It was perhaps an hour afterwards. The shadows looked blue among the pine-trees.
We sat on a little wooden bench. There was a warm, still silence. Not a twig moved. A joy so infinite seemed everywhere around.
"It was all over between us ten years ago," Antony said. "It only lasted a year or two, when we were very young. The situation galled us both too much, and Tilchester was always my friend. She knows I love you, and she only cares for her great works and her fine position now.
So you need not have fled, Comtesse."
"I shall tell you something, Antony." I whispered. "I am glad I am doing no wrong, but if it was to break Lady Tilchester"s heart, if grandmamma were to come back and curse me here for forgetting all her teachings, if it was almost disgrace--now that I know what it is like to stay in your arms--I should stay!"
THE END