ately--passionately in love with me," she said, with
red staining her cheeks, "he would not come--he would not come--he would
not come. And, because of that, he is more to me--MORE! And more he will
become every day--and the more strongly he will hold me. And there we
stand."

Roland lifted his fine head from his paws, and, holding it erect on a
stiff, strong neck, stared at her in obvious inquiry. She put out her
hand and tenderly patted him.

"He will have none of me," she said. "He will have none of me." And she
faintly smiled, but the next instant shook her head a little haughtily,
and, having done so, looked down with an altered expression upon the
cloth of her skirt, because she had shaken upon it, from the extravagant
lashes, two clear drops.

It was not the result of chance that she had seen nothing of him for
weeks. She had not attempted to persuade herself of that. Twice he had
declined an invitation to Stornham, and once he had ridden past her
on the road when he might have stopped to exchange greetings, or have
ridden on by her side. He did not mean to seem to desire, ever so
lightly, to be counted as in the lists. Whether he was drawn by any
liking for her or not, it was plain he had determined on this.

If she were to go away now, they would never meet again. Their ways in
this world would part forever. She would not know how long it took to
break him utterly--if such a man could be broken. If no magic change
took place in his fortunes--and what change could come?--the decay
about him would spread day by day. Stone walls last a long time, so the
house would stand while every beauty and stateliness within it fell into
ruin. Gardens would become wildernesses, terraces and fountains crumble
and be overgrown, walls that were to-day leaning would fall with time.
The years would pass, and his youth with them; he would gradually change
into an old man while he watched the things he loved with passion die
slowly and hard. How strange it was that lives should touch and pass on
the ocean of Time, and nothing should result--nothing at all! When she
went on her way, it would be as if a ship loaded with every aid of food
and treasure had passed a boat in which a strong man tossed, starving to
death, and had not even run up a flag.

"But one cannot run up a flag," she said, stroking Roland. "One cannot.
There we stand."

To her recognition of this deadlock of Fate, there had been adding the
growing disturbance ca