arms unwound themselves and fell by her side; slowly the beautiful eyes
left his and filled with despair. He tried to console her.

"You see, my darling," he said, "that in any case we must have parted.
Though this appointment is a mark of royal regard, still it is quite
imperative. I could not have refused it without ruin to my future
career, and I could not have taken you with me, so that for a time we
must have parted."

"I see," she said, gently, but her hands fell, and a shudder that she
could not control passed over her.

"Leone," said Lord Chandos, "we have not long to be together, and we
have much to arrange. Tell me, first, what you thought of my mother?"

"She is very beautiful, very proud, very haughty, cold and cruel--if not
wicked," said the young girl, slowly.

"That is not very flattering," said Lord Chandos.

"I could have loved and worshiped her if she had been kind to me," said
Leone; "but she was cruel, and some time or other I shall have my
revenge."

He looked gravely at her.

"I do not like to hear that, my darling. How can you be revenged?"

A light came over her face.

"I do not know. I have a prophetic insight at times into the future. As
I stand here, I know that a time will come when your mother will weep to
me as bitterly as I wept to her, and just as much in vain."

"I hope not," he answered. "All will be well for us, Leone. But revenge,
my darling, is a horrible word, and does not suit those sweet lips at
all. Let me kiss away the sound of it."

He bent his handsome head and kissed her lips with love that seemed
stronger than death and true as eternity.

CHAPTER XX.

THE PARTING.

They had been talking for more than an hour. He had given her the whole
history of the royal wedding, of what his embassy consisted of, of the
length of time he would be absent, how he should think of her
continually, how he implored her to write to him every day, and she had
given him every detail of her interview with Mr. Sewell and Lady
Lanswell. Then he said to himself that it was time they made some
arrangement over the future.

"So we are to live apart until next June, Leone," he said, gently. "It
is a terrible sentence; but the time will soon pass. Tell me, my
darling, where you would like to live until June comes?"

She looked at him with startled eyes.

"Need I leave home, Lance? Let me live here; I could not fancy any other
place was home. I feel as though if I once left