ait, and come later on and ask me,' I shall not
come."

She got up restlessly. She was obviously moved.

"Dion, I can't tell you to-day."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. I just feel I can't. It's no use."

"When did you mean to tell me?"

"I don't know."

"Did you mean ever to allude to the matter again, if I hadn't?"

"Yes, I should have told you, because I knew you were waiting.
I--I--often I have thought that I shall never marry any one."

She looked into the fire. Her face had become almost mysterious.

"Some women don't need--that," she murmured.

The fire played over her pale yellow hair.

"Abnormal women!" he exclaimed violently.

She turned.

"Hush! You don't know what you are saying. It isn't abnormal to wish to
dedicate----"

She stopped.

"What?" he said.

"Don't let us talk of these things. But you must not judge any woman
without knowing what is in her heart. Even your own mother, with whom
you have lived alone ever since your father's death--do you know very
much of her? We can't always show ourselves plainly as we are. It may
not be our fault."

"You will marry. You must marry."

"Why--must?"

He gazed at her. As she met his eyes she reddened slightly,
understanding his thought, that such a woman as she was ought not to
avoid the great vocation of woman. But there was another vocation, and
perhaps it was hers. She felt confused. Two desires were struggling
within her. It was as if her nature contained two necessities which were
wholly irreconcilable the one with the other.

"You can't tell me?" he said, at last.

"Not now."

"Then I am going, and I shall never ask you again. But I shall never be
able to love any one but you."

He said nothing more, and went away without touching her hand.

Words of Dante ran in Rosamund's head, and she repeated them to herself
after Dion had gone.

"_La divina volontate_!" She believed in it; she said to herself that
she trusted it absolutely. But how was she to know exactly what it
was? And yet, could she escape from it even if she wished to? Could she
wander away into any path where the Divine Will did not mean her to set
foot? Predestination--free will. "If only I were not so ignorant," she
thought.

Soon after six she went up to her bedroom to put on her things for
church.

Her bedroom was very simple, and showed plainly an indifference to
luxury, a dislike of show and of ostentation in its owner. The walls and
ceiling were white.