Mary now?"

"Yes, mother."

"That's a good boy."

She did not notice that her son's usual gravity was intensified, or that
his very lips were pallid, and his eyes careworn and lustreless.

It was raining. The young fresh leaves, in the colourless day, had lost
their verdure, and the massive shapes of the elm trees were obscured in
the mist. The sky had so melancholy a tone that it seemed a work of
man--a lifeless hue of infinite sorrow, dreary and cheerless.

James arrived at the Clibborns' house.

"Miss Mary is in the drawing-room," he was told by a servant, who smiled
on him, the accepted lover, with obtrusive friendliness.

He went in and found her seated at the piano, industriously playing
scales. She wore the weather-beaten straw hat without which she never
seemed comfortable.

"Oh, I'm glad you've come," she said. "I'm alone in the house, and I was
taking the opportunity to have a good practice." She turned round on the
music-stool, and ran one hand chromatically up the piano, smiling the
while with pleasure at Jamie's visit. "Would you like to go for a walk?"
she asked. "I don't mind the rain a bit."

"I would rather stay here, if you don't mind."

James sat down and began playing with a paper-knife. Still he did not
know how to express himself. He was torn asunder by rival emotions; he
felt absolutely bound to speak, and yet could not bear the thought of
the agony he must cause. He was very tender-hearted; he had never in his
life consciously given pain to any living creature, and would far rather
have inflicted hurt upon himself.

"I've been wanting to have a long talk with you alone ever since I came
back."

"Have you? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because what I want to say is very difficult, Mary; and I'm afraid it
must be very--distressing to both of us."

"What do you mean?"

Mary suddenly became grave, James glanced at her, and hesitated; but
there was no room for hesitation now. Somehow he must get to the end of
what he had to say, attempting only to be as gentle as possible. He
stood up and leant against the mantelpiece, still toying with the
paper-knife; Mary also changed her seat, and took a chair by the table.

"Do you know that we've been engaged for over five years now, Mary?"

"Yes."

She looked at him steadily, and he dropped his eyes.

"I want to thank you for all you've done for my sake, Mary. I know how
good you have been to my people; it was very kind of you. I cannot thi