you, Leone."
"No; but I can, and shall, refuse to see you when you come," she replied; "and I shall do so."
"Oh, my love, my cruel, beautiful love," he cried.
The girl's face flushed with hot anger and indignation.