But what convinced her that the outcome for which he hoped was
impossible, was the very fact that she could admire him, and see
how fine and unselfish his love for her was, and yet remain
untouched by it.

She had been telling Lady Gower one day of the care he had taken
of her ever since she was fourteen years of age, and had quoted
some of the friendly and loverlike acts he had performed in her
service, until one day they had both found out that his attitude
of the elder brother was no longer possible, and that he loved
her in the old and only way. Lady Gower looked at her rather
doubtfully and smiled.

"I wish you would bring him to see me, Helen" she said; "I think
I should like your friend very much. From what you tell me of
him I doubt if you will find many such men waiting for you in
this country. Our men marry for reasons of property, or they
love blindly, and are exacting and selfish before and after they
are married. I know, because so many women came to me when my
husband was alive to ask how it was that I continued so happy in
my married life."

"But I don't want to marry any one," Helen remonstrated gently.
"American girls are not always thinking only of getting married."

"What I meant was this," said Lady Gower, "that, in my
experience, I have heard of but few men who care in the way this
young man seems to care for you. You say you do not love him;
but if he had wanted to gain my interest, he could not have
pleaded his cause better than you have done. He seems to see