"But how do I know?" said Brooke, in a voice like a wailing child. "But how can I? how can I?" cried Talbot. "And when _you_ are here--_you_, Brooke, who know all my heart! Can I give you up? I cannot! You may give me up, if you like." "Why don't you say, if I _can_?" said Brooke. "Oh--any way," said Talbot, wearily. There was another silence. "Marry _him_!" cried Talbot, at last, breaking the silence with vehement abruptness. "I cannot! I cannot! It would be wicked. I should desecrate the holy sacrament. I could not utter that vow before the holy altar. Never! Yet I can't stay here where _he_ is. He will be wishing to see me. He will be coming soon--he may be coming now. I will not see him. I will _not_ speak with him again. I will write to him. I will leave this place, and at once." "Leave this place!" repeated Brooke. "Where can you go?" "Why, I'll go home," said Talbot, firmly. "Home?" "Yes." "How can you? You don't know the way." "I know one place where I can go--to that tower--that sweet tower; it is not far away; it must be easy to get there. I will go there--there, Brooke, where I first became acquainted with you; and then--" Here Talbot paused, and turned away her head. "But you can't live there," said Brooke, in a harsh voice. "I can find my way back to the road," said Talbot, in a tremulous tone--"to the road where I first met you, Brooke; and then--why, then I shall be no worse off than when you found me and assisted me." "It's all nonsense," said Brooke; "you can't go alone." "Yes, I can." "You'll be taken prisoner." "I don't care." "Or, if not, you'll die of starvation." "Very well," said Talbot, in a calm voice, and looking at Brooke out of serene eyes, with a face from which all traces of emotion had departed--"very well; I have already showed that I am not afraid of death; and death by starvation is not more terrible than death by bullets." Brooke looked at her for a moment in silence, and then said, "You are not in earnest?" "I am in earnest," said Talbot, looking at him fixedly, and speaking in a resolute tone--"I am in earnest, and I mean to go this very night." Brooke looked away, drew a long breath, and subsided into silence. "How can you find the way?" he asked at length, in a gruff voice, and without looking up. "I don't know," said Talbot; "I can try again, as I tried before." Brooke looked up hastily, then looked away, and finally said, "I think, Talbot, you might ask me to show you the way." At this Talbot's face flushed, and all her expression was suddenly changed from one of dull dejection to animation and delight. "Will you?" she asked, breathlessly. "Oh yes," said Brooke, "that isn't much to do. Oh yes, I can easily show you the way to the tower. After all, it is as safe there as here; and if you are determined to go, why, we can start, you know--at any time, you know."