often the thought forced itself upon Keene's mind, "If
I were to weary of _her_ too?" and made him pause before he urged Cecil
to the step that must have linked him to her fate forever.

Under other circumstances his patience might have held out still longer;
but there were numberless difficulties and obstacles in the way of their
meeting, and the perpetual constraint fretted Royston sorely. His
principle always had been not openly to violate conventionalities
without gaining an adequate equivalent; so he was more careful of
Cecil's reputation than she was inclined to be, and, among worse
lessons, taught her prudence. They met very seldom alone. When Mrs.
Danvers was present she made it her business to be as much as possible
in the way; and her awkward attempts at interference were sometimes
inexpressibly provoking. On one particular evening she had been
unusually pertinacious and obtrusive. The major stood it tolerably well
up to a certain point, but his savage temper gradually got the better of
him; his face grew darker and darker, till it was black as midnight when
he rose to go, and his lips were rigid as steel. It was evident he had
come to some resolution that he meant to keep. When he was wishing
Bessie "good-night," he held her hand imprisoned for a moment without
pressing it. "You are so good a theologian," he said, "that perhaps you
can tell me where a text comes from that has haunted me for the last
hour. It speaks of some one who 'loosed the bands of Orion.'" His manner
and the sudden address disconcerted Mrs. Danvers so completely as to
incapacitate her from reply: she suffered "judgment to go by default;"
and left Royston under the impression that she had never read the Book
of Job.

The next day he asked Cecil to elope with him.

She listened without betraying either terror, or anger, or disdain; but
she raised her beautiful eyes to his with a sad, searching inquiry,
before which many men would have quailed. "Have you counted the cost to
yourself and to me?"

"I have done both," replied Keene, gravely. "I can not say that you will
never repent it; but I know that I shall never regret it."

There were no promises or vows exchanged; but a silence for two long
minutes; and, when these were passed, the sweet, pure lips had lost
their virginity.

So with few more words it was finally arranged; and the next day Royston
left Dorade to make preparations all along the road of their intended
flight. Their pl