38 HARK FORRARD! 



power his affection fcr his true and trusty 

 friend. 



' I am so sorry, old man. I was a brute to 

 you. I was jealous ; I could not help it. If 

 it is any consolation to you, I have suffered 

 awfully these last few days. But let us both 

 try to forget all that has passed since we left 

 England. Oh dear ! I wish I was back with 

 the hounds. I wish we had never started.' 



' Don't say that,' said Acton. ' Much as I 

 suffer, I shall always look back on that week 

 as worth all the others that I have spent put 

 together.' 



' What's that the poet says ? ' said Reginald, 

 ' " 'Twere better to have loved and lost, than 

 never to have loved at all." I can't agree with 

 him at all events, whatever you may think. 

 Do you really think her refusal is final, old 

 chap ? ' 



' Alas ! I know it is. She spoke too firmly, 

 too decidedly, too regretfully to make me feel 

 that there was a thousand-to-one chance, even 

 in the remote future. Besides, I did venture to 



