"Why, Victor!" exclaimed Phil, heartily, stung perhaps with some slight self-reproach for his recent neglect; "why, old fellow, we shan't know what to do without you! It's a shame to break up a pleasant party like this. Make it the next steamer, and stay over another week, and we'll all go together." "Do, I beg of you, Victor," echoed Ellerton. "And you couldn't go without that day's woodcock shooting we've been talking of," said the captain. "The law's up next week, you know." "And you've forgotten the masquerade!" exclaimed Josephine. "And the Masons' tableaux!" cried Ella. "And my cousin's feelings," added Grace, slily. "And what of your own, my pretty Miss Grace?" said Victor, carrying the war so abruptly over into her territory that she had no time to collect her wits for a retort. "My own heart is broken at the idea of leaving you. Are you perfectly unmoved at the sight of my sorrow? I shall never believe in woman again." "I do not know," said Mr. Rutledge, "what other inducements we can hold out of sufficient power to detain Mr. Viennet longer. If there is anything so imperative as he suggests, however, I imagine that our persuasions will be thrown away." "Quite thrown away, sir, I regret to admit," said Victor, with a low and significant bow. "I can enjoy your hospitality no longer than Wednesday morning." CHAPTER XXVIII. "And as the dove, to far Palmyra flying From where her native founts of Antioch beam, Weary, exhausted, longing, panting, sighing, Lights sadly at the desert's bitter stream, "So many a soul, o'er life's drear desert faring, Love's pure, congenial spring unfound, unquaffed, Suffers--recoils--then, thirsty and despairing Of what it would, descends, and sips the nearest draught." "You are cruel," said Victor, in a low tone, as I followed the rest of the party into the library after dinner. "This is my last day, and you will not give me a moment." "Who's for a ride? Mr. Rutledge wants to know," said Grace, coming in from the piazza. "Not I, for one," exclaimed Ella, throwing herself back on the sofa. "I'm going to save myself for this evening." "And you, too, Josephine, dear," said her mother, "had better not tire yourself any more. You will be perfectly fagged if you go to drive, and you want to keep yourself fresh for the Masons." "Aren't you made of sterner stuff?" whispered Victor. "Aren't you equal to a drive and a party in the same twenty-four hours? It is heavy work, I know, but your constitution seems a good one." "I think I'll venture," I said, following Grace into the hall. "There's Kitty on the stairs. Mr. Viennet, tell her to bring me my bonnet, please." Kitty was only too glad to obey Mr. Viennet's orders at any time, and she flew to get my things. "Get mine at the same time, young woman," drawled Grace. Before Kitty had returned from her double errand, the horses were at the door.