"What are the conditions?"
"One is that I shall have to leave you, to give you up."
"Noël, there would be no need of that."
"Why, what do you mean, Marie?"
"I give you up," said Marie proudly. "I could never stand in your way of advancement."
"Marie, did you not say to me most solemnly only the other night:
'Il y a longtemps que je t'aime,
Jamais je ne t'oublierai.'"
"What has that to do with it, Noël? That does not alter the case. It is just because of that I will not let you stay here. You may think it an easy thing to decide now, but in after years you would regret remaining here. With your gifts, your ambition, you would be thrown away. No, Noël, I bid you go. You must not stay. Good-bye, dear one, for the last time. You must tell them to-morrow that you will go."
"It is impossible," said Noël, in an angry tone. "You can never have cared for me to give me up in a moment like this."
"You know that is not true, Noël. I can see into the future, and it is just because I do care so much for you that I do not wish you to waste your life here." She spoke with an effort, and as if she were repeating a lesson learned beforehand.