"Will you come here at three o'clock?"
"Yes," I said, wondering what she meant; but I had not time to ask her, for two young men came into the room.
I went to my room and tried to think, but I could not. My mind refused to work. I watched the party ride away—it was comparatively small now, for several had returned to their homes—and then I found my way to the library.
I sat for a while in silence, scarcely conscious of my surroundings; and then I wondered how long Miss Forrest would be before she came, and what she would tell me. The clock on the mantelpiece began to strike three; it had not finished when she entered the room.
I placed a chair for her beside my own, which she accepted without a word.
For a minute neither of us spoke; then she said abruptly, "You told me you loved me when we rode out together the other day."
"I did," I said, "and I do love you with all the intensity that a human heart is capable of loving; but it is hopeless now."
"Why?"
"You have promised to marry another man."
"What do you know of this?"