"He would not have given it until I was twenty-one," cried Mavis, "he said that I was to see no one for the next ten months."
"Precisely! And that is why I have made love to you secretly," explained Haskins cheerily. "Now, darling heart, I wish you to be brave and to help me."
"Only tell me what you wish me to do, and I'll do it," said Mavis, with a little shudder. "Only I don't like pain!"
"To love truly we must suffer pain, my sweetheart. Pain and sacrifice are the demands of love. Had we an eternity of pleasure, without any disagreeables, even you and I should grow weary."
"Oh no, no!" She clung to him.
"Ah, my sweet," he said sadly, "we are but flesh and blood, and so may grow weary of too perfect bliss. The flower that is always in the sun wilts and dies. And, after all, the delights of life lie in contrast."
"What do you mean by that, Gerald?"
Haskins saw that he was speaking too highly for her comprehension, so talked on a lower plane, for the night was passing, and he had to ride back to Silbury. "My dear," he said slowly, "I should like to stay here for ever with you, and then we would be as gods. But if we wish to know the true meaning of love, as I explained, we must sacrifice ourselves to the necessities of life. We must part for seven days. I have to go to London, Mavis, and search out matters."
"What matters?"
But Haskins wisely declined to explain in detail, lest he should alarm her, for she must never know the true character of Major Rebb. Gerald did not know it himself at the moment, but he suspected that when the past of Rebb was searched into there would be some things found which would not bear the light of day. "I have to go on private business," he said evasively. "When I return you shall know what is necessary. In the meantime, my own brave girl, you must hold fast our secret, and not allow Bellaria to guess that we have even met, much less that we are engaged."