rse between man and woman had here no
application; the higher ground to which she summoned him knew no
authority of the conventional. To hang his head was to proclaim his own
littleness.

'You are not less noble, Beatrice,' his voice murmured.

'You have said it. So there is no longer a constraint between us. How
simple it is to do for love's sake what those who do not know love think
impossible. I will see her, then the last difficulty is removed. That
letter has told me where she lives. If I go there to-day, I shall find
her?'

'Not till the evening,' Wilfrid replied under his breath.

'When is your marriage?'

He looked at her without speaking.

'Very soon? Before the end of the session?'

'The day after to-morrow.'

She was white to the lips, but kept her eyes on him steadily.

'And you go away at once?'

'I had thought'--he began; then added, 'Yes, at once; it is better.'

'Yes, better. Your friend stays and makes all ready for your return.
Perhaps I shall not see you after to-day, for that time. Then we are to
each ether what we used to be. You will bring her to hear me sing? I
shall not give it up now.'

She smiled, moved a little away from him, then turned again and gave her
hand for leave-taking.

'Wilfrid!'

'Beatrice?'

'She would not grudge it me. Kiss me--the last time--on my lips!'

He kissed her. When the light came again to his eyes, Beatrice had gone.

In the evening Emily sat expectant. Either Wilfrid would come or there
would be a letter from him; yes, he would come; for, after reading what
she had written, the desire to speak with her must be strong in him. She
sat at her window and looked along the dull street.

She had spent the day as usual--that is to say, in the familiar school
routine; but the heart she had brought to her work was far other than
that which for long years had laboriously pulsed the flagging moments of
her life. Her pupils were no longer featureless beings, the sole end of
whose existence was to give trouble; girl-children and budding womanhood
had circled about her; the lips which recited lessons made unconscious
music; the eyes, dark or sunny, laughed with secret foresight of love to
come. Kindly affection to one and all grew warm within her; what had
been only languid preferences developed in an hour to little less than
attachments, and dislikes softened to pity. The girls who gave promise
of beauty and tenderness she looked upon with the eyes of a siste