"No, Marie, that is not the reason. My mother would let me go to-morrow,
if I wished."
"Then I cannot understand why you stay. You would do much better in
Quebec, you with your ability."
"You cannot understand, Marie? You do not know that it is because of
_you_, and you alone, that I stay on in this place, smothering all my
ambitions, my hopes of advancement. No, Marie, you say you do not
understand. If you spoke more truly you would say you did not care where
I went."
"Noel," said the girl gently, and looking distressed, "you know, my dear
one, that I do care very much, and I cannot think why you speak to me in
that bitter way."
"Marie, do you care? You have seemed lately so indifferent to my plans,
and it has made me angry, for, my darling, you must have seen that my
love for you is deep, strong, mighty, like the flow of yonder great
river. Aye, it is stronger, greater, more unchangeable."
A glad light came into the girl's pale face, but she did not speak, and
Noel went on:
"It is not as if my love for you were a thing of yesterday, for I can
never remember the time when you were not first in my thoughts.
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