Audrey

"How steadily do I stand here to say farewell!" he said. "Yet I am eaten

of my passion. A fire burns me, a voice within me ever cries aloud. I am

whirled in a resistless wind.... Ah, my love, the garden at Fair View! The

folded rose that will never bloom, the dial where linger the heavy hours,

the heavy, heavy, heavy hours!"

"The garden," she whispered. "I smell the box.... The path was all in

sunshine. So quiet, so hushed.... I went a little farther, and I heard

your voice where you sat and read--and read of Eloïsa.... Oh, Evelyn,

Evelyn!"

"The last time--the last farewell!" he said. "When the Golden Rose is far

at sea, when the winds blow, when the stars drift below the verge, when

the sea speaks, then may I forget you, may the vision of you pass! Now at

Fair View it passes not; it dwells. Night and day I behold you, the woman

that I love, the woman that I love in vain!"

"The Golden Rose!" she answered. "The sea.... Alas!"

Her voice had risen into a cry. The walls of the room were gone, the air

pressed upon her heavily, the lights wavered, the waters were passing over

her as they had passed that night of the witch's hut. How far away the

bank upon which he stood! He spoke to her, and his voice came faintly as

from that distant shore or from the deck of a swiftly passing ship. "And

so it is good-by, sweetheart; for why should I stay in Virginia? Ah, if

you loved me, Audrey! But since it is not so--Good-by, good-by. This time

I'll not forget you, but I will not come again. Good-by!"

Her lips moved, but there came no words. A light had dawned upon her face,

her hand was lifted as though to stay a sound of music. Suddenly she

turned toward him, swayed, and would have fallen but that his arm caught

and upheld her. Her head was thrown back; the soft masses of her wonderful

hair brushed his cheek and shoulder; her eyes looked past him, and a

smile, pure and exquisite past expression, just redeemed her face from

sadness. "Good-morrow, Love!" she said clearly and sweetly.

At the sound of her own words came to her the full realization and

understanding of herself. With a cry she freed herself from his supporting

arm, stepped backward and looked at him. The color surged over her face

and throat, her eyelids drooped; while her name was yet upon his lips she

answered with a broken cry of ecstasy and abandonment. A moment and she

was in his arms and their lips had met.