lse matters.
You shall have all you want--all--all--all!"

Silence under the mulberry-tree; the silence of a great decision.

Then he drew himself gently but firmly from her arms.

He stood before her, tall, erect, unbending. The moonlight fell upon
his face. It had lost its look of youth, taking on a new power. It
was the face of a man; and of a man who, having come to a decision,
intended, at all costs, to abide by it.

"No, Christobel," he said. "No, my Beloved. I could not accept
happiness--even _such_ happiness--at so great a cost to you. There
could be no bliss for you, no peace, no satisfaction, even in our great
love, if you had gone against your supreme sense of duty; your own high
conception of right and wrong. Also, Christobel, dearest--you must not
give yourself in a rush of emotion. You must give yourself
deliberately where your mind has chosen, and where your great soul is
content. That being so, I must be off, Christobel; and don't you worry
about me. You've been heavenly good to me, dear; and I've put you
through so much. I will go up to town to-night. I shall not come
back, unless you send for me. But when you want me and send--why, my
Love, I will come from the other end of the world."

He stooped and took both her hands in his; lifted them reverently,
tenderly, to his lips; held them there one moment, then laid them back
upon her lap, and turned away.

She saw him walk down the moonlit lawn, tall and erect. She saw him
pass through the gate, without looking back. She heard it close
quietly--not with the old boyish bang--yet close irrevocably,
decisively.

Then she shut her eyes, and began again to rock gently to and fro.
Little Boy Blue was still in her arms; it comforted her to rock him
there. But the man who had arisen and left her, when he might, taking
advantage of her weakness, have won her against her own conscience and
will; the man who, mastering his own agony, had thus been brave and
strong for her--had carried her whole heart with him, when he went out
through the postern gate.

In rising, he left the Boy in her arms. Through the long hard years to
come, she prayed she might keep him there--her own Little Boy Blue.

But he who went out alone, for her sake to face life without her, was
_the man she loved_.

She knew it, at last.

* * * * *

"_And the evening and the morning were the fifth day_."

* * * * *