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he said presently. “We shall have to walk five miles to the nearest settlement, where they tell me we can get horses and a guide.”

“Yes; it is good-bye now, and for a long time. I don’t suppose we shall meet again.”

“Why, what do you mean?”

“I shall not be here when you come back. We are going to Europe immediately. Mr. Austin has arranged it all. This is positively my last spree.” She spoke carelessly, but in short, detached sentences, as if she had learned a lesson, and was repeating it by rote.

Arthur stood still, quite confounded for the moment. He wished to say a great many things, but could not remember any one of them. He tried to begin something, but she went on, “Yes, it is horrid saying good-bye. But I shall often think of you. We have had a good time together, and I think our friendship is a real one. It will wash, won’t it? This has been a pleasant trip, too, and I’m glad we are here in this wild lonely place, and not at home with gossips all over the shop. This is just the place to say good-bye for ever!”

“But I can’t go like this,” he stammered.

“You must not turn me off at a moment’s warning. Your kindness, your sympathy has been so much to me. Surely we need not———”