"To tell him--?"
"Why, that I love you, I suppose, and that I cannot marry Jack, not even
to be a duchess. Oh, I did so much want to be a duchess! But when you came
back to me yonder in the forest, somehow I stopped wanting anything more.
Something--I hardly know--something seemed to say, as you came striding
through the dead leaves, laughing and so very pale,--something seemed to
say, 'You love him'--oh, quite audibly."
"Audibly! Why, the woods whispered it, the birds trilled it, screamed
it, the very leaves underfoot crackled assent. Only they said, 'You love
her--the girl yonder with glad, frightened eyes, Spring's daughter.' Oh, I
too, heard it, Marian! 'Follow,' the birds sang, 'follow, follow, follow,
for yonder is the heart's desire!"
The Duke of Ormskirk raised his head, his lips sketching a whistle. "Ah!
ah!" he muttered. "Eureka! I have recaptured it--the message of April."