you may have done me, even
in thought or intention. I wish the past could be buried. For the
future, I can say only this--we must part, and that instantly; it is
more than time."

Keene had expected some such answer, and it did not greatly disconcert
him. After pausing a second or two he said,

"I did not ask you for your decision without meaning to abide by it. But
it would be well to pause before you make it final. Remember--we shall
not part for days, or months, if you send me away now. At least, you
need not fear persecution. Yet it is difficult to reconcile one's self
to banishment. Will you not give me a chance of making amends for the
folly you complain of? I can not promise that my words shall always be
guarded, and my manner artificial; but I think I would rather keep your
friendship than win the love of any living woman, and I would try hard
never to offend you. Let us finish this at once. You have only to say
'leave me,' and I swear that you shall be obeyed to the letter."

On that last card hung all the issue of the game that he would have sold
his soul to win; yet he spoke not eagerly, though very earnestly, and
waited quietly for her reply, with a face as calm as death.

Cecil ought not to have hesitated for an instant: we all know that. But
steady resolve and stoical self-denial, easy enough in theory, are often
bitterly hard in practice. It is very well to preach to the wayfarer
that his duty is to go forward and not tarry. But fresh and green grow
the grasses round the Diamond of the Desert; pleasantly over its bright
waters droop the feathery palms. How drearily the gray arid sand
stretches away to the sky-line! Who knows how far it may be to the next
oasis? Let us rest yet another hour by the fountain.

From any deliberate intention to do wrong Cecil was as pure as any
canonized saint in the roll of virgins and martyrs; but if she had been
a voluptuary as elaborate as La Pompadour, she could not have felt more
keenly that her love had increased tenfold in intensity since it became
a crime to indulge it. The passionate energy that had slumbered so long
in her temperament was thoroughly roused at last, and would make itself
heard clamorously enough to drown the still small voice, that said
"beware and forbear." Her principles were good, but they were not strong
enough to hold their own. O pride of the Tresilyans! that had tempted to
sin so many of that haughty house, when you might have saved its fa