your love to me i do care for in a different way i remember all we said to each other i know how he thought of me as the one promise of his life he was given to me that i might make his lot less hard and i have forsaken him and � she has been deceived � she who trusted me more than any one i cannot marry you i cannot take a good for myself that has been wrung out of their misery it is not the force that ought to rule us � this that we feel for each other it would me away from all that my past life has made dear and mill ok thb holy to me i can t set out on a fresh life and forget that i must go back to it and cling to it else i shall feel as if there were nothing firm beneath my feet good god said too and grasping her arm you how can you go back without marrying me you don t know what will be said dearest you see nothing as it really is yes i do but they will believe me i will confess wiu believe me � she will forgive you and � and � oh some good will come by to the right dear dear let me go i� don t drag me into deeper remorse my whole soul has never consented � it does not consent now let go her arm and sank back on his chair half stunned by despairing rage he was silent a few moments not looking at her while her eyes were turned towards him in alarm at this sudden change at last he said still without looking at her � go � then � leave me � don t torture me any longer � i can t bear it involuntarily she leaned to wards him and put out her hand to touch his but he shrank from it as if it had been burning iron and said again � le e me was not conscious of a decision as she turned away from t� it gloomy averted face and walked out of the room it was like an action that a forgotten intention what came after a sense of stairs descended as if in a dream � of � of a chaise and horses standing � then a street and a turning into another street where a stage coach was standing taking in passengers � and the darting thought that that coach would take her away perhaps towards home but she could ask nothing yet she only got into the coach home � where her mother and brother were � � the scene of her very cares and trials � was the haven towards which her mind tended � the where sacred relics lay � where she would be rescued from more falling the thought of was like a horrible throbbing pain which yet as such pains do seemed to urge all other thoughts into activity but among her thoughts what others t ould say and think of her conduct was hardly present love and deep pity and anguish left no room for that the coach was taking her to york � farther away from home but she did not learn that until she was set down in the old city at midnight it was no matter she could sleep there and start home the next day she had her purse in the mill on the her pocket all her money in it � a bank note and a sovereign she had kept it in her pocket from after going out to make purchases the day before yesterday did she lie down in the gloomy bedroom of the old inn that night with her will bent on the path of penitent sacrifice the great struggles oi life are not so easy as that the great problems of are not so clear in the darkness of that night she saw s turned towards her in passionate misery she lived through again all the tremulous delights of his presence with her that made existence an easy floating in a stream of joy instead of a quiet resolved endurance and effort the love she had came back upon her with a cruel charm she felt herself opening her arms to receive it once more and then it seemed to slip away and and vanish leaving only the dying sound of a deep thrilling voice that said gone � for ever gone i book seventh the final rescue chapter l the to the mill between four and five o clock on the afternoon of the fifth day from that on which and had left st s tom was standing on the gravel walk outside the old house at mill he was master there now he had half fulfilled his other s dying wish and by years of steady self government and energetic work he had brought himself near to the of more than the old respectability which had been the proud inheritance of the and but tom s ce as he stood in the hot still sunshine of that summer afternoon had no gladness no triumph b it his mouth wore its bitterest expression his severe brow its hardest and deepest fold as he drew down his hat over his eyes to shelter them from the sun and thrusting his hands deep into his began to walk up and down the no news of his sister had been heard since bob had come back in the steamer from and put an end to all improbable of an accident on the water by stating that he had seen her land from a vessel with mr guest would the next news be that she was or what probably that she was not married tom s mind was set to the expectation of the worst that could happen � not 