"I ought to be grateful for this chance of seeing you once more, of saying good-bye to you." "Good-bye!" she repeated.
"Yes," he said gravely.

"It must be good-bye.

I have a great work before me, and it will cut me off completely from all association with your world and your friends.

Something wider and deeper than an ocean will divide us.

Something so wide that our hands will never reach across." "You can talk about it very calmly," she said, without looking at him.
"I have been disciplining myself," he answered.
She rested her face upon her hand, and looked into the fire.
"I suppose," she said, "this means that you have refused Mr.
Letheringham's offer." "I have refused it," he answered.
"I am sorry," she said simply.
She rose from her chair with a sudden start, began to draw on her cloak, and then let it fall altogether from her shoulders.
"Why do you do this ?" she asked earnestly.