"You shall not say it!" she murmured, hoarsely. "Nothing can part you--nothing can stand against such love! You are right. I never knew what it meant until to-night. Stella, you cannot mean to send him away--you will not let anything save death come between you?" Stella looked at her with aching eyes that, unlike Lilian's, were dry and tearless. "Death!" she said, "there are things worse than death----" "Stella!" "Words one cannot mention, lest the winds should catch them up and spread them far and wide. Not even death could have divided us more effectually than we are divided." Lilian shrank back appalled. "What is it you say?" she breathed. "Stella, look at me! You will, you must tell me what you mean." Stella did look at her, with a look that was awful in its calm despair. "I was silent when _he_ bade me speak; do you think that I can open my lips to you?" Lilian hid her face in her hand, tremblingly. "Oh, what is it?--what is it?" she murmured. There was silence for a moment, then Stella laid her hand on Lilian's arm. "Listen," she said, solemnly. "I will tell you this much, that you may understand how hopeless is the task which you have undertaken. If--if I were to yield, if I were to say to him 'Come back! I am yours, take me!' you--_you_, who plead so that my heart aches at your words--would, in the coming time, when the storm broke and the cost of my yielding had to be paid--you would be the first to say that I had done wrong, weakly, selfishly. You would be the first, because you are a woman, and know that it is a woman's duty to sacrifice herself for those she loves! Have I made it plain?" Lilian raised her head and looked at her, and her face went white. "Is--is that true?" "It is so true, that if I were to tell you what separates us, you would go without a word; no! you would utter that word in a prayer that I might remain as firm and unyielding as I am!" So utterly hopeless were the words, the voice, that they smote on the gentle heart with the force of conviction. She was silent for a moment, then, with a sob, she held out her arms. "Oh, my dear, my dear! Stella, Stella!" she sobbed. Stella looked at her for a moment, then she bent and kissed her. "Do not cry," she murmured, no tear in her own eye. "I can not cry, I feel as if I shall never shed another tear! Go now go!" and she put her arm round her. Lilian rose trembling, and leant upon her, looking up into her face. "My poor Stella!" she murmured. "He--he called you noble; I know now what he meant! I think I understand--I am not sure, even now; but I think, and--and, yes, I will say it, I feel that you are right. But, oh, my dear, my dear!" "Hush! hush!" breathed Stella, painfully. "Do not pity me----" "Pity! It is a poor, a miserable word between us. I love, I honor you, Stella!" and she put her arm round Stella's neck. "Kiss me, dear, once!" Stella bent and kissed her.