try it. Believe me,
Caspar"--her voice trembled as she used his Christian name, which she
very seldom did--"believe me that if it would be for your happiness I
would welcome the change! But when I remember the discord, the
incompatibility, the want of sympathy, which used to grieve me in those
old days, I cannot think----"

She stopped short, and put her handkerchief to her eyes.

"Lady Alice could not understand you--could not appreciate you," she
said. "And it was hard--hard for your friends to look on and
say--_nothing_!"

Brooke rose abruptly from his chair. "No one ever had a truer friend
than I have in you," he said, huskily. "But it seems to me that Alice
may have changed with the lapse of years; she may have become easier to
satisfy, better able to sympathize----"

"Does she show that spirit in the way she has spoken of you to your
daughter? What do you gather from Lesley as to her state of mind?" said
Mrs. Romaine, keenly.

He paused. She knew very well that the question was a hard one for him
to answer.

"Ah," he said, with a heavy sigh, "you know as well as I do."

Then he turned aside, and for an instant or two there was a silence.

"I suppose it would not be wise," he continued, at last. "But I wish
that it could have been done. It would be better in many ways. A man
and wife ought to live together. A girl ought to live with her parents.
We are all in false positions. And, perhaps, if any one is to be
sacrificed, it ought to be myself," he said, with a curious smile.

"You forget," said Mrs. Romaine with emotion, "that you sacrifice others
in sacrificing yourself."

"Others? No, I don't think so. You allude to my sister?"

"No--not your sister."

"Sophy could go on living with us and managing the household affairs,"
said Brooke, who had no conception of what poor Mrs. Romaine meant; "and
she is not a person who would willingly interfere with other people's
views or opinions. Indeed, she carries the _laisser-faire_ principle
almost to an extreme. Sophy is no proselytizer, thank God!"

"I did not mean Sophy: I meant your friends--old friends like myself,"
said Rosalind, desperately. "You will cast us all off--you will forget
us--forget--_me_!"

There was unusual passion in her voice. Then she hid her face in her
hands and burst into tears. Brooke made two steps towards her, and
stopped short.

"Rosalind!" he exclaimed. "You cannot think that! you cannot think that
I shall ever forget old f