"Saying good-bye to my--my--cousin."
"Has your ladyship no dearer title than that by which to designate him?"
"Not yet," she answered wearily.
"Ah, I perceive," he continued jealously, "the natural regret at the absence of your betrothed, for--"
"No, no, not that! How can you trifle so with me at this moment? He reproached me because I--why do I tell you these things? You constrain me, sir; I--"
"Forgive me; you need not finish, Lady Elizabeth," he said with a sudden gravity. "As for me, I must needs trifle, or die. Life in the freshness of the morning, the white-capped ocean stretching before us in the sunlight, the gentle breeze playing across our faces, is sweet to think on; with youth and rank and station, it would be heavenly spent with you. Without you I welcome the death your guardian will undoubtedly inflict upon me."
"Yet you waited so long--a year and a half--why did you not come? I--" She stopped. She had spoken in a low, tender whisper, looking down at the sea beneath them, and plucking nervously at the loose plaster of the old walk. Death so imminent for love and lover--nay, not for love; that were eternal--broke down petty convention. Where were death and love, there, too, should truth and honesty be--and honor.
He laid his strong hand gently down on the small white one outlined upon the gray weather-beaten rock of the parapet; with upturned palm she met his grasp. Her eyes were lifted now; she drew strength from his strength; a dawning hope flickered into being in her torn heart. He was so strong and true, he surely could do something--there must be some other way. It was the tribute woman pays to man.
He read aright, with eyes keen from affection, the mute, piteous appeal in her sweetly lifted face. But he could only smile sadly in answer, with a silent shake of the head. There was no other way, then, in the marked path she must walk. Have mercy, Lord!
"Was it long to you, dearest?" he queried, his dark face aflame. "To me--I have been a fool. Nothing should have kept me from you. To trust to messengers, letters--a fool--too late!" Silence. The hands unclasped; ties were broken. "Too late!" He turned bitterly away.