Pimpernel and Rosemary · Chapter 4 (2/2)

It was quite dark where they stood side by side in this moment of supreme farewell. Each felt the inevitableness of it all⁠—the fatality. Pride on either side had built a barrier between them: honour and loyalty would consolidate it in the future. Too late! Everything was too late!

Peter bent his knee to the ground and slowly raised the hem of her gown to his lips. But Rosemary did not move: for that one instant her limbs had become marble, and in her soul she prayed that her heart, too, might turn to stone.

Then Peter rose and opened the door, and she passed out into the world again.