thought, looking at her downcast eyes and trembling hands with cruel
exultation in his face, "If I cared!"

"How I have adored Ashurst!" he said slowly, wondering how far it would
be safe to go. "I have been very happy here. I hope I shall be still
happier, Lois?"

Still she did not answer, but she pressed her hands hard together. Dick
looked at her critically.

"When I come again,--oh, when I come again,--then, if you have not
forgotten me--Tell me you will not forget me, until I come again?"

Lois shook her head. Dick had drawn her to a seat, and his eager face was
close to hers.

"I said good-by to the rector this afternoon," he said, "but I felt I
must see you again, alone."

Lois was silent.

"I wonder if you know," he went on, "how often I shall think of Ashurst,
and of you?"

He had possessed himself of her hand, which was cold and rigid, but lay
passively in his. She had turned her face away from him, and in a
stunned, helpless way was waiting for the question which seemed on his
lips. "And you know what my thoughts will be," he said meaningly. "You
make Ashurst beautiful."

He saw the color, which had rushed to her face when he had begun to talk,
fade slowly; even her lips were white. But she never looked at him.

"You were not always kind to me," he continued, "but when I come back"--

She turned with a sudden impulse toward him, her breath quick and her
lips unsteady. "Mr. Forsythe," she said, "I"--

But he had risen. "I suppose I must go," he said in his natural voice,
from which sentiment had fled, and left even a suggestion of alarm.
"It is late, and mother may need something,--you know she's always
needing something. We never can forget your kindness, Miss Lois.
Good-by,--good-by!"

Though he lingered on that last word and pressed her hand, he had gone in
another moment. Lois stood breathless. She put her hands up to her head,
as though to quiet the confusion of her thoughts. What did it mean? Was
it only to let her see that he still loved her? Was he coming again?

When Helen, remembering her duties, came into the parlor, it was
deserted, and Lois was facing her misery and fright in her own room,
while Dick Forsythe, raging homeward through the rain, was saying to
himself, "I've put an end to your prospects! She'll wait for me, if it is
six years. It is just as well she doesn't know I'm going abroad. I'll
tell mother not to mention it. Mother was right when she said I could
have her f