distant. Isa quietly said that she would wait till New Year's Day.
Herbert fretted, fumed, and declared that he was ill-treated. But
in the end he also agreed to wait. What else could he do?

"But we shall see each other daily, and be close to each other," he
said to Isa, looking tenderly into her eyes. "Yes," she replied,
"we shall see each other daily--of course. But, Herbert--"

Herbert looked up at her and paused for her to go on.

"I have promised mamma that there shall be no change between us,--in
our manner to each other, I mean. We are not betrothed as yet, you
know, and perhaps we may never be so."

"Isa!"

"It may not be possible, you know. And therefore we will go on as
before. Of course we shall see each other, and of course we shall
be friends."

Herbert Onslow again fretted and again fumed, but he did not have
his way. He had looked forward to the ecstasies of a lover's life,
but very few of those ecstasies were awarded to him. He rarely
found himself alone with Isa, and when he did do so, her coldness
overawed him. He could dare to scold her and sometimes did do so,
but he could not dare to take the slightest liberty. Once, on that
night when the qualified consent of papa and mamma Heine had first
been given, he had been allowed to touch her lips with his own; but
since that day there had been for him no such delight as that. She
would not even allow her hand to remain in his. When they all