companionship the road seemed long and dreary. When he was
appointed to a regiment in India, and his heart softened at the prospect
of the first long parting from all he cared for, it was the separation
from Mary that seemed hardest to bear.

"I don't know what I shall do without you, Mary," he said.

"You will forget all about us when you've been in India a month."

But her lips twitched, and he noticed that she found difficulty in
speaking quite firmly. She hesitated a moment, and spoke again.

"It's different for us," she said, "Those who go forget, but those who
stay--remember. We shall be always doing the same things to remind us
of you. Oh, you won't forget me, Jamie?"

The last words slipped out against the girl's intention.

"Mary!" he cried.

And then he put his arms round her, and Mary rested her face on his
shoulder and began to cry. He kissed her, trying to stop her tears; he
pressed her to his heart. He really thought he loved her then with all
his strength.

"Mary," he whispered, "Mary, do you care for me? Will you marry me?"

Then quickly he explained that it would make it so much better for both
if they became engaged.

"I shan't be able to marry you for a long time; but will you wait for
me, Mary?"

She began to smile through her tears.

"I would wait for you to the end of my life."

During the first two years in India the tie had been to James entirely
pleasurable; and if, among the manifold experiences of his new life, he
bore Mary's absence with greater equanimity than he had thought
possible, he was always glad to receive her letters, with their delicate
aroma of the English country; and it pleased him to think that his
future was comfortably settled. The engagement was a sort of ballast,
and he felt that he could compass his journey without fear and without
disturbance. James did not ask himself whether his passion was very
ardent, for his whole education had led him to believe that passion was
hardly moral. The proper and decent basis of marriage was similarity of
station, and the good, solid qualities which might be supposed
endurable. From his youth, the wisdom of the world had been instilled
into him through many proverbs, showing the advisability of caution, the
transitoriness of beauty and desire; and, on the other hand, the lasting
merit of honesty, virtue, domesticity, and good temper....

But we all know that Nature is a goddess with no sense of decency, for
whom the prop