And then he took her two hands in his, and regarded her with such an intensity of look that she almost drew back, afraid.
"Sometimes," he said, watching her eyes, "I think I shall never see you again."
"Oh, Keith," said she, drawing her hands away, and speaking half playfully, "you really frighten me! And even if you were never to see me again, wouldn't it be a very good thing for you? You would have got rid of a bad bargain."
"It would not be a very good thing for me," he said, still regarding her.
"Oh, well, don't speak of it," said she, lightly; "let us speak of all that is to be done in the long time that must pass before we meet—"
"But why 'must?'" said he, eagerly—"why 'must?' If you knew how I looked forward to the blackness of this winter away up there—so far away from you that I shall forget the sound of your voice—oh! you cannot know what it is to me?"
He had sat down again, his eyes, with a sort of pained and hunted look in them, bent on the floor.
"But there is a 'must,' you know," she said, cheerfully, "and we ought to be sensible folk and recognize it. You know I ought to have a probationary period, as it were—like a nun, you know, just to see if she is fit to—"
Here Miss White paused, with a little embarrassment; but presently she charged the difficulty, and said, with a slight laugh,—
"To take the veil, in fact. You must give me time to become accustomed to a whole heap of things: if we were to do anything suddenly now, we might blunder into some great mistake, perhaps irretrievable. I must train myself by degrees for another kind of life altogether; and I am going to surprise you, Keith—I am indeed. If papa takes me to the Highlands next year, you won't recognize me at all. I am going to read up all about the Highlands, and learn the tartans, and the names of fishes and birds; and I will walk in the rain and try to think nothing about it; and perhaps I may learn a little Gaelic: indeed, Keith, when you see me in the Highlands, you will find me a thorough Highland-woman."