hat I
kissed her she was the farthest away of all!"

They were walking up the grey, peaceful square.

"You don't mind my telling you all this, do you, Miss Rand? You've seen
it all from the beginning. But I'm odd in a way....

"Uncle John coming to me, Seddon being friendly to me, the family taking
me back ... that seems to have made all the difference to me. Although
I'd never confess it, even to myself, I know that if Rachel and I had
gone off together I'd never have been happy. You see, we're both alike
that way. We're restless, one half of us, but oh! we're Beaminster the
other, and even Rachel, who's been fighting the family all her days, has
one part of her that's happy to be married to Seddon and to be quiet and
proper and English. That's why neither I nor Seddon ever could hold
her--because to be with me she'd have had to give up the other. If she
had a child, that might----"

"She's going to have a child!" said Lizzie.

He stopped and stared at her.

"Miss Rand!... Is that certain?"

"Quite."

"Ah, well, Seddon's got her all right. They'll be happy as anything." He
sighed. "You know, Miss Rand, Rachel and I have been fighting the old
lady, and we seem to have won ... but I'm not sure whether, after all,
she hasn't!"

On the step he paused.

"I'm sticking to Candles, I've got work. I'm recognized again. I've got
that little bit of Rachel that she gave me and that nobody else can
have, and--I've got you for a friend--Not so bad after all!"

He laughed, opened the door for her, and then as they stood in the dark
little hall he said:

"All along you've been _such_ a friend for me. I want someone like
you--someone strong and sensible, without my rotten sentiment and
impulses. We'll always be friends, won't we?"

He held her hand.

"Always," she said, smiling at him.

But, perhaps, to both of them there came, just then, sighing through the
dark still hall, a breath, a whisper, of that hour when life had been at
its intensest, that hour when Breton had held Rachel in his arms, that
hour when Lizzie had dressed, with trembling hands, for the theatre....

For Breton his place once again in the world, for Lizzie work and peace
of heart, but once on a day life had flamed before both of them and they
would never forget--

"Well, good night, Mr. Breton."

"Good night, Miss Rand."

When he had gone, she stood in the hall a moment.

Their little dialogue had closed, with the sound of a closing door,