"But mentally?" he interposed. "You give her no peace." I was silent. "I know you are no friend of mine," he added. "On the contrary," I answered. "I hope I am the best friend you have just now." "I know what that means," he said. "You have tried to dissuade Ideala, and having failed, you have come here to use your influence with me" "No," I answered. "I have not come to discuss the subject. I have brought you a letter from Ideala at her special request, and I am ready to take her any reply which you may think fit to send." I gave him the letter, and rose to go, but he detained me. "Stay till I have read it, if you can spare me the time," he said. "It is just possible that there is something in it which we _ought_ to discuss." I turned to the mantelpiece, and tried to interest myself in the lovely things with which it was crowded; but never in my life did my heart sink so for another; never have I endured such moments of pained suspense. I heard him open the envelope; I heard the paper rustle as he turned the page; and then there was silence-- Full of the city's stilly sound-- a moment only, but filled with Something which possess'd The darkness of the world, delight, Life, anguish, death, immortal love. Ceasing not, mingled, unrepress'd, Apart from space, witholding time-- a moment's silence, and then a heavy fall. Lorrimer had fainted. * * * * * I stayed three days at the Great Hospital, three days of the most delightful converse. At first, Lorrimer had rebelled, not realising that Ideala's last decision was irrevocable. "You have over-persuaded her," he said. "No," I answered; "I have convinced her. And I shall convince you, too." He pleaded for her pathetically, not for himself at all. "She has had so little joy!" he said; using the very words that had occurred to me. "And I wanted to silence her. I wanted to save her from her fate. For she is _une des cinq ou six creatures humaines qui naissent, dans tout un siècle, pour aimer la vérité, et pour mourir sans avoir pu la faire aimer des autres_. She must suffer terribly if she goes on." This was a point upon which we differed. He would have given her the natural joys of a woman--husband, home, children, friends, and only such intellectual pursuits which are pleasant. _I_ had always hoped to see her at work in a wider field. But she was one of those rare women who are born to fulfil both destinies at once, and worthily, if only circumstances had made it possible for her to combine the two.