"I liked them."
"Did you?" He looks at her. "And yet you are not wearing one of them—not even a bud. I said to myself, when I was coming here, that if you wore one I should take hope from it."
"Flowers die," says she, with her eyes upon the ground.
"Cut flowers. But I sent you a little plant."
"Forget-me-not would not live in town."
"But we shall not live in town. You have promised to come to the country with me," says he quickly. "And even if this plant dies, another can grow—a new one. I told you that I bought a place. It—it is in the same county as Oakdean."
"Ah! Oakdean!" A pathetic look grows within her large eyes. She turns aside. "I dread the country now that my old house is gone—— I——" Suddenly she gives way, and bursts into a storm of tears. "Everything seems gone!" cries she. "But if I must seek a new home let me go to it at once. Don't let me think about it. Take me there as soon as ever you can."
"To-morrow," says Rylton, "if you wish."
"Yes, yes," feverishly, "to-morrow."
She is sobbing bitterly.