"Dear love, I am ashamed of my happiness," said Roderick tenderly. "I have been so weak and unworthy. I gave away my hopes of bliss in one foolishly soft moment, to gratify my mother's dying wish—a wish that had been dinned into my ear the last years of her life—and I have done nothing but repent my folly ever since. Can you forgive me, Violet? I shall never forgive myself."
"Let the past be like a dream that we have dreamt. It will make the future seem so much the brighter."
"Yes."
And then under the blue August sky, fearless and unabashed, these happy lovers gave each other the kiss of betrothal.
"What am I to do with you?" Vixen asked laughingly. "I ought to go home to Les Tourelles."
"Don't you think you might take me with you? I am your young man now, you know. I hope it is not a case of 'no followers allowed.'"
"I'm afraid Miss Skipwith will feel disappointed in me. She thought I was going to have a mission."
"A mission!"
"Yes; that I was going for theology. And for it all to end in my being engaged to be married! It seems such a commonplace ending, does it not?"
"Decidedly. As commonplace as the destiny of Adam and Eve, whom God joined together in Eden. Take me back to Les Tourelles, Vixen. I think I shall be able to manage Miss Skipwith."