The day after her return to Willowby, Rupert called on her. Mrs. Worth,
the landlady, responded to his knock, and said that Virginia had gone
out for the day. She was, however, to give him this note if he called.

Rupert took the paper and turned away. He would find her at some
neighbor's. He carefully broke the envelope and read:

_Dear Mr. Ames_:

As I have accepted a position to teach in another state, I shall
have to leave Willowby tomorrow. I shall be too busy to see you, and
you have too much good sense to follow me. Forget the past. With
kindest regards, I am, _Virginia Wilton_.

* * * * *

Nina was married on the first of the year. Widow Ames died about two
weeks after.

And so life's shifting scenes came fast to Rupert Ames; and they were
mostly scenes of dreariness and trial; but he did not altogether give
up. Many of his friends were his friends still, and he could have
drowned his sorrow in the social whirl; but he preferred to sit at home
during the long winter evenings, beside his fire and shaded lamp, and
forget himself in his books. He seemed to be drifting away from his
former life, into a strange world of his own. He lost all interest in
his surroundings. To him, the world was getting empty and barren and
cold.