‘This is the wife of the farmer who shares the house,’ she said.  ’She is accustomed to come out and meet me whenever I walk far and am benighted.  I am obliged to walk everywhere now.’

The farmer’s wife, seeing that Christine was not alone, paused in her advance, and Nicholas said, ’Dear Christine, if you are obliged to do these things, I am not, and what wealth I can command you may command likewise.  They say rolling stones gather no moss; but they gather dross sometimes.  I was one of the pioneers to the gold-fields, you know, and made a sufficient fortune there for my wants.  What is more, I kept it.  When I had done this I was coming home, but hearing of my uncle’s death I changed my plan, travelled, speculated, and increased my fortune.  Now, before we part:  you remember you stood with me at the altar once, and therefore I speak with less preparation than I should otherwise use.  Before we part then I ask, shall another again intrude between us?  Or shall we complete the union we began?’

She trembled—­just as she had done at that very minute of standing with him in the church, to which he had recalled her mind.  ’I will not enter into that now, dear Nicholas,’ she replied.  ’There will be more to talk of and consider first—­more to explain, which it would have spoiled this meeting to have entered into now.’

‘Yes, yes; but—­’

’Further than the brief answer I first gave, Nic, don’t press me to-night.  I still have the old affection for you, or I should not have sought you.  Let that suffice for the moment.’

‘Very well, dear one.  And when shall I call to see you?’

’I will write and fix an hour.  I will tell you everything of my history then.’

And thus they parted, Nicholas feeling that he had not come here fruitlessly.  When she and her companion were out of sight he retraced his steps to Roy-Town, where he made himself as comfortable as he could in the deserted old inn of his boyhood’s days.  He missed her companionship this evening more than he had done at any time during the whole fifteen years; and it was as though instead of separation there had been constant communion with her throughout that period.  The tones of her voice had stirred his heart in a nook which had lain stagnant ever since he last heard them.  They recalled the woman to whom he had once lifted his eyes as to a goddess.  Her announcement that she had been another’s came as a little shock to him, and he did not now lift his eyes to her in precisely the same way as he had lifted them at first.  But he forgave her for marrying Bellston; what could he expect after fifteen years?

He slept at Roy-Town that night, and in the morning there was a short note from her, repeating more emphatically her statement of the previous evening—­that she wished to inform him clearly of her circumstances, and to calmly consider with him the position in which she was placed.  Would he call upon her on Sunday afternoon, when she was sure to be alone?