that,
now I am at home again, I do not see so much of you, sweetheart, as I
had anticipated."

"Walter," she exclaimed in a slow, changed voice, after a brief silence,
"there is a reason. Please do not ask me to tell you--because--well,
because I can't." And, drawing a long breath, she added, "All I beg of
you is to remain patient and trust in me. I love you; and I love no
other man. Surely that should be, for you, all-sufficient. I am yours,
and yours only."

In an instant he had folded her slight, dainty form in his arms. The
young man was satisfied, perfectly satisfied.

They strolled on together through the wood, and out across the open
corn-fields. The moon had come forth again, the storm-clouds had passed,
and the night was perfect. Though she was trying against her will to
hold aloof from Walter Murie, yet she loved him with all her heart and
soul. Many letters she had addressed to him in his travels had remained
unanswered. This had, in a measure, piqued her. But she was in ignorance
that much of his correspondence and hers had fallen into the hands of
her ladyship and been destroyed.

As they walked on, talking as lovers will, she was thinking deeply, and
full of regret that she dared not tell the truth to this man who, loving
her so fondly, would, she knew, be prepared to make any sacrifice for
her sake. Suppose he knew the truth! Whatever sacrifice he made would,
alas! not alter facts. If she confessed, he would only hate her. Ah, the
tragedy of it all! Therefore she held her silence; she dared not speak
lest she might lose his love. She had no friend in whom she could
confide. From her own father, even, she was compelled to hide the actual
facts. They were too terrible. What would he think if the bitter truth
were exposed?

The man at her side, tall, brave, strong--a lover whom she knew many
girls coveted--believed that he was to marry her. But, she told herself
within her grief-stricken heart, such a thing could never be. A barrier
stood between them, invisible, yet nevertheless one that might for ever
debar their mutual happiness.

An involuntary sigh escaped her, and he inquired the reason. She excused
herself by saying that it was owing to the exertion of walking over the
rough path. Therefore they halted, and, with the bright summer moonbeams
falling upon her beautiful countenance, he kissed her passionately upon
the lips again and yet again.

They remained together for over an hour, moving alo