is all over, and
I can assure you of my sorrow at having behaved as I did, and of my
sincere friendship now as ever.'

'There is nothing I shall value so much as that. It will make my work at
the castle very pleasant to feel that I can consult you about it without
fear of intruding on you against your wishes.'

'Yes, perhaps it will. But--you do not comprehend me.'

'You have been an enigma always.'

'And you have been provoking; but never so provoking as now. I wouldn't
for the world tell you the whole of my fancies as I came hither this
evening: but I should think your natural intuition would suggest what
they were.'

'It does, Paula. But there are motives of delicacy which prevent my
acting on what is suggested to me.'

'Delicacy is a gift, and you should thank God for it; but in some cases
it is not so precious as we would persuade ourselves.'

'Not when the woman is rich, and the man is poor?'

'O, George Somerset--be cold, or angry, or anything, but don't be
like this! It is never worth a woman's while to show regret for her
injustice; for all she gets by it is an accusation of want of delicacy.'

'Indeed I don't accuse you of that--I warmly, tenderly thank you for
your kindness in coming here to see me.'

'Well, perhaps you do. But I am now in I cannot tell what mood--I will
not tell what mood, for it would be confessing more than I ought. This
finding you out is a piece of weakness that I shall not repeat; and I
have only one thing more to say. I have served you badly, George, I know
that; but it is never too late to mend; and I have come back to you.
However, I shall never run after you again, trust me for that, for it is
not the woman's part. Still, before I go, that there may be no mistake
as to my meaning, and misery entailed on us for want of a word, I'll add
this: that if you want to marry me, as you once did, you must say so;
for I am here to be asked.'

It would be superfluous to transcribe Somerset's reply, and the
remainder of the scene between the pair. Let it suffice that
half-an-hour afterwards, when the sun had almost gone down, Paula walked
briskly into the hotel, troubled herself nothing about dinner, but went
upstairs to their sitting-room, where her aunt presently found her upon
the couch looking up at the ceiling through her fingers. They talked on
different subjects for some time till the old lady said 'Mr. Somerset's
cottage is the one covered with flowers up the lane, I hear.'