d it all," continued Philippa, without heeding Isabella's
words. "We shall be married and go straight abroad. It would not be
good for him to be in England for the winter. He needs brightness and
warmth and sunshine, and I shall take him to some quiet place where he
can have them--where there is no one he has ever known before, to
disturb him, or make him worry because he does not remember."

"Do you think he tries to remember?"

"I do not know. He certainly remembers something of the past. I
mentioned your name to him the other day, and he replied quite
naturally and quite calmly, 'Dear old Isabella! she was always a good
friend.' So you see he does remember."

A painful flush rose in Isabella's sallow cheeks, but she said no word.
Was this the message she had waited for so long? Casual words repeated
with a cruelty that was quite unconscious on Philippa's part.

She too was thinking only of Francis, and not at all of this woman who
had loved him in silence for so long. But with the wound comfort came
to Isabella in the knowledge of the meed of praise the words contained.
It was something to know that Francis remembered her, and more to know
that he recalled her as a good friend. What more could she expect?
Then, taking her love and her longing with both hands, she laid them a
sacrifice before the welfare of the man she loved, and made the
renunciation of her one hope without a quiver in her voice.

"I think you are perfectly right," she said. "It is most important
that he should not see--any one--he knew in the old days. It would
only disturb and perplex him, and if you take him abroad you will be
able to guard him from every danger of this kind."

"Yes," said Philippa eagerly, "that is what I feel. I shall try and
explain it to Marion, but I am afraid it will not be easy to make her
understand. If he sees the Major I am sure he will begin to wonder,
and Marion and the child would puzzle him dreadfully. But right away
in Italy, or somewhere he has never been before, there would be no
danger of anything of the kind. He can start a fresh life altogether.

"I did not really want him to live, Isabella," she continued presently.
"I thought it would be better for him to go out of it all, out of all
the bewilderment and trouble; but that was before--I knew--I loved him.
And now, you cannot wonder that I want him to live. My life shall be
devoted to taking care of him. Oh, how I wish you could see him,