“But I love you, Winnie,” he said. “You’re the whole world to me. Tell me what you want me to do and I’ll try to do it. I can’t lose you.”
“What can you do? How can you change yourself? Don’t you see that it’s impossible, and that we’re utterly unsuited to one another? Really we’ve not got a single thought or aim or idea in common. You can’t want to make me so unhappy as to wish to marry me.”
“Then it’s good-bye?” he asked.
Winnie looked up. To her surprise she saw her father ride past with Gwendolen Durant. Instinctively she drew back, seeking to hide herself; but they were too deeply engrossed in conversation to notice her.
Railing’s eyes met hers sadly.
“I don’t know how I shall live without you,” he said.
“You must try and forgive me for all the wretchedness I’ve caused you. And soon I hope that you’ll forget all about me.”
“Is there no chance that you’ll ever change your mind?” he asked, brokenly.
She hesitated, for there was something on her heart which she felt strangely impelled to confess. It seemed that she owed it to him.
“I think I ought to tell you that Lord Wroxham has asked me to marry him.”