Her eyes danced with mirth as she rallied him.

He looked at her strangely.

"No--it can never bring me happiness. . . _Ah, mais jamais_!" he added,
with sudden passion.

Diana was startled.

"It--it was horrid of you to cut me," she said in a troubled voice.

"My punishment lies in your hands," he returned. "When I leave you at
the Rectory--after to-day--you can end our acquaintance if you choose.
And I suppose--you, _will_ choose. It would be contrary to human nature
to throw away such an excellent opportunity for retaliation--feminine
human nature, anyway."

He spoke with a kind of half-savage raillery, and Diana winced under it.
His moods changed so rapidly that she was bewildered. At one moment
there would be an exquisite gentleness in his manner when he spoke to
her, at the next a contemptuous irony that cut like a whip.

"Would it be--a punishment?" she asked at last.

He checked a sudden movement towards her.

"What do you suppose?" he said quietly.

"I don't know what to think. If it would be a punishment, why were you