"Oh," he said in a sort of groaning whisper, drawing a long hard breath, "oh, my little one, isn't it hard lines!" "Don't," she gasped, feeling that clutch on her throat tighten with a sudden spasm; "oh, Roden, don't!" And he straightened himself quickly, and sat back in his chair. And the organ began to play again--a stately march of Schubert's, which acted like a tonic on her disordered nerves, and as a sedative to the hysterical excitement that for a moment had threatened to overmaster her. The echoes of that march rang in her ears, when Roden was gone back to Queensland and this chapter of her life was finished, for many a long day. And then at last the thunders of the National Anthem brought the performance to a close, and the audience trooped out, casting curious glances as they went at the distinguished-looking couple standing conspicuously apart--the tall stranger with the peculiar moustache, who had soldier and gentleman written on him from head to foot, and the graceful young lady with the lovely complexion and the irreproachable French dress, whom nobody "who was anybody" failed to recognise. The two were left together amongst all the empty chairs, in a silence that was hardly broken by the organist's movements at the far end of the hall, closing the stops and keys of his enormous instrument. "Well," said Mr. Dalrymple, looking down upon his companion, who lifted to his sombre eyes a pale but solemn face, "well--so this is all, I suppose!" Her lips twitched a little; she could not answer him. "You are not sorry that I came, are you, Rachel? It will not make it harder for you, will it?" "Oh, _no_, Roden! But it is _you_ on whom it is so hard--you will be so lonely without me! I can't bear to think what I have brought on you--and you had so many troubles already!" "Not you, dear--not you. And I can bear all my part of it, if only things go well with you." "Why did you break that trace?" she exclaimed, with a touch of bitter passion. "But for that--but for two minutes lost--you would never have seen me, and then I should never have spoiled your life like this."