zen
parties, more or less, all chattering gaily, and here and there disposed
to frolic Their presence jarred on Paul, but there was no removing it He
allowed Gertrude to lead the way, and she; strolling in pensive silence,
brought him to a shaded avenue on the western side of the garden, where
a gentleman and lady were promenading slowly arm-in-arm away from them.
Gertrude laid a hand upon his arm, and stood still until the couple in
front had strayed out of hearing, and then resumed her pensive march.

'How came you, Paul,' she asked, looking suddenly up to him, 'to write
so strange a letter?'

'I had to write it,' Paul answered in a constricted voice, in which a
certain note of anger sounded. It disturbed him to find that his resolve
was melting away from him, and he felt that he must needs harden his
heart if be were but partly to fulfil his purpose. 'What is there in the
letter,' he asked therefore, 'which you find strange?

'You have never told me,' she responded, 'one word of your purpose until
this afternoon, and you are leaving me tomorrow. Is not that a little
strange, Paul?'

Her voice trembled and almost broke upon his name.

'I knew nothing of it myself until yesterday,' he answered 'I have had
letters of the most urgent importance, and must answer them in person.'

'How long do you expect to be away,' she asked.

'The one wise thing,' he answered, 'I could do would be to stay away
altogether.'

'Ah, Paul,' she half whispered, wreathing her arm through his, 'there
is your "fool's dream" again. What do you mean by the "fool's dream"?
Haven't we been happy for a time?'

'Is it happiness,' Paul asked, 'to pay for a week's emptiness and
longing with one minute of delirium? Is it a happy thing to be so set
on one unattainable hope as to be able, dreaming or waking, to think of
nothing else? A man is not to be made happy by the life I live.'

'Paul,' she whispered, 'what more can you ask than I have given you?'

'Everything,' he answered.

She drew her arm away lingeringly. He let it go, and for a minute they
walked in silence side by side. They reached the avenue, and turned back
again.

'Can you tell me anything,' she asked after this pause--'do you care to
tell me anything about your business in England.'

'That's simple enough,' he answered. 'I am within some few months of
poverty, and I must get to work again. I have had a tremendous letter
from old Darco, slanging me for breach of faith, and