"Isaac."
Miss Thornycroft opened her lips to speak, and closed them again. She turned her head away.
"You will not betray him--and us, Anna? You will ever be cautious--silent?"
"I will be cautious and silent always; I will guard the secret jealously."
A sharp pressure of the hand in ratification of the bargain, and they parted, Anna going on her solitary way.
"Will I guard the secret! Heaven alone knows how much heavier lies the obligation on me to do so than on others," wailed Anna. "May God help me to bear it!"
Quick steps behind her, and she turned, for they had a ring that she knew too well. Pressing onwards through the flakes of snow came Isaac Thornycroft. Anna set off to run; it was in the lonely spot by the churchyard.
"Anna! Anna! Don't you know me?"
Not a word of answer. She only ran the faster--as if she could hope to outstep him! Isaac, with his long, fleet strides, overtook her with ease, and laid his hand upon her shoulder.
Like a stag brought to bay, she turned upon him, with her terror-stricken face, more ghastly, more trembling than it had yet been; and by a dexterous movement freed herself.