"How steadily do I stand here to say farewell!" he said. "Yet I am eaten
of my passion. A fire burns me, a voice within me ever cries aloud. I am
whirled in a resistless wind.... Ah, my love, the garden at Fair View! The
folded rose that will never bloom, the dial where linger the heavy hours,
the heavy, heavy, heavy hours!"
"The garden," she whispered. "I smell the box.... The path was all in
sunshine. So quiet, so hushed.... I went a little farther, and I heard
your voice where you sat and read--and read of Eloïsa.... Oh, Evelyn,
Evelyn!"
"The last time--the last farewell!" he said. "When the Golden Rose is far
at sea, when the winds blow, when the stars drift below the verge, when
the sea speaks, then may I forget you, may the vision of you pass! Now at
Fair View it passes not; it dwells. Night and day I behold you, the woman
that I love, the woman that I love in vain!"
"The Golden Rose!" she answered. "The sea.... Alas!"
Her voice had risen into a cry. The walls of the room were gone, the air
pressed upon her heavily, the lights wavered, the waters were passing over
her as they had passed that night of the witch's hut. How far away the
bank upon which he stood! He spoke to her, and his voice came faintly as
from that distant shore or from the deck of a swiftly passing ship. "And
so it is good-by, sweetheart; for why should I stay in Virginia? Ah, if
you loved me, Audrey! But since it is not so--Good-by, good-by. This time
I'll not forget you, but I will not come again. Good-by!"
Her lips moved, but there came no words. A light had dawned upon her face,
her hand was lifted as though to stay a sound of music. Suddenly she
turned toward him, swayed, and would have fallen but that his arm caught
and upheld her. Her head was thrown back; the soft masses of her wonderful
hair brushed his cheek and shoulder; her eyes looked past him, and a
smile, pure and exquisite past expression, just redeemed her face from
sadness. "Good-morrow, Love!" she said clearly and sweetly.
At the sound of her own words came to her the full realization and
understanding of herself. With a cry she freed herself from his supporting
arm, stepped backward and looked at him. The color surged over her face
and throat, her eyelids drooped; while her name was yet upon his lips she
answered with a broken cry of ecstasy and abandonment. A moment and she
was in his arms and their lips had met.