Her voice broke on the last words and her tears fell unchecked down her cheeks.
Not knowing how to comfort her, Tarina fetched a bowl of cold water and a small sponge and brought them to the side of the bed.
Because Betty seemed incapable of doing anything, she washed her eyes and dried them with a soft towel, but almost as soon as she had done so, the tears were back again.
“I told him I would – live with him in a – tent,” Betty sobbed, “or a barn – as long as we could be together – but he would not – have me – Oh – Harry – Harry! How can I go on living without – you?”
*
Harry had returned from the garden and gone straight to the Marquis’s cabin.
He found him sitting at his desk writing and he looked up as Harry entered to say rather abruptly,
“I am busy, Harry!”
“I want to tell y
