“Then good-bye for ever.”
She turned from him, but a piteous moan escaped her lips, and the next moment he had clasped her to his heart.
“Marion, my own!” he whispered, as he pressed his lips to hers; “then you do love me!”
“Yes,” she said, as she clung to him, and for a moment or two returned his embrace. “You know I love you and shall never love another, but go now, for Heaven’s sake! I tell you it is impossible. Good-bye—good-bye.”
She tore herself from his grasp and fled through the wood, not daring to turn her head to see if he followed, lest in her woman’s weakness she should give way and dare everything for his sake.
Chapter Twenty Eight.
Caught Once More.
Marion did not check her pace till, hot and breathless, she was forced to rest for a few minutes. Her brain was in a state of bewildering confusion, and had Chester been there then to plead his cause, her heart would have made but a poor defence. She would have been his, and his alone.