’"I’ll be firm—­I’ll be his—­if it cost me my immortal soul!” she said.  And with troubled breathings she journeyed back over the road she had just traced.

’She reached our royal watering-place by the time the day broke, and her first aim was to get back to the hired room in which her last few days had been spent.  When the landlady appeared at the door in response to Mademoiselle V—­’s nervous summons, she explained her sudden departure and return as best she could; and no objection being offered to her re-engagement of the room for one day longer she ascended to the chamber and sat down panting.  She was back once more, and her wild tergiversations were a secret from him whom alone they concerned.

’A sealed letter was on the mantelpiece.  “Yes, it is directed to you, Mademoiselle,” said the woman who had followed her.  “But we were wondering what to do with it.  A town messenger brought it after you had gone last night.”

’When the landlady had left, Mademoiselle V—–­ opened the letter and read—­

“My dear and honoured friend.—­You have been throughout our acquaintance absolutely candid concerning your misgivings.  But I have been reserved concerning mine.  That is the difference between us.  You probably have not guessed that every qualm you have felt on the subject of our marriage has been paralleled in my heart to the full.  Thus it happened that your involuntary outburst of remorse yesterday, though mechanically deprecated by me in your presence, was a last item in my own doubts on the wisdom of our union, giving them a force that I could no longer withstand.  I came home; and, on reflection, much as I honour and adore you, I decide to set you free.

“As one whose life has been devoted, and I may say sacrificed, to the cause of Liberty, I cannot allow your judgment (probably a permanent one) to be fettered beyond release by a feeling which may be transient only.

“It would be no less than excruciating to both that I should announce this decision to you by word of mouth.  I have therefore taken the less painful course of writing.  Before you receive this I shall have left the town by the evening coach for London, on reaching which city my movements will be revealed to none.

   “Regard me, Mademoiselle, as dead, and accept my renewed assurances of
   respect, remembrance, and affection.”

’When she had recovered from her shock of surprise and grief, she remembered that at the starting of the coach out of Melchester before dawn, the shape of a figure among the outside passengers against the starlit sky had caused her a momentary start, from its resemblance to that of her friend.  Knowing nothing of each other’s intentions, and screened from each other by the darkness, they had left the town by the same conveyance.  “He, the greater, persevered; I, the smaller, returned!” she said.