She was silent for a few minutes. Then she said, in a tone which she tried to modulate as much as possible, but which was unmistakably triumphant, 'I have reflected, Palmyre, and I find it is again my duty to exercise that power of self-denial with which I have fortunately been imbued. These poor creatures have greater need of you than I, and however much I may suffer by the abnegation, I waive my claim upon you--I give you up to them.' 'You are an angel,' said Pauline, bending down to kiss her friend's hand. Her face was necessarily hidden, but if any one could have caught a glimpse of it they would have seen on it an expression of intense amusement. 'I shall see you again, I suppose?' said Mrs. Calverley. 'O, certainly,' said Pauline; 'I shall let you know as soon as anything is settled, and I sincerely trust that my duties will not be so constant and so binding as to prevent my frequently coming to visit my best and dearest friend.' 'Does she take me for a fool, this woman?' said Pauline when she had gained the solitude of her bedroom, 'or is she so blinded by her own folly as to believe that other people are so weak as she? However, the difficulty, such as it was, has been easily arranged, and all is now clear for me to commence my new manner of life.' END OF VOL. II. LONDON: ROBSON AND SONS, PRINTERS, PANCRAS ROAD, N.W. End of Project Gutenberg's The Yellow Flag, Volume 2 (of 3), by Edmund Yates