these words: "If ever you leave Crown Anstey."

I saw Coralie d'Aubergne look up at her with a quiet smile.

"I shall never leave Crown Anstey," she said, "under any possible
circumstances."

Mrs. Newsham laughed.

"You may be married, or Lady Trevelyan may not like the place and wish
it closed--a thousand things may happen to prevent you remaining here
always."

But I saw Coralie d'Aubergne shake her head, while she replied, calmly:

"No, Mrs. Newsham, I shall never leave Crown Anstey."

I cannot tell how the words impressed me. I found myself repeating them
over and over again--"I shall never leave Crown Anstey."

Yet she must have known that when my young wife came home, Crown Anstey
would be no place for her.

Was there any meaning in the words she repeated so often, or did she say
them merely with an idea of comforting herself?

It was that very evening that I sat by myself in the library arranging
some papers, and thinking at the same time what I must say to Coralie,
and how I must say it, when the door suddenly opened and she entered.