They  had  reached  the  shelter  of  the  grove,  where
the  trees  grew  sparsely,  leaving  space  for  the  flickering
light  and  shade  to  weave  their  fantastic  shapes  upon
the  green  grass.  Turning  upon  her  abruptly,  almost
interrupting  her  in  something  she  was  saying,  he  said,
taking  a  letter  from  his  pocket :


148  WOMEJV,  on  CURONIULEti

"  This  is  for  you,  Mary."

Eagerly  she  seized  it,  and  as  the  flush  on  her  cheeks
mounted  up  to  the  roots  of  her  hair,  she  said  indig-
nantly :

"Mine!  how  unkind  to  have  kept  it  from  me  all  this
time."

At  any  other  time  her  caressing  touch  of  the  sense-
less paper,  showing  how  it  was  hallowed  to  her  by  the
familiar  handwriting,  would  have  sent  a  pang  to  his
heart,  but  he  did  not  think  of  it.
Laying  a  detaining  hand  on  hers,  as  she  would  have
torn  the  envelope,  he  said  :

"I^ot  so  unkind  as  you  think,  Mary;  I  have  that  to
tell  you,  as  a  preparation  for  the  reading  of  that  letter,
which  I  could  not  tell  in  the  presence  of  a  third  party  j"
and  as  she  looked  at  him  wonderingly,  he  drew  her
forward  to  the  grotto,  and  seating  her  on  one  of  the
stone  seats,  said  :

"God  knows,  Mary,  that  to  escape  this  office  I  would
freely  have  laid  down  my  life,  but  I  could  not  send  you
that  letter  without  coming  with  it  and  trying  to  temper
the  wind  to  this  poor  shorn  lamb,"

She  looked  at  him  with  whitening  cheeks,  and  her
lips  tried  to  form  a  query,  but  failed,  and  gave  it  up.
