Should he tell her? would she credit this strange prophecy of his? dimly across his mind, as he stood there before her, there came the thought of a certain shepherd, who waited seven years for the Rachel of his love. 'No, I will not tell you; dear, give me your hand,' and as she gave it him--wondering and yet fearful--he touched it lightly and reverently with his lips. 'Now I must go. Some day--years hence, perhaps--I shall speak of this again; until then we are friends still, is it not so?' 'Yes--yes,' she returned eagerly; 'we must try to forget this. I cannot lose you altogether, Richard.' 'You will never lose me; perhaps--yes it will be better--I may go away for a little time; you must promise me one thing, to take care of yourself, if only for the sake of your old friend Richard.' 'Yes, I will promise,' she returned, bursting into tears. Oh, why was her heart so hard; why could she not love him? As she looked after him, walking with grave even strides down the garden path, a passionate pity and yearning seemed to wake in her heart. How good he was, how noble, how true. 'Oh, if he were not so young, and I could love him as he ought to be loved,' she said to herself as the gate clanged after him, and she was left alone in the sunset. CHAPTER XX WHARTON HALL FARM 'A dappled sky, a world of meadows, Circling above us the black rooks fly Forward, backward; lo, their dark shadow Flits on the blossoming tapestry. Bare grassy slopes, where kids are tethered Round valleys like nests all ferny-lined, Round hills, with fluttering tree-tops feathered, Swell high in their freckled robes behind.' Jean Ingelow. Mr. Lambert was soon made acquainted with his son's disappointment; but his sympathy was somewhat chilled by Richard's composed tranquillity of bearing. Perhaps it might be a little forced, but the young man certainly bore himself as though he had sustained no special defeat; the concentrated gravity of purpose which had scared Ethel was still apparent. 'You need not be so anxious about me, father,' he said, with almost a smile, in return to Mr. Lambert's look of questioning sadness. 'I have climbed too high and have had a fall, that is all. I must bear what other and better men have borne before me.' 'My brave boy; but, Cardie, is there no hope of relenting; none?' 'She would not have me, that is all I can tell you,' returned Richard, in the same quiet voice. 'You must not take this too much to heart; it is my fate to love her, and to go on loving her; if she refused me a dozen times, it would be the same with me, father.' Mr. Lambert shook his head; he was greatly troubled; for the moment his heart was a little sore against this girl, who was the destroyer of his son's peace.