'You are then really going?' she said, so that no one would have guessed how strangely she felt at that moment.
'Yes, really going,' he said, quite in his own way; 'Over the hills and far away; and so, I know, you'll first wish your old friend God speed.'
'I do, indeed.'
'And then you'll shake hands, Miss Lily, as in old times.'
And out came the frank little hand, and he looked on it, with a darkling smile, as it lay in his own sinewy but slender grasp; and she said with a smile—'Good-bye.'
She was frightened lest he should possibly say more than she knew how to answer.
'And somehow it seems to me, I have a great deal to say.'
'And I've a great deal to read, you see;' and she just stirred old Miss Wardle's letter, that lay open in her hand, with a smile just the least in the world of comic distress.
'A great deal,' he said.
'And farewell, again,' said Lilias.