removed it and balanced it for a moment doubtfully in the palm of
her right hand. She was smiling, and her face was lit with
shy and tender thoughts. She cast a quick glance to the left and
right as though fearful that people passing in the street would
observe her, and then slipped the ring over the fourth finger of
her left hand. She gazed at it with a guilty smile and then,
covering it hastily with her other hand, leaned back, clasping it
closely, and sat frowning far out before her with puzzled eyes.

To Carroll all roads led past Helen's studio, and during the
summer, while she had been absent in Scotland it was one of his
sad pleasures to make a pilgrimage to her street and to pause
opposite the house and look up at the empty windows of her rooms.

It was during this daily exercise that he learned, through the
arrival of her luggage, of her return to London, and when day
followed day without her having shown any desire to see him or to
tell him of her return he denounced himself most bitterly as a
fatuous fool.

At the end of the week he sat down and considered his case quite
calmly. For three years he had loved this girl, deeply and
tenderly. He had been lover, brother, friend, and guardian.
During that time, even though she had accepted him in every
capacity except as that of the prospective husband, she had never
given him any real affection, nor sympathy, nor help; all she had
done for him had been done without her knowledge or intent. To
know her, to love her, and to scheme to give her pleasure had
been its own reward, and the only one. For the last few months
he had been living like a crossing-sweeper in order to be able to