Your
fortune is unimpaired--you cannot say that I have been extravagant--and
I assure you that I shall not regret my return to poverty."
"But you won't be able to live," she said bluntly. "You haven't any
income at all."
"Believe me," he answered quietly, "you exaggerate my poverty. In any
case, it is not your concern."
"You wouldn't--"
She paused. She was a woman of not very keen perceptions, but she
realised that if she were to proceed with the offer which was half
framed in her mind, the man by her side, with his, to her outlook,
distorted sense of honour, would become her enemy. She shrugged her
shoulders, and turning towards him, held out her hand.
"It is the end, then," she said. "Well, Andrew, I did my best according
to my lights, and I failed. Will you shake hands?"
He shook his head.
"I cannot, Stella. Let us agree to part here. We know all there is to
be known of one another, and we shall be able to say good-by without
regret."
She drifted slowly away from him. He watched her figure pass in and out
among the trees. She was unashamed, perhaps relieved,--probably, he
reflected, as he watched her enter the house, already making her plans
for a more successful future.
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