Some of these last days were occupied in selecting from her jewels presents for Cornelia, with webs of gold and silver tissues, and Spitalfields silks so rich and heavy, that no mortal woman might hope to outwear them.  To these Annie added from her own store of lace, many very valuable pieces; and the happy bridegroom was proud to see that love was going to send him away, with both arms full for the beloved.

The best gift however came last, and it was from the Earl.  It was not gold or land, though he gave generously of both these; but one which Hyde felt made his way straight before him, and which he knew must have cost his father much self-abnegation.  It was the following letter to Dr. John Moran.

My dear sir: 

It seems then, that our dear children love each other so well, that it is beyond our right, even as parents, to forbid their marriage.  I ask from you, for my son, who is a humble and ardent suitor for Miss Moran’s hand, all the favour his sincere devotion to her deserves, We have both been young, we have both loved, accept then his affection as some atonement for any grievance or injustice you remember against myself.  Had we known each other better, we should doubtless have loved each other better; but now that marriage will make us kin, I offer you my hand, with all it implies of regret for the past, and of respect for the future.  Your servant to command,

Richard Hyde.

“It is the greatest proof of my love I can give you, George,” said the Earl, when the letter had been read; “and it is Annie you must thank for it.  She dropped the thought into my heart, and if the thought has silently grown to these written words, it is because she had put many other good thoughts there, and that these helped this one to come to perfection.”

“Have you noticed, father, how small and fragile-looking she is?  Can she really be slowly dying?”

“No, she is not dying; she is only going a little further away—­a little further away, every hour.  Some hour she will be called, and she will answer, and we shall see her no more—­here.  But I do not call that dying, and if it be dying, Annie will go as calmly and simply, as if she were fulfilling some religious rite or duty.  She loves God, and she will go to Him.”

The next morning Hyde left his father’s home forever.  It was impossible that such a parting should be happy.  No hopes, no dreams of future joy, could make him forget the wealth of love he was leaving.  Nor did he wish to forget.  And woe to the man or woman who would buy composure and contentment by forgetting!—­by really forfeiting a portion of their existence—­by being a suicide of their own moral nature.

The day was a black winter day, with a monotonous rain and a dark sky troubled by a ghostly wind.  Inside the house the silence fell on the heart like a weight.  The Earl and Countess watched their son’s carriage turn from the door, and then looked silently into each other’s face.  The Earl’s lips were firmly set, and his eyes full of tears; the Countess was weeping bitterly.  He went with her to her room, and with all his old charm and tenderness comforted her for her great loss.