fingers off impatiently.

"Why are you angry, love?" he asked. "You have let me say it lightly so
often; will you not let me say it earnestly for once?"

"No," she answered firmly. "I do not want to hear it. I have been very
wrong, Alexander. I like you very much--because you are my cousin--but I
do not love you--I will not--I mean, I cannot. No, I am in earnest,
too--far more than you are. I can never love you--no, no, no--never!"

But she had let fall the words "I will not," and Alexander knew that
there was a struggle in her mind.

"You will not?" he said tenderly. "No--but you will, darling. I know you
will. You must; I will make you!"

Again he leaned far out of his saddle, and in an instant his left arm
went round her slender waist, as they rode quickly along, and his lips
touched her soft cheek just below the little gray veil. But he had gone
too far. Hermione's spurred heel just touched the Arab's flank, and he
sprang forward in a gallop up the narrow lane. Alexander kept close at
her side. His blood was up, and burning in his delicate cheek. He still
tried to keep his hand upon her waist, and bent towards her, moving in
his saddle with the ease of a born horseman as he galloped along. But
Hermione spurred her horse, and angrily tried to elude her cousin's
embrace, till in a moment they were tearing through the woods at a
racing pace.

Suddenly there came a crash, followed by a dull, heavy sound, and
Hermione saw that she was alone. She tried to look behind her, but
several seconds elapsed before her Arab could be quieted; at last she
succeeded in making him turn, and rode quickly back along the path.
Alexander's horse was standing across the way, and Hermione was obliged
to dismount and turn him before she could see beyond. Her cousin lay in
the lane, motionless as he had fallen, his face pale and turned upwards,
one arm twisted under his body, the other stretched out upon the soft
mould of the woodland path. Hermione stood holding the two horses, one
with each hand, and looking intently at the insensible man. She did not
lose her presence of mind, though she was frightened by his pallor; but
she could not let the horses run loose in such a place, when they might
be lost in a moment. She paused a moment, and listened for the sound of
hoofs, thinking that her father and I could not be far behind. But the
woods were very still, and she remembered that she and her cousin had
ridden fast over the last two mil