"Yes."
"But it is accursed! Let us go, Gerard! I cannot stay here."
And, freeing her lithe form from his unwilling grasp, she moved away, without once looking back.
"Stella! stop!"
"No! Let us go out into the sun-shine again, Gerard. To-day I am afraid of the woods."
But he rapidly followed her, and seized her hand.
"Do not go; I cannot spare you."
Yet she went on, even though he knelt at her feet and covered her hands with kisses.
"Alban will be looking for me, Gerard."
"And to-morrow?"
"To-morrow perhaps you will find me by the old trunk."
And she stood still for a moment to bid him good-bye. He would have kissed her on the lips, but she only offered her soft cheek, and ere he could struggle for more she had escaped him and was fleeing lightly away.
