"Dear Peregrine--loved boy, at last! How brown you are! You're taller, bigger--handsomer, I vow--and you have come back to me. O Peregrine! You have come back to my loving care, dearest. Your wanderings are over?" "Yes, dear aunt," I answered, stifling a sigh, "my wanderings are over." "Oh, heaven bless you, dear boy! God be thanked--" "And what of my good, generous uncles, dear Aunt?" "I have banished the wretches--forbade them my presence--" "Dear Aunt, pray why?" "Because they are wretches." "Then to-morrow we will write and bid them welcome." "Never, Peregrine!" "To-morrow, dear Aunt." "Peregrine!" she exclaimed, starting and frowning a little, "I said, 'Never'!" "And I said 'to-morrow', dear Aunt!" "Boy!" she cried, lovely head proudly aloft. "Aunt!" said I. "How very beautiful you are!" and drawing down that lovely head, I kissed her; at this, she flushed, and drew away, drooping her lashes like a girl. "Why, Peregrine!" she murmured. "They both love you so truly and faithfully, dear Aunt, and no wonder! And they are such--men! So to-morrow we will write to them?" "Very well, dear Peregrine!" said my proud aunt, softly and not in the least proudly. "But you are hungry, thirsty--you must eat--" "Thank you, no--only weary--" So hand in hand she led me to my chamber. "See, dear boy, I have kept everything as you left it; your bed is quite ready, the sheets aired, all waiting for you when you should choose to come." She led me about the great chamber, showing me all things as they had been on the night of my departure, even to the pen where I had tossed it upon an unfinished manuscript. And no mention, never one word of Diana; for the which I loved her and was grateful. "Dear Aunt," said I, and kissed her. "O dear Aunt Julia!" But when at last she was gone and I alone in the soft luxury of this chamber, desolation filled me and I yearned bitterly for the discomforts of the little camp within the copse; the rustle of leaves, the soft, murmurous gurgle of the brook, the winking stars overhead; for Jeremy, and Jessamy Todd and my loved Diana. And coming to the open lattice, I leaned there to look upon the moon, this other Diana so placid and serene. And thinking that perhaps my Diana looked upon her even now, a Diana not at all placid and serene but with sweet, grey eyes a-brim with tears and heart full of yearning tenderness--even as mine, I fell upon my knees and stretching out my arms, whispered words of love with passionate prayers: "O Diana, beloved ... O God of Heaven--God of Mercy, bring her back to me at last with heart as sweet and pure--teach me to be worthy, fit me for such happiness.... O loved Diana of the Silent Places, my love goes with you always, and for ever, strong, sweet goddess of my life. ... Two years!" TO THE READER Here then, do I end this book, because this is the Book of Diana and she is gone out of my life.