. Good luck!"

"Oh, good-bye, Rex! I am so very, very sorry--"

"Good-bye, Lettice. You will be an old married woman when I see you
again."

"Good-bye, dear, dear Rex. Take care of yourself. Co-come back soon!"

"Miss Briggs! Mr Barton! Thank you very much. Oh, yes, I shall get
on all right! Good-bye, little Mouse--give me a kiss!"

"Good-bye, darling, darling Rex--and I've worked a book-marker for you
with `Forget-me-not' in red worsted. It's gone in the post to-day, and
you will get it in the morning."

"Thank you, Mouse. I'll use it every day of my life. ... Good-bye,
Norah--!"

"Good-bye, Rex!"

That was all. A short grasp of the hand, and he was gone. The door
banged, footsteps went crunching down the gravel, and Norah stood like a
statue of despair in the dim, flagged hall. For one moment only, then
Lettice seized her by the arm, and dragged her hurriedly along the
passage. Such a flushed, determined Lettice, with sparkling eyes, and
quick, decisive tones!

"Norah! You can't let him go away like that. You _can't_! It's
inhuman! The poor boy was crying when Mr Barton was singing. I saw
the tears in his eyes. He went away because he could not bear to stay
any longer. And you never said a word! Oh run, run!--go out of the
side door, and cut across the shrubbery to meet him at the gate. Oh,
Norah, quick! It is your last chance! Think! You may never see him
again!"

The last words put an end to any hesitation which Norah may have felt.
Lettice held the door open, and she rushed out into the drizzling rain,
hatless, cloakless, as she was, forgetting everything but that awful
suggestion that she might never see Rex again. Down the narrow path,
where a few weeks before she and Rex had first discussed the journey to
India; across the plot of grass where Geraldine had her garden, and
there, at the opening into the carriage drive, stood Rex himself,
staring before him with a strained, expectant glance, which gave way to
a flash of joy as Norah's tall figure came in sight.

"I thought you would come! I thought you would not let me go away
without a word!" he said, and Norah gave a little sob of emotion.

"What can I say? You know all I feel. I shall think of you all the
time, and wish you good luck; and every night when I say my prayers--"

"I know! Thank you, Norah." Rex turned his head aside quickly, but
Norah saw that he was trembling with emotion, and waited in awed
suspe