For the present, we must be parted.

God knows what it costs me to write this.

I think of the dear old days that are gone; I remember how I promised your mother to be a sister to you, when her kind eyes looked at me, for the last time--_your_ mother, who was an angel from heaven to _mine!_ All this comes back on me now, and breaks my heart.
But it must be! my own Blanche, for the present, it must be! I will write often--I will think of you, my darling, night and day, till a happier future unites us again.

God bless _you,_ my dear one! And God help _me!_" Blanche silently crossed the room to the sofa on which Anne was sitting, and stood there for a moment, looking at her.

She sat down, and laid her head on Anne's shoulder.