s hard--hard to leave you so! Do we part friends?" and he held out his
hand as he rose to his feet again.

"Yes, I think so," and she gave him her hand, "but I hope you will not come
here any more; it is unpleasant for both of us."

"And this is to be our good-bye! It is hard to give you up, my darling!"
and he held her hand as if he would never let it go. "I wonder if I shall
ever see you again!"

"Mr. McNeil, I have not troubled you with many favors, so I think you might
grant me one. Please do not leave the Gurneys just now; on my account, I
mean. We are going away from Halifax so soon ourselves, and I know it will
be a disappointment to them if you leave just now. I am sure they do not
wish you to go away until you are stronger. They have all been so kind to
me, I wish you would not make any change until we are gone."

"That is a great temptation, Dexie, coming from you; but a few weeks of
your presence, even though I may not see you, will be heaven itself,
compared to the life I must spend without you. I may, perhaps, see you
again."

"No! Not alone, at least! Let this be good-bye, Mr. McNeil," and she tried
to draw away her hands.

But he drew her close to him, and giving one long, earnest look into her
eyes, he lifted her hands to his lips and pressed a burning kiss upon them;
then the curtain dropped behind him.

Dexie stood where Hugh had left her for some minutes, listening to his
retreating footsteps as he disappeared up the attic stairs, then sank down
in the chair Hugh had occupied, and buried her face in her hands. There was
a tumult in her heart that required some deep thinking before she would
feel like herself again. Thoughts had arisen that had disquieted her. Hugh
had told her that her heart had not yet awakened; was it so? Why, then, was
she wearing Lancy's ring? She blushed as she pulled it hastily off, hiding
it on her chain like a guilty thing.

The story she had been reading, and which she had thought so overdrawn,
came into her mind; it had pleased her because she had thought it so
delightfully unreal. But had there not been passages in her own life quite
as romantic in their nature as that which seemed so interesting when read
out of a story-book.

Her heart had not yet awakened! How those words seemed to repeat themselves
over and over as she sat.

Had she awakened Hugh's heart only to disappoint him? Well, she had not
intended nor wished to do it; but he was very much in earnest, a