He read her thought, and he could not help her. He bit his lip angrily. He had given his mother his solemn word of honour that never would he tell his love to any one till he had told her first of his intention; and it seemed to him in the great anguish of that moment that only now, only at that moment, did the truth come to him. They stood side by side looking out upon the sea, she dazed with the misery of having misunderstood; he thinking how he might show her that there was a reason for his silence, without breaking his word of honour. "Margaret," he said, and his voice dwelt lovingly upon her name, "We are--friends, and we may trust each other. I cannot say all--I am not free. Will you trust me?"
Her heart seemed to die within her. She of course did not understand him, poor child. Those words, _I am not free_ should have ended "to speak just now;" but in moments of great agitation things are not always made clear.
She thought he was telling her, for her sake perhaps, that he was not free, that they could only be friends.
She turned towards him pale to her lips. "I understand," she said faintly, "we can be friends."
She had struggled for self-command; she was afraid of saying more, but he must let her know that he had something more to tell her--he was turning towards her to speak when she suddenly moved away from him with a gesture of farewell, and he was too feeble to follow her swiftly.
All along the road home her heart was throbbing with pain. She did not understand that in so leaving him she was betraying how deeply her affections were engaged.
He looked after her dismayed at first, and then the happy conviction of her love filled his mind, and all else was forgotten.
He hurried home and wrote long and fully to his mother. He told her that his promise to her had been kept, and how much it had cost him to keep it; he tried to describe Margaret, and found his words cold and formal, and he entreated his mother to telegraph and to write without delay. He lay back exhausted after this, and lost himself in the happiest day-dreams.
Soon, soon, the answer would be there, and he could go to her and tell her something of his love for her; something, but not all. It would take a lifetime, he thought, to prove his devotion to her. As he sat thinking happily about it all he did not hear the deep stifled sobs of the poor child upstairs, struggling through anguish and misery. He never dreamed for one moment that he had been misunderstood, and that in trying to say something, in trying to explain without departing from his promise, he had conveyed so false an impression to her.