"I wonder," said Leone, "if in that green bird kingdom there are tragedies such as take place in ours?"
Lord Chandos laughed.
"You are full of fanciful ideas, Leone," he said. "Yes, I imagine, the birds have their tragedies because they have their loves."
"I suppose there are pretty birds and plain birds, loving birds, and hard-hearted ones; some who live a happy life, filled with sunlight and song—some who die while the leaves are green, shot through the heart. In the kingdom of birds and the kingdom of men it is all just the same."
"Which fate is yours, Leone?" asked Lord Chandos.
"Mine?" she said, looking away over the dancing waters, "mine? I was shot while the sun shone, and the best part of me died of the wound in my heart."
CHAPTER L.
"AS DEAD AS MY HOPES."
The broad, beautiful river widened, and the magnificent scenery of the Thames spread out on either side, a picture without parallel in English landscapes. The silvery water, the lights and shades ever changing, the overhanging woods, the distant hill, the pretty islets, the pleasure-boats, the lawns, the great nests of water-lilies, the green banks studded with flowers, the rushes and reeds that grew even on the water's edge. On they went, through Richmond, Kew, past Hampton Court, past the picturesque old Hampton windmill, on to one of the prettiest spots on the river—the "Bells" at Ousely, and there Lord Chandos fastened the boat to a tree while they went ashore.