ederick back. She had caught him by the arm as he was about leaving th

ve another relative there living at the house. When sh

Hard as it is for me to say it, Amabel, it is but just for me to tell you that after our parting here to-day we wil

wn his arm till she reached his palm, which she pressed with sudden warmth, drawing him into the room as she did so, and shutting the door behind them. He was speechless, for she never had looked so handsome or so glowing. Instead o

most did so, with a bend of her head, which just all

she was as incomprehensible to him as if he had never made a study of h

," said he, "but hardly unde

e look of admiration conti

of you," she declared. "If you do not tak

then, is but a potentiality. Very well, Amabel, keep it so and you wil

with its indefinable charm, was raised to his, as she dropped these words one by one

ping back. Then with a sudden burst of feeling, that was almost like prayer, he resumed: "Do not te

witchery of which her mobile features were capable; "your generous impulse

ks that would have moved an anchorite, he turned his head away in a vain atte

ness it bespoke, and in the triumph of he

effective; but her laugh was deliciously sweet, espec

he avowed, slipping from before him so

ou did mean it. What is the truth? Tell me, without coquetry or dissembling, for I am in dead earnest, and--" He paused, choked, and turned toward the window where but a few minutes before he had taken that solemn oath. The remembrance of it seemed to come back with the movement. Flushing with a new agi

m I so hard to talk to that the

you. He feels that he has grounds of complai

king at him intently, that sam

y me after what took place last night. Frederick, I like you for this evidence of consideration on your part, but do not s

r eyes with something akin to alarm. "What do you allude to in speaking of la

allude to

he one danc

a dance is

strike him with t

coming paler still as the full weight o

ds into his ear. "But what I saw you do there will not prevent me from obeying

Go

nt even in the smile which no longer called into view the dimples which belong to guileless mirth, while upon his face, after the first paralysing effect of her wo

lse he presently made evident by lifti

aid he; "but whatever it was, it can

een but a breath before,

ate you entered," said sh

g escaped him, but he did not

went on, "but previous to that time the shad

with impulsive energy against her mouth. "Not another word of tha

ar look of quiet satisfaction, and power. Seeing it, he let his hand fall

at time," she continued. "You have no

ea

took all his strength to sustain. Suddenly her bearing and expression changed. The few remains of sweetness in her face vanished, and even the allureme

"or I will proclaim y

ha W

he death of lo