it is not on that account
I speak. It is because it would kill me to lose my belief in you, my
love, my only, only love!"

"But I am not so good as you think," murmured Heathcote, leaning his
head against her. His hands, still holding hers, were growing cold.

"But you are brave. And you _shall_ be true. Go back to Helen, and try
to do what is right, as _I_ also shall try."

"But you--that is different. _You_ do not care."

"Not care!" she repeated, and her voice quivered and broke. "You _know_
that is false."

"It is. Forgive me."

"Promise me that you will go back; promise for my sake, Ward. Light
words are often spoken about a broken heart; but I think, if you fail me
now, my heart will break indeed."

"What must I do?"

"Go back to Helen--to your life, whatever it is."

"And shall I see you again?"

"No."

"It is too hard, too hard," he whispered, putting his arms round her.

But she unclasped them. "I have your promise?" she said.

"No."

"Then I _take_ it." And lightly touching his forehead with her lips, she
turned and was gone.

When July and Diana came to bring back their foolhardy patient, they
found him lying on the earth so still and cold that it seemed as if he
were dead. That night the fever appeared again. But there was only Diana
to nurse him now; Anne was gone.

Farmer Redd acted as guide and escort back to Peterson's Mill; but the
pale young nurse would not stop, begging Dr. Flower to send her onward
immediately to Number Two. She was so worn and changed that the surgeon
feared that fever had already attacked her, and he sent a private note
to the surgeon of Number Two, recommending that Miss Douglas should at
once be returned to Number One, and, if possible, sent northward to her
home. But when Anne arrived at Number One, and saw again the sweet face
of Mrs. Barstow, when she felt herself safely surrounded by the old
work, she said that she would stay for a few days longer. While her
hands were busy, she could think; as she could not sleep, she would
watch. She felt that she had now to learn life entirely anew; not only
herself, but the very sky, sunshine, and air. The world was altered.

On the seventh morning a letter came; it was from Heathcote, and had
been forwarded from Peterson's Mill. She kept it until she had a
half-hour to herself, and then, going to the bank of the river, she sat
down under the trees and opened it. Slowly; for it might be for good, or
it might be for