morning, and hear what he has to say. Shall I?"

Mr. Pole winked shrewdly.

"You will not make my heart break?" Emilia's voice sounded one low chord
as she neared the thing she had to say.

"Bless her soul!" the old merchant patted her; "I'm not the sort of man
for that."

"Nor his?"

"His?" Mr. Pole's nerves became uneasy in a minute, at the scent of a
mystification. He dashed his handkerchief over his forehead, repeating:
"His? Break a man's heart! I? What's the meaning of that? For God's
sake, don't bother me!"

Emilia was still kneeling before him, eyeing him with a shadowed
steadfast air.

"I say his, because his heart is in mine. He has any pain that hurts
me."

"He may be tremendously in love," observed Mr. Pole; "but he seems a
deuced soft sort of a doctor! What's his name?"

"I love Wilfrid."

The merchant appeared to be giving ear to her, long after the words had
been uttered, while there was silence in the room.