"Where?" he echoed, with the same discordant laugh. "I neither know nor care. I am afraid all places will be alike for awhile. The whole earth is full of her; there is not a wild flower that will not remind me of her, not a sound of music that will not recall her voice. If I meet a woman I shall compare her with my Stella--_my_ Stella! no, Jasper Adelstone's! Oh, Heaven! I could bear all but that. If she were dead, I should have at least one comfort--the consolation of knowing that she had belonged to no other man--that in some other remote world we might meet again, and I might claim her as mine! But that is denied to me. My white angel is stained and besmirched, and is mine no longer!" Worn out by the passion of his grief, he dropped on the seat at her feet, and hid his face in his hands. She put her arm round his neck, but spoke no word. Words at such moments are like gnats round a wound--they can only irritate, they cannot heal. They sat thus motionless for some minutes, then he rose, calmer but very white and worn. "This is weak of me, worse than weak, inconsiderate, Lil," he said, with a wan smile. "You have so much of your own sorrows that you should be spared the recital of other people's woes. I will go now. Good-bye, Lil!" "Oh, what can I do for you?" she murmured. "My dear! My dear!" He stooped and kissed her, and looked down at her pale face so full of sorrow for his sorrow, and his heart grew calmer and more resigned. "Nothing, Lil," he said. "Yes," she said in a low voice; "if I can do nothing else I can pray for you, Ley!" He smiled and stroked her hair. "You are an angel, Lil," he said, softly. "If all women were made like you, there would be no sin and little sorrow in the world. In the future that lies black and drear before me I shall think of you. Yes, pray for me, Lil. Good-bye!" and he kissed her again. She held him to the last, then when he had gone she buried her face in her hands and cried. But suddenly she sat up and touched the bell that stood near her. "Crying will do no good for my Ley," she murmured. "I must do more than that. Oh, if I could be strong and hale like other girls for an hour, one short hour! But I will, I must do something! I cannot see him suffer so and do nothing!" Her one special maid, a girl who had been with her since her childhood and knew every mood and change in her, came in and hurried to her side at the sight of her tear-dimmed eyes. "Oh, Lady Lilian, what is the matter? You have been crying!" "A little, Jeanette," she said, smiling through her tears. "I am in great trouble--Lord Leycester is in great trouble----" "I have just met him, my lady, looking so ill and worried." "Yes, Jeanette; he is in great trouble, and I want to help him," and then, with fear and trembling, she announced an intention she had suddenly formed. Jeanette was aghast for a time, but at last she yielded, and hurried away to make the preparation for the execution of her beloved mistress's wishes.