against--alas, in vain! Do not turn from me. I would not breathe a word
to you that in all honor you should not hear, although my heart seems
bursting with its longing, and I would yield my soul with rapture from
its frail casket, for but one moment's right to give its secret wings. I
will bid you farewell to-morrow"--

"To-morrow!"

"Yes, the doctor says that the sea air will do me good, and an occasion
offers to-morrow which I shall embrace. It will be like setting forth
upon a journey through endless solitudes, where my only companions will
be a memory and a sorrow."

He paused a while, but continued with an effort at composure.

"Our hearts are tyrants to us, Miss Weems, and will not, sometimes, be
tutored into silence. I see that I have moved, but I trust not offended
you."

"You have not offended," she murmured, but in so low a tone that perhaps
the words were lost in the faint moan of the swaying foliage.

"What I have said," he continued earnestly, and taking her hand with a
gentle but respectful pressure, "has been spoken as one who is dying
speaks with his fleeting breath; for evermore my lips shall be shackled
against my heart, and the past shall be sealed and avoided as a
forbidden theme. We are, then, good friends at parting, are we not?"

"Yes."