He smiled at her anxious face, though somewhat grimly.  “My dear, I don’t quarrel with people like Jack.  I came upon him at the school.  I don’t know why he was hanging round there.  He certainly didn’t mean me to catch him.  But as I did so, I took the opportunity for a straight talk—­with the result that he leaves this place to-morrow—­for good.”

“My dear Dick!  What will the squire say?”

“I can manage the squire,” said Dick briefly.

She smiled and passed on.  “And Jack?  What will he do?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care.  He’s the sort of animal to land on his feet whichever way he falls.  Anyhow, he’s going, and I never want to speak or hear of him again.”  Dick’s thin lips came together in a hard, compelling line.

“Are you never going to forgive him?” said Juliet.

His eyes had a stony glitter.  “It’s hardly a matter for forgiveness,” he said.  “When anyone has done you an irreparable injury the only thing left is to try and forget it and the person responsible for it as quickly as possible.  I don’t thirst for his blood or anything of that kind.  I simply want to be rid of him—­and to wipe all memory of him out of my life.”

“Do you always want to do that with the people who injure you?” said Juliet.

He looked at her, caught by something in her tone.  “Yes, I think so.  Why?”

“Oh, never mind why!” she said, with a faint laugh that sounded oddly passionate.  “I just want to find out what sort of man you are, that’s all.”

She would have turned away from him with the words, but he held her with a certain dominance.  “No, Juliet!  Wait!  Tell me—­isn’t it reasonable to want to get free of anyone who wrongs you—­to shake him off, kick him off if necessary,—­anyway, to have done with him?”

“I haven’t said it was unreasonable,” she said, but she was trembling as she spoke and her face was averted.

“Look at me!” he said.  “What?  Am I such a monster as all that?  Juliet,—­my dear, don’t be silly!  What are you afraid of?  Surely not of me!”

She turned her face to him with a quivering smile.  “No!  I won’t be silly, Dick,” she said.  “I’ll try to take you as I find you and—­make the best of you.  But, to be quite honest, I am rather afraid of the hard side of you.  It is so very uncompromising.  If I ever come up against it—­I believe I shall run away!”

“Not you!” he said, trying to look into the soft, down-cast eyes.  “Or if you do you’ll come back again by the next train to see how I am bearing up.  I’ve got you, Juliet!” He lifted her hand, displaying it exultantly, closely clasped in his.  “And what I have—­I hold!”

“How clever of you!” said Juliet, and with a swift lithe movement freed herself.

His arms went round her in a flash.  “I’ll make you pay for that!” he vowed.  “How dare you, Juliet?  How dare you?”

She resisted him for a second, or two, holding him from her, half-mocking, half in earnest.  Then, as his hold tightened, encompassing her, she submitted with a low laugh, yielding herself afresh to him under the old apple-tree, in full and throbbing surrender to his love.