It was a bright sunshiny morning, and all the world looked gay; which seemed very unkind of Nature, Mary thought.

And yet, even in the sadness of this parting, she had much reason to be glad.

As she stood with her lover in the library, in the three minutes of _tete-a-tete_ She stolen from the argus-eyed Fraeulein, folded in his arms, looking up at his manly face, it seemed to her that the mere knowledge that she belonged to him and was beloved by him ought to sustain and console her even in long years of severance.

Yes, even if he were one of the knights of old, going to the Holy Land on a crusade full of peril and uncertainty.

Even then a woman ought to be brave, having such a lover.
But her parting was to be only for a few months.