She was urging me toward the steps that led up to the house. The sob was still in her throat, but she was laughing, a little hysterically, in her relief that her father had come off unscathed.
"Then you must let me find it out to-morrow; I will come to-morrow before you go."
"No! No! This is good-by," she said. "You would not be so unkind as to stay, when I am so troubled, and there is so much to do!"
We were at the foot of the stairway, and I heard the shop door snap shut.
"Good night, Rosalind!"
"Good-by; and thank you!" she whispered.
CHAPTER XVII
HOW THE NIGHT ENDED
One year ago my path was green,
My footstep light, my brow serene;
Alas! and could it have been so
One year ago?
There is a love that is to last
When the hot days of youth are past:
Such love did a sweet maid bestow
One year ago.
I took a leaflet from her braid
And gave it to another maid.
Love, broken should have been thy how,
One year ago.
—Landor.