"Not yet, Lucy. Soon."
"No, at once," she told him. "The last time is come, and gone. You must not keep me."
"Let me talk to you, so, for a few minutes. There's everything to say."
"No," she said, "tell me nothing. I dare not know it. Please let me go now."
"A last time, then, Lucy." She yielded her lips, but unwillingly; for now her mind was made up. The thing had to be done, and the sooner the better.
"Ah," he said, "how can I let you go?"
"Easily," she answered, "when I ask you"; and was unanswerable. She forced herself free, and stood undecided.
"You needn't go back yet," he said, but she thought she must.
"I came out alone," she told him, "but Vera was in the room. So were the others. I don't know what they will think."
"Nothing at all," he said. "Well, everything shall be as you wish. You see that you have only to name your wish."