o part now, part for ever," she said; "speak to me
once in your life as though we were equal friends. Cannot you forget
for one minute that I am Countess of Desmond?"

Mary, Countess of Desmond; such was her name and title. But so little
familiar had he been with the name by which he had never heard her
called, that in his confusion he could not remember it. And had he
done so, he could not have brought himself to use it. "Yes," he said;
"we must part. It is impossible for me to remain here."

"Doubly impossible now," she replied, half reproaching him.

"Yes; doubly impossible now. Is it not better that the truth should
be spoken?"

"Oh, yes. I have spoken it--too plainly."

"And so will I speak it plainly. We cannot control our own hearts,
Lady Desmond. It is, as you say, doubly impossible now. All the love
I have had to give she has had,--and has. Such being so, why should I
stay here? or could you wish that I should do so?"

"I do not wish it." That was true enough. The wish would have been to
wander away with him.

"I must go, and shall start at once. My very things are packed for my
going. I will not be here to have the sound of their marriage bells
jangling in my ears. I will not be pointed at as the man who has been
duped on every side."

"Ah me, that I was a man too,--that I could go away and make for
myself a life!"

"You have Desmond with you."

"No, no. He will go too; of course he will go. He will go, and I
shall be utterly alone. What a fool I am,--what an ass, that by this
time I have not learned to bear it!"

"They will always be near you at Castle Richmond."

"Ah, Owen, how little you understand! Have we been friends while we
lived under the same roof? And now that she is there, do you think
that she will heed me? I tell you that you do not know her. She is
excellent, good, devoted; but cold as ice. She will live among the
poor, and grace his table; and he will have all that he wants. In
twelve months, Owen, she would have turned your heart to a stone."

"It is that already I think," said he. "At any rate, it will be so to
all others. Good-bye, Lady Desmond."

"Good-bye, Owen; and God bless you. My secret will be safe with you."

"Safe! yes, it will be safe." And then, as she put her cheek up to
him, he kissed it and left her.

He had been very stern. She had laid bare to him her whole heart,
and he had answered her love by never a word. He had made no reply
in any shape,--given her