“When—” began May, much agitated.
“To-day,” replied John, who understood, and answering her unspoken question, “but—I will not forget.”
Not another word was exchanged between them. Mr. Churchill called to his daughter to come to him, and several people were around them, but May saw no one, and heard no words but John’s. He did not follow her to her father’s dog-cart, but he stood watching her as her father helped her in, and when May turned to look at him he lifted his hat.
Thus they parted, and May went back to Woodside feeling both agitated and depressed. But she had her letter! With this firmly clasped in her hand she sprang from the dog-cart and ran upstairs to her own room without waiting to speak to her stepmother, who was standing in the hall to receive her husband.
When May reached her room she tore open John’s letter with trembling fingers, and read the following words, failing at the time to comprehend their full meaning:
“My Dear May—Sweet Mayflower: I am writing this because I think it right to do so; I am going away because I also think it right. I want you, in my absence, fully to comprehend your feelings toward me. If two people truly love each other I think nothing should separate them, but in the mutual attraction between men and women there is much which is not the love that can not change.
“Dear child, dear sweetheart! you are so much younger than I am that I must warn you against myself. I am world-worn, and until I met you I could not have believed that such a deep, tender, and passionate affection as I feel for you could have arisen in my heart. Yet this is so, but, on the other hand, there are strong and powerful reasons to keep us apart. You must make your own decision when I return. In the meantime believe that I love you, and that I am ready to sacrifice much for your love.
”John Temple.”