he is n't as bad as you think: he has never asked me to marry him."

"Then he probably was not quite ready to speak, or perhaps you were not quite
ready to hear," retorted Stephen, bitterly; "but don't let us have words,-
there'll be enough to regret without adding those. I have seen, ever since New
Year's, that you were not really happy or contented; only I would n't allow it
to myself; I kept hoping against hope that I was mistaken. There have been
times when I would have married you, willing or unwilling, but I did n't love
you so well then; and now that there's another man in the case, it's
different, and I'm strong enough to do the right thing. Follow your heart and
be happy; in a year or two I shall be glad I had the grit to tell you so.
Good-bye, Rose!"

Rose, pale with amazement, summoned all her pride, and drawing the turquoise
engagement ring from her finger, handed it silently to Stephen, hiding her
face as he flung it vehemently down the river-bank. His dull eyes followed it
and half uncomprehendingly saw it settle and glisten in a nest of brown
pine-needles. Then he put out his hand for a last clasp and strode away
without a word.

Presently Rose heard first the scrape of his boat on the sand, then the soft
sound of his paddles against the water, then nothing but the squirrels and the
woodpeckers and the thrushes, then not even these,--nothing but the beating of
her own heart.

She sat down heavily, feeling as if she were wide awake for the first time in
many weeks. How had things come to this pass with her?

Claude Merrill had flattered her vanity and given her some moments of
restlessness and dissatisfaction with her lot; but he had not until today