“But you are afraid of Grandmother.”
“I am afraid of no one. Grandmother knows it, and respects my freedom. And my wish is that you should follow her example. That is all I wanted to say,” she concluded as she rose from the bench.
“Yes, Vera, now I understand, and am in accord with you,” he replied, rising also. “Here is my hand on it, that from to-day you will neither hear nor notice my presence.”
She gave her hand, but drew it rapidly back as he pressed it to his lips.
“We will see,” she said. “But if you don’t keep your word, we will see—”
“Say all you have to say, Vera, or my head will go to pieces.”
Vera looked long at the prospect before her before she ended with decision:
“Then however dearly I love this place, I will leave it.”
“To go where?”
“God’s world is wide. Au revoir, Cousin!”