gone out of his sight ...

hidden from him by a barrier of gold....

In front of this barrier stood his pride ...
which perforce would have to be trampled down and crushed ere he could reach the princess." She did not reply, only bent her sweet head, lest he should perceive the tears which had gathered in her eyes.

All round them the wood seemed to have grown darker and more dense, whilst from afar the weird voice of that distant sea murmured of infinity and of the relentlessness of Fate.
They could not see one another very clearly, yet she knew that he was gazing at her with an intensity of love and longing in his heart which caused her own to ache with sympathy; and he knew that she was crying, that there was something in that seemingly brilliant and happy young life, which caused the exquisite head to droop as if under a load of sorrow.
A broken sigh escaped her lips, or was it the sighing of the wind in the elms?
He was smitten with remorse to think that he should have helped to make her cry.
"Sue--my little, beautiful Sue," he murmured, himself astonished at his own temerity in thus daring to address her.

It was her grief which had brought her down to his level: the instinct of chivalry, of protection, of friendship which had raised him up to hers.
"Will you ever forgive me ?" he said, "I had no right to speak to you as I have done....