nse for his next words.

"Norah--it is a long time--three years--five years--I can't tell which
it may be. I shall think of you all the time. There never will be
anyone else for me; but it will be different with you. You will meet
new friends up in London. There will be other fellows--better than I
am--who will care for you too. Perhaps when I come back you may be
married too!"

"No, Rex, don't be afraid. I am not like that. I never forget."

He gripped her hand, but made no answer, and they stood together in a
silence which was sweet to both, despite the rain, the gloom, the coming
separation. Norah was the first to find her voice.

"You will write home often; and we will send you all the news. The time
will soon pass, and you will enjoy the life and the strange new
country." She looked into his face with a flickering smile. ... "They
say there's bread and work for all, and the sun shines always there..."

"But I'll not forget you, _darling_, be it fifty times as fair!" came
the answer, in a strained, hoarse whisper. Poor, shy Rex! Even at the
moment of parting it was agony to him to speak that word of endearment,
and having said it, he was consumed with embarrassment. Norah was still
tingling with delight, when her hand was seized in a painful grip, a
gruff "Good-bye, Norah!" sounded in her ears, and she was left alone in
the garden path.

She put up her hands to her face and sobbed in helpless misery.

"Oh, Rex, Rex! Five long, long years! Oh, God, be good to my boy--take
care of him! Bring him back safe and well!"

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

A CONFESSION.

"And so you are engaged too, Norah!"

Half an hour had passed since Rex had left Cloudsdale, and Lettice and
Norah wore seated in the bedroom which they shared together, Norah still
trembling and tearful, Lettice full of wide-eyed interest.

"And so you are engaged too!"

"No, not engaged. There is nothing definite, but I know that he cares
for me, and I have promised to wait--"

"It's the same thing, but--five years! It is a terribly long time! So
much may happen before then. You may change your mind!"

"No! I can't explain, but I simply could not think of anyone else while
Rex was alive. It would be all the same if it were fifteen years. You
need not pity me, Lettice. I shall keep house for father after you and
Hilary are married, and I shall be quite happy. I don't think anything
could make me unhappy again, now that