"No, no, I must go at once," she wailed; "have mercy upon me; let go my hand."
"Think, Romaine!" he commanded softly; "he will have you for all life, while these few paltry moments with you are all that remain to me. Think of it, Romaine, and be generous."
She looked into his face and read the anguished pleading of his eyes.
"First of all," he continued, "tell me how you came here? May I venture to hope that in the eleventh hour you were coming to speak a word of comfort to my mother?"
"No, I had lost my way."
"You did not know that I returned to-day?" he inquired, hope struggling against hope in his eager tone.
"I had forgotten that you had been away."
"You had forgotten!" he cried sadly. "O Romaine, how you have blotted me from your very existence! I can conceive of your love for me having changed; but why have you so utterly forgotten and neglected me?"
She closed her eyes and replied in sobbing accent, "I—I cannot tell. I seem to have been dreaming, to be dreaming still."
"Would it were all a dream! My darling—there—there, do not start, it is the last time that I shall ever call you so—darling, I only pray the good God that you are happy."