“Ah!  Dexie, that proves that you do not know what true love really is!  When your heart awakens, as it surely will sometime, you will know how cruel you have been to me.  Well, you have told me to go, and I suppose I must; but it is hard—­hard to leave you so!  Do we part friends?” and he held out his hand as he rose to his feet again.

“Yes, I think so,” and she gave him her hand, “but I hope you will not come here any more; it is unpleasant for both of us.”

“And this is to be our good-bye!  It is hard to give you up, my darling!” and he held her hand as if he would never let it go.  “I wonder if I shall ever see you again!”

“Mr. McNeil, I have not troubled you with many favors, so I think you might grant me one.  Please do not leave the Gurneys just now; on my account, I mean.  We are going away from Halifax so soon ourselves, and I know it will be a disappointment to them if you leave just now.  I am sure they do not wish you to go away until you are stronger.  They have all been so kind to me, I wish you would not make any change until we are gone.”

“That is a great temptation, Dexie, coming from you; but a few weeks of your presence, even though I may not see you, will be heaven itself, compared to the life I must spend without you.  I may, perhaps, see you again.”

“No!  Not alone, at least!  Let this be good-bye, Mr. McNeil,” and she tried to draw away her hands.

But he drew her close to him, and giving one long, earnest look into her eyes, he lifted her hands to his lips and pressed a burning kiss upon them; then the curtain dropped behind him.

Dexie stood where Hugh had left her for some minutes, listening to his retreating footsteps as he disappeared up the attic stairs, then sank down in the chair Hugh had occupied, and buried her face in her hands.  There was a tumult in her heart that required some deep thinking before she would feel like herself again.  Thoughts had arisen that had disquieted her.  Hugh had told her that her heart had not yet awakened; was it so?  Why, then, was she wearing Lancy’s ring?  She blushed as she pulled it hastily off, hiding it on her chain like a guilty thing.

The story she had been reading, and which she had thought so overdrawn, came into her mind; it had pleased her because she had thought it so delightfully unreal.  But had there not been passages in her own life quite as romantic in their nature as that which seemed so interesting when read out of a story-book.

Her heart had not yet awakened!  How those words seemed to repeat themselves over and over as she sat.

Had she awakened Hugh’s heart only to disappoint him?  Well, she had not intended nor wished to do it; but he was very much in earnest, and she was sorry.  She sighed as she rose from her chair and picked up the book that still lay on the floor, but she had lost all interest in the story; so she threw it carelessly on the table and went downstairs to await the coming of the rest, her thoughts still busy over the problems that Hugh’s unexpected visit had aroused.