"Well, I don't want you to try," he answered bluntly.
"Don't you feel the same about me as if I were your wife?" She knew he was close beside her, but she did not turn to look at him.
Gilbert put an arm round her and drew her close. "Of course I do," he said, "but mother wouldn't. One does not exactly introduce one's mother to one's mistress."
The inclination to tears had left Joan, a very set calm had taken its place. Suddenly she knew, as she stood there stiff held within the circle of his arms, that it was all ended. The dream, if it had been a dream, was finished, she could not live in it any longer.
"Very well," she agreed listlessly. "I will see about going away, the place shall be all ready for her to-morrow."
She moved away from him, he did not notice how purposely she shook the touch of his hands from off her.
CHAPTER III
| "Out of my dreams, I fashioned a flower; Nursed it within my heart, Thought it my dower. What wind is this that creeps within and blows Roughly away the petals of my rose?" |
M. P.