There was a gleam of sunshine now to illumine the thick darkness, and,
in the first moments of his joy Hugh wound his arm around the slight
form, and tried to bring it nearer to him. But Alice stepped back and
answered: "No, Hugh, that would be wrong. It may be I shall never come to love
you save as I love you now, but I'll try--I will try," and unmindful of
her charge to him, Alice parted the damp curls clustering around his
forehead, and looked into his face with an expression which made his
heart bound and throb with the sudden hope that even now she loved him
better than she supposed.
It was growing very late, and the clock in the adjoining room struck one
ere Alice bade Hugh good-night, saying to him: "No one must know of this. We'll be just the same to each other as we
have been."
"Yes, just the same, if that can be," Hugh answered, and so they parted.