'I shall!' he threatened her.

'Good-bye, then,' she repeated amiably.

'Don't go,' he begged in a low voice. 'Rose, I don't believe you know
what you are doing, and you've always loved the country, you've always
loved our place. You like our house. You told me once you envied us
our rookery.'

'Yes, I love the rookery,' she said.

'And you'd have your own stables and as many horses as you wanted--'

'And milk from our own cows! And home-laid eggs!'

'Ah, you're laughing at me. You always do.'

'So you see,' she said, bending a little towards him, 'I shouldn't
make a very good companion.'

'But I could put up with it from you!' he cried. 'I could put up with
anything from you.'

She made a gesture. That was where he chiefly failed. The colossal
gentleman of her imagination was a tyrant.

* * * * *