Ingleby stood silent a moment. "Tom," he said, "as you found out, it's difficult—and I don't understand the thing myself. Perhaps Miss Coulthurst dazzled me, and I've been off my balance ever since I came into this valley, but I know now that if I ever marry anybody it will be Hetty. That's a very indifferent compliment to your sister. She will probably be a very long while forgiving me, but I may, perhaps, at last persuade her to believe in me again. Now, are you going to turn me away?"
"No," said Leger. "After that I fancy we can face together what comes."
It was early next morning when they left the valley with an escort of twenty miners to help them across the divide, and Hetty stood by Ingleby's side when they turned for a moment to look back from among the climbing pines. Then, as they turned again, Ingleby met the girl's clear eyes.
"It may be a long while, Hetty, but I think I shall get quite back, after all," he said. "It was in ever wanting to go away that I was horribly wrong."
THE END
Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the original edition have been corrected.
In Chapter VII, "he realized his responsbility" was changed to "he realized his responsibility".
In Chapter XIV, a missing quotation mark was added after "you must come no farther."
In Chapter XVI, "the botttom of everything" was changed to "the bottom of everything".