"I wish I were a clerk, tied to a desk in some rich man's office. I might have had some chance at happiness then!" She shook her head pityingly. "Oh no, that would never do. That life would kill you. Your wings are powerful. You must soar higher than the rest of us, even if it means aching loneliness and solitude." His mother's words on Anne's lips! There must be truth in them, indeed! He uttered a sorrowful cry. "Oh Anne, I simply cannot believe that this is the end. Tell me, must it be so?" She nodded. Great tears coursed down her face. "Yes Alexis, this is the end. You must stand by Claire now. I shall love you more than ever for doing it." "It will kill me to part from you." He pressed a tear-wet cheek against hers. For an anguished moment, they rocked to and fro in silent grief. She spoke at last, in a weak little voice, unlike her own. "Better perhaps that we should part while we still love each other. Then--then we shall always remember it so." A bitter-sweet smile twisted his lips. "Were you afraid my love would get tepid? You were mistaken. If I didn't love you so consumingly, I couldn't part with you now. If this were only passion," his voice broke, "I might have been tempted to let things drift as they were until, until you discovered." A beautiful look of comprehension crossed her face. She pressed Alexis' head to her bosom in a passion of tenderness. "You are more noble than I dreamed." He groaned. "Not noble at all, only suffering, Anne." "Tell me what you intend to do? Of course you will go on your tour?" "Don't ask me, I hardly know as yet, what I shall do on my return. I will make the best arrangements for Claire that I can. But I will never live with her as my wife, and perhaps not even under the same roof." "Poor Alexis, poor boy," Anne felt him shudder as he lay against her. "Does it hurt you to say good-by?" The whisper was dragged from the anguish in his heart. A lump in her throat, she clasped him to her without a word, and their lips met and clung in sorrowful communion. He bent over her and touched the emerald pendant about her throat. "Keep it always in memory of me," he whispered. "Promise?" She nodded. A rending pain, as of disruption racked her to the bone. "I promise." Her voice broke. She turned away and flung herself face downwards on to the pillows. "Go, please go, I cannot bear any more." He stumbled to his feet and looked down upon her for the final time, a lingering look, as if he were trying to quench the thirst of the years to come in one consuming glance. "Good-by, my very, my only dearest. Try to forgive me if you can. Remember that I love you, and always shall love you to the very end." Then he went away.