"But what does that mean, Sir ?" "Nay, I don't know her name," said the King.

"Nor, may be, does Mr Dale yet.

But he'll learn, and so, I hope, shall I, if I can be of service to him." "I'm in no haste to learn it," cried Nell.
"Why no," laughed the King.
She turned to me again, holding out her hand as though she challenged me to refuse it.
"Good-bye, Simon," said she, and she broke into a strange little laugh that seemed devoid of mirth, and to express a railing mockery of herself and what she did.
I saw the King watching us with attentive eyes and brows bent in a frown.
"Good-bye," said I.Looking into her eyes, I let my gaze dwell long on her; it dwelt longer than I meant, reluctant to take last leave of old friends.

Then I kissed her hand and bowed very low to the King, who replied with a good-natured nod; then turning I passed out of the room.
I take it that the change from youth to manhood, and again from full manhood to decline, comes upon us gradually, never ceasing but never swift, as mind and body alike are insensibly transformed beneath the assault of multitudinous unperceived forces of matter and of circumstances; it is the result we know; that, not the process, is the reality for us.

We awake to find done what our sleepy brains missed in the doing, and after months or years perceive ourselves in a second older by all that period.