"Please don’t, Jack, dear Jack, it is all right now. I have written him already. I wrote him I’d never see him again and never to write me." "And if he does, will you tell me, turn his note over to me?" She laughed. "Why, Jack, of course I will." The setting sunlight streamed on her hair till it looked like banked western clouds. The very skies of Heaven were in her eyes, and her dignity and poise were like a queen’s. She took off the heart’s-ease she had pinned on my coat. "You don’t need this now, my sweet prince." "Don’t, Elsie," I said; "my God, I can’t explain, but, child—I need it now more than I ever did in my life." For a moment she looked at me with pretended offended eyes. "Ay, ay, I see; but you shall have me when you will, and you will need it, my bonny prince, until I am there," and she pinned it back between hot flushes and tears. "And you will see me soon, Jack, right here in our sweet trysting place? "Good-by," she said in time. "You will see me soon, Jack?" Then taking my hand before I could prevent, she pressed it to her bosom, kissing it. "Elsie, Elsie, don’t—I would die to save you pain! I would die to save you pain! Don’t!" "I am so happy. Good-by, Jack." "Elsie!" I called. "Oh, you misunderstood me—you don’t understand." But she only laughed back gladly as a child would, throwing kisses to me as she ran like the doe of her own heather up the hill. I saw Marget and Tammas at the door, smiling; and I knew that they saw Elsie’s happiness. *CHAPTER XVII* *"LADY CARFAX"* I knew that I must save Elsie from the false, unthinking fate her own romantic nature and Braxton Bragg’s infamy might thrust upon her. I loved Elsie as my own sister and knew that now I stood in a false position toward her. Once as I strode home in the gathering darkness I was tempted to turn back. I would right myself. I could not stand my false position even until to-morrow. I had but a few days to act. Elsie had gone home happy—I, miserable—hating myself. Always before me was the glad smile I saw on Tammas’ and Marget’s faces as Elsie went up the path—the smile of hopes fulfilled, of Elsie safe, of a great wish come to pass.... How they stabbed me now—Elsie’s words: "You shall have me when you will, your Heart’s-Ease." And yet if I did? Great God! I might be a murderer! I saw how much Elsie was like Ophelia. I saw it all: the pale, conscience-stricken, helpless little soul, the proud spirit scorned, the unthinking creature, of romance and of hopes destroyed. The deep pool in the valley might hide her in its waters before another day. So I went on, choosing what seemed to be the lesser of two wrongs.