Nell of Shorne Mills

He paused for a moment and caught his breath.

"Hear that you were going to marry another man."

Nell started slightly, and the color rose to her face. She had forgotten

Falconer!

"That was the last drop in my cup of misery. Somehow, I had always

thought of you as the little girl of Shorne Mills, as--as--free. I had

not reflected that it was inevitable that some other man should admire

and love you. You see, you--you still, in some strange way, seemed to

belong to me, though I knew I had lost you!"

No words he could have uttered could have touched her more sharply and

deeply than this simple avowal. She turned her head aside so that he

might not see the quivering of her lips, the tenderness which sprang

into her eyes.

"That was the hardest blow of all that Fate had dealt me, Nell. It

almost drove me mad to know that you once loved me, and yet that you

were to be the wife of another man! It made me mad and desperate for a

time, then I had to face it, as I had faced my loss of you. But,

Nell----"

He paused again, and ventured to draw a little nearer to her; but as she

still shrank from him, and leaned against the tree, he stopped short and

did not venture to take her hand.

"Now I have just left Mr. Falconer, I have heard from his own lips that

there is no engagement, that----Oh, Nell! It was the knowledge that you

were still free that sent me to you just now, that made me cry out to

you as I did! I love you, Nell, more dearly, more truly, if that be

possible, than I did! Won't you forgive me the folly which made you send

me away from you? Won't you let me try and win back your love?"

There was silence, broken only by the rustle of the leaves in the summer

breeze, by the note of a linnet singing in the branches above their

heads.

"See, dear, I plead as a man pleads for his life! And on your answer

hangs all that makes life worth living. Forgive me, Nell, and give me

back your love! I have been punished enough, rest assured of that.

Forgive me that past folly and deceit, Nell! I'll teach you to forget in

time. Dearest, you loved me, did you not? You loved me until that night

of the ball--at the Maltbys'--when you discovered who I was!"

Back it all came to her, and she turned her face to him with grief and

reproach in her violet eyes.