The Real Charlotte. 363 



" You're not a bit like what you used to be. You seem 

 to take a delight in snubbing me and shutting me up. I 

 must say, I never thought you'd have turned into a prig ! " 

 He felt this reproach to be so biting that he paused upon it 

 to give it its full effect. " Here I am going to England in 

 four days, and to India in four months, and it's ten to one 

 if I ever come home again. I mean to volunteer for the 

 very first row that turns up. But it's just the same to you, 

 you won't even take the trouble to say you're sorry." 



" If you had taken the trouble to answer my letters last 

 autumn, you wouldn't be saying these things to me now," 

 she said, speaking low and hurriedly. 



" I don't believe it ! I believe if you had cared about 

 me then you wouldn't treat me like this now." 



" I did care for you," she said, while the hard-held tears 

 forced their way to her eyes; "you made me do it, and 

 then you threw me over, and now you're trying to put the 

 blame on me 1 " 



He saw the glisten on her eyelashes, and it almost took 

 from him the understanding of what she said. 



"Francie," he said, his voice shaking, and his usually 

 confident eyes owning the infection of her tears, ^'you 

 might forget that. I'm miserable. I can't bear to leave 

 you ! " He sat down again beside her, and, catching her 

 hand, kissed it with a passion of repentance. He felt it 

 shrink from his lips, but the touch of it had intoxicated him, 

 and suddenly she was in his arms. 



For a speechless instant they clung to each other ; her 

 head dropped to his shoulder, as if the sharp release from 

 the tension of the last fortnight had killed her, and the 

 familiar voice murmured in her ear : 



" Say it to me — say you love me." 



" Yes I do — my dearest— " she said, with a moan that 

 was tragically at variance with the confession. " Ah, why 

 do you make me so wicked ! " She snatched herself away 

 from him, and stood up, trembling all over. " I wish I had 

 never seen you — I wish I was dead." 



" I don't care what you say now," said Hawkins, spring- 

 ing to his feet, " you've said you loved me, and I know you 

 mean it. Will you stand by it ? " he went on wildly. " If 

 you'll only say the word I'll chuck everything overboard — ■ 



