have gone with him--trusting to honest love and a true heart. Ah! how
much joy is there in this mortal, moribund world if one will but open
one's arms to take it!

Ah! young ladies, sweet young ladies, dear embryo mothers of our
England as it will be, think not overmuch of your lovers' incomes. He
that is true and honest will not have to beg his bread--neither his
nor yours. The true and honest do not beg their bread, though it may
be that for awhile they eat it without much butter. But what then? If
a wholesome loaf on your tables, and a strong arm round your waists,
and a warm heart to lean on cannot make you happy, you are not the
girls for whom I take you.

Caroline's bread was buttered, certainly; but the butter had been
mixed with gall, and she could not bring herself to swallow it. And
now he had come to tell her that he was going; he whose loaf, and
arm, and heart she might have shared. What would the world say of her
if she were to share his flight?

"Good-bye," she said, as she took his proffered hand.

"And is that all?"

"What would you have, Mr. Bertram?"

"What would I have? Ah, me! I would have that which is
utterly--utterly--utterly beyond my reach."

"Yes, utterly--utterly," she repeated. And as she said so, she
thought again, what would the world say of her if she were to share
his flight?

"I suppose that now, for the last time, I may speak truly--as a man
should speak. Lady Harcourt, I have never ceased to love you, never
for one moment; never since that day when we walked together among
those strange tombs. My love for you has been the dream of my life."

"But, why--why--why?--" She could not speak further, for her voice
was choked with tears.

"I know what you would say. Why was I so stern to you!"

"Why did you go away? Why did you not come to us?"

"Because you distrusted me; not as your lover, but as a man. But I
did not come here to blame you, Caroline."

"Nor to be blamed."

"No, nor to be blamed. What good can come of reproaches? We now know
each other's faults, if we never did before. And we know also each
other's truth--" He paused a moment, and then added, "For, Caroline,
your heart has been true."

She sat herself down upon a chair, and wept, with her face hidden
within her hands. Yes, her heart had been true enough; if only her
words, her deeds, her mind could have been true also.

He came up to her, and lightly put his hand upon her shoulder.
His touch was very li