Nell of Shorne Mills

She paused a moment, and looked from right to left, like some feeble

animal driven into a corner, and restlessly conscious of Drake Selbie's

stern regard.

"Of course I'm very sorry. You know I'm--I'm very fond of you. I don't

think there is any one in the world like you; so--so handsome and--and

altogether nice. But what can I do? I can't run against the wish of my

father and of all my friends. In fact, I can't afford to marry you,

Drake."

He looked at her with a bitter smile on his lips, and a still more

bitter cynicism in his eyes.

"I understand," he said; "I quite understand. When you said that you

loved me, loved me with all your heart and soul, you meant that you

loved Drake Selbie, the heir of Angleford, the prospective owner of

Anglemere and Lord Angleford's money; and now that my uncle has married,

and that he may have a child which will rob me of the title and the

money, you draw back. You do not ask whether I have enough, you do not

offer to make any sacrifice. You just--jilt me!"

"You put it very harshly, Drake," she said, with a frown.

"I put it very truly and correctly," he said. "Can you deny it? You

cannot! The man who sits here beside you is quite a different man to the

one to whom you had plighted your troth. He is the same in bone and body

and muscle and sinew, but he doesn't happen to be Lord Angleford's heir.

And so you throw him over. No doubt you are right. It is the way of the

world in which you and I have been bred and trained."

"You are very cruel, Drake," she murmured, touching her eyes with a lace

handkerchief, too costly and elaborate for anything but ornament.

"I just speak the truth," he said. "I don't blame you. You are bred in

the same world as myself. We are both products of this modern fin de

siècle. To marry me would be a mistake; you decline to make it. I have

only to bow to your decision. I accept your refusal. After this present

moment you and I are friends only; not strangers; men and women in our

set are never strangers. But I pass out of your life from this moment.

Go back to the _Seagull_ with Archie and Mrs. Horn-Wallis, and find--as

I trust you will--a better man than I am."

She rose rather pale, but perfectly self-possessed.