“Yes,” said Amory. She would not have had the heart to refuse him so little. They walked in silence, and stopped before the greengrocer’s entry.

“Mayn’t I come up?” Cosimo asked.

“No.”

“Oh, Amory! You can’t mean never again?”

“Never again, I think, Cosimo. I’m going up to think, and to gather my things together. I shall leave to-morrow or the day after.”

An “Oh!” broke from Cosimo’s lips. So might a prisoner failingly exclaim who, having known that he must die at sunrise, should be ordered forth from his cell before the stars had begun to pale.

“Good night—and good-bye,” said Amory, smiling bravely as she held out her little hand.

“Oh!... Not like this! Amory, I can’t bear it!”

“It must be borne. I see now that this had to come. I don’t say you may not see me just once more.”