Page:Ethel Churchill 2.pdf/89

Rh excitement of his soul softened in the sacred presence of nature. He felt that he owed it alike both to Ethel and to Constance, to abandon his intended purpose. "Yet once again," exclaimed he, passionately, "let me gaze on that beautiful and beloved face! let me see if sorrow has cast a shadow on its surpassing loveliness! I will not let her know how near I am, and how wretched! No, in secret and in silence will I look upon her once more; and then, farewell for ever!" Only those who know what it is to give up some cherished wish just on its very verge of fulfilment, and give up from that sense of right which it is hard to deny, and yet harder to execute—only they can tell what it cost Norbourne to give up his purpose of seeing Ethel: yet he did give it up; and advanced only with the hope of one distant look, relying on his knowledge of the various little paths to escape through the wood if any one came too near. At length, he stopped within the shelter of a large spreading arbutus, it was too near