"And, oh, Blanche!" she moaned to herself, the tears gathering again, and falling, this time, unchecked.

"Blanche, who looks up to me! Blanche, who loves me! Blanche, who told me, in this very place, that I was to live with her when she was married!" She started up from the chair; the tears dried suddenly; the hard despair settled again, wan and white, on her face.

"Let me go! What is death, compared to such a life as is waiting for _me ?_" She looked him over, in one disdainful glance from head to foot; her voice rose to its loudest and firmest tones.

"Why, even _you_; would have the courage to die if you were in my place!" Geoffrey glanced round toward the lawn.
"Hush!" he said.

"They will hear you!" "Let them hear me! When _I_ am past hearing _them_, what does it matter ?" He put her back by main force on the chair.