"I' faith we can go there--" he began, but her expression gave him pause. "Why do you think I have come, Selina?" he asked, in an altered voice. She rose, two flowers in her hand; her eyes had a startled look. "To bid me good-bye," she answered calmly. My lord was too bewildered and startled to answer. He stared curiously at her sweet gravity. "What other reason could have brought you?" she continued, with a faint colour in her face. "Can you conceive no other?" he replied. "I came to claim you, Selina--at last." He smiled in an agitated manner. The blush deepened in her cheeks. "You did not think, my lord, that I could ever be your wife?" "I had that presumption." He was goaded by this unexpected attitude of hers to speak bitterly, to commit himself beyond the truth. "There is no obstacle now, Selina." "I never thought of this," said Miss Boyle, under her breath. "I do not know if you are serious; but, surely it is needless for me to tell you, my lord, that it is impossible. Everything is impossible between you and me--save farewell." "Why do you say so?" he demanded. "Have you not been waiting for this moment?" "To bring--farewell. Yes, I believed you would come for that--to see me once more, to bid good-bye; but--ah, the idyll was broken so long ago." She turned her head away sharply. "We shall care always, shall we not? I--I do not dare express to you what I feel." "We will not part, Selina!" he cried. She faced him courageously. "Nothing can move me, not even your sincerity. I am resolved; and you know in your heart that I am right." The words held him silent with a shame she took for grief. "What does it matter," she said, with a soft passion in her voice, "since we----" "Since we have loved one another," finished my lord, lifting his grey eyes. "Yes," breathed Miss Boyle. A silence followed and the bells ceased; the sun had set, and all colour faded from the sky. Miss Boyle stooped and picked up the few roses still upon the grass. "You understand?" she asked. "I understand," answered the Earl. "You must go." "I would not," he said softly, "dare to stay." She smiled in an absorbed manner, and turned down the rose alley. As they walked together they spoke a little, in low voices, of common things, words with no meaning, but of sweet sound, and a great regret touched my lord's fickle heart. She came with him to the gate. "Do you still bid me go?" "Farewell!" she said. He lingered, divided in himself, moved and sad. She put her hand to her bosom and drew from her fichu a white ribbon on which hung a little shell. She showed it to him and smiled. "Must I--shall I go?" he said, asking himself. Her hat had slipped from her golden head, and as she looked up at him the fine curls were displayed on her brow and shoulders. She opened the gate. The Earl stepped slowly out on to the road. She took the roses from her basket and gave them to him. "Farewell!" she repeated.