e
hastily substituted 'us'--'in complete silence? You may be away six
months--a whole year--it may even be longer.'

'Yes, it may be longer,' he returned; and now it was he who was the
calmer of the two. 'It is impossible for either of us to tell now how
long my exile may last; but I will write--not often, and perhaps I may
not even speak of this that has passed between us; but I shall write,
and you will find no difficulty in answering my letters.'

And when he had said this he looked at her very kindly and then without
another word walked to the house.

CHAPTER XLIX

'LET YOUR HEART PLEAD FOR ME'

'We were apart; yet day by day
I bade my heart more constant be.
I bade it keep the world away,
And grow a home for only thee;
Nor fear'd but thy love likewise grew,
Like mine, each day, more tried, more true.'

MATTHEW ARNOLD.

Audrey never knew how she got through the rest of the day. During the
remainder of Michael's visit she seemed in an uneasy dream. Never before
in her life had she been oppressed by such painful self-consciousness;
all freedom of speech was impossible to her; she spoke with reluctance,
and felt as though every word were weighed in some inward balance.

More than once her mother asked her if she were well; but, happily,
Michael was not present to see how the blood rushed to her face as she
framed an evasive answer. She could not have told her mother whether she
were ill or well: she only knew some moral earthquake had shattered her
old illusions, and that she was looking out at a changed world.

But she was conscious through it all that Michael's watchfulness and
care shielded her from observation, that he was for ever throwing
himself into the breach when any unusual effort was required. Once when
her sister and Mr. Harcourt were present, he challenged them to a game
of whist, that Audrey might leave her place at the piano. Very likely he
had heard the slight quaver in her voice that told him the song tried
her.

Audrey longed to thank him as she stole out into the summer dusk, and
wandered down the paths between the tall sentinel lilies, that gleamed
so ghostly white in the darkness. But with all his thought for her, he
was never alone with her for a moment until the last day came, and he
went to the morning-room to wish her good-bye. She was tending her
ferns, but she took off her gardening-gloves at once as he ca