'"I do forgive you," she replied with sudden calmness, grace, and a bearing of dignity I had never before seen in her; "but you can never be to me what you have been. You were the very idol of my heart, and with all my soul I worshipped you, Leslie; but that is ended now and for ever."
'"If a life of devotion, Annabelle——"
'"Say no more—I will not listen."
'"You decline my love, because ruin has come upon me at the hands of others, and I am compelled to leave the Lancers?"
'Her eyes flashed, yet not with anger, and her bosom heaved, as she replied:
'"I grieve for what you say; and God knows it is not so—but for the manner in which you reproached me with unwomanly conduct, that roused my proper pride. I did love you tenderly, purely, passionately, then; but in repelling you, my conduct at least is womanly now! Farewell then, for ever; we leave this place to-morrow."
'"For where?"
'"That can be a matter of no interest to you, Captain Fotheringhame," she replied, turning to retire.
'"Do not let us part thus, Annabelle. It is for your sake as much as my own that I sue thus."
'She crested up her little head haughtily.