"You will be kind to him, dearest?"
"That—I don't know."
"Oh! I think you do," says Margaret; "I think you must see that he——"
"Let me think it out, Meg," says Tita, turning a very pale face to hers. "When he comes tell him I am in the small drawing-room."
She kisses Margaret and leaves the room. The basket of flowers, too, she has left behind her. But Margaret can see that she has taken with her the tiny plant of forget-me-not.
* * * * * *
He comes quickly towards her, holding out his hand.
"Margaret said I should find you here," says he. Hope, mingled with great fear, is in his glance. He holds the hand she gives him. "Have you kept your promise?" he asks her. "Have you thought of it?"
"I am tired of thinking," says she, with a long sigh.
"And your decision?"