No wonder that Miss Marchrose had capitulated, after all. The citadel for which she had been prepared to stand siege had been only the flimsiest of castles in the air. The cause for which she had held that no casualties could be too heavy had no existence outside her own imagination.
She spoke again.
"So, though I know I've been crying, in a little while I shall be glad that he's gone. Nothing can ever be worse than the last few days. They're over now."
"They're over now," repeated Sir Julian. "Do you want to stay on at the College next week, or had you better not go back on Monday at all?"
"I don't know," she said, in a bewildered way. "Mr. Fuller has been extraordinarily kind to me. And, anyhow, I shall be gone before Mr. Easter comes back. I told him that yesterday."
"You saw him, then?"
"He came to my office to say good-bye to me."
She waited a little and then said, with something that was half a laugh in her voice, although the tears had welled into her eyes again:
"He said, 'Good-bye, Annie Laurie.'"
"Poor Mark!" said Julian in a low tone.